Zheng Chenggong

Portrait of Zheng Chenggong

Statue of Zheng Chenggong in Anping , Taiwan

Zheng Chenggong ( Chinese  鄭成功  /  郑成功 , Pinyin Zhèng Chénggōng , Tongyong Pinyin Jhèng Chénggong , W.-G. Cheng Ch'eng-kung , Pe̍h-ōe-jī Tēⁿ Sêng-kong ; Japanese Tei Seikō ), mostly also in Chinese Koxinga ( Chinese  國姓爺  /  国姓爷 , Pinyin Guóxìngyé , Tongyong Pinyin Gúosìngyé , Pe̍h-ōe-jī Kok-sèng-iâ / Kok-sìⁿ-iâ ; Japanese Kokusen'ya , * August 1624 in Hirado , Japan ; † 23 June 1662 in Tainan , Taiwan ) was an army leader and pirate at the time of the transition from the Chinese Ming to the Qing dynasty . Shortly before his death, he founded the Kingdom of Dongning in Taiwan .

Names

• Family name given by the emperor as a reward : Zhu ( 朱 . Zhu was the family name of the Ming emperor, the granting of the imperial family name was a special distinction, comparable to the admission into the imperial family. Awarded by the Prince of Tang (also known as "Emperor Longwu "Designated) of the Southern Ming Dynasty )
• Popular name: Koxinga or Coxinga is the version of the Japanese reading Kokusen'ya of his Chinese nickname Guóxìngyé (國姓爺, "Lord with the imperial family name") used in Dutch documents.
• Birth name: Zheng Sen ( 鄭 森 , Zhèng Sēn )
• Childhood name: Fukumatsu ( 福松 ; Zheng's name when he was a child in Japan )
• Style name : Damu ( 大木 , Damu )
• Official name: Prince of Yanping Prefecture and Great General for Combating the Emperor's Enemies ( 延平郡王 招討 大 將軍 ), given by Prince Gui ( 桂王 ) of the Southern Ming Dynasty

Life

childhood

Zheng Chenggong's parents were Zheng Zhilong ( 鄭芝龍 , Zhèng Zhīlóng , † 1661), a Chinese trader and pirate, and the Japanese Tagawa Matsu (Japanese 田川松 or Chinese  翁 氏 , Pinyin Wēngshì , * 1601 † 1646). He was born in August 1624 on the small island of Hirado, now part of Nagasaki Prefecture (Japan), in Japan and lived there until he was seven years old. He then moved back with his parents to Quanzhou in Fujian Province, China .

father

His father Zheng Zhilong was the son of a minor official who went to Macau to do business with the Europeans. He was baptized and often appears in Western sources under the name Nicholas Iquan Gaspard or shorter than Quon, Iquon, Iquam, Equan, etc. In 1625 he founded the Shibazhi ( 十八 芝 ), an association of 18 people who all use the character zhi ( 芝 ) on their behalf and engaged in both trade and piracy. For some time he cooperated with the Dutch East India Company and severely affected the ships of the Southern Ming, which had been weakened by the fighting with the Manchu ( Qing ) advancing from the north . In 1628, however, the Ming won him over and appointed him leader of the Ming fleet. In the following years he was able to expand his influence and wealth through trade, smuggling and piracy.

Ascent

Occupied areas (red) and area of ​​influence (pink) of Koxinga

In 1644, the Ming Beijing lost to insurgents led by Li Zicheng . After Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself, the Ming general Wu Sangui called on the Manchu, who had developed into a considerable military power in recent decades, to help and was able to recapture the city. Since the Manchu were not interested in restoring the Ming rule, they set up their own ruling family, the Qing, as the new rulers of China.

The rule of the Qing over China was initially very limited regionally, and especially south of the Yangtze River , various Ming princes tried to establish themselves as opposing emperors. One of them, Longwu , was able to establish himself around Fuzhou in 1645 with the help of Zheng Zhilong . In the following year, however, he was betrayed to the Qing and killed by Zheng, who was withdrawing his troops from Fuzhou. However, since they mistrusted him, they took him hostage to Beijing, so that Chenggong became the new ruler of the Zheng domain.

Death of the mother

Ancestral shrine for Zheng Chenggong and his mother in Tainan, Taiwan

Not long afterwards, the Qing captured Quanzhou, and Zheng Chenggong's mother committed suicide out of loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. Upon hearing of this, Zheng Chenggong attacked Quanzhou City with an army and threw back the Qing forces. After his mother's funeral, he went straight to the Confucian temple outside the city. There he is said to have burned his Confucian clothing and prayed to Confucius with tears : In the past I was a good Confucian and a good son. Now I am an orphan and without an emperor. I have no country and no home. I vowed to fight the Qing Army to the end, but my father surrendered and I have no choice but to be an unfaithful son. Please forgive me .

Fight against the Qing

Zheng Chenggong continued his father's activities in piracy, extortion and trade with his father's fleet. He received support from the population. Especially in summer, when there was little fishing, piracy and smuggling were often the only ways to make a living. Then there was the fight against the Qing, which deprived many people of their livelihoods.

As a middleman for the Southern Ming , Zheng Chenggong went to Japan in 1648, 1651, 1658 and 1660 to solicit assistance from the Tokugawa shogunate , which was not granted to him.

Around 1655, Zheng Chenggong maintained 72 military stations and 100,000 to 170,000 men in Fujian , organized by many former Ming officers. With these he attacked Nanjing in 1658 and 1659 . The city was about to fall when Zheng Chenggong's army was attacked in the middle of a birthday party and suffered a heavy defeat. In 1660 Zheng Chenggong was able to defend his base in Xiamen (Amoy), but the Qing then relocated all coastal residents of this province to the interior in order to deprive him of his power.

Landing on the "beautiful island"

From 1661 to 1663 this decree was extended to all residents of Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiang provinces within ten miles of the coast, eventually leaving all coastal towns and villages deserted. Then Zheng Chenggong had his son withdraw most of his troops from the mainland. 25,000 men crossed over to Taiwan on 900 ships . From there he intended to reorganize his forces. To do this, however, he had to break the control of the Dutch East India Company over the island.

Albrecht Herport's view of "The Selandia Castle on Teowan": 1. The main fortress of Seelandia. 2 The Rundut. 3. The suburb or the quarter. 4. The wooden wammest. 5. The guard house, called the Bokenstall. 6. The fortress of Sicam, and the adjacent suburb, or quarters, on Formosa. 7 The battle between the Chinese and Capitain Petell on Baxemboy. 8 The ship Hector of Troy. 9. The Emmenhorn ship. 10. The ship Kaukerken. 11. The Kurtenhofen ship. 12. The Chinese War Jonken. From: A short description of the East Indian tear (1669)

Expulsion of the Dutch

In 1661 Zheng Chenggong landed with his troops near Lu'ermen and began the siege of the fortress Zeelandia, the main base of the Dutch. This was on the Taiwan Bay, the name of which was later transferred to the entire island. On February 1, 1662, Frederick Coyett , the Stockholm-born local governor of the company, surrendered after he and the crew had been assured safe conduct. The surrender was not well received by the General Government in Batavia . Coyett narrowly escaped execution and was exiled to the Banda Islands for 12 years . Koxinga's name became particularly well-known in Europe through a book 't Verwaerloosde Formosa ascribed to Coyett , which appeared in 1675 and two years later in German translation by Endter in Nuremberg: The neglected Formosa or Warhrachtige story / How the Eyland was created by the neglect of the Dutch in East India Formosa was taken by surprise / mastered and overwhelmed by the Chinese mandorin and pirate Coxinja ... / Faithfully described and given to Liecht / By CES [i. e. Coyett et Socii?]. Even Albrecht Herport , a Swiss painter who went as a soldier to the East Indies, in his offers East Indian tear-description (1669) a detailed description.

Establishment of the Kingdom of Dongning

Kingdom of Dongning in Taiwan

Koxinga called his conquest Dongdu ( Chinese  東 都 ), literally the Eastern Capital, and founded the Kingdom of Dongning ( Chinese  東 寧王國 , Pinyin Dōngníng Wángguó , W.-G. Tungning Wangkuo ), which also supports the Ming, and the Kingdom of Yanping ( Chinese  延平 王國 ) was called. He died of malaria on June 23, 1662. His son and successor, Zheng Jing, tried to stabilize the power base, but forces remained limited. Under constant pressure from the Manchus, he gradually lost Amoy , Quemoy and also the Pescadors . An offensive on the mainland also failed. Zheng Jing withdrew to Taiwan, where he succumbed to an illness in 1681. After internal disputes, his younger son Zheng Keshuang was declared his successor. But as early as 1683 his troops suffered a decisive defeat in the battle of Penghu (Pescadoren), and Taiwan was incorporated into the Chinese Empire as part of the Fujian Province.

souvenir

Statue of Koxingas in the coastal city of Xiamen (Amoy)

In Tainan , Taiwan, there is a temple dedicated to Zheng Chenggong and his mother.

In Japan, the famous poet Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653–1723) wrote the play Kokusen'ya Kassen ( 国 性 爺 合 戦 , also 国姓爺 合 戦 ), the struggles of Kokusen'ya, which premiered in Osaka for the Bunraku puppet theater in 1715 with a running time of seventeen months produced an overwhelming success.

A film of 105 minutes with the same title Kokusen'ya Kassen was produced in 2001 in cooperation with the People's Republic of China and Japan.

Zheng Chenggong's tomb in Nan'an in Fujian Province has been on the list of monuments of the People's Republic of China since 1982 .

Diverse interpretation

Zheng Chenggong's family background as well as his eventful life provide ample material for various historical classifications. Since the time when Taiwan was under Japanese rule (1895–1945), he has been a connecting figure between the two countries, especially in Japan. In the history books of the People's Republic of China, however, he is praised for the expulsion of the Dutch and the beginning of Chinese rule over Taiwan. In the Kuomintang (Chinese National Party), however, parallels were seen between him and Chiang Kai-shek , who withdrew with his troops to the island after the conflict with Mao Zedong's Red Army in order to prepare for the reconquest of the mainland. Feelings are divided among supporters of an independent Taiwan that has been separated from China, but Zheng Chenggong is largely interpreted as the protector of the island's independence. The Kingdom of Dongning only survived two decades, but enjoys special symbolic value in this circle because of its parallels to the current situation.

Contemporary sources

"'T Verwaerloosde Formosa, of waerachtig verhael, hoedanigh door Verwaerloosinge der Nederlanders in East India, het eylant Formosa, van den Chinesen mandorijn, end zeerover Coxinja overrompelt, avoiding, end ontweldight has become: begrepen in here twee de-: gevoeght enige aenmerckelyke saken, rakende d'oprechte gront der Sinese wreetheyt en tyranny, gepleeght aen de predicanten, schoolmeesters end Nederlanders aldaer: met by-gevoeghde authentijke bewijsen / alles getrouwelijk uyt deselve by een vergadert "

“The derelict Formosa or Warhrachtige story / How the Eyland Formosa was taken by surprise / mastered and overwhelmed by the Chinese mandorin and pirate Coxinja due to the dereliction of the Dutch in East India: Written in two parts. In their I. the nature and characteristics of this Eyland and the discipline of the same inhabitants are dealt with ... II. Of the Chinese hostile communication on the Eyland Formosa ... / Faithfully described and given to Liecht "

- door CES [= Coyett Et Socii?] : Amsterdam: Jan Claesz. ten Hoorn, 1675. Digitized

literature

• Nicola Spakowski: heroes, monuments, traditions. National identity and historical awareness in the PRC . LIT Verlag, Berlin et al. 1999, ISBN 3-8258-4117-0 , 1.2.4 Zheng Chenggong and Taiwan dynastic loyalty or nationalism ?, p. 279–290 ( google.de - Zugl .: Berlin, Freie Univ., Diss., 1997).
• Marc Andre Matten: The Japanizing of a Chinese Hero and the Role of Koxinga in the Japanese Colonial Discourse. In: Peter Lutum (Ed.): Japanizing - The Structure of Culture and Thinking in Japan. Lit-Verlag, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-8258-8067-2 , pp. 158-195.
• Chong Wang: Interpreting Zheng Chenggong. The Politics of Dramatizing a Historical Figure in Japan, China, and Taiwan (1700-1963) . Vdm Verlag Dr. Müller, Saarbrücken 2008, ISBN 978-3-639-09266-0 (English).
• Tonio Andrade: How Taiwan Became Chinese. Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century. Columbia University Press, New York NY 2007, ISBN 978-0-231-12855-1 , ( http://www.gutenberg-e.org/andrade/ ).
• Patrizia Carioti: "The Zhengs". Maritime Power in the International Context of the 17th Century Far East Seas. The Rise of a "Centralized Piratical Organization" and Its Gradual Development into an Informal "State". In: Ming Qing Yanjiu 1996, pp. 29-67.
• Chang Hsiu-jung, Anthony Farrington, Huang Fu-san, Ts'ao Yung-ho, Wu Mi-tsa, Cheng Hsi-fu, Ang Ka-in: The English Factory in Taiwan. 1670-1685. National Taiwan University, Taipei 1995, ISBN 957-9019-87-8 .
• Jonathan Clements: Pirate King. Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty. Sutton Publishing, Stroud 2004, ISBN 0-7509-3269-4 .
• Ralph C. Croizier: Koxinga and Chinese Nationalism. History, Myth, and the Hero. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1977, ( Harvard East Asian monographs 67, ISSN  0073-0483 ).
• Gabriele Foccardi (Ed.): The last Warrior. The Life of Cheng Ch'eng-kung, the Lord of the "Terrace Bay". A Study on the T'ai-wan wai-chih. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1986, ISBN 3-447-02634-0 .
• Donald Keene : The Battles of Coxinga. Chikamatsu's Puppet Play, Its Background and Importance. Taylor's Foreign Press, London 1951, ( Cambridge oriental series. 4, ZDB -ID 1155271-2 ).
• Chien-chao Hung: Taiwan Under the Cheng Family 1662 - 1683. Sinicization After Dutch Rule. Washington DC, 1981, (Washington DC, Georgetown Univ., Phil. Diss., 1981).
• Philip Meij: Daghregister van Philip Meij: Het naervolgende sijnde 't geene per memorie onthouden van' t gepasseerde in 't geweldigh overvallen des Chinese mandorijns Cocxinja op Formosa en geduijrende ons gevanckenis, beginning 30 April 1661 and ending 4 February 1662, Dutch National Archives, VOC 1238: 848-914.
• GC Molewijk (ed.): 'T Verwaerloosde Formosa, of waerachtig verhael, hoedanigh door Verwaerloosinge der Nederlanders in East India, het Eylant Formosa, van den Chinesen Mandorijn, end Zeeroover Coxinja, overrompelt, avoided, end ontweld has become. Walburg Press, Zutphen 1991, ISBN 90-6011-711-5 , ( works uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging . 90).
• Montague Paske-Smith: Western Barbarians in Japan and Formosa in Tokugawa Days, 1603–1868. 2nd edition. Paragon Book Reprint Corporation, New York NY 1968.
• John E. Wills: Pepper, Guns and Parleys. The Dutch East India Company and China 1622-1681. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1974, ( Harvard East Asian series. 75, ISSN  0073-0491 ).
• Edmond Papinot: Kokusen-ya 國姓爺 (1624–1662) . In: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan. Reprinted by Tuttle, 1972 edition of 1910 edition. ISBN 0-8048-0996-8 .

Movie

• Koxinga - general, pirate, hero. (OT: Koxinga: A Hero's Legacy. ) Documentary, Great Britain, 2011, 47 min., Script and director: Sigal Bujman, production: Marc Pingry Productions, National Geographic Channels International, German first broadcast: September 14, 2013 on arte , synopsis by arte.

Web links

Commons : Koxinga  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Development during the Ming Dynasty and Fighting Against the Colonial Rule of the Dutch. China Taiwan, November 29, 2005, accessed March 25, 2009 . 
• Tomb of Zheng Chenggong. China Culture, accessed February 11, 2009 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Zheng Chenggong. (No longer available online.) Cultural China, archived from the original on November 10, 2009 ; accessed on March 25, 2009 . 
2. ^ Lynn A. Struve, The Southern Ming 1644-1662 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1984)
3. ↑ Frederick Mote & Denis Twitchett, editors, The Cambridge History of China, Volume 7, The Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Part 1 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988)
4. ^ By CES, Nuremberg: Endter, 1677.