英文摘要 |
This paper aims at discussing the changing trend of the trade between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland as carried on board the junks. Due to difficulties in estimating the value and quantity of merchandises involved in the trade, this paper tries to make an estmation on the shipping capacities of the junks employed in the trade. In terms of varieties, the staple exports of Taiwan (rice, sugar, peanut oil and indigo, especially the first two items) did not undergo significant change in the period under iscussion, while the scale of the import trade was heavily dependent on that of the export trade. In consequence, an estimation of the total carrying capacity is also possible to reflect the general situation of the whole trade. Our estimation has the following findings. In the late 1780s, when Lu-erh-men, Lu-kang and Pa-li-fen were opened for legal trade, the total weight of merchandises annually brought out from Taiwan was something between 1,900,000 and 2,250,000 shih (about 133,000 to 157,500 tons). The number went down to something between 500,000 and 600,000 shih (about 35,000 to 42,000 tons) previous to the outbreak of the Opuim War (1840~42). Such a downward movement of the trading trend was mostly contributed by the decline of the junk shipping of Lu-erh0men and Lu-kang, while Pa-li-fen remained relatively steady. |