Koxinga

Who is Koxinga?

Koxinga, born Zheng Chenggong, was a Ming loyalist military leader born in Hirado, Japan, to a Chinese merchant father, Zheng Zhilong, and a Japanese mother. As the Ming dynasty collapsed before the invading Qing, he emerged as one of the most determined commanders resisting Qing rule from bases along the southern Chinese coast, and was granted the imperial surname by the Ming court, giving rise to the honorific title "Koxinga" (Lord of the Imperial Surname). In 1661 he led a fleet across the Taiwan Strait and besieged Fort Zeelandia, the Dutch East India Company stronghold near present-day Tainan; after a months-long siege the Dutch surrendered in early 1662, ending nearly four decades of Dutch colonial presence on the island. Koxinga then established the Kingdom of Tungning, the first Han Chinese-led government on Taiwan, intending it as a base for eventual Ming restoration. He died only months later, in June 1662, and was succeeded by his son Zheng Jing. He remains one of the most revered figures in Taiwanese history, commemorated in temples and place names across the island.

Sources: Jonathan Manthorpe, Forbidden Nation: A History of Taiwan (2008) · Tonio Andrade, Lost Colony: The Untold Story of China's First Great Victory over the West (2011) · Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Koxinga"