Andre > Recent Status Updates

His predictions for what the japanese could achieve in Formosa seem quite optimistic. I wonder why, because he mentioned several problems, but maybe he simply did not write it down.

a place where cold mountain water mixes with hot spring water... hm, sounds interesting.

a third of the forest is still primeval? Really?
and granted, that is one way to introduce christmas and giftgiving to the natives. In the cold they would probably mak good use of gloves etc.

Minus two degrees? Was he really high enough for it to be that cold?

so this Greisner lost his chinese workers to native headhunters. That must suck.

These natives believed that all chicken eggs should hatch so that there will always be chickens.... that rings a bell but I cannot remember where I heard it before.

i do wonder whether the native claim that they and the europeans had the same ancestors was really just a strategy to get the same rights or whether there was a genuine belief behind it.

I think he is referring to the incident where some Ryukyuans shipwrecked on the east coast and were attacked by natives and when the Qing officials said it was not their business, the survivors went to the japanese instead.

So according to him the first settlers on the island were Hakka who came to Formosa because the chinese despised them because they had no ancestor's graves etc? I mean, according to him they were there before the Dutch and that in great numbers.

Was he referring to the theory that at least some aborigines of Taiwan decend from Hokkaido? It sounds like it.

It is true that Taiwan was a good strategic place, and it is odd how no great power had any interest in it before the japanese and dutch in the 17th century, but maybe that is because in earlier times the pescadores had shorelines better for big ships than "Formosa."

Interesting, he states that Japan did not simply copy Europe and mostly stayed true to itself.

And all is done

oh so Botel Tabago is Lanyu island.... however, why are there stories of portuguese treasures if there were no portuguese on the island? He claims the portuguese may have only left the goats of the island behind, but not even that is true as those came from the Phillipines. And I suspected that the 1874 incident was connected to the shipwrecks from Okinawa. And was taiwan only second choice for Japan?

Were buddhists monks as powerful before nobunaga as he claims? And europeans envied the japanese for their far-sighted keen vision?

catching and taming wild buffaloes? These buffaloes must be feral because there were no bovines on the island before the dutch brought them over. And who were these diaramock? Google AI states: The term "Diaramock" was often associated with the Paiwan or Rukai peoples living around the southern Central Mountain Range. But he talked about the paiwan already and this cannibalism here sounds really extreme.

how did these geishas sound if the wagon with a bull is a preferable sound?

So back then the japanese were admired more when they use their traditional clothing?

So the husband goes to the family of the bride. That is unusual for the area.

so the Amis were bigger and stronger than the other natives? And the Ami have a subordinate role in regard to the other natives because they are not considered native? Interesting.

So he considered the paiwan people of tamaris to be cleaner than the chinese. Ironic. As for them picking parasites out of their hair... I really wonder, why didn't they use combs?

So the rulers in the area belong to another tribe than the rest of the people?

I wonder how often people got shipwrecked on the east coast and got killed by the natives.+

oh right, eating beef was new among the people back then, it was introduced by the japanese.

I did not expect him to praise the beauty of this paiwan tribe here, also, the topic of women being stronger and healthier than the men is no longer present. And apparently they considered dogs and chickens to be residences of human souls and so chickens are sold but not eaten? And the women are on the same level as the men?

A crown of flowers to protect your temples from the sun? really? Why not use hats then?

The rich chinese he talks about probably would not want all his children to be educated, probably just the boys, the prior school he mentioned also just had boys in it.

Was money really foreign to these poor chinese as he claimed or was that woman whom he gave some simply surprised and may not have believed it was real?

I think he also is quite a fan of pastoral areas. He really seems to love this farm, he even praises the chickens for their plummage.

He actually seems to love these chinese boats, the way he describes them.