Life

Final journal of Dutch rule on Taiwan translated

• Publication Date：05/04/2010
• Source： Liberty Times

The fourth Chinese-language volume of “De Dagregisters van het Kasteel Zeelandia,” the official register of the Dutch colony in Taiwan in the 17th century, is being formally published.

The translator of the volume, Netherlands-based Taiwanese Professor Jiang Shu-sheng, said the book provides insight into Taiwan's history, as well as a wealth of historical data on the island’s indigenous peoples, adding that individuals who are engaged in civil service work will get a sense of the colonists' daily lives by reading the book. He also pointed out that, in studying history, only by reading between the lines of the documents can one get a better understanding of the true situation.

“De Dagregisters van het Kasteel Zeelandia” is a compilation of files registering the Dutch East India Company's operations in Taiwan between 1629 and 1662. The Chinese edition of the logs, comprised of four volumes, is the first book on Taiwan that has been translated directly from Old Dutch. Published by the Tainan City government, the first volume came out in April 2000.

Jiang said while the entire “De Dagregisters van het Kasteel Zeelandia” is important to Taiwan's history, the fourth and final volume of the translation is especially so as it documents the last years of the Dutch occupation, when a complex of factors led to poor administration and the eventual takeover of the island by Zheng Cheng-gong.

The fourth volume of the annals provides descriptions of the various problems facing the Dutch and Taiwan in the final years of the Dutch colony. It documents Koxinga's landing on Taiwan and the Dutch East India Company's withdrawal from the island on a day-by-day basis.

In discussing what inspired him during the translation, Jiang said regardless of what transpired in terms of events each day, the journal would start off by first depicting the daily weather, which was a little dull at first, but it eventually allowed him to comprehend that no matter how important the events of the previous day were, each new day was a new chapter and a fresh beginning.

Jiang said everything written in the book is described from a first-person perspective. The Dutch appearance in Taiwan in that era was "tantamount to aliens suddenly emerging." The journal also has entries that describe the opinions that Taiwanese had of the Dutch, the management of the colony by the Dutch and various other details.

(This article originally appeared in The Liberty Times May 3.)