| Abstract |
During the Sino-French War of 1884-1885, the French imposed a trade blockade on goods to and from Taiwan. The British tea merchant John Dodd (1838-1907) would later write of his impressions of these events in his Journal of a Blockaded Resident in North Formosa during the Franco-Chinese War, 1884-1885. According to Dodd, the blockade had a devastating impact on the local economy. The present paper argues, however, that such a view is, in fact, highly misleading; for contemporary trade reports and statistical records of the Tamsui customs office show that export and import duties increased rather than decreased between 1883-1885. Indeed, collections of export and import duties reached peak levels in 1885. In addition to showing that our general impression of the Sino-French War is mistaken, this paper also examines why such a disparity exists between our perception of the war and the reality of what actually happened. |
