Shi Lang

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

Contemporary depiction by Shi Lang

Shi Lang ( Chinese  施琅 , Pinyin Shī Láng ; * 1621 in Jinjiang , Fujian Province , † 1696 in Fujian) was a Chinese admiral of the Ming and Qing dynasties .

In his youth he studied military strategy and focused his training on naval warfare. Gained combat experience in a variety of minor operations alongside his father. After 1640 he became a captain in Admiral Zheng Zhilong's fleet . There it came to a conflict with Zheng Zhilong's son Koxinga later . After the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644, Shi Lang entered the service of the now ruling Emperor Shunzhi (1644–1662) from the Qing Dynasty in 1646 . In revenge for the alleged betrayal, Koxinga, a follower of the Ming Dynasty, had Shi Lang's father, brother and son killed.

Emperor Shunzhi and the imperial government valued Shi Lang's military experience and his contacts with the most important ports in East Asia. In 1656 he accompanied Prince Jidu on an expedition in Fujian and was raised to the rank of general assistant. During the campaign against Koxinga in 1663, Shi Lang commanded allied Dutch ships. In 1668 he developed a plan to conquer the Ming-loyal kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan , which was rejected by the emperor and government. Around 1670 Shi La was appointed to the imperial bodyguard. After the so-called uprising of the 3 feudal lords, Emperor Kangxi (1662–1722) wanted to finally solve the problem with the Ming-loyal kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan. In 1681 Shi Lang was appointed by the emperor to command the campaign against Tungning. He accepted on condition that he would act as sole commander and not with Yao Qisheng , the governor-general of Fujian. After several months of preparation, Shi Lang set sail with 300 ships and 20,000 men for Taiwan. On July 16 and 17, 1683 he defeated the Tungnings fleet under Liu Guoxuan near the Penghu Islands and then landed on Taiwan. After several lost battles, King Zheng Keshuang of Tungning offered surrender on September 7, 1683. On October 3, 1683, Tungning finally surrendered to Shi Lang.

After the successful campaign he returned to China to convince Emperor Kanxi to annex Taiwan for China . Against the opposition of parts of the imperial government, who were of the opinion that an annexation of Taiwan would be an economic burden for China, Shi Lang was finally able to persuade the emperor to divide Taiwan into 3 counties in 1684 and to assign it as a prefecture to Fujian province. Shi Lang was declared by the emperor for his services to the "general who keeps the peace on the sea" and made hereditary marquis. At his own request, he was given the privilege of wearing a peacock feather.

Shi Lang returned to Fujian. He confiscated almost half of the land in use in southern Taiwan for his own gain and squeezed significant financial resources out of the country every year. He also pursued a policy that deliberately aimed to isolate Taiwan from the rest of the Qing Empire. The coastal provinces and their residents were banned from contact with Taiwan.

With increasing age, Shi Lang is said to have arrogant behavior. Even so, he retained the trust of Emperor Kangxi, who in 1688 granted him the privilege of sitting at audiences in the presence of the emperor and the imperial family. Shi Lang remained in office and dignity in Fujian until his death, where he died in 1696 at the age of 75.

literature

• Herbert A. Giles: A Chinese biographical dictionary. London 1898
• Arthur W. Hummel: Eminent Chinese of the Ch'ing period (1644-1912). 2 volumes, United States Government Printing Office , Washington 1943–1944

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Shi is the family name here, Lang is the first name.