ABSTRACT
Taiwan's isolation from mainland China had always guaranteed its Chinese immigrants greater freedom to use their life chances than if they had remained in the bureaucratic-regulated society of Imperial China. Multiple property rights were quickly acquired by immigrants from Fujian and Guangdong provinces who had left mainland China to seek a better life in Taiwan. Chinese land rights in Taiwan, like those in mainland China, were divided between people who owned the top soil and those with sub-soil land rights. The land rights held by the taxpayer or patent holder were called surface rights, but in mainland China such tenants were called subsoil rights. A huge volume of exports began to leave the island to meet the market needs of the growing Japanese empire. The production and distribution of tropical products, such as sugar and rice, dominated the activities of the enclave economy, these goods being shipped to markets in Japan and its colonies.
