ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the possible relationship between environmental exploitation and the outbreak of epidemic diseases in the Kaoping river basin. The Kaoping River, with its tributaries, flows through Kaohsiung city and Pingtung County and empties into the Taiwan Strait at Linyuan Township. With water supply by the Kaoping River, the Pingtung region has been renowned for its prosperous agricultural production since the eighteenth century. However, since the industrialization and urbanization has gradually polluted the water, though agricultural production continue. Several fishing ports and market towns appeared in the downstream area of the Kaoping valley. The urbanization in the area affected the intensity of animal husbandry. Local economists and police departments created a cumbersome reporting system to follow such diseases like chicken cholera, cow ulcers, emphysema, carbuncles, pneumonias, diarrhea, enzootic pneumonia, influenza, meningitis, small pox, mange, paratyphoid, and various parasites. Ligang developed fast into a market town, benefiting from the hydraulic engineering projects which allowed the cultivation of tobacco.
