Women and Tea in the Taipei Basin: An Essay in Honor of Wang Shih-Ch'ing

本文的論點旨在提醒讀者注意王世慶的研究對臺灣社會經濟史，尤其是他對臺北盆地河川運輸的貢獻。從日治時期戶籍紀錄整理出來的資料顯示，居住在臺灣盆地中央的大稻埕婦女比住在盆地邊緣的海山婦女更少結婚，而海山的婦女又比住在盆地外的鄉村婦女更少結婚。這種情形出現的理由是以大稻埕為中心的茶葉給予婦女結婚之外的其他選擇。

The argument of this paper is intended to draw attention to Wang Shih-ch'ing's many contributions to Taiwanese economic history and particularly to his study of river transportation in the Taipei Basin. Household registers complied during the Japanese occupation indicate that women living in Ta-tao-ch'eng in the center of the Basin were far less likely to marry than women living in Hai-shan on the edge of the basin, and that women living in Hai-shan were less likely to marry than women living in rural areas outside of the basin. The reason appears to be that the tea industry centered in Ta-tao-ch'eng gave women an alternative to marriage.