Japan
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Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong)
Hirado (Nagasaki), Japan
Archival Overview
Ming loyalist general and maritime lord who waged war against the Qing dynasty, defeated the Dutch East India Company, and founded the Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan.
Biographical Record
Zheng Chenggong (1624–1662), universally known in the West as Koxinga (from the Hokkien honorific Guoxingye, 'Lord of the Imperial Surname'), was a Chinese-Japanese military commander and naval lord. Born in Hirado, Japan, to Chinese merchant-pirate Zheng Zhilong and Japanese mother Tagawa Matsu, he pledged eternal fidelity to the collapsing Ming dynasty.
Operating from naval strongholds in Xiamen and Kinmen, Koxinga commanded a fleet of hundreds of war junks and elite armored 'iron-man' infantry, launching an audacious assault that reached the gates of Nanjing in 1659. In 1661, seeking an unassailable bastion, he landed 25,000 troops on Taiwan, laid siege to Fort Zeelandia, and forced the surrender of Dutch East India Company Governor Frederick Coyett in 1662. By expelling European colonizers from Taiwan, he founded the Kingdom of Tungning.
Key Life Milestones
Naval Offensive on the Yangtze River
Sailed a massive armada up the Yangtze River to lay siege to Nanjing, striking panic throughout the Qing imperial court.
Expulsion of the Dutch East India Company
Compelled Dutch Governor Frederick Coyett to surrender after a nine-month siege, ending 38 years of Dutch colonial rule in Taiwan.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialTainan, Taiwan