Sika deer to less than 1,000. Of the five subspecies in China, the North China sika deer ("C. n. mandarinus") is believed to be extinct in the wild since the 1930s; the Shanxi sika deer ("C. n. grassianus") has not been seen in the wild since the 1980s and is also believed to be extinct in the wild. The status of Manchurian sika deer in China is unclear, though it is believed to be extinct, as well, and the sightings there are actually feral populations. The South China sika deer ("C. n. kopschi") and Sichuan sika deer ("C. n. sichuanicus") are the
Formosan sika deer the 17th century immigration from the Chinese mainland increased dramatically in response to political instability in China and economic opportunities on Taiwan, which from 1624 until 1662 was controlled by the Dutch East India Company (VOC). The VOC, operating from the port of Taoyuan (modern-day Anping, Tainan) in southwestern Taiwan, established a trading post whose main business was the export of sika skins to Europe. During the six decades of Dutch activity two to four million sika skins were exported to Europe. Exporting was reduced when the Dutch were forced out of Taiwan in 1662, but continued throughout the Qing