Indigenous people in early Taiwan referred to Changhua as “Babuza,” so the Han people transliterated it from southern Fujianese into the Mandarin name “Banxian.”
During the Ming-Zheng regime, troops were stationed here for land reclamation. In year 23 of Kangxi Period (1684), Taiwan was incorporated into the Qing Dynasty’s territory, and settlers along the coast of Fujian in China continued to reclaim land in Changhua Plain, which took a decade to complete. In year 58 of Kangxi Period (1719), the construction of Shicuo Canal was completed, attracting large groups of settlers to reclaim land in Changhua Plain. Most of the settlers came ashore via Lukang, which became an important port of entry for Chinese settlers, hence the saying “Yi fu, Er lu, San Manka”, which translates to “Fucheng, Lukang, and Manka”, depicting the importance of Changhua to Taiwan at the time. In particular, Lukang is the most prominent cultural town in Taiwan, which reached its heyday about 4 centuries ago. In year 49 of Qianlong Period (1784), a port was opened in Lukang, enabling direct traffic with Hanjiang, in Quanzhou, making it the second official trading port between Taiwan and China.