Kingdom of Tungning
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The Kingdom of Tungning was the first Han Chinese government to rule Taiwan, between 1661 and 1683. It was a pro-Ming Dynasty kingdom, and was founded by Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), after the destruction of Ming power by the Manchu. Koxinga was son of a former pirate who styled himself as a Ming Dynasty loyalist; he hoped to marshal his troops on Taiwan and use it as a base to regain China for the Ming Dynasty.
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[edit] Names
The Kingdom of Tungning (traditional Chinese: 東寧王國; simplified Chinese: 东宁王国; pinyin: Dōngníng Wángguó) is also sometimes called the Kingdom of Zheng (Cheng) (traditional Chinese: 鄭氏王朝; simplified Chinese: 郑氏王朝; pinyin: Zhèngshì Wángcháo) or the Kingdom of Yanping (延平王國). Admiral Koxinga called Taiwan Tungtu/Dongdu. It has been called in western histories the Kingdom of Taiwan,[1] and the period of rule is sometimes referred to as the Koxinga dynasty.[2]
[edit] History
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| Prehistory 50000 BCE – 1624 CE | ||||||||
| Kingdom of Middag 1540 – 1732 | ||||||||
| European Taiwan 1624 – 1662 | ||||||||
| Kingdom of Tungning 1662 – 1683 | ||||||||
| Qing Taiwan 1683 – 1895 | ||||||||
| Republic of Taiwan 1895 | ||||||||
| Japanese Taiwan 1895 – 1945 | ||||||||
| Post-War Taiwan 1945 – present | ||||||||
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Timeline • Rulers • Kaohsiung • Taipei |
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In 1661, Koxinga forced a landing at Luerhmen (traditional Chinese: 鹿耳門; simplified Chinese: 鹿耳门; pinyin: Lù'ěrmén), Taiwan. In less than a year, he captured Fort Zeelandia and negotiated a treaty[3] with Frederick Coyett, the Dutch governor, where the Dutch surrendered the fortress and left all the goods and property of the Dutch East India Company behind. In return, all Dutch officials, soldiers and civilians left with their personal belongings and supplies back to Batavia, ending the 38 years of Dutch colonial rule on Taiwan. Koxinga proceeded to devote himself to building Taiwan into an effective base for anti-Qing Dynasty sympathizers who wanted to restore the Ming Dynasty to power.
In 1662, at the age of 39, Koxinga died of malaria, although speculations said that he died in a sudden fit of madness upon hearing the death of his father under the Qing. His son, Zheng Jing, succeeded him as the ruler of Taiwan, with the inherited title of Prince of Yanping.
For the next 19 years, Zheng Jing tried to provide sufficiently for the local inhabitants and reorganize their military forces in Taiwan. Contact with the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty from the China through ambassadors was frequent. Under Qing pressure, Zheng Jing struggled to defend Xiamen, Quemoy and the Pescadores islands, which he had eventually lost over the years, mainly due to his minuscule forces which were insufficient to defend from the Qing. During Revolt of the Three Feudatories, Zheng Jing launched an offensive in the Fujian area. With the end of the revolt, Zheng suffered a serious defeat. After the defeat, Zheng returned to Taiwan where he indulged in wine and women, soon after dying of illness. His son, Zheng Keshuang, succeeded him.
In 1683, after the Battle of Penghu, Taiwan fell to Qing forces and was incorporated into the Qing Dynasty until 1895.
[edit] Legacy
The Kingdom of Tungning existed for just over 20 years, but due to its parallels to the current political status of Taiwan, it continues to hold great symbolic value.
After its defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Republic of China (ROC), led by the Kuomintang, retreated to Taiwan, leaving Mainland China to the Communist Party who later established People's Republic of China (PRC). For the next several decades, the ROC was devoted to regaining the mainland, by maintaining island bases in proximity to the mainland (e.g. Quemoy), just as Koxinga and his descendents had done. Although the ROC has since democratized and is no longer singularly devoted to reconquering the mainland, the political and territorial arrangement has remained unchanged. In this respect, there is a striking parallel between the Qing/Koxinga situation and the current PRC/ROC situation.
The Kuomintang of the ROC have, unsurprisingly, focused on the goals of Koxinga, i.e. to use Taiwan as a base for restoring their government to Mainland China, parallel to how they view themselves as the defenders of the ROC, and Taiwan as a base from which the ROC will regain the mainland. The PRC has generally focused on the fact that Koxinga liberated Taiwan from Dutch colonialism for the sake of the motherland, while downplay the fact that Koxinga was in fact devoted to overthrowing the mainland government at the time to restore a previous dynasty.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Kerr, George H. (1945) "Formosa: Island Frontier" Far Eastern Survey 14(7): pp. 80-85, p. 81
- ^ "Historical and Legal Aspects of the International Status of Taiwan (Formosa)" WUFI
- ^ "Koxinga-Dutch Treaty (1662)" Appendix 1 to Bullard, Monte R. (unpub.) Strait Talk: Avoiding a Nuclear War Between the U.s. and China over Taiwan Monterey Institute of International Studies
[edit] See also
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