Koxinga (Traditional Chinese: 國姓爺; Hanyu Pinyin: Gúoxìngyé; Tongyong Pinyin: Gúosìngyé; Taiwanese; Kok-sèng-iâ/Kok-sìⁿ-iâ) is the popular name of Zheng Chenggong (Traditional Chinese: 鄭成功; Hanyu Pinyin: Zhèng Chénggōng; Tongyong Pinyin: Jhèng Chénggong; Wade-Giles: Cheng Ch'eng-kung; Pe̍h-oē-jī: Tēⁿ Sêng-kong) (1624 - 1662), who was a military leader at the end of the Chinese Ming Dynasty. He was a prominent leader of the anti-Qing movement opposing the Qing Dynasty, and a general who took Taiwan from the Dutch in 1662. Image:Koxinga. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ... Taiwanese (pe̍h-oÄ“-jÄ«: Tâi-oân-oÄ“ or Tâi-gí; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: TáiyÇ”, Táiwānhuà) is a dialect of Min Nan Chinese spoken by about 70% of Taiwans population. ... Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Pinyin (拼音, Pīnyīn) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to Hànyǔ Pīnyīn (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of... Tongyong Pinyin (Chinese: ; pinyin: Tōngyòng pÄ«nyÄ«n; literally Universal/General Usage Sound-combining) is the current official romanization of the Chinese language adopted by the national government (although not all local governments) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 2002. ... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... Pe̍h-oÄ“-jÄ« (POJ) (Chinese: 白話字; pinyin: ) is an orthography in the Latin alphabet created and introduced to Taiwan by Presbyterian missionaries in the 19th century. ... Events January 24 - Alfonso Mendez, appointed by Pope Gregory XV as Prelate of Ethiopia, arrives at Massawa from Goa. ... Events February 1 - The Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege. ... See also: Military History Antiquity Cyrus the Great (King of Persia who conquered Babylon) Artaphernes (Persian general) Sun Tzu (Legendary chinese general) Themistocles (Athenian admiral during the Persian Wars) Miltiades (Athenian general during the Persian Wars) Callimachus (Athenian general during the Persian Wars) Leonidas (Spartan king and general during the... For other uses, see Ming. ... The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: QÄ«ng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire... Events February 1 - The Chinese pirate Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege. ...

Names

• Popular name: Koxinga or Coxinga is the Portuguese Romanization of his popular name "Lord with the Imperial Surname" (國姓爺).
• Surname: Zhèng/Jheng (鄭)
• Birth name: Sēn/Sen (森)
  • Japanese name: Tei Seikō (鄭 成功)
  • Childhood name: Fukumatsu (福松)
• Courtesy name: Dàmù (大木)
• Royal surname: Zhū/Jhu (朱)
  • Granted by Lungwu Emperor of Southern Ming
• Imperial title: Prince of Yánpíng and Zhāotǎo Grand General (延平郡王招討大將軍)
  • Awarded by Yungli Emperor of Southern Ming

In linguistics, romanization (or Latinization, also spelled romanisation or Latinisation) is the representation of a word or language with the Roman (Latin) alphabet, or a system for doing so, where the original word or language uses a different writing system. ... Cha can also refer to a Latin American dance, also called the Cha-cha-cha. ... A Chinese surname, family name (Chinese: ; pinyin: ) or clan name (氏; pinyin: shì), is one of the hundreds or thousands of family names that have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, and among overseas Chinese communities. ... The Ming Dynasty (Chinese: 明朝; Pinyin: míng cháo) was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, though claims to the Ming throne (now collectively called the Southern Ming) survived until 1662. ...

Childhood

Koxinga was born to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant and pirate, and Tagawa Matsu, a Japanese woman, in 1624 in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. He was raised there until seven and moved to Quanzhou, in the Fujian province of China. He studied at Nanjing Guozijian (Imperial Nanking University - the main Chinese university of Ming Dynasty) when he was young. He is still known in Japan by the Japanese pronunciation of his birth name as Tei Seīkō, or by his popular name as Kokusen'ya. Zheng Zhilong [Cheng Chih-lung] (d. ... Look up pirate and piracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Tagawa Matsu (田川松), or Weng-shi (翁氏) (1601 - 1646), was the mother of Koxinga, a Taiwanese national hero. ... Categories: Cities in Nagasaki Prefecture | Japan geography stubs ... Oranda-zaka (Dutch Slope) in Nagasaki Castle in Shimabara The island of Hirado boasts a fine castle Nagasaki Prefecture (長崎県; Nagasaki-ken) is located on Kyushu island, Japan. ... The characters 泉州 are also used for SenshÅ«, an alternate name for the former Japanese province of Izumi. ...   (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal map spelling: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Nanjing University (南京大学, 南京大學, Pinyin: Nánjīng Dàxué; colloquially 南大, Pinyin Nándà) is one of the oldest higher education institutions in the world and became the first modern Chinese university in the early 1920s. ...

Loyalty to the Ming Empire

Beijing fell in 1644 to rebels led by Li Zicheng, and the last emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on a tree at modern-day Jingshan Park in Beijing. Aided by Wu Sangui, Manchurian armies knocked off the rebels with ease and took the city. In the areas south of the Yangtze River, though, there were many anti-Machu people of principle and ambition who wanted to restore descendants of the Ming Dynasty to the imperial throne. One of these descendants, Prince Tang, was aided to gain power in Fuzhou by Huang Daozhou and Zheng Zhilong, Koxinga's father. When the Manchurian Qing Dynasty's forces captured Prince Tang, Koxinga was in Zhangzhou raising soldiers and supplies. He heard the news that his father was preparing to surrender to the Qing court (it is also possible that the Qing Court promised amnesty to him and his followers as a lure) and hurried to Quanzhou to persuade him against this plan, but his father refused to listen and turned himself in. Beijing [English Pronunciation] (Chinese: 北京 [Chinese Pronunciation]; Pinyin: BÄ›ijÄ«ng; IPA: ), a metropolis in northern China, is the capital of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ... // Events February to August - Explorer Abel Tasmans second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia. ... Lǐ Zìchéng (李自成) (September 22, 1606 - 1644), born Li HóngjÄ« (鴻基), was a rebel in late Ming Dynasty China who proclaimed himself ChuÇŽng Wáng (闖王), or The Roaming King. Born in Mizhi District (米脂縣), Yanan Subprefecture (延安府), Shaanxi, Li grew up as a shepherd. ... Chongzhen Emperor (WG: Chung-chen) (1611 - 1644) was last emperor of Ming dynasty in China between 1627 and 1644. ... The Jingshan Park in Beijing Jingshan Park (景山公园) is a public park of Beijing, China. ... Wu Sangui (Chinese: 吳三桂; pinyin: Wú Sānguì; WG: Wu San-kuei) (1612 - October 2, 1678) was a Ming Chinese general who opened the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhai Pass to let Manchu soldiers into China proper. ... Afternoon light on the jagged grey mountains rising from the Yangtze River gorge The Yangtze River or Chang Jiang (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: )   is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world after the Nile in Africa and the Amazon in South America. ... Fuzhou (Chinese: 福州; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chou; EFEO: Fou-Tcheou; SLC: Hùk-cieu; also seen as Foochow or Fuchow) is the provincial seat and the largest prefecture-level city of Fujian province, Peoples Republic of China. ... Zhangzhou (Chinese: 漳州; pinyin: Zhāngzhōu) is a prefecture-level city, located on the banks of the Xi River in the Fujian province of China, about 55 km (35 mi) west of Xiamen. ...

Death of his mother

Not long afterwards the Qing army captured Quanzhou, and Koxinga's mother either committed suicide out of loyalty to the Ming Dynasty or was raped and killed by Qing troops (like many other aspects of Koxinga's life the facts seem to have been obscured by ulterior purposes). When Koxinga heard this news he led an army to attack Quanzhou, forcing the Qing troops back. After giving his mother a proper burial Koxinga went directly to the Confucian temple outside the city. Legend has it that he then burned his scholarly robes in protest. There he is rumored to have prayed in tears, saying, "In the past I was a good Confucian subject and a good son. Now I am an orphan without an emperor. I have no country and no home. I have sworn that I will fight the Qing army to the end, but my father has surrendered and my only choice is to be an unfilial son. Please forgive me." Apricot Platform in the Confucian Temple at Qufu. ...

He left the Confucian temple and proceeded to assemble a group of comrades with the same goal who together swore an allegiance to the Ming in defiance of the Qing.

Fighting the Qing

He sent forces to attack the Qing forces in the area of Fujian and Guangdong. While defending Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, he once fought all the way to the walls of the city of Nanjing. But in the end, his forces were no match for the Qing. The Qing court sent a huge army to attack him and many of Koxinga's generals had died in battle, which left him no option but retreat. Guangdong, often spelt as Kwangtung, is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ... For other uses, see Nanjing (disambiguation). ...

Taiwanese landing

In 1661, Koxinga led his troops to a landing at Lu'ermen to attack Taiwan. On February 1, 1662 the Dutch Governor of Taiwan, Frederik Coyett, surrendered Fort Zeelandia to Koxinga. This effectively ended 38 years of Dutch rule. Koxinga then devoted himself to making Taiwan into an effective base for anti-Qing sympathizers who wanted to restore the Ming Dynasty to power. 1661 (MDCLXI) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar). ... Frederick Coyett (1620-1689) was the Dutch Governor of Taiwan for most of the period 1656-1662. ... Fort Zeelandia may refer to either of two forts, one built by the Dutch and the other renamed by them: Fort Zeelandia on Formosa (now Taiwan) Fort Zeelandia at Paramaribo (originally called Fort Willoughby) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise...

At the age of 39, Koxinga died of malaria, although speculations said that he died in a sudden fit of madness when his officers refused to carry out his orders to execute his son Zheng Jing upon learning that Zheng Jing had an affair with a nurse and even had a child from it. Zheng Jing succeeded as the King of Taiwan. Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease that is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions. ... Zheng Jing (鄭經, pinyin: Zhèng Jīng, 1642_1681) was the son of Zheng Cheng_Gong. ...

Legacy

There is a temple dedicated to Koxinga and his mother in Tainan City, Taiwan. The play The Battles of Coxinga (Kokusen'ya Kassen, 国姓爺合戦; formally 國姓爺合戰) was written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon in Japan in the 18th century, first performed in Kyoto. A movie with the same title was produced by the PRC and Japan in 2002 in Mandarin Chinese. Tainan redirects here; for the county of the same name see Tainan County. ... The Battles of Coxinga (Kokusenya Kassen) is a puppet play by Chikamatsu. ... Tomb of Chikamatsu at Kousai Temple Chikamatsu Monzaemon (Japanese: 近松門左衛門; real name Sugimori Nobumori, 杉森信盛, 1653–6 January 1725) was a Japanese dramatist of jōruri, the form of puppet theater that later came to be known as bunraku, and the live-actor drama, kabuki. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... This article is about the city Kyoto. ... PRC is a common abbreviation for: Peoples Republic of China Palestinian Red Crescent Popular Resistance Committees This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... This article is on all of the Northern Chinese dialects. ...

In politics, Koxinga is an interesting figure because several opposing political forces have invoked him as a hero. For this reason, historical narratives regarding Koxinga frequently differ in explaining his motives and affiliation.

He has been considered a national hero in Mainland China because he expelled the Dutch from Taiwan and established Chinese rule over the island. The Communist Party of China (CPC) (official name, though almost universally known in English as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)) (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng) is the ruling political party of the Peoples Republic of China, a position guaranteed by the countrys...

During the Japanese control of Taiwan, Koxinga was honored as a bridge between Taiwan and Mainland Japan for his maternal linkage to Japan. The Japanese colonial period in Taiwan refers to the period between 1895 and 1945 during which Taiwan was a Japanese colony. ...

The Nationalists regarded Koxinga as a patriot who retreated to Taiwan and used it as base to launch counterattacks against the Qing Dynasty government on the Mainland. As such, the Nationalists have frequently compared Koxinga to their own leader, Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese Nationalist Party (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Tongyong Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo Kuo-min-tang), commonly known as the Kuomintang (KMT), is a centre-right political party in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and is currently the largest political party in terms of sitting Legislative... The Qing Dynasty (Chinese: ; pinyin: Qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: Ching chao; Manchu: daicing gurun), occasionally known as the Manchu Dynasty, was a dynasty founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China, expanded into China and the surrounding territories, establishing the Empire... Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the 1925 death of Sun Yat-sen. ...

Supporters of Taiwan independence have historically held mixed feelings toward Koxinga. But recent Taiwanese Independence supporters have presented him in a positive light, portraying him as a native Taiwanese hero seeking to keep Taiwan independent from a mainland Chinese government. Taiwan independence (Traditional Chinese: 台灣獨立; Pinyin: , Pe̍h-oē-jī: Tâi-oân To̍k-li̍p; abbreviated to 台獨, Táidú, Tâi-to̍k) is a political movement whose goal is primarily to create an independent and sovereign Republic of Taiwan (out of the lands currently administered by the...

A biography of Koxinga has been written by Jonathan Clements. Jonathan Clements Jonathan Clements (1971- ) is a British writer and translator. ...

External links

• Research on Koxinga: short bio and more links to articles about Koxinga

See also

• Koxinga Ancestral Shrine (鄭成功祖廟)
• Koxinga Shirne (延平郡王祠)
• Kingdom of Tungning
• History of Taiwan