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Tainan First, Lugang Second, and Mankah the Third as Top Three Ports in the 18 Century Taiwan |
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| Tainan First, Lugang Second, and Mankah the Third as Top Three Ports in the 18 Century Taiwan |
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The discovery of new sea routes in the 16th century gave the
Dutch and Spaniard a greater chance to seek trade benefits in the
east, and they respectively pulled into shore at the southern and
northern Taiwan at the beginning of the 17th century. Later, the
Dutch defeated the Spaniard in northern Taiwan and ruled the
island until mid-17th century. When Zheng Cheng Gong fled to
Taiwan in the late Ming Dynasty after his attempt to overthrow
the Qing regime and revive the Ming Dynasty (〝fan qing fu
ming〞) failed , he defeated the Dutch and brought with him
numerous Chinese immigrants to the island, marking the start of
the early development of Taiwan from the south to north.
Taiwan was opened for trading with China, Japan and the
South Sea Islands after being occupied by the Qing Court. The rise
of commerce turned Anping of the Tainan Prefecture, Lugang and
Mankah into leading ports . During the regime of Emperor
Qianlong ( 1735 - 1795 ) , trade ships swarmed the ports of
Tainan, Lugang and Mankah, where commercial associations and
businesses mushroomed ; supple goods and commodities of all
kinds were available; and the local people lived a wealthy and
abundant life. The high rise of commerce and economic prosperity
brought about the saying that goes,〝Tainan First, Lugang Second,
and Mankah the Third . 〞 On the other hand , since urban
development and temple culture were highly correlated due to
the influence of early immigrants , temples grew with local
development while the prevalence of temples in turn deeply
affected social developments. To this day, many temples that were
built and worshipped by forerunners still stand firm and are erected
in Tainan, Lugang, and Mankah.
The Mazu temples in these three areas especially contained
a miniature of the rises and falls of these three ports in the local
history. |
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