调查、觊觎与记录:台湾矿产资源与近代西人“台湾印象”的形成

Investigation,Covet and Record:Taiwan’s Mineral Resources and the Formation of Modern Westerners’ “Impression of Taiwan”

我国台湾地区矿产资源丰富,尤以煤炭、石油、硫磺、贵重金属等资源最多。19世纪中后叶正处各西方资本主义大国向帝国主义过渡时期,对远东地区掌控权的争夺及对矿产资源的占有欲促使来台西人纷纷展开对台湾矿产的考察。此类考察以矿产分布、矿产掘采运输、矿产质量三方面为主要内容,带有明显的官方背景。在对台湾矿产资源有了较为全面的了解后,英、法、美等国均将基隆煤矿作为其占有开发的首要目标,意图将台湾建设为自己在远东地区的中转补给站,这是西方殖民主义意识的典型体现。近代西人对台湾矿产资源的考察虽暴露出当时台湾地方治理中存在的诸多问题,但在客观上也促使地方官府对资源进行合理的利用开发,加快了台湾近代化转型的过程。

Taiwan is rich in mineral resources,especially coal,oil,sulphur and precious metals.In the middle and late 19th century,during the transition period from western capitalist powers to imperialism,the contention for control over the Far East and the desire for possession of mineral resources prompted the people to arrive at the west in Taiwan to carry out a series of investigations into Taiwan’s mineral resources.The main contents of this kind of investigation were mineral distribution,mining and transportation,and mineral quality,with obvious official background.After having a comprehensive grasp of Taiwan’s mineral resources,Great Britain,France,the United States and other countries all regardedcoal mines in Keelung as their primary goal of possession and development,intending to build Taiwan as its transit supply station in the Far East,which is a typical manifestation of Western colonialism consciousness.Modern Westerners’investigation of Taiwan’s mineral resources exposed many problems in local governance at that time,but objectively it also urged Taiwan’s government to make rational use of resources and accelerated the process of modernization transformation in Taiwan.