Abstract：
Hakka settlements at the Pingtung Plains of southern Taiwan illuminate a peculiar pattern of land concentration. About 70-80% of arable lands belonged to corporate landlords, such as the organizations in charge of ancestral worship and devotion to local deities. Another feature of these Hakka settlements is the establishment of militia groups, known as the Six Units. Village heads, family elders and other group leaders pulled together to share the costs and formed a military power, either as protector or predator. This essay analyzes the development of Hakka land ownership and the establishment of exclusive settlements. It also highlights the importance of aquifer, in the vicinity of which Hakka settlers occupied at the Pingtung Plains. Such location ensured abundant supply of groundwater for both agricultural cultivation and daily consumption.

Keywords：Pingtung Plains, Hakka Settlement, Tenurial Relations, Corporate Landlord, Aquifer

Abstract：
According to the case study of An-li tribe, this article explores the abolition of plain aborigine land rights following the lift of favorable protection by Liu Ming-chuan’s land tax reform in late Qing Taiwan (1886-1889). Adopting Liu’s verdict on the land right dispute, the land cadastral survey (1898-1905) conducted soon after the Japanese colonial rule classified various forms of aborigine land rights as big-rent, a residual land right scheduled to be abolished. Extensive protests, appeals, and law sues for rectification led to an investigation and subsequent accommodation toward the existing aborigine small- rent land right. However, instead of recognizing the aborigine small-rent land right as the legal land ownership as required by the land act, the colonial government pursued reconciliation between aborigine small-rent owners and their Han tenants. Both sides eventually settled for a buying-off of aborigine small-rents at mutually agreed prices according to local customs. The documents and land cadastral data compiled by the Land Investigation Bureau as a consequence of the investigation and negotiation served not only the original purpose of distinguishing between the aborigine big- and small-rents, but also helped to identify the different ways through which aborigine land rights terminated and their respective amounts of land involved. The detailed information makes possible the construction of the most complete scheme by far depicting the distribution of aborigine big- and small-rents as well as the process of their dissolution and termination. In addition, the reconciliation in 1903 reached a buying-off agreement that distinguished various types of aborigine small-rent arrangement and the respective price-setting mechanisms in their sale. Tracing the terms involved in the sale as well as the contents of extant land deals, the author depicts in full the customary small-rent land practices between aborigines and Hans in terms of tenancy, pawn (tai-dian), sale with recourse (huo-mai), and sale without recourse (jue-mai).

Keywords：Aborigine Land Rights, Land Reform, Land Tenancy, Land Transaction, Ethnic Relations, State

Abstract：
From the late 1920s, self-awareness began to sprout among the female in Taiwan. As a result, more and more women joined the labor force and the women’s liberation movement started to take root. Traditional literati commonly held a stereotypical image of female as being deeply influenced by Confucianism, and hence, relatively conservative. How such perspective changed and evolved under the impact of the new era merits further exploration. This paper reviewed the notions of female held by traditional literati as expressed in their poems, prose and diaries. Traditional literati inherently expected high moral norms from female, often eulogizing virtuous women of chastity, filial piety, integrity and courage; while they themselves kept concubines and mistresses and frequented brothels, showing double standards. From the 1920s, their notions of female gradually became more advanced. They began to emphasize female education, advocate gender equality, recognize the contribution of working female, support physical education among female, honor female literati, and encouraged female to participate in public activities. Nevertheless, there was still discrepancy among the literati, with the majority still clinging to the traditional view that “the male is the breadwinner, the female is the homemaker”. They adhered to the belief that the objective of female education was to turn them into “capable wives and good mothers” and the purpose of physical education among female was for them to produce healthy children. Such notions revealed that their perspectives still remained narrow and confined.

Keywords：Traditional Literati, Notions of Female, Lin Hsien-tang, Chang Li-jun, Lin Chih-hsien

Abstract：
This paper focused on exploring how the Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation (TSC) took over shipbuilding business from the Taiwan Dockyard Company of the Japanese colonial era, and how TSC imported foreign technology on shipbuilding in the early post-war years. In 1957, TSC rented its shipyards to Ingalls Shipbuilding Company of USA, and then switched to engage in building large oil tankers. However, TSC suffered great losses owing to mismanagement of fund. Finally, in 1962, the Ministry of Economic Affairs had to take over the management of the corporation. In 1965, TSC imported technology from Ishikawashima-Harima Heavy Industries Corporation of Japan, and the shipbuilding division attained outstanding achievements. Nevertheless, over-reliance on imported parts and raw materials led to increasing costs, which turned profits into losses. Although Taiwan’s technology in shipbuilding had become well developed after the 1980s, the government failed to create a competitive edge for shipbuilders or offer favorable purchase terms for ship owners. It was thus impossible for TSC to gain a foothold in the international market, which undermined its growth. Tracing TSC’s path of development revealed the critical role played the government in fostering industrialization, and the fact that shortcomings in government policies in turn limited industrial growth.

Keywords：Taiwan Dockyard Company, National Government Resources Committee, Taiwan Shipbuilding Corporation, Technology Transfer, Public-owned Enterprise

Abstract：
The Court of the Government-General of Taiwan, the first modern-style court in Taiwan, began operation in July 1896 and had since then deeply influenced the judiciary and life of Taiwanese for half a century under Japanese colonial rule. In July 2000, the judicial authorities of post-war Taiwan launched a search for judicial records related to the Japanese colonial era in eight District Courts that were established before 1945. By February 2009, colonial judicial documents stored in District Courts of Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung (some of the original documents had been moved to the Training Institute for Judges and Prosecutors) and Chiayi had been retrieved and reorganized, while part of those stored in the district courts in Hualian and Kaohsiung, and even in land offices had also been recovered but still waited further reorganization. In order to deepen our understanding of Taiwan legal history through these precious materials, I had worked with my team to reorganize the recovered colonial court records since 2002. With joint effort from the NTU library, the database of the Taiwan Colonial Court Records Archives (TCCRA) was finally compiled and made available in September 2008 to scholars worldwide for academic research. At the present stage, the TCCRA consists of 5,645 volumes of reorganized judicial documents, including 4,139 volumes of civil case documents, 1,216 volumes of criminal case documents, and other judicial administrative documents. The archives comprise mainly originals of civil and criminal verdicts as well as notarized contracts. These data cover the entire Japanese colonial era (except for civil verdicts between 1895 and 1914) and concern the area in western Taiwan north of Chiayi geographically. The TCCRA reveals the sudden encounter of Han immigrants who carried with them traditional Chinese legal culture and the aboriginals, those assimilated with Han culture and those retaining their indigenous legal culture, with the modern continental court system, and the process of their mutual adaptation in colonial Taiwan. In combination with the Tan-hsin Archives and the judicial archives of the Republic of China after 1945, the TCCRA can be utilized to examine the operation of Taiwan’s judicial system under different regimes over the last two centuries. Comparative study can also be made between the TCCRA and judicial documents produced in other parts of Imperial Japan or in Qing and Republican China. Nevertheless, because the TCCRA contain mainly official documents, private documents should also be used as supplements to obtain an overall perspective of legal life experience among Taiwanese. The abundant resources available from the TCCRA could meet many intellectual needs of researchers from different fields and various disciplines or concerned with specific issues. Thus, potential users of the TCCRA should not be restricted to students of legal history, but open to the whole academic community. The TCCRA are expected to contribute to both the accumulation of knowledge and the civilization of humankind.

Keywords：Taiwan Colonial Court Records Archives (TCCRA), Court, Civil Verdicts, Criminal Verdicts, Public Notary, Database