DRILLING OIL IN TAIWAN: A CASE STUDY OF TWO AMERICAN TECHNICIANS' CONTRIBUTION TO MODERNIZATION IN LATE NINETEENTH-CENTURY CHINA. (VOLUMES I AND II)

This dissertation reconstructs and critically evaluates the experiences of two Americans hired to drill oil in Taiwan in 1877-1878. The Introduction discusses the motivation and the sources used in this study. Chapter One briefly presents the historical background and development of political institutions in Taiwan as well as the geographical position and geological structure of the island province. The next chapter indicates how Governor Ting Jih-ch'ang's interest was aroused by the proposals and recommendations of his contemporaries on oil exploration which led to his final decision to hire two American technicians, A. Port Karns and Robert D. Locke, to drill for oil in Taiwan. Chapter Three deals with the two Americans' long journey from the United States to Taiwan and their working environment at the oil well site as well as the supportive staff and personnel of their working team. Chapter Four explains the difficulties and hardships encountered during the drilling operations, whereas the following chapter describes the two Americans' dull living conditions which made them so homesick that they eventually left Taiwan after their one-year contract expired. Chapter Six estimates its expenditure and reviews the undertaking with a concluding remark that, although it was not a success, it did bring in more advanced technique and newly invented machinery. Their entire efforts exemplifies the scope and sphere of the Self-strengthening Movement in the late Ch'ing period.