Dutch in Formosa and the China Trade

Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, professor of archaeology and art from Princeton, gave a lecture on "Scratching the Surface: on the Dutch in China and Taiwan" at the Institute of Modern (Chinese) History at Academia Sinica on Tuesday. He was interested in the cultural exchange between Europeans via the Dutch and Chinese and Taiwanese in the 18th and the 19th centuries. His talk argued that the Dutch East India Company (VOC) helped facilitated cultural exchanges within Asia, from India to Japan, and less with facilitating exchanges between Europe and Asia. For Taiwan, he found remaining Dutch material goods among Taiwanese aborigines, but not within the Han Taiwanese population. For China, Kaufmann cited Dutch's lack of smart diplomacy with China to surpass other Europeans. He said that the Dutch dealt with the Manchu Qing emperor the same way they dealt with local chiefs in Batavia (Jakatar) in the 18th century. He also downplayed the value of porcelain in Europe-Asia trade by citing low quantity of porcelain export from China and low profit made from trading porcelain.

I can incorporate his talk and future books/articles into a world history syllabus. I can also include his information into China's relation with the world, and the history of Taiwan.