ABSTRACT
‘Penglai rice,’ or Oryza sativa japonica, introduced by the Japanese during the colonial era, is nowadays Taiwan’s most important variety of rice and staple food. The variety Oryza sativa indica, transplanted by the Han immigrants in the Qing dynasty and known as ‘Zailai rice,’ is relatively relegated to processed and non-staple food. This chapter discusses how and by what process a Japanese rice variety, reluctantly cultivated and consumed by Taiwanese farmers in the beginning, eventually became an irreplaceable staple food. It argues that the Japanese ingeniously manipulated the shared ‘Penglai’ legend of immortal isle in East Asian culture to conceal their first impression of Taiwan as a savage land, then bridged Taiwan to their own ‘Penglai’ myth, and finally transformed the immortal connotation into an economically and commercially fertile commodity by means of the colonial gaze, i.e., compulsive administrative measures and market inducement. However, Taiwanese people’s gradual acceptance of Penglai rice can be attributed to the cold war military mobilization structure, which compelled the Nationalist Government to inherit and extend the Japanese colonial gaze. Meanwhile, the connotation of ‘Penglai’ has also transformed from longevity to materiality and sexuality.
