Koxinga (redirected from Cheng Cheng-kung)

Koxinga (kŏksĭng`gə), Mandarin Kuo-hsing-yeh [lord of the imperial surname], 1624–62, Chinese general, whose original name was Chêng Ch'êng-kung. From 1646 to 1660 he led many unsuccessful campaigns of Ming dynasty loyalists against the invading Ch'ing dynasty. Koxinga captured (1661) part of Taiwan from the Dutch. The population of the southern coast of China was evacuated (1662) to facilitate the defense against his raids. After the death of his son Chêng Ching, Taiwan fell to the Ch'ing (1683).

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Zheng Chenggong

 or Cheng Ch'eng-kung or Koxinga

(born Aug. 28, 1624, Hirado, Japan—died June 23, 1662, Taiwan) Chinese military leader of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. After the Ming dynasty fell to the Manchu, Zheng refused Manchu offers of rank and power and launched a military campaign against the new dynasty in 1659, taking a large force from his base in Fujian province up the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). Initial success turned into failure, but, undaunted, Zheng took Taiwan from the Dutch in 1662 to use as a secure rear base area. Further glory was cut short by his death later that year. He became a popular deity and cultural hero to the Chinese on Taiwan, and even the Qing court honoured him as a paragon of loyalty. In Japan the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon celebrated him on the stage (Zheng had a Japanese mother), and in the 20th century both Chinese communists and Nationalists embraced him as a national hero.