Military Officers from Zhoushan Stationed in Chinese Taiwan during the Qing Dynasty: A Case Study of the Campaign against the Pirate Cai Qian

The Taiwan Strait relations during the Qing dynasty represent a critical dimension in the broader narrative of China's frontier governance. As part of the "seven-province bulwark," Chinese Taiwan occupied a pivotal position within the southeastern coastal defense system, serving both as a geopolitical outpost and as a buffer against maritime threats. Zhoushan, as a vital military stronghold in Zhejiang's coastal defense network, maintained a garrison structure that was strategically intertwined with Chinese Taiwan's defense and administrative apparatus. The Zhoushan-based military officers dispatched to Chinese Taiwan functioned as key agents in the Qing Empire's efforts to consolidate control over the island and to safeguard its maritime frontiers. Despite their significance, the role of this military cohort has not been subjected to systematic academic scrutiny.Current scholarship on Qing-era Zhejiang–Taiwan relations predominantly concentrates on civil bureaucratic institutions, migratory societies, or the biographical study of individual military figures. Such approaches often neglect the structural and operational mechanisms through which the Zhoushan military contingent contributed to maritime governance and cross-strait stability. This study seeks to address this lacuna by examining historical episodes in which Zhoushan officers assisted in the suppression of piracy in Chinese Taiwan. Through this lens, it reconstructs the institutional logic and social practices that underpinned their involvement in Chinese Taiwan's local governance, and evaluates their historical agency in shaping Qing-era cross-strait dynamics.By providing a microhistorical analysis grounded in empirical evidence, this article contributes to the reevaluation of maritime governance strategies during the Qing dynasty. It also offers theoretical support for contemporary efforts to enhance national cohesion and advance the strategic vision of transforming China into a maritime power.