Editing History of Taiwan (section)

===Administrative expansion (1796–1874)===
Qing quarantine policies were maintained in the early 19th century but attitudes towards aboriginal territory shifted. Local officials repeatedly advocated for colonization, especially in the cases of [[Kavalan people|Gamalan]] and Shuishalian in modern [[Yilan County, Taiwan|Yilan County]] in northeastern Taiwan. The Kavalan people had started paying taxes as early as the Kangxi period (r. 1661–1722), but they were non-acculturated aborigines.{{sfn|Ye|2019|p=55–56}}

In 1787, a Chinese settler named Wu Sha tried to colonize Gamalan but was defeated. The next year, the Taiwan prefect, Yang Tingli, was convinced to support Wu Sha. Yang recommended colonization of Gamalan to the Fujian governor but the governor refused. In 1797, a new Tamsui sub-prefect supported Wu in his colonization efforts despite the ban. Wu's successors were unable to register their land on government registers. Local officials could not officially recognize it.{{sfn|Ye|2019|p=56}}

In 1806 the pirate fleet of [[Cai Qian]] was within the vicinity of Gamalan. Taiwan Prefect Yang argued that abandoning Gamalan would cause trouble on the frontier. Later another pirate band tried to occupy Gamalan. Yang recommended establishing administration and land surveys in Gamalan. In 1809, the emperor ordered for Gamalan to be incorporated. An imperial decree for the formal incorporation of Gamalan was issued and a Gamalan sub-prefect was appointed.{{sfn|Ye|2019|p=56–57}}

Unlike Gamalan, debates on Shuishalian (upstream areas of the [[Zhuoshui River]] and [[Dadu River (Taiwan)|Wu River]]) resulted in its continued status as a forbidden area. Six aboriginal villages occupied the flat and fertile basin area of Shuishalian. The aboriginals had submitted as early as 1693 but they remained non-acculturated. In 1814, some settlers obtained reclamation permits through fabricating land lease requests. In 1816, government troops evicted the settlers.{{sfn|Ye|2019|p=58}} Multiple officials recommended opening up Shuishalian between 1823 and 1848, but these recommendations were ignored.{{sfn|Ye|2019|p=59–60}} The subject of land reclamation continued to be a topic of discussion and the Tamsui subprefecture gazetteer in 1871 openly called for colonization.{{sfn|Ye|2019|p=60–61}}