Camphor Factory Ruins (Nanzhuang / Daxi)

Taiwan's camphor industry was one of the most significant colonial enterprises of the Japanese period, and the mountainous regions of Nanzhuang in Miaoli County and Daxi in Taoyuan were among its most important production centers. The island's vast forests of Cinnamomum camphora (camphor laurel) made Taiwan the world's dominant supplier, producing approximately 80% of global camphor output at the industry's peak.

The Japanese colonial government recognized camphor's enormous economic value immediately upon taking control of Taiwan in 1895. In 1899, the Taiwan Governor-General's Office established the camphor monopoly system (樟腦專賣) through Imperial Decree No. 246, creating the Taiwan Camphor Bureau with branch offices in Taipei, Xinzhu, Miaoli, Taichung, Linqipu, and Luodong. Between 1900 and 1910, camphor monopoly revenues averaged 3.85 million yen annually, representing approximately 19% of Taiwan's regular fiscal income and serving as the colonial administration's primary revenue source. In 1901, the camphor bureau was consolidated with the opium and salt bureaus into the Monopoly Bureau of the Taiwan Governor-General's Office (台灣總督府專賣局).

Camphor extraction required venturing deep into the mountainous interior where the finest camphor trees grew — territories inhabited by Taiwan's indigenous Atayal and Saisiyat peoples. Primitive distillation huts (樟腦寮) were set up in the mountains where wood was chipped, steamed in retorts, and the camphor vapor condensed in crystallization chambers. The crude camphor and camphor oil were then transported to government factories for refining. The Taipei Nanmen Factory, established in 1899, was the only modern government-run camphor processing plant, and at the time was East Asia's largest camphor and opium refinery.

The camphor industry's expansion into indigenous territories was the primary catalyst for the colonial government's "aboriginal pacification" (理蕃) policy. In Nanzhuang, the Saisiyat chief Ri A-guai (日阿拐) had leased camphor-production rights on his land to Japanese entrepreneurs, but disputes over land rights versus mere logging rights escalated into the Nanzhuang Incident (南庄事件) of 1902. Ri A-guai, joined by Saisiyat and Atayal fighters from several communities, besieged the Nanzhuang sub-prefecture office on July 6, 1902; the uprising was suppressed, and at a "submission ceremony" held on December 17, 1902, Japanese forces shot 39 of the participants. The colonial government's response was to implement the "Guard Line Advance" (隘勇線前進) strategy, systematically pushing armed perimeters deeper into the mountains to secure camphor-producing forests.

Camphor's strategic importance extended well beyond Taiwan. It was an essential raw material for celluloid (the first commercial plastic), smokeless gunpowder, medicines, and later synthetic camphor research. During World War II, Taiwan's camphor production supported Japan's war effort, and the industry's infrastructure — roads, railways, and police outposts built to facilitate camphor extraction — had permanently transformed the island's mountain regions. Today, heritage sites in Nanzhuang and Daxi preserve the memory of this industry through old camphor distillation equipment, Japanese-era buildings, and the cultural landscape shaped by generations of camphor workers.