“Natives of Formosa”: British Reports of the Taiwan Indigenous People, 1650-1950” was published by the Shung Ye Museum of Formosan Aborigines and edited by Henrietta Harrison, a lecturer in the Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Leeds. This book was the result of a project on “the indigenous people of Taiwan: past, present and future” carried out at the Institute of Chinese Studies, University of Oxford, with the support of the museum. It introduces readers to the various perspectives of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples from 1650 to 1950.
Throughout this period, British explorers, merchants, officials, travelers and missionaries visited and lived in Taiwan. The observations of those that made the difficult and sometimes dangerous journeys to indigenous areas are recorded here, in the forms of letters or reports stored in government archives. The majority of these materials are from sources that are either unpublished or not readily accessible outside major university libraries, and it is hoped that they will shed light on the cultural and social lives of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples from the mid 17th century to the mid 20th century.