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This paper investigates conflicts over oil wells that arose between Chinese immigrants and Scottish merchants in Formosa during the late Qing period. It further explores the role of illegal traders – typically referred to as Fange in Qing historiography – in these conflicts and their impact on Taiwan’s economic development. Boundary lines separating the areas of Han-Chinese settlers and Taiwanese Fan aborigines had been drawn by the Qing authority, prohibiting Han-Chinese from crossing into aborigine land. However, it was not uncommon that Han-Chinese, Pingpuzu plains aborigines, or people of mixed heritage engaged in cross-boundary businesses. These actors were called Fange.
My paper focuses on the case study of Qiu Gou, a Han-Chinese Fange who in the 1860s began exploiting an oil well in northwest Taiwan. Discovered in 1817 by Wu Linfang, a Han-Chinese immigrant, the well had remained unexploited because of its close proximity to the territorial boundary lines. Qiu illegally started production at the well and later rented it to the local Wu clan, descendants of Wu Linfang. When Qiu rented the same well to John Dodd, a Scottish tea exporter, conflict between the parties ensued that eventually led to intervention from the Qing authorities. My study thus illustrates not only how Qiu’s illegal petroleum business triggered the scramble for oil between locals and foreigners, but also how the Qing authorities increasingly recognized the importance of natural resources in Formosa. Fange traders, I argue, thus played an important role in the economic development of Taiwan during the Qing dynasty.