In the 23rd year of the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1683), Taiwan was divided into one state and three counties, and the Yunlin area was under the authority of Zhuluo County. In the 26th year of the Qianlong reign (1761), the Doulioumen inspectors' office was set up in Douliou. In the 13th year of the Guang Xu reign (1887), Taiwan was elevated to a province and Yunlin was elevated to Yunlin County at the same time. In the 28th year of the Guang Xu reign, due to fierce resistance from local people against the takeover, the Japanese abolished Yunlin County and established Douliou State. After the restoration of Taiwan from the rule of Japan, Yunlin County was restored as part of the administrative area adjustment in 1950. According to historical records, the people of Min Province, Yan, Si-xi and Zheng, Zhih-Long and neighboring regions of China, all landed here, the beginning of a collective migration to Taiwan which brought the island under cultivation. During the period when Holland occupied Taiwan, Bngang (present-day Beigang) was one of the important coastal castles.
After being included in the territory of the Qing Dynasty, immigrants from Zhangzhou, Quanzhou, and Hakka areas flocked to Yunlin to Settle. This can be verified through the classification of extant temples. Hakka immigrants mostly worship the Sanshan King, so there are a lot of Sanshan King temples in Yunlin, and Ji and Zhangzhou immigrants worship the Kai Chang Holy King. In early days, immigrants from Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and Hakka regions guarded were highly territorial and there were frequent armed conflicts among these cultural groups. There was a saying that Quanzhou immigrants of Beigang called Zhangzhou immigrants in Xingang “Xingang Uncles” and no daughter was allowed to marry a Zhangzhou immigrant from Xingang. Such a custom was the product of the armed conflicts between factions of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou.
In the early Qing Dynasty, the volume of immigrants that came in through Bengang made it a large community with a great population and fisheries and salt industries as well as merchant trading domestically and abroad. A temple (the Mazu Temple) was soon established at the foot of the town. Until the 15th year of Qianlong reign, following the flooding of the Bensi (now Bengang) River the navigation channel moved southward and Bengang Town was separated into two parts: Beigang (North port) and Nangang(South Port).
In early times, Beigang enjoyed prosperous commerce and merchant ships sailed frequently to and from Kinmen, Xiamen, Nanao, Anbian and Penghu bringing fabrics, liquors, sundries and other items from China’s inland to sell in Bengang, and shipping out rocks, sesame, sugar and beans. There were also bamboo rafts carrying camphor to Anping for transshipping onto steamers for foreign merchants to Hong Kong and other destinations. With the concentration of various merchandises, the place became a large market place all year-round. The booming trade was tops in Yunlin. The situation won it the nickname “Little Taiwan.” Bengang became the transshipping port or produce from Yunlin, Chiayi, and Anping.
The South Port is located at Xingang Township, Chiayi County. This was the exporting port for produce between these two places and there were merchandise transactions with Anping in Tainan.