十八世紀法國人對臺灣的看法

French Vision of Taiwan in the 18th Century

從十八世紀中葉起開始出現傳教士、外交官、海員和冒險家等人對臺灣的報告，這些人不管化們的社會地位如何，他們對臺灣的看法卻是大同小異。從他們的報告中，我們可以瞭解，當時法國人為何對中國如此感興趣，到了十八世紀下半葉，全世界的海岸幾乎都已被勘察完畢，但是內陸還沒有，所有十八世紀的航海家跑遍天涯海角就是為了這個目的，而臺灣也是他們勘察的目的地之一。本文介紹的這些法國人，不管他們身負何種任務，不管他們是否真正踏上臺灣的土地，在交通不是很方便的十八世紀，能夠與臺灣歷史相結合，充份顯示出臺灣在國際舞臺上的重要性。

From the middle of the 18th century, a great number of reports about Taiwan have been written by missionaries, diplomats, mariners, travelers and adventures. According to their social position, these different writers looked at Taiwan with a contrasted eye. From their reports, we can understand some of the reasons why French people were so much interested in China. Indeed if in the last part of 18th century, all coasts of the world had been inspected, however the inside of the territory had not. So many travelers of the 18th century left Europe with this objective. The French people that we are going to present in the paper have been able to play a role in the discovery and to get involved in Taiwan's history, no matter what their original mission was, and if they really set a foot on Taiwan's land. This shows precisely the importance of Taiwan on the international scene at the time.