Zheng Chenggong (Chinese: 鄭成功; pinyin: Zhèng Chénggōng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tēⁿ Sêng-kong; Tâi-lô: Tēnn Sîng-kong; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), also romanized in Taiwan as Cheng Cheng-kung, born Zheng Sen (鄭森) and better known internationally by his honorific title Koxinga (國姓爺), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century and expelled the Dutch from Taiwan, founding the Kingdom of Tungning.
Born in Japan to a Chinese father and a Japanese mother, Zheng rose through the Ming court via the imperial examinations and was serving as a Guozijian scholar in Nanjing when Beijing fell to rebels in 1644. He swore allegiance to Longwu Emperor, who favored and granted him the imperial surname Zhu in 1645, a name he proudly used instead of his native Zheng surname for the rest of his life, hence popularizing his aforementioned honorific name. He was made the Prince of Yanping (延平王) by the Yongli Emperor in 1655 for his stern loyalty and numerous anti-Qing campaigns. He was best known for defeating the Dutch East India Company's colonial state on Taiwan, who had been harassing and raiding his maritime supply lines, at the Siege of Fort Zeelandia in 1662 and established a dynastic state on the island that continued to exist until 1683. After defeating the Dutch, he died suddenly in 1662 while planning to invade Luzon in retaliation for the Fourth Sangley Massacre committed by Spanish colonists in the Philippines.
Zheng Chenggong was born in 1624 in Hirado, Hizen Province, Japan, to Zheng Zhilong, a Han Chinese merchant from Fujian, Ming dynasty China and a local Japanese woman known only by her surname "Tagawa", probably Tagawa Matsu. He was raised there until the age of seven with the Japanese name Fukumatsu (福松) and then moved back to his ancestral Fujian province.
In 1638, Zheng became a Xiucai (秀才, lit. "successful candidate") in the imperial examination and became one of the twelve Linshansheng (廩膳生) of Nan'an. In 1641, he married the niece of Dong Yangxian, an official who was a Jinshi from Hui'an. In 1644, he studied at the Guozijian (Imperial University), where he met and became a student of the famous scholar Qian Qianyi, one of the Three Masters of Jiangdong.
Following the fall of Ming Dynasty in 1644, in 1645, the Prince of Tang was installed on the throne of the Southern Ming as the Longwu Emperor with support from Zheng Zhilong and his family. The Longwu Emperor established his court in Fuzhou, which was controlled by the Zhengs. In the later part of the year, Prince Lu proclaimed himself regent (監國) in Shaoxing and established his own court there. Although Prince Lu and Longwu's regimes stemmed from the same dynasty, each pursued different goals.
Owing to the natural defenses of Fujian and the military resources of the Zheng family, the emperor was able to remain safe for some time. The Longwu Emperor granted Zheng Zhilong's son, Zheng Sen, a new given name, Chenggong (成功; Chénggōng; Sêng-kong; 'success'), and the title of Koxinga ("lord [granted] with imperial surname"). One of his cousins also had it.
In 1646, Koxinga first led the Ming armies to resist the Manchu invaders and won the favor of the Longwu Emperor. The Longwu Emperor's reign in Fuzhou was brief, as Zheng Zhilong refused to support his plans for a counteroffensive against the rapidly expanding forces of the newly established Qing dynasty by the Manchus. Zheng Zhilong ordered the defending general of Xianxia Pass (仙霞關), Shi Fu (a.k.a. Shi Tianfu, a relative of Shi Lang), to retreat to Fuzhou even when Qing armies approached Fujian. For this reason, the Qing army faced little resistance when it conquered the north of the pass. In September 1646, Qing armies broke through the inadequately defended mountain passes and entered Fujian. Zheng Zhilong retreated to his coastal fortress and the Longwu Emperor faced the Qing armies alone. Longwu's forces were destroyed; he was captured and was executed in October 1646.
Zheng Zhilong's surrender and the death of Tagawa
The Qing forces sent envoys to meet Zheng Zhilong secretly and offered to appoint him as the governor of both Fujian and Guangdong provinces if he would surrender to the Qing. Zheng Zhilong agreed and ignored the objections of his family, surrendering himself to the Qing forces in Fuzhou on 21 November 1646. Koxinga and his uncles were left as the successors to the leadership of Zheng Zhilong's military forces. Koxinga operated outside Xiamen and recruited many to join his cause in a few months. He used the superiority of his naval forces to launch amphibious raids on Manchu-occupied territory in Fujian and he managed to take Tong'an in Quanzhou prefecture in early 1647. However, Koxinga's forces lacked the ability to defend the newly occupied territory.
Following the fall of Tong'an to Zheng, the Manchus launched a counterattack in the spring of 1647, during which they stormed the Zheng family's hometown of Anping. Koxinga's mother, Lady Tagawa, had come from Japan in 1645 to join her family in Fujian (Koxinga's younger brother, Tagawa Shichizaemon, remained in Japan). She did not follow her husband to surrender to the Qing dynasty. She was caught by Manchu forces in Anping and committed suicide after refusal to submit to the enemy, according to traditional accounts.
By 1650, Koxinga was strong enough to establish himself as the head of the Zheng family. He pledged allegiance to the Yongli Emperor of Southern Ming, who created him Prince of Yanping. The Yongli Emperor was fleeing from the Manchus with a motley court and hastily assembled army. Despite one fruitless attempt, Koxinga was unable to do anything to aid the last Ming emperor. Instead, he decided to concentrate on securing his own position on the southeast coast.
Koxinga had a series of military successes in southern Fujian from 1651 to 1652 that increased the Qing government's anxiety over the threat he posed. Zheng Zhilong wrote a letter to his son from Beijing, presumably at the request of the Shunzhi Emperor and the Qing government, urging his son to negotiate with the Manchurians. The long series of negotiations between Koxinga and the Qing dynasty lasted until November 1654. The negotiations ultimately failed. The Qing government then appointed Prince Jidu (son of Jirgalang) to lead an attack on Koxinga's territory after this failure.
On 9 May 1656, Jidu's armies attacked Kinmen (Quemoy), an island near Xiamen that Koxinga had been using to train his troops. Partly as a result of a major storm, the Manchus were defeated, and they lost most of their fleet in the battle. Koxinga had sent one of his naval commanders to capture Zhoushan island prior to Jidu's attack, and now that the Manchus were temporarily without an effective naval force in the Fujian area, Koxinga was free to send a huge army to Zhoushan, which he intended to use as a base to capture Nanjing.
Despite capturing many counties in his initial attack due to surprise and having the initiative, Koxinga announced the final battle in Nanjing ahead of time giving plenty of time for the Qing to prepare because he wanted a decisive, single grand showdown like his father successfully did against the Dutch at the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, throwing away the surprise and initiative which led to its failure. Koxinga's attack on Qing held Nanjing which would interrupt the supply route of the Grand Canal leading to possible starvation in Beijing caused such fear that the Manchus considered returning to Manchuria and abandoning China according to a 1671 account by a French missionary. The commoners and officials in Beijing and Nanjing were waiting to support whichever side won. An official from Qing Beijing sent letters to family and another official in Nanjing, telling them all communication and news from Nanjing to Beijing had been cut off, that the Qing were considering abandoning Beijing and moving their capital far away to a remote location for safety since Koxinga's iron troops were rumored to be invincible. The letter said it reflected the grim situation being felt in Qing Beijing. The official told his children in Nanjing to prepare to defect to Koxinga which he himself was preparing to do. Koxinga's forces intercepted these letters and after reading them Koxinga may have started to regret his deliberate delays allowing the Qing to prepare for a final massive battle instead of swiftly attacking Nanjing.