A century passed before the prohibition against immigration from Guangdong was lifted by the emperor Qianlong. It was a time when a voyage to Taiwan was a life-and-death venture for anyone who dared to try. The oft-repeated wisdom at that time was that for every ten people who attempted to cross the treacherous "black channel" (as the Taiwan Strait was then called), "six died and one turned back."
直到乾隆末年，渡台禁令正式解除，一百年裡，客家人與所有台灣早期移民一樣，除面對地理屏障「黑水溝」，必須與「六死三生一回頭」的命運一賭，官方禁令的落井下石，讓客家人渡台倍加艱困。