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Koxinga (or Cheng, Chen-Kuang, 1624-1662): The son of a pirate chief Cheng, Chih-Lung (Nicholas Iquan) and his Japanese wife Tagawa of Hirato. He was born in Japan and moved to China in 1631, when the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) was seriously threatened by the Manchu invasion. Because Cheng, Chih-Lung's grand fleet controlled the prosperous sea route from Japan to Batavia (Jakarta), he was able to support the Ming's royalty in exchange for legitimate official title. Emperor Hung-Kuang even renamed his son as "Cheng-Kung", meaning "success". Lured by the promise of higher nobility, Cheng, Chih-Lung surrendered to Manchu in 1646, but was detained and eventually executed. In contrast, Koxinga kept his loyalty to the Ming dynasty and continued fighting the Manchurian. His effort in mainland China proved fruitless, and was forced to retreat to the coast of East China Sea and nearby islands. To seek a stronghold for the long-term resistance, he led 400 vessels and 25,000 troops sailing to Taiwan in 1661, which was under Dutch control then. Koxinga's landing troops quickly seized Fort Provintia, but took 9 months to force the Dutch surrendering Fort Zealandia (both near the present Tainan city). He died in Taiwan just a few months after his successful expedition. |
