¹ Liu's collected memorials have been reissued by the Bank of Taiwan in its series of documentary reprints pertaining to the island's history. Bank of Taiwan, Economic Research Office, Liu Chuang-shu Kung chou-i, Taiwan Documentary Collection No. 27 (Taipei, 1958)Google Scholar (hereafter LCSK). Wen-hsien Chuan-k'an, a periodical of historical materials issued by the Taiwan Provincial Commission for Historical Documents, devoted an entire special issue to Liu (Vol. IV, No. 1–2, Aug., 1953). The only work which might be called a biography of Liu is in Japanese: Ino Yoshinori, Taiwan Jumbu to shite no Ryu Mei-den (Taihoku, 1905)Google Scholar (hereafter Jumbu). There is an unpublished nien-p'u of Liu compiled by Mr. Lo Kang, who kindly granted several lengthy interviews to the author in Taipei.

² The following brief account of Liu's early career is based on his biography in Ch'ing-shih lieh-chtian (Taiwan Chung-hua Book Company ed.), 59.50a–52a. See also Hummel, Arthur, Emminent Chinese of the Ch'ing Period (Washington, 1944), pp. 526–528.Google Scholar

³ Jumbu, pp. 131–132.Google Scholar

⁴ Jumbu, p. 109.Google Scholar

⁵ LCSK, pp. 106–108.Google Scholar

⁶ LCSK, pp. 155–157.Google Scholar

⁷ Unfortunately Yang's side of the story is not known, for whatever material Yang might have had was never published. While working on the present study, the author stumbled upon an interesting personal angle. He discovered that Yang was his great-grandfather on his paternal grandmother's side. The author's father actually had possession of some of Yang's private papers until 1932, when they were destroyed by fire caused by warlord troops in Canton.

⁸ LCSK, pp. 277–278.Google Scholar

⁹ T'ing-i, Kuo, Tai-wan shih-shih kai-shuo [Summary Account of the History of Taiwan] (Taipei, 1954), pp. 178–184.Google Scholar

¹⁰ Kuo, , pp. 184–188 Google Scholar. One other official who anticipated much of Liu Ming-ch'uan's ideas on modernization was Liu Ao, taotai in southern Taiwan at the time of Liu Ming-ch'uan's arrival. Unfortunately Liu Ao, a Hunanese, refused to cooperate with Governor Liu during the French campaigns. Immediately afterwards Liu Ming-ch'uan made formal charges against him and had him cashiered in disgrace. LCSK, pp. 423–431 Google Scholar; and Ao, Liu, Hsün-T'ai t'ui-ssu lu [Reflections upon Retirement from Duty in Taiwan], reissued by the Economic Research Office, Bank of Taiwan, Taiwan Documentary Collection No. 21 (Taipei, 1958), p. 20.Google Scholar

¹¹ Chia-mo, Huang, Chia-wu chan-ch'ien chih T'ai-wan mei-wu [Coal Mining in Taiwan prior to the Sino-Japanese War of 1895], (Taipei, 1961), pp. 9–158 Google Scholar. I am indebted to Mr. Huang for conversations leading to the clarification of several points concerning Liu's efforts in coal mining.

¹² LCSK, p. 134.Google Scholar

¹⁸ LCSK, p. 327 Google Scholar; and Yung, Feng, “Liu Ming-ch'uan fu-T'ai tang-an cheng-chi” [“Records of the Compilation of Documents pertaining to Liu Ming-ch'uan's Rule in Taiwan”], Tai-wan Wen-hsien [later name of Wen-hsien Chuan-k'an], VIII (1957), 55.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Huang, , p. 173.Google Scholar

¹⁶ LCSK, pp. 351–352 Google Scholar. There is no mention of the settlement of the 20,000 taels contributed by Tseng Kuo-ch'üan, but Tseng played no further part in the Taiwan mining enterprises.

¹⁸ Great Britain, Foreign Office, Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, China: Report jor the year 1888 on the Trade of Tamsui (Formosa) (London, 1889), p. 3 Google Scholar (hereafter Reports, with appropriate year).

¹⁷ Jumbu, p. 51.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Reports, 1888, p. 3.Google Scholar

¹⁹ LCSK, pp. 357–363.Google Scholar

²⁰ Ta-Ch'ing li-ch'ao shih-lu, Teh-tsung Ching Huang-ti shih-lu [Veritable Records of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Kuang-hsü Period], 273.3b–4a (hereafter CSL). See also a portion of Prince Ch'ing's memorial of September 1, 1889, found in copies of Board of Revenue documents now deposited in Peking, as contained in Chung-kuo chin-tai kung-yeh shih tzu-liao [Sources for an industrial History of Modern China] (Peking, 1957), I, 600–601 Google Scholar (hereafter KYSTL).

²¹ LCSK, pp. 364–365 Google Scholar. See also the entry of August 15, 1890 in Hsüeh Fu-ch'eng's diary, as contained in KYSTL, p. 603.Google Scholar

²² Prince Ch'ing's memorial of September 1890. KYSTL, pp. 603–605.Google Scholar

²³ CSL, 288.8b–9b.

²⁴ LCSK, p. 366.Google Scholar

²⁵ LCSK, pp. 366–368.Google Scholar

²⁶ LCSK, p. 23.Google Scholar

²⁷ These and following dates are taken from appropriate tables in Pao Chun-p'eng, Chung-kuo hai-chün shih [A History of the Chinese Navy] (Taipei, 1951).

²⁸ Lien-heng, Tai-wan t'ung-shih [A Comprehensive History of Taiwan] (Taipei, 1955 ed.), p. 410 Google Scholar (hereafter TWTS).

²⁹ LCSK, pp. 167 and 252.Google Scholar

³⁰ Hung-chang, Li, Li Wen-chung Kung ch'üan-chi, chou-kao Google Scholar [Complete Works of Li Hung-chang, Memorials], 54.22a (hereafter LWCK, with appropriate subsection).

³¹ LWCK, tien-kao [Telegrams], 7.16a–16b.

³² LCSK, p.252.Google Scholar

³³ LCSK, pp. 252–253.Google Scholar

³⁴ Bank of Taiwan, Economic Research Office, T'ai-wan hai-fang tang [Documents on Maritime Defense of Taiman], Taiwan Documentary Collection No. 110 (Taipei, 1961), pp. 87–88 Google Scholar (hereafter TWHFT).

³⁵ Pien Pac-ti, Pien chih-chün chou-i [Memorials of Pien Pao-ti], 10.3a–4a.

³⁶ LCSK, p. 386.Google Scholar

³⁷ TWTS, p. 411 Google Scholar. The Chinese name for the Bureau was identical with the abbreviated name of CMSNC. Since the term was a common one at this time for official agencies designed to attract private capital, its usage in different places is not surprising. Unfortunately the similarity in names has led some secondary materials to confuse Li and Chang's Bureau with the CMSNC. The primary sources, however, distinguish clearly between the two.

³⁸ Rinji Taiwan Kyūkan Chōsakai [Provisional Investigative Commission on Taiwan's Customs], Chōsa keizai shiryō hōkoku [Report of the Investigation on Economic Materials], II (Tokyo, 1905), 330.

³⁹ Reports, 1886, p. 3.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ First reports of the accident gave an American ship as the guilty party. Ch'ing-chi wai-chiao sh'h-liao, 69.37b (hereafter WCSL). The nationality of the ship, however, was subsequently established beyond question as British. All records of the fledgling company were reported to have gone down with the ship. Since the company was badly in arrears at the time, this seems providentially convenient. Reports, 1886, p. 3.Google Scholar

⁴¹ LCSK, p. 253.Google Scholar

⁴² TWTS. p. 411.Google Scholar

⁴³ Lin was the scion of an illustrious family in Taiwan, long famed for their wealth and their civic activities. He was instrumental in building Taipei's city wall in 1879, for which he received an honorary official title. Liu Ming-ch'uan placed him in charge of land reclamation projects, but because of Lin's mercantile background, he acted on more than one occasion as the vital link between the governor and the island's business community. When Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895, Lin's compatriots elected him to head the legislature of the short-lived Formosan Republic, but he declined and fled to Amoy, where he died “in exile.” TWTS, p. 701.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ TWHFT, p. 152.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ Taiwan Kaimu Kyōkai [Taiwan Maritime Association] (Asaka Teijiro), Taiwan kaiun shi [A History of Taiwan Sea Transportation] (Taihoku, 1941), p. 257.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ TWTS, p. 411 Google Scholar; and Reports, 1886, p. 3 Google Scholar. Some secondary sources have erroneously attributed a number of ships owned by Lapraik to the FTC. For the correct information, see Taiwan Kaimu Kyōkai, p. 258.

⁴⁷ LWCK, tien-kao, 10.20a–21a and 10.25b–26b.

⁴⁸ Reports, 1888, p. 2.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ Reports, 1891, p. 1 Google Scholar; and Reports, 1893, p. 7.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ LWCK, p'eng-liao han-fao [Letters], 19.13a–14a.

⁵¹ LCSK, p. 163.Google Scholar

⁵² LWCK, tien-kao, 12.17a–17b.

⁵³ LCSK, p. 256.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ WCSL, 10.12a–13a.

⁵⁵ WCSL, 45.3b.

⁵⁶ TWHFT, p. 92.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ TWHFT, pp. 101 and 104.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Wen-hsien Chuan-k'an, IV, 83.Google Scholar

⁵⁹ Davidson, James W., The Island of Formosa (1903), p. 247.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ LCSK, p. 259.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Great Brtain, Foreign Office, Diplomatic and Consular Reports on Trade and Finance, China: Report for the Year 1888 on the Trade of Taiwan [Tainan] (London, 1889).Google Scholar

⁶² Yoshinori, Ino, Taiwan bunka shi [A Cultural History of Taiwan], 3 vols. (Tokyo, 1928), pp. 805–806.Google Scholar

⁶³ LCSK, pp. 121–124.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ LWCK, chou-kao, 39.20a–29a.

⁶⁵ Liu K'un-i, Liu K'un-i i-chi [Remaining Works of Liu K'un-i] (Shanghai, 1959 ed.), pp. 598–600.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ TWTS, p. 403.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ Biggerstaff, Knight, “The Secret Correspondence of 1867–68,” Journal of Modern History, XXII (06 1950), 122–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁶⁸ LCSK, pp. 268–273.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ LWCK, hai-chün han-kao [Naval correspondences], 3.3b–4b.

⁷⁰ Jumbu, p. 31 Google Scholar; and TWTS, p. 405.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Reports, 1888, p. 6 Google Scholar. Matheson continued to serve Taiwan in one technical capacity or another for the next six years. When he left the island in 1894, he was greatly honored by his Chinese associates. Reports, 1894.

⁷² Reports, 1889, p. 4.Google Scholar

⁷³ Other specific difficulties, such as the failure of two tunnel excavating parties, working from opposite ends, to meet at the same level in the middle, are vividly described in Davidson, pp. 247f.

⁷⁴ Reports, 1888, p. 5.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ LCSK, pp. 273–275.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ TWTS, p. 406.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ CSL, 263.4b–5b.

⁷⁸ LCSK, pp. 127–128.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ LWCK, tien-kao, 11.14b.

⁸⁰ LWCK, tien-kao, 11.14b.

⁸¹ Hummel, , p. 29.Google Scholar

⁸² TWTS, pp. 405–406 Google Scholar. Shao had served under two Chinese ministers in Russia. Having won the gratitude of Liu Ming-ch'uan by aiding Liu from Shanghai during the Sino-French War, Shao was appointed lieutenant governor of Taiwan in March 1887. The two men apparently disagreed on policy. Shao resigned in the spring of 1889, and served as the governor of Hunan province until he was chosen to succeed Liu. Ch'ing-shih lieh-chuan, 63.8a–9a, and Jumbu, p. 109.Google Scholar

⁸³ The operation of the railroad at that time left much to be desired. See Davidson, , pp. 251–252 Google Scholar. Davidson had the opportunity to ride on the Taipei-Keelung section in 1894.

⁸⁴ There is an unaccountable discrepancy as to the year the school was founded. TWTS gives 1890, while other sources give various other years. Liu's memorial clearly indicates 1887 to be the correct year. LCSK, p. 297.Google Scholar

⁸⁵ TWTS, p. 217.Google Scholar

⁸⁶ Reports, 1888, p. 4 Google Scholar; and Reports, 1890, p. 5.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ LCSK, pp. 297–298.Google Scholar

⁸⁸ Reports, 1891, p. 8.Google Scholar

⁸⁹ Jumbu, p. 89.Google Scholar

⁹⁰ Jumbu, p. 42.Google Scholar

⁹¹ Reports, 1886, p. 2 Google Scholar; and Clark, J. D., Formosa (Shanghai, 1896), p. 45.Google Scholar

⁹² Jumbu, p. 90 Google Scholar; and Davidson, , p. 247.Google Scholar

⁹³ Reports, 1889, p. 5 Google Scholar; and Clark, , p. 40.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ TWTS, p. 414.Google Scholar