Dawn

　　Lukang area, in which "No sky" street area was located, was Pingpu tribe’s land before occupied by Hollanders. Pingpu tribe was active in the western part of Taiwan and Yilang Plain. There were 40,000 to 50,000 of them divided as 8 clans. Lukang, located in central Taiwan, belonged to Babusa’s active area. This clan mainly lived on hunting, some simple farming, and fishing. Due to the lack of historical records, there is no way to know if the society had immigrants. However, during the late years of Ming dynasty, the ban on maritime trade was lifted and it was very likely that residences along coast of southern Ming went to Lukang to do business.

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　　The end of 15th Century was the epoch of navigation and European hegemony of sea started to develop in the far east. In 1624, Hollanders entered the southern part of Taiwan and developed toward the central and northern part gradually. The immigration of Hollanders symbolized Taiwan’s change from a tribal society into a general society and made immigration more possible. Hollanders’ dominance of Taiwan required large amount of labor and thus appealed to many Han immigrants. Meanwhile, due to the war in mainland China (Ming and Cing’s fighting over political power), more and more Han people immigrated and early Han immigrants appeared in Lukang.

In 1661, Jheng Cheng-Gong defeated Hollanders and became the new ruler of Taiwan and started a new page of Jhengs’ ruling in Taiwan. During Jhengs’ ruling, because of their hostile attitude toward the Cing government, immigrants were less than the Holland-occupation period. According to “Lukang’s Local Records”, there were about 2,000 Han people, most of whom were from Singhua, Fujian, doing farming and fishing. Later, some people from Cyuanjhou and Jhangjhou, Fujian gradually moved to Today’s Lunzihding in Lukang. This pattern should be the main pattern of Lukang’s immigration before Cing Dynasty.

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In 1683, Shih Lan defeated Taiwan and made Taiwan lack of political power. Larger amount of lands became deserted and made Taiwan a paradise for the poor who had no lands. Therefore, although Cing government had strict laws banning emigrants, lots of Ming and Yue emigrants violated the bans and came to Taiwan to cultivate. During the later years of Kangsi, many immigrants came to Taiwan and made the business in Lukang started to prosper. In sum, from the period before the occupation of Hollanders to Cing goverments’ official claim of Lukang as a commercial Harbor, people along the southeast coast kept violating the ban on maritime trade and immigrated to Taiwan. This made Lukang, though with limits, became an important commercial Harbor in Taiwan based on its population growth and superior harbor condition.

        We may conclude that the two hundred years, from Pinpu tribe's plantation to Shih Lan's war against Taiwan, as a period called dawn. Lots of trades activities was about to start alone with the excellent condition of Harbor. Even the government enacted policies in forbidding mainland immigrants to come to Lukang, the immigrants  still came to Lukang. Lots of the immigrants not only provided profound labor for the "No sky" street area, but also a lot of merchants were attracted to Lukang which led to the development of "No sky" street.

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