Editing Taiwanese Hokkien (section)

=== Spread of Hokkien to Taiwan ===
During the [[Yuan dynasty]], [[Quanzhou]] became a major international port for trade with the outside world.<ref>[http://culture.edu.tw/history/smenu_photomenu.php?smenuid=641&subjectid=1264 教育部，歷史文化學習網，《重要貿易港口－泉州》] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725194653/http://culture.edu.tw/history/smenu_photomenu.php?smenuid=641&subjectid=1264 |date=25 July 2011 }}</ref> From that period onwards, many people from the [[Hokkien]]-speaking regions (southern Fujian) started to emigrate overseas due to political and economic reasons. One of the destinations for the emigrants was the island of Taiwan (formerly Formosa), starting around 1600. They brought their native Hokkien language with them.

During the late [[Ming dynasty]], the political chaos pushed more migrants from southern Fujian and eastern [[Guangdong]] to Taiwan. The earliest immigrants involved in Taiwan's development included [[Chinese pirates|pirate-merchants]] [[Pedro Yan Shiqi]] and [[Zheng Zhilong]]. In 1621, Chinese Peter and his forces, hailing from [[Zhangzhou]], occupied ''Ponkan'' (modern-day [[Beigang, Yunlin]]) and started to develop ''Tirosen'' (modern-day [[Chiayi City|Chiayi]]). After the death of Peter and another pirate, [[Li Dan (pirate)|Li Dan]] of Quanzhou, Zheng sought to dominate the [[Taiwan Strait|Strait of Taiwan]]. By 1628, he had grown so powerful that the Ming court bestowed him the official title, "Patrolling Admiral".<ref>{{cite book |last=Andrade |first=Tonio |author-link=Tonio Andrade |title=How Taiwan Became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century |publisher=Columbia University Press |chapter=Chapter 2: A Scramble for Influence |chapter-url=http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/andrade02.html |year=2005 |at=§20-1}}</ref>

In 1624, the number of Chinese on the island was about 25,000.{{sfnp|Davidson|1903|p=13}} During the reign of [[Chongzhen Emperor]] (1627–1644), there were frequent droughts in the Fujian region. Zheng and a Chinese official suggested sending victims to Taiwan and provide "for each person three [[tael]]s of silver and for each three people one ox".{{sfnp|Andrade|2005|loc=§26}} Although this plan was never carried out, the Zheng family maintained an interest in Taiwan that would have dire consequences for the [[Dutch Empire]], who ruled Taiwan as [[Dutch Formosa]] at the time.