Yu Yonghe () was a traveler from China whose adventures are recorded in ''
Small Sea Travel Diaries
Small may refer to:
Science and technology
* SMALL, an ALGOL-like programming language
* Small (anatomy), the lumbar region of the back
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* <small>, an HTML element that defines smaller text
...
'' (裨海紀遊). The book contributes significantly to the research on the historical development of
Taiwan (
Formosa
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is an island country located in East Asia. The main island of Taiwan, formerly known in the Western political circles, press and literature as Formosa, makes up 99% of the land area of the territorie ...
) in the seventeenth century.
Biography
Yu Yonghe was born before 1650 in the city of Renhe,
Zhejiang province. Modern scholars have regarded Yu as one unique figure of his time because of several factors. For instance, although traveling was not uncommon at his time, Yu was known to have travelled to every corner of
Fujian and even to Taiwan – a desolate and barbaric island back in the seventeenth century. Furthermore, shown both in his accounts of the
Taiwanese aborigines and
Zheng family (entitled 番境補遺, 偽鄭逸事, resp.), his knowledge of the foreigners and interest in foreign lands were extraordinary for his era.
Under the consent of the Fujian officials, Yu travelled to Taiwan following the explosion of the
Fuzhou
Fuzhou (; , Fuzhounese: Hokchew, ''Hók-ciŭ''), alternately romanized as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute t ...
gunpowder stores in 1696
to mine sulfur. Yu's voyage began at the coast to
Xiamen, crossing the
Taiwan Strait and coming to a halt in
Penghu
The Penghu (, Hokkien POJ: ''Phîⁿ-ô͘'' or ''Phêⁿ-ô͘'' ) or Pescadores Islands are an archipelago of 90 islands and islets in the Taiwan Strait, located approximately west from the main island of Taiwan, covering an area ...
before arriving in
Tainan. Yu then journeyed northward to
Tamsui and
Beitou
Beitou District is the northernmost of the twelve districts of Taipei City, Taiwan. The historical spelling of the district is Peitou. The name originates from the Ketagalan word ''Kipatauw'', meaning witch. Beitou is the most mountainous and ...
where he bought amorphous sulfur from local Aborigines for the making of pure sulfur. The expedition lasted ten months.
Eventually Yu returned to Fuzhou with a memoir of his ten-months journey aboard. The memoir chronicles Yu's life in
Taiwan under Qing rule when he was introduced to the unique culture of the island. It subsequently became ''Small Sea Travel Diaries'' (title sometimes translated ''The Small Sea Travel Records'' or ''Small Sea Travelogue''). As Yu was on a mission of collecting sulfur, his book is also referred to as the ''Sulfur Extraction Diaries'' (採硫日記). The book provides first hand account of the most vivid historical records of the period.
When Yu arrived in Taiwan, the island had been under the administration of the
Qing dynasty for 13 years. Not only had Yu recorded the developments of the era, he had also taken into account of the administrative structures passed down by the
Dutch and Zheng dynasty.
Unlike other primary records left by conquerors and administrators in the seventeenth century, Yu's book reflects the multicultural characteristics of early Taiwan through the eyes of an adventurous and passionate literati.
See also
*
History of Taiwan
*
Mining in Taiwan
Mining has been practiced in Taiwan for hundreds of years. Sulfur was an early important resource collected on the island. Coal mining expanded in the 19th century to keep up with demand from increased foreign trade. Heavy industry was further exp ...
References
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External links
Yu Yonghe- Oxford Reference
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Yu, Yonghe
Historians of Taiwan
Historians from Zhejiang
1640s births
Writers from Hangzhou
Qing dynasty historians
Year of death unknown
Sulfur mining