Zheng Zhilong
Encyclopedia
Zheng Zhilong also known as Nicholas Iquan Gaspard, a native of Nan'an
, Fujian
, China
. He was a Chinese
merchant
, pirate and admiral
for the Ming Empire
. He was the father of Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga
), also a military leader. Under the Qing Dynasty
, Zheng was elevated to the rank of Count
of the Second Rank. His company was known as Iquan's Party
.
, Fujian
, the son of Zheng Shaozu (鄭紹祖), a mid-level financial official for the Quanzhou
government, and Zheng Shaozu's wife Lady Huang (黃氏). Contemporary biographies tell a possibly apocryphal story of how when Zheng was a child, he and his brothers wanted to eat longan
fruit. They found a fruit tree in an enclosed courtyard but whose branches hung over the top of the wall into the street. They threw stones in the hope of knocking some of the fruit clusters loose. It happened to be the courtyard of the governor of Quanzhou City, and he was struck by the stones. The boys ran but were caught and hauled before the governor. Due to the child's age and apparent charisma, the governor forgave Zheng and released him, saying "This is the face of one destined for wealth and nobility." The story may or may not be true, but it encapsulated the character of Zhilong: he ran wild, grasped at low hanging fruit, got in trouble, and came out the better for it.
Zhilong left home as a teenager, jumping aboard a merchant ship. Sources vary on why he left home, some saying he slipped his hand up his stepmothers skirt, others recording his father chasing him through the streets with a stick. Zhilong went to Macau where his mother's brother lived (his uncle). He was baptized
as a Catholic
in Macau, receiving the Christian name Nicholas Gaspard. His uncle asked him to take some cargo Nagasaki, Japan
, where he met a rich old Min man named La Din, also known as "Captain China", who became his mentor and possible homosexual lover. La Din had close ties with the Europeans and he arranged for Zhilong to work as an interpreter for the Dutch (Zhilong spoke Portuguese which the Dutch could also speak). In 1622, when Dutch forces took over the Pescadores
archipelago off the Taiwan Strait
, Li Dan sent Zheng to the Pescadores to work with the Dutch as a translator in peace negotiations. Before leaving Japan he met and married a local woman named Tagawa Matsu
. He impregnated her with Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga
), leaving Japan before she gave birth in 1624. After Li died in 1623, Zheng acquired his fleet of ships.
. Zhilong initially worked as a translator but soon became a highly successful pirate under the tutelage of the Dutch, who provided ships and weapons in exchange for a cut of the loot. Zhilong prospered and by 1627 he was leading four hundred junks and tens of thousands of men. He built ten outposts on Taiwan's southwestern coastal region, between Tainan
and Chiayi
, but was evicted shortly after when the Dutch arrived on the island
.
's father Shi Dashan (施大瑄). They began to challenge the Ming fleet and won a series of victories. In 1628, Zheng Zhilong defeated the Ming Dynasty's fleet. The Ming Dynasty
's southern fleet surrendered to Shibazhi, and Zhilong decided to switch from being a pirate captain to working for the Ming Dynasty in an official capacity, to go legit. Zheng Zhilong was appointed major general
in 1628. Stories tell of how Cai, the governor who had forgiven Zheng for stoning him so many years ago, came to Zheng and asked for a position in the Ming navy. Zheng granted this request. Whether or not this story is true is unknown, but it reflects the popular appraisal of Zhilong who was seen as a benevolent leader.
. He was appointed by the Chinese Imperial family as "Admiral of the Coastal Seas", and defeated Dutch East India Company
vessels on October 22, 1633. Zheng would continue to serve the Ming dynasty after the fall of Peking
in June 1644. After the capture of Nanjing
in 1645, Zhilong accepted an offer to serve as commander-in-chief of the Imperial forces and was ordered to defend the newly established capital in Fuzhou
under the Prince of Tang
.
He defeated the Dutch and pirates, a combined force of more than 100,000. The spoils of this victory made him fabulously wealthy. He bought up a large amount of land, as much as 60% of Fujian
, and became a very powerful landlord.
unguarded, allowing Manchu forces to capture Fuzhou. As a result of the Manchu victory, Zhilong was greatly rewarded and retired very wealthy. However, he would later be executed by the Qing government
in 1661, as a result of his son's
continued resistance against the Qing regime.
Nan'an
-China:* Nan'an District , Chongqing* Nan'an, Fujian , county-level city of Quanzhou, Fujian* Nan'an, Dayu County , town in Dayu County, Shanxi* Nan'an, Wenshui County , town in Wenshui County, Shanxi-Others:...
, Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. He was a Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
, pirate and admiral
Admiral
Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...
for the Ming Empire
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
. He was the father of Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga
Koxinga
Koxinga is the customary Western spelling of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong , a military leader who was born in 1624 in Hirado, Japan to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant/pirate, and his Japanese wife and died in 1662 on the island of Formosa .A Ming loyalist and the arch commander of...
), also a military leader. Under the Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, Zheng was elevated to the rank of Count
Count
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
of the Second Rank. His company was known as Iquan's Party
Iquan's Party
Iquan's Party is the name of an armed merchant company led by Zheng Zhilong that appears in the novel The chronicles of Zheng Zhilong...
.
Early life
Zheng was born in Nan'anNan'an
-China:* Nan'an District , Chongqing* Nan'an, Fujian , county-level city of Quanzhou, Fujian* Nan'an, Dayu County , town in Dayu County, Shanxi* Nan'an, Wenshui County , town in Wenshui County, Shanxi-Others:...
, Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, the son of Zheng Shaozu (鄭紹祖), a mid-level financial official for the Quanzhou
Quanzhou
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait...
government, and Zheng Shaozu's wife Lady Huang (黃氏). Contemporary biographies tell a possibly apocryphal story of how when Zheng was a child, he and his brothers wanted to eat longan
Longan
Dimocarpus longan, commonly known as the longan, is a tropical tree native to South and Southeast Asia, in the Indomalaya ecozone known for its edible fruit.-Vernacular names:The fruit is known as longan or longyan in English...
fruit. They found a fruit tree in an enclosed courtyard but whose branches hung over the top of the wall into the street. They threw stones in the hope of knocking some of the fruit clusters loose. It happened to be the courtyard of the governor of Quanzhou City, and he was struck by the stones. The boys ran but were caught and hauled before the governor. Due to the child's age and apparent charisma, the governor forgave Zheng and released him, saying "This is the face of one destined for wealth and nobility." The story may or may not be true, but it encapsulated the character of Zhilong: he ran wild, grasped at low hanging fruit, got in trouble, and came out the better for it.
Zhilong left home as a teenager, jumping aboard a merchant ship. Sources vary on why he left home, some saying he slipped his hand up his stepmothers skirt, others recording his father chasing him through the streets with a stick. Zhilong went to Macau where his mother's brother lived (his uncle). He was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
as a Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in Macau, receiving the Christian name Nicholas Gaspard. His uncle asked him to take some cargo Nagasaki, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, where he met a rich old Min man named La Din, also known as "Captain China", who became his mentor and possible homosexual lover. La Din had close ties with the Europeans and he arranged for Zhilong to work as an interpreter for the Dutch (Zhilong spoke Portuguese which the Dutch could also speak). In 1622, when Dutch forces took over the Pescadores
Pescadores
The Penghu Islands, also known as Pescadores are an archipelago off the western coast of Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait consisting of 90 small islands and islets covering an area of 141 square kilometers....
archipelago off the Taiwan Strait
Taiwan Strait
The Taiwan Strait or Formosa Strait, formerly known as the Black Ditch, is a 180-km-wide strait separating Mainland China and Taiwan. The strait is part of the South China Sea and connects to East China Sea to the northeast...
, Li Dan sent Zheng to the Pescadores to work with the Dutch as a translator in peace negotiations. Before leaving Japan he met and married a local woman named Tagawa Matsu
Tagawa Matsu
Tagawa Matsu , or Weng-shi , was the mother of Koxinga, a Chinese national hero, and Tagawa Shichizaemon , a servant to a Japanese feudal lord. She was a Nagasaki Japanese who lived most of her life in the coastal town of Hirado, then later migrated to China...
. He impregnated her with Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga
Koxinga
Koxinga is the customary Western spelling of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong , a military leader who was born in 1624 in Hirado, Japan to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant/pirate, and his Japanese wife and died in 1662 on the island of Formosa .A Ming loyalist and the arch commander of...
), leaving Japan before she gave birth in 1624. After Li died in 1623, Zheng acquired his fleet of ships.
Pirate
The Dutch, wishing to control and monopolize commerce routes to Japan, collaborated with Chinese piratesPiracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator...
. Zhilong initially worked as a translator but soon became a highly successful pirate under the tutelage of the Dutch, who provided ships and weapons in exchange for a cut of the loot. Zhilong prospered and by 1627 he was leading four hundred junks and tens of thousands of men. He built ten outposts on Taiwan's southwestern coastal region, between Tainan
Tainan
Tainan City is a city in southern Taiwan. It is the fifth largest after New Taipei, Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei. It was formerly a provincial city, and in 2010, the provincial city merged with the adjacent Tainan County to form a single special municipality. Tainan faces the Taiwan Strait in...
and Chiayi
Chiayi County
Chiayi County is a county in southwestern Taiwan surrounding but not including Chiayi City. Its historical name in Taiwanese Hokkien derives from Tsirosen in the Formosan languages...
, but was evicted shortly after when the Dutch arrived on the island
Taiwan under Dutch rule
Dutch Formosa refers to the period of colonial Dutch government on Formosa , lasting from 1624 to 1662. In the context of the Age of Discovery the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Taiwan to trade with China and Japan, and also to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and...
.
Shibazhi challenges the Ming fleet
Shibazhi (十八芝) were a pirate organization of 18 well-known Chinese pirates, founded in 1625 by Zheng Zhilong. Members included Shi LangShi Lang
Shi Lang was a Chinese admiral who served under the Ming and Qing Dynasties. He was commander-in-chief of the Manchu fleets which destroyed the power of the Zheng family in the 1660s, and led the conquest of the Kingdom of Tungning in 1681.-Early life and career:Shi Lang was born to a...
's father Shi Dashan (施大瑄). They began to challenge the Ming fleet and won a series of victories. In 1628, Zheng Zhilong defeated the Ming Dynasty's fleet. The Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
's southern fleet surrendered to Shibazhi, and Zhilong decided to switch from being a pirate captain to working for the Ming Dynasty in an official capacity, to go legit. Zheng Zhilong was appointed major general
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
in 1628. Stories tell of how Cai, the governor who had forgiven Zheng for stoning him so many years ago, came to Zheng and asked for a position in the Ming navy. Zheng granted this request. Whether or not this story is true is unknown, but it reflects the popular appraisal of Zhilong who was seen as a benevolent leader.
The Ming and the Dutch
After joining the Ming navy, Zheng and his wife resettled on an island off the coast of Fujian, where he operated a large armed pirate fleet of over 800 ships along the coast from Japan to VietnamVietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. He was appointed by the Chinese Imperial family as "Admiral of the Coastal Seas", and defeated Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
vessels on October 22, 1633. Zheng would continue to serve the Ming dynasty after the fall of Peking
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
in June 1644. After the capture of Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
in 1645, Zhilong accepted an offer to serve as commander-in-chief of the Imperial forces and was ordered to defend the newly established capital in Fuzhou
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian Province, People's Republic of China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong linguistic and cultural area....
under the Prince of Tang
Zhu Yujian, Prince of Tang
Zhu Yujian , the Prince of Tang, reigned as the Longwu Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty from 18 August 1645, when he was enthroned in Fuzhou, to 6 October 1646, when he was captured and executed by a contingent of the Qing army...
.
He defeated the Dutch and pirates, a combined force of more than 100,000. The spoils of this victory made him fabulously wealthy. He bought up a large amount of land, as much as 60% of Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, and became a very powerful landlord.
Surrender to Qing
In 1646, Zheng decided to defect to the Manchus leaving the passes of ZhejiangZhejiang
Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...
unguarded, allowing Manchu forces to capture Fuzhou. As a result of the Manchu victory, Zhilong was greatly rewarded and retired very wealthy. However, he would later be executed by the Qing government
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
in 1661, as a result of his son's
Koxinga
Koxinga is the customary Western spelling of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong , a military leader who was born in 1624 in Hirado, Japan to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant/pirate, and his Japanese wife and died in 1662 on the island of Formosa .A Ming loyalist and the arch commander of...
continued resistance against the Qing regime.