Taiwan is China's largest island, with an area of 35,800 square kilometers and a population of more than 23 million. In addition to Taiwan Island , Taiwan also has Penghu Islands , Diaoyu Islands and other affiliated islands. Taiwan Island has a strategic position that cannot be ignored in East Asia and is called an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" by American military strategists. The incorporation of Taiwan Island into the territory of the motherland is a tortuous and bitter history. As a Chinese, we should be familiar with this history.
1. Early contact between mainland China and Taiwan
The earliest residents of Taiwan Island were Austronesian residents who entered the island 7,000 years ago. They were considered a branch of Baiyue in ancient China. But in the early days, the relationship between mainland China and Taiwan was not so close. Until the Ming Dynasty, the island of Taiwan was still in a primitive clan society.
During the Three Kingdoms period, Soochow Sun Quan sent Wei Wen and Zhuge to the sea to search for Yizhou and Danzhou. Danzhou is where Xu Fu arrived. It may be the current Ryukyu Islands, or it may be Japan. Yizhou is the island of Taiwan. According to historical records, the location of Yizhou is "southeast of Linhai County (Ninghai, Zhejiang Province), two thousand miles away from the county", from which it can be inferred that it is Taiwan Island. Although the navy sent by Sun Quan did not find Danzhou at that time, it did reach Yizhou and stationed here for a year. Later, it withdrew due to the unaccustomed climate and climate. This shows that Sun Wu tried to incorporate Taiwan Island into his territory, but the time was far from mature.
Three Kingdoms Soochow discovered Taiwan
The second documented contact between Taiwan and the mainland was in the Sui Dynasty, when Taiwan was called " Liuqiu". In the third year of Daye (607) and the fourth year of Daye, Yang Guang twice sent Zhu Kuan to Liu to seek appeasement, but he was rejected both times. So in 610, Yang Guang sent Chen Leng and Zhang Zhenzhou to land at Liuqiu with tens of thousands of troops, killed their leader Huan Si Ke Ji Dou, and captured thousands of people before leaving. It can be seen from this that Emperor Yang of Sui also tried to incorporate Taiwan into the territory, but Emperor Yang of Sui only wanted Taiwan to surrender and had no intention of exercising jurisdiction on the island. Therefore, the Sui Dynasty army left after plundering the island.
Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty
It can be seen from the two dispatches of troops by Sun Wu and the Sui Dynasty that Taiwan was not included in the territory at that time and did not surrender. At that time, Taiwan's social economy was very backward. According to Shen Ying's "Linhai Land Chronicles", "the barbarians here are called kings, the land is divided, and the people are different. Everyone has a bald head and pierced ears, but women do not have pierced ears." The reason for the mainland. It is difficult for the army to station here for a long time because the agriculture here is not yet developed and it is not suitable for garrisoning troops.
Second, the Penghu Islands were included in the territory
Starting from the Song Dynasty, the Penghu Islands began to be included in the Chinese territory . "Taiwan General Chronicles and People's Chronicles" records that in the seventh year of Emperor Xiaozong's reign in the Southern Song Dynasty (1171), Wang Dayou was the prefect of Quanzhou . At that time, there were "tens of thousands of acres of sandbanks in the sea, named Pinghu", which was the Penghu Islands. The Penghu Islands were often robbed by pirates, so Wang Dayou sent troops to guard the islands. Later, Wang Dayou personally landed on the islands to garrison, and Wang Dayou became the first person named Wang to enter Taiwan.
Tomb of Wang Dayou, Minister of Official Affairs of the Southern Song Dynasty
Yuan Dynasty In the 28th year of the Yuan Dynasty (1291), Yang Xiang and Wu Zhidou led 6,000 troops to Liuqiu (Taiwan) to recruit surrender, but they did not reach Ryukyu. In the third year of Yuanzhen's reign (1297), Fujian Pingzhang's Political Affairs Office, Zhang Hao, the governor of the provincial capital, and Zhang Jin, the new army of Fuzhou's ten thousand households, led their troops to Liuzhou again to seek advice and captured more than 100 people before returning. The Yuan Dynasty's two attempts to appease Taiwan failed. However, the Yuan Dynasty officially established institutions in the Penghu Islands. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty officially established the "Penghu Inspection Department" on the Penghu Islands. After the Ming Dynasty was established, it inherited the setting of the Penghu Inspection Department.
1 In 280 (the seventeenth year of the Yuan Dynasty), Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty sent troops to conquer Japan. They encountered a typhoon and the officers and soldiers were scattered. He dreamed of Mazu rescuing the people and landed on Pinghu Island (ie. Penghu
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, although Taiwan Island was still not included in the territory, The relationship with the mainland has deepened significantly. Many residents from the mainland began to migrate to Taiwan, and Taiwan's economy began to progress rapidly.The Yuan Dynasty navigator Wang Dayuan once landed on the island of Taiwan and recorded Taiwan's economic situation: "The people live long and live long, both men and women wear common clothes, and the real estate is tens of thousands of flax, mung beans, and goats." During the Ming Dynasty, the island of Taiwan was called the "Little Ryukyu Kingdom", while the larger Ryukyu Kingdom was today's Ryukyu Islands. Zhu Yuanzhang listed Xiao Liuqiu as one of the 15 countries that could not be conquered. He said, "Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty recklessly raised troops to conquer Ryukyu, killed the barbarians, burned their palaces, and captured thousands of men and women. The land he obtained was not enough to provide food. The people are not enough to make orders, they only seek vain fame, and they harm the country. It is recorded in the history books that it will be ridiculed by future generations. I have blocked the mountains and seas from the small barbarian countries, and they are in a remote corner. If they are not Chinese patients, I will never attack them. However, the northwest Hu Rong (referring to Mobei Mongolia) will be China's troubles for generations. You must keep a careful ear, and you should remember what I said and know what I mean." It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang believed that these maritime countries could not threaten the mainland, so he did not send troops to conquer them.
"The Ancestral Instructions of the Emperor Ming Dynasty"
But where the Ming Dynasty did not pay attention, there were others who took a peek. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Dutch tried to occupy Penghu as a trading base in the Far East. During the Battle of Penghu, Fujian Governor Shang Zhou Zuo negotiated with the Dutch and told them that there was an unclaimed land to the east of Penghu - Taiwan Island. Subsequently, the Netherlands began to land on Taiwan Island in 1624. At the same time, Spanish forces also landed on Taiwan Island and were later defeated by the Dutch.
At this time, the pirate forces headed by Zheng Zhilong emerged, and they also used Taiwan Island as their base. In 1628, Zheng Zhilong recruited tens of thousands of Fujian disaster victims to immigrate to Taiwan. This was the first organized and large-scale immigration to Taiwan in history. Since then, Zheng Zhilong has continued to develop in Taiwan and even established a bureaucracy modeled on the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong’s contribution to Taiwan’s inclusion in China’s territory was indispensable.
Zheng's sphere of influence distribution
From the late Ming Dynasty, Taiwan Island became a place fought over by Western colonists and southeastern Chinese pirates. After Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, the island of Taiwan was exclusively occupied by the Dutch. In 1661, Zheng Chenggong suffered a failure on the mainland, so he decided to establish Taiwan as his base. In a letter to the Dutch colonial governor of Taiwan, he said, "However, Taiwan has long been operated by the Chinese, and it is China's land... Now that I have come to claim it, the land should be mine." After that, Zheng Chenggong paid a huge price in casualties. After driving away the Dutch, this incident was recorded as "Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan."
Zheng Chenggong is like
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, it repeatedly asked the Zheng regime in Taiwan to surrender, and allowed Taiwan to be a vassal state without shaving. But Zheng refused every time for different reasons. Zheng even participated in the San Francisco Rebellion. After Emperor Kangxi suppressed the San Francisco Rebellion, there was only one way left for the Zheng family's regime in Taiwan. In 1683, Emperor Kangxi sent Shi Lang to attack Taiwan, and the Zheng family eventually surrendered. In 1684, the Qing Dynasty established Taiwan Prefecture in Taiwan, which consisted of Taiwan County, Fengshan County and Zhuluo County. This marked Taiwan's formal inclusion into the territory of the Qing Dynasty, and also marked Taiwan's formal inclusion into the territory of the Central Dynasty of China.
Qing Dynasty Taiwan
In the late Qing Dynasty, Taiwan Province was established in Taiwan. Afterwards, although Japan occupied Taiwan through the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, it was ultimately not recognized by the international community and was returned to China after World War II. It can be seen that the Qing Dynasty's administrative management of Taiwan was the legal basis for Taiwan's sovereignty to belong to China, and it was also recognized by the international community.
