历史上台湾平埔族的人口及其增长率滞缓原因试析

Historical Population of Taiwan's Pingpu People and an Analysis of the Causes for the Slow Growth of the Pingpu's Population

史料记载,历史上台湾平埔族人口增长率十分缓慢,甚至出现负增长的情况,不少人将其原因归于“外来殖民政权的奴役和屠杀”,甚至说是“清政府种族灭绝政策所致”。这种说法是片面的。实际上,历史上平埔族人口增长率滞缓的原因是多方面的,具体的原因主要有“汉番通婚”、疾病肆虐、战争影响和猎首伤害等,其中汉族与平埔族的通婚是导致平埔族人口减少的最主要原因。

Historical records write that the population growth of the Taiwan Pingpu people was slow and even negative. Quite a number of people ascribe the situation to colonialism and massacre from the outside forces and even the genocide policies implemented by the Qing Dynasty. This paper disagrees to that, holding that the slow growth of the Pingpu people resulted from a variety of causes, including the intermarriage between the Han and the Pingpu people, diseases, wars and behead custom, among which the intermarriage between the Han and the Pingpu people is the most crucial.