Reluctant Porters and Missing Bullets
Logistics in Taiwan During the Sino-French War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7903958 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nan-Hsu Chen (0000-0002-5957-0820, National Taiwan Normal University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 41-72 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Late imperial China (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0884-3236 • E-ISSN: 1086-3257 |
| Publisher | Project MUSE (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1353/late.2025.a964627 |
| OpenAlex | W4412177040 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
In the second half of the nineteenth century, nearly all of Qing China's internal and external frontiers experienced major armed conflicts. These conflicts posed formidable logistical challenges in transporting resources over long distances and raised the critical question of how China supplied its frontlines. The Dan-Xin Archives (Dan-Xin dang'an), which contain county-level records from former Qing jurisdictions in Taiwan, provide a rare local perspective on wartime transportation. During the Sino-French War (1884–1885), county governments in Taiwan relied on the long-established head porter system to transport arms, ammunition, money, and various supplies. The experiences of magistrates, their civilian contractors, and the many parties they interacted with reveal how this system contributed to recruitment, transportation, and reimbursement difficulties and yet, in most cases, ensured deliveries to the front. This county-level effectiveness not only highlights a crucial but understudied aspect of late Qing resilience but also underscores the indispensable role of local logistical networks in sustaining imperial defense
Ancient history · Economic history · Political science · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics
Fund-Raising Wars
The Qing State, Merchants, and the Military Labor Force in the Jinchuan Campaigns
More Haste, Less Speed
The Short Life of a Statutory Label
How Did China Project Military Resources Across the Taiwan Strait? Institutions, Agents and Knowledge During the Sino-French War of 1884–1885
Military Mobilization in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century China, Russia, and Mongolia
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |