In these sections, Keliher has dug up some intriguing references to Taiwan from Ming and Qing dynasty officials that answer a few questions about the island's relationship to continental China.
The Ming wanted nothing to do with the island and the Qing was equally reluctant to take it on as a colony. The only reason the Qing came to Taiwan in the first place was to finish off the remnants of the Ming who had sought refuge on the island and set up a breakaway kingdom. Court officials remarked that Taiwan "has never been a part of Chinese territory" and said that to occupy and administer the island would be a waste of resources, though ultimately the Qing did bring Taiwan into its administrative fold.
Out of China is often an
exciting account of travel to this far-off and danger-filled island. But Yu's diary is short on details that would offer a more complete sense of what life was like in Taiwan during that time. We never know, for example, what sort of town Tainan was at the time, what people ate, wore, or what dialects they spoke. Yu rarely comments on population numbers in the towns and villages he passes, and never identifies the Aborigine tribes by name.
Yu himself is also something of an enigma. We never learn why and how the Qing government entrusted someone who was not an official with the task of overseeing the procurement of vital resources. These may have been conscious ommissions on Keliher's part, but the unfortunate result is that too many obvious questions remain unanswered at the end of Yu's tale. This and the annoying frequency of printing errors detract from an otherwise fascinating story.
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