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A Cross-boundary People: The Commercial Activities, Social Networks, and Travel Writings of Japanese and Taiwanese Sekimin in the Shantou Treaty Port (1895-1937)
Lin-Yi Tseng Graduate Center, City University of New York
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A CROSS-BOUNDARY PEOPLE: THE COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES, SOCIAL NETWORKS, AND TRAVEL WRITINGS OF JAPANESE AND TAIWANESE SEKIMIN IN THE SHANTOU TREATY PORT (1895−1937)
by
LIN-YI TSENG
A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York
2014
© 2014 LIN-YI TSENG All Rights Reserved
! ii!
This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Helena Rosenblatt
______Date Chair of Examining Committee
______Helena Rosenblatt Date ______Executive Officer
George Solt
Richard Lufrano
David Gordon
Richard Belsky
Joseph Tse-Hei Lee
Supervisory Committee
THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
! iii! ABSTRACT
A CROSS-BOUNDARY PEOPLE: THE COMMERCIAL ACTIVITIES, SOCIAL NETWORKS, AND TRAVEL WRITINGS OF JAPANESE AND TAIWANESE SEKIMIN IN THE SHANTOU TREATY PORT (1895−1937)
by
LIN-YI TSENG
Adviser: Professor Helena Rosenblatt
This dissertation explores Japanese imperial history in East Asia and focuses on a group of
“cross-boundary people”—Taiwanese sekimin (Taiwanese who registered as Japanese subjects) and Japanese—who went to the treaty port of Shantou in southern China during the period between 1895 and 1937. The starting time point (i.e., 1895) corresponds to the signing of the
Treaty of Shimonoseki, by which Japan acquired Taiwan as a colony and informal privileges in
Chinese treaty ports. The ending time point (i.e., 1937) corresponds to the decline that Shantou’s
Japanese community experienced owing to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War on
July 7, 1937. By examining the official documents of the Taiwan General Government, commercial reports of Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and major newspapers and travel writings published in colonial Taiwan, I explore the connections among the Japanese homeland
! iv! (the metropole), the Japanese formal empire in Taiwan, and the Japanese informal empire in
Shantou in terms of commercial activities, human resources, and networks of words.
Concerning commercial activities, I argue that Shantou was an important market for both
Japanese and Taiwanese goods, and that the commercial network comprising the Japanese metropole, colonial Taiwan, and the Shantou treaty port was significant for Japanese imperial formation in East Asia. Moreover, by analyzing the Japan-China co-invested Dadong Ice-making
Company in Shantou, I explore the complicated competitive and cooperative relationships among three notably different ethnic groups there: Taiwanese sekimin, local Chinese, and
Japanese in Shantou. By examining the Japan-founded educational institution known as —the
Tōē School in Shantou, I clarify two important points: (1) the Taiwan General Government established a network of human resources for the Japanese homeland, colonial Taiwan, and the
Shantou treaty port; and (2) this particular school’s Japanese and Taiwanese teachers produced writings published in major Taiwanese periodicals, signifying a network of “words” between an element of Japan’s formal empire (Taiwan) and an element of Japan’s informal empire
(Shantou).
! v! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
In April 2013, while I was in Taiwan writing my dissertation at Academia Sinica, I received the tragic news that my advisor Barbara J. Brooks in New York had passed away after a protracted illness. It was a great shock to me. I have had trouble accepting that such a nice person who supported my academic work and who encouraged me personally for many years suddenly ceased to be here among us. Under these circumstances, I am grateful to Prof. Helena Rosenblatt, the executive officer of the Department of History at the CUNY Graduate Center, who helped me arrange my academic business with patience and understanding. I am no less grateful to Prof.
George Solt, a specialist in modern Japanese history at NYU, who became my advisor after Prof.
Brooks’ passing and who offered me invaluable advice on the dissertation. Without his assistance and generosity, I simply could not have completed my dissertation on schedule. I would like to express my gratitude, as well, to my dissertation-defense team: Prof. Richard
Lufrano, who taught me much about Chinese history, especially Chinese urban history; Prof.
Richard Belsky, who participated in the oral segment of my qualifying exam, my proposal defense, and then my dissertation defense; Pace University’s Prof. Joseph Tse-hei Lee , a specialist in the local history of Chaozhou and the Shantou area has provided me much useful
! vi! advices during my studies; and Prof. David Gordon, at CUNY Graduate Center, who read my dissertation carefully from a comparative perspective encompassing his European research background.
During my research and writing activities in Taipei, scholars at the Institute of Taiwan
History offered me much appreciated assistance: Prof. Shu-ming Chung , who has served as my sponsor in Taiwan and supported my academic research with sincerity and generosity;
Prof. Yu-ju Lin , who has shared with me her enthusiasm for research and has provided me many opportunities to participate in academic activities at Academia Sinica; Prof. Hsueh-chi
Hsu , whose knowledge of colonial Taiwanese history opened my eyes to the topic and whose diligence in conducting research has served as my own model; and Prof. Kuo-hsing Hsieh