How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century

Tonio Andrade

"Lively and deeply researched. An enjoyable, enlightening, and de-centering read for every student of late imperial China and of early modern empire. " — John E. Wills Jr., University of Southern California (emeritus)

"Through the prism of a single island’s experiences, Andrade develops implications for the early modern world as a whole. . . . [Brings] the complex dynamics of the period into clear focus [and] offers perceptive insights on the nature of European and Asian colonial expansion in early modern times. " — Jerry Bentley, Journal of World History

"A wonderful introduction to the global world in the seventeenth century. The contemporary standoff between the Republic of China cum ‘Chinese Taibei’ vis-à-vis the People's Republic of China remains a political headache with the potential for causing a global economic downturn. This book is the best account that places the present situation in historical context. " — Benjamin Elman, Princeton University

"Tonio Andrade accomplishes handsomely three original tasks: he explains how Chinese ethnicity came to dominate Taiwan under non-Chinese leadership; he develops a new theoretical model, that of co-colonization, to explain this transformation; and he demonstrates the relevance of Taiwan's experience to the early modern history of the wider Asian littoral. Throughout, his writing is fast-paced and full of arresting anecdotes. " — Victor Lieberman, University of Michigan

"A masterpiece. This book should interest not only scholars of Taiwan history but also those who work on European expansion, colonialism, and Chinese history. This first monograph on the early history of Taiwan will doubtless become a standard reference." — Han Jiabao, author of Helan shidai Taiwan de jingji, tudi, yu shuiwu

"Andrade deserves high praise for writing an absorbing and entertaining history of an important period in the history of Taiwan." — David Wilmshurst, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Hong Kong Branch

"How Taiwan Became Chinese provides a vivid study of colonial government on the ground." — International Jorunal of Asian Studies

"Superb.... Andrade brilliantly reminds us of how important the brief episode of European occupation was." — American Historical Association

Related Subjects

• Asian History

Series

• Gutenberg-e

About the Author

Tonio Andrade received his Ph.D. from Yale University and is associate professor of history at Emory University.Tonio Andrade grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has degrees from Reed College, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and, most recently, Yale University. His Ph.D. dissertation, which examines cross cultural interactions in Taiwan during the seventeenth century, won Yale Universitys Hans Gatzke Prize and the American Historical Associations Gutenberg-e Prize. He is working on a manuscript entitled How Taiwan Became Chinese: Imperial Rivalries and Co-colonization in the Seventeenth Century, which will be published by Columbia University Press. He currently holds an appointment as Assistant Professor at Emory University, where he teaches global and East Asian History

top of page