According to Hsu Ying-fu, a former employee of the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau, the Japanese began planting a gold leaf variety of American tobacco into the Hualien-Taitung region in 1913. Fenglin became involved with the tobacco industry in 1917, when cultivation of the plant spread to the "immigrant" villages of Fengtien and Lintien.
從公賣局退休的許英富表示，日本人於大正 2 年（西元 1913 年）將美國黃色種菸草引進於花東地區，而鳳林的菸草歲月則起於大正 6 年，於豐田、林田兩移民村開始種植。