the sinification of Taiwan:
"Intensive Chinese colonization began abruptly in the 1630s, shortly
after the Dutch East India Company established a trading port on
Taiwan. The Dutch realized that their port's hinterlands could
produce rice and sugar for export, but they were unable to persuade
Taiwan's aborigines to raise crops for sale -- most were content to
plant just enough for themselves and their families. The colonists
considered importing European settlers, but the idea was rejected by
their superiors in the Netherlands. So they settled instead on a more
unusual plan: encourage Chinese immigration. The Dutch offered tax
breaks and free land to Chinese colonists, using their powerful
military to protect pioneers from aboriginal assault... In this way
the company created a calculable economic and social environment,
making Taiwan a safe place for Chinese to move to and invest in,
whether they were poor peasants or rich entrepreneurs. People from
the province of Fujian, just across the Taiwan Strait, began pouring
into the colony, which grew and prospered, becoming, in essence, a
Chinese settlement under Dutch rule. The colony's revenues were drawn
almost entirely from Chinese settlers, through taxes, tolls, and
licenses. As one Dutch governor put it, 'The Chinese are the only
bees on Formosa that give honey.' "
Tonio Andrade, How Taiwan Became Chinese, Columbia University Press,
2007, quoted in a Salon.com article by Andrew Leonard:
http://www.salon.com/tech/htww/2007/04/05/taiwan_china/index.html
