The Fearsome Formosa Part I: A Brief Snapshot into the World of Taiwan’s Illustrious Pirates
Photo Credit: PICRYL
Table of Contents
Backstory:
Like much of the United States, we have recently been watching a great deal the Netflix series, The Brothers Sun. It details the life of an illustrious Taiwanese Triad family as conflict boils across international borders into the Asian American community of southern California. While we are wiser than to attempt to write an article about the Taiwanese underworld, we have been thinking about historical anecdotes which has brought us to pirates.
The Pirate King
The term, “Taiwan’s Pirate King,” is not Beijing’s term for Taiwan’s new president elect, but rather a reference to Koxinga, the 17th century Ming general who opposed the Qing Empire and who took over Taiwan while expelling the Dutch East India Company in the process.
Also known as Zheng Chenggong, Koxinga is something of a folk hero across Taiwan, China, and Japan. He’s a Geronimo, Davy Crocket, Robin Hood type figure with just a dash of Zoro and Jack Sparrow mixed in. He was a scholar, a merchant, sailor, pirate, and a warrior. Today he is worshiped, remembered for his temper, and seen as a character who knew a great deal of pain and personal loss. For those of you looking to write the next high seas tv series, the story of Koxinga could be one of the contenders.
Biography
Koxinga was born in 1624 to a Chinese father and Japanese mother and raised for the first part of his life in Japan before being reunited with his father in Fujian. As the stories go, he passed the imperial exams and later won acclaim for actions on the battlefield against the Manchu-Qing armies. His defeat, however, would be personal and come through the actions of his father who surrendered to the Qing counter to Koxinga’s wishes. This loss would be compounded by the death of his mother (either by suicide or at the hands of Qing forces).
Koxinga would take over his father’s fleet and trade empire which stretched from the coast of Fujian to Taiwan and Japan, and use it as a means of attacking the Qing. His bravery and his deeds won him success and he quickly became a scourge in the Qing’s side. In need of a new base, he set his sights on Taiwan, and won it from the Dutch East India Company which was at the time one of the wealthiest and most powerful entities in the world.
In Taiwan Koxinga would found the Kingdom of Tungning which would serve as a base for Ming loyalists looking to restore the Ming Empire. These dreams were never realized, however, for Koxinga would die in 1662, a year later, as he looked to expel the Spanish from their seat in the Philippians. Many sources point to malaria as the cause of his death. He was only 37.
Legacy
Today, Koxinga is seen by many in Taiwan as the first major example of an independent Taiwan . Japan likewise claimed him in their connection to the Island during their colonial period, and Beijing has long referenced Koxinga as a means of justifying their territorial claims over the Island.
In both life and myth he remains a convoluted figure.
Sources
- Taiwan Today: https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=4&post=7368
- Ringmar: http://ringmar.net/irhistorynew/index.php/welcome/introduction-2/2-1-the-warring-states-period/2-2-the-development-of-the-chinese-state/2-3-the-overland-system/2-4-the-tribute-system/chinese-pirates-in-taiwan/
- Marquette University: https://academic.mu.edu/meissnerd/koxinga.html
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koxinga#Worship
- Island Folklore: https://islandfolklore.com/the-pirate-king/
