On the seven seas,
We've sailed many of the world's great routes,
We've witnessed all kinds of exchanges and conflicts,
We've lived through many conquests and tragedies brought on by nautical travel,
Excitement! Drama! All this in...
...The Age of Exploration!
Hello and welcome to Taiwan Bar.
Today's topic is the ubiquitous Koxinga. (Mandarin: Zheng Chenggong)
Every city and town in Taiwan is bound to have a street named after him;
You can even go from kindergarten to university at schools all named after this man.
His image sure looms large,
This said, from the time the real Koxinga set foot on Taiwan to the time he met his creator,
Merely 13 months elapsed.
Huh? Barely over a year?
So what did Koxinga do on the island to gain such legendary status in Taiwan?
[clears throat] Let's find out.
To do an episode on Koxinga,
We must start with his father Iquan. (Mandarin: Zheng Zhilong)
Iquan was born in coastal Fujian Province, seafaring since he was young to etch out a living.
Eventually he joined a pirate party.
Pirates in those days were not simply thieves,
Definitely not sea nomads searching for buried treasure,
And not like the Somali pirates we see in media who take hostages and demand ransoms;
Rather they were a pirate-merchant hybrid.
They carried goods to trade.
If you were willing to trade, then you're golden.
But if you were unwilling...
- Buy it! - NO! -Sell it! - NO!
Then reeving and pillaging was of course the result.
In 1625, Iquan became leader of his pirate party.
Some say he inherited power from Yan Siqi (alias Pedro Chino),
Others say he inherited or seized power from prominent pirate Li Dan (alias Andrea Dittis).
He's kind of like Blackbeard after he beats all the bosses from that game,
And took power in the region's seas.
After three years of business as usual,
The powerful pirate captain accepted the Ming dynasty's offer of amnesty and became a naval commander.
Henceforth no longer would Iquan be simply a pirate and pirate-merchant,
He went so far as heading the navy.
Using the privileges of flying the offical imperial banner, he set to vanquish any enemy parties and fleets.
In 1635, he finally defeated Liu Xiang's pirate party
Leaving no more enemies on the seas of East Asia.
All merchant ships had to pay protection rackets
Only by flying his personal banners could one sail unscathed.
Hirado was the only port in Japan open to trade with Chinese pirates in the early 17th century.
Here, Iquan, like many other sailors,
Married a Japanese woman and had a child.
In 1624, Koxinga was born.
This is coincidentally the same year the Dutch East India Company (VOC) colonised Taiwan.
The newborn had not been given a Chinese name
But instead grew up under the Japanese nickname Fukumatsu.
Koxinga, born of mixed heritage, had a happy childhood in Japan.
Papa Iquan, though, was too busy trading and pillaging.
Just like Neil Young's "Old Man," he was completely absent from Koxinga's life
Until the boy was 7, Iquan finally remembered: "Gosh, I think my eldest is still in Japan."
So he got someone to ship him to Ming China.
Arriving in China, he got a Chinese name of Sen.
Iquan wanted his son to be studious, and that he was.
The texts made him develop of deep sense of nationalist duty, even with the eventual demise of the Ming.
As for the seaman Iquan, he was evidently an able merchant.
Merchants know no nation, so he was happy to side with whoever was winning.
With the fall of the Ming at the hands of the powerful Qing, Iquan switched allegiances.
The official banners were after all used just for ease of movement.
Not like they could give you more power.
But Sen, steeped in the Confucian educational tradition, begged to differ.
The newly installed pretender Ming Emperor Longwu
Had just awarded Zheng Sen with the royal surname Zhu, to be renamed Zhu Chenggong.
Thus "Koxinga," meaning Lord of the Imperial Surname.
He preached loyalty to his benefactors.
After levelling up all the way from Fukumatsu to Zheng Sen and now to Koxinga
Made his nationalist sentiments boil over.
Serving his country loyally became his raison d'être.
In 1646, after Iquan surrendered to the Qing,
He was not given the riches he wanted, but was rather mercilessly taken hostage to Beijing.
His ancestral home of Anping (present Anhai) was mercilessly sacked.
Koxinga learning of this, was also mercilessly(?) furious.
He 1) torched his scholarly clothes and announced his taking up arms,
2) Presented himself at a temple to make clear his opposition to the Qing
Restoring the Ming Dynasty thus became his life's work.
Although he held very little land,
But he gained massive riches from having inherited his father's nautical empire.
He was ultimately able to carry out attacks on the Qing for more than ten years.
After a victory at the Battle for Nanking in 1659, Koxinga captured lands north of the Yangtze River,
Nearly rewriting history.
It was, however, not to be.
Koxinga's army later suffered consecutive losses.
He was forced to retreat to Amoy (present Xiamen).
This loss not only ended any hopes of Ming Restoration,
It also had significant impacts on Taiwan.
To gain more bases to carry out attacks, he looked to Taiwan,
An island where his father had once carried out acts of piracy.
Koxinga's army reached Taiwan two years later.
To escape heavy Dutch artillery fire from Fort Zeelandia,
He went up the Lu'ermen River to first capture Fort Provintia to use as his command centre.
Today the tourist attraction Chikan Tower stands on the site.
He laid siege to Fort Zeelandia so he could begin on his plans to rule.
First steal all the food and money from the countryside and plant his soldiers on the farms.
Then he sent his army to slaughter any Aboriginals who opposed this.
He also raised the taxes for Taiwan's ethnic Han (Chinese) population.
Koxinga's policies made the lives of most people in Taiwan worse.
War is costly afterall.
This made the norm in Taiwan invasion and paying taxes.
The only difference was paying the VOC or paying Koxinga.
Only one year after arriving in Taiwan, however, Koxinga met his creator.
Ruling was left in the hands of his son Zheng Jing and brilliant advisor Chen Yonghua.
Wait a sec!
We need some clarification.
Koxinga kept levelling up but ran out of lives at the end.
How did he die?
Welcome to CSI: Koxinga.
Some say he took ill, others say he was poisoned,
Others yet say he clawed at his face or he howled at the heavens and expired.
The most believable is the illness theory.
But dying a mere month after showing symptoms seems suspicious, we might need to explore his mental state.
From early 1662 on, misery loved company for Koxinga.
First, his father and brothers were executed by the Qing.
His relatives all surrendered one by one.
The last hope for restoration and final Ming pretender Emperor Yongli also died.
This was all too much for the scholarly and ardent follower of Confucius Koxinga.
He had no more family to be familial to and no more nation to serve.
Loyalty and filial piety, two Confucian pillars, could not be fulfilled.
To add fuel to the flame,
His eldest son Zheng Jing had an extramarital affair and love child in Amoy with his brother's wetnurse.
News of the incest enraged the morally upstanding Koxinga.
He ordered his generals in Amoy to bring him his son's head.
But no general dared comply.
The act of defiance made Koxinga absolutely furious.
Being the head of a significant army and polity, he should command loyalty,
With problems compounding and high stress,
The previous theories of his death howling at the heavens like
AHH!!!
Or clawing at his face. They seem very probable now.
Koxinga of course had his flaws.
He was severe, gullible, and unforgiving.
In addition to massacring Aboriginal Taiwanese and pillaging coastal China,
There is still a great deal we can fault Koxinga for.
But we can say he did not back down from achieving societal requirements for loyalty.
He was loyal to the Ming, through and through.
Koxinga's rule in Taiwan began the age of Han-Chinese hegemony in Taiwan society.
This is the main reason why Taiwan's Han population reveres Koxinga.
But this was also the start of a gravely tragic time for Aboriginals in Taiwan.
When we were young, historical figures fit into a simple dichotomy of good vs. evil; hero vs. villain.
But can judging any person really be so black and white?
Who among us can decide for themselves they are to be the hero or the villain?
Other than following trends of praising or booing,
How can we get closer to historical figures so we can get a clearer picture of history?
Let me have this glass of wine.
See you next time!
Kampai!
B: Hey so Koxinga really wanted to blip off his son!
A: It was no blip on the radar. It was a real blipping blip!
B: Stop making dad jokes alright?
A: Fine whatever.
B: A father beating his son up? This has to count as domestic abuse!
A: This wasn't just a beating, this was a real death threat!
B: Say, do you know what to do when you encounter domestic abuse?
[Below is a PSA from the Social Affairs Bureau, Taichung City Government]
Everyone knows when encountered with abuse, one must not fear being nosy and call hotline 1-1-3.
But aside from abuse,
Did you know you can also help actively in cases where children are in high-risk environments?
In Suzuki's family for example,
Papa Su can't hold down a job,
Mama Su earns a pittance to support the entire family.
Suzuki and her baby sister sometimes don't even have money for meals.
Mama Su's stress led her to alcoholism
And constant fighting with Papa Su.
The volatile situation at home makes Suzuki often late for class,
Wear unwashed clothes,
And underachieving in school.
This fate is SU sad!
You, who cares for your neighbours,
Cannot possibly sit idly by.
You can contact approriate institutions
Caring and professional social workers can come to their aid.
They can suggest benefits to apply for,
Such as child care programs so Lil'-sis Su can get the care she requires,
They can arrange for employment services for Papa Su,
And psychological therapy for Mama Su.
Solving the problems at their heart
And preventing the problems at the Suzuki household from worsening.
Other than the aforementioned services,
Social workers can also apply for material and financial aid,
Now, Suzuki and Lil'-sis Su can finally have a chance at a happier childhood.
If you see children under the age of 18 living in a high-risk home environment,
Please call the hotline 1-1-3 or the Social Affairs Bureau, Taichung City Government.
You may also go to the website above to report cases of abuse or at-risk youth.