Zheng Chenggong
3 min readKoxinga and His Childhood
Koxinga is the popular name of Zheng Chenggong（Wade-Giles）Cheng Ch’eng-kung；Cheng Kung）（1624-1662），who was a List of famous military commanders at the end of the Ming Dynasty.He was a prominent leader of the anti-Qing movement opposing the Manchu Qing Dynasty，and a Han Chinese general who seized Taiwan from Netherlands colonial rule in 1661.
Koxinga was born to Zheng Zhilong，a Chinese merchant and pirate in 1624.He was raised there until seven and moved to Quanzhou，in the Fujian province of China.He studied at Nanjing Taixue（The Imperial Central College in Ming dynasty of China）when he was young.He is still known in Japan by his birth name as Tei Seiko，or by his popular name as Kokusen’ya.
Loyalty to the Ming Empire
Beijing fel1 in 1644 to rebels led by Li Zicheng，and the last emperor Chongzhen of China 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 district below the Chang Jiang，there were many anti-Qing 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 Qing captured Prince Tang，Koxinga was in Zhangzhou raising soldiers and supplies.He heard the news thathis father was preparing to surrender to the Qing court and hurried to Quanzhou topersuade him against this plan，but his father refused to listen and turned himself.
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.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 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 ofthe 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.
Taiwanese Landing
In 1661，Koxinga led his troops to a landing at Lu’ermen to attack Taiwan.By the end of the year，he had chased out the Dutch，who had controlled Taiwan for 38 years.Koxinga had devoted himself to making Taiwan into an effective base for anti-Qing sympathizers who wanted to restore the Ming Dynasty to power.
At the age of 39，Koxinga died of malaria.His son，Zheng Jing，succeeded as the King of Taiwan.
Legacy
There is a temple dedicated to Koxinga and his mother in Tainan County，Taiwan.
He has been considered a national hero by Chinese nationalists both in China because he was a Ming loyalist and an anti-Manchu leader and for his role in expelling the Dutch from Taiwan which Chinese nationalists portray as establishing Chinese rule over the island.
