屏北平原「臺灣菸草王國」之形成以《台菸通訊》(1963-1990)為討論

Abstract

Northern Pingtung Plain was cultivated as tobacco fields under the monopoly system which prevailed during the Japanese colonial period in the early 20th century. In the late 1930s, there were generally five tobacco growing areas in Taiwan, among which some townships on the Northern Pingtung Plain were chosen by the Japanese government as the Kaohsiung-Pingtung tobacco growing area. In earlier times, cigar tobacco was the staple of the Northern Pingtung Plain. From the 1930s on, ”brightleaf”, which is also known as Virginia tobacco, was introduced here as the Japanese authority established an immigrant village upon the alluvial land beside the Kaoping River, a policy that appealed to the nearby townships for tobacco contract farming. The main townships that planted tobacco on Northern Pingtung Plain included Meinong, Gaoshu, Ligang, Shanlin, and Liugui, where are the Hakka accumulation area in southern Taiwan. The blooming tobacco industry after the 60s even led Meinong to become known as the ”Taiwan Tobacco Kingdom”, featuring the wide-spreading tobacco fields that formed a special cultural and economic landscape. The prosperity should not only be ascribed to Meinong's geographical and climatic advantages, but to the domestic and international political and economic environments, as well as Taiwan's urbanization which also had a great impact. Such a history is much referred to in Taiwan Tobacco Newsletter, which altogether lasted for 27 years with 308 issues. This journal was published by an association of tobacco planters with the narrative and expository contents reflecting the perspectives of the government and the public as well as the characteristics and social embeddedness of contract farming.