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Born in [[Hirado]] to a Japanese mother, he sailed alongside his father, the pirate-lord [[Zheng Zhilong]], in harassing the ships and bases of the [[Dutch East India Company]], as well as wealthy Chinese merchants and [[Ming Dynasty]] governmental targets.
Born in [[Hirado]] to a Japanese mother, he sailed alongside his father, the pirate-lord [[Zheng Zhilong]], in harassing the ships and bases of the [[Dutch East India Company]], as well as wealthy Chinese merchants and [[Ming Dynasty]] governmental targets.
He inherited control of his father's network of maritime trade, pirate bands, and bases of operation following his father's death, and after the fall of the Ming to [[Manchu]] invaders in [[1644]], put these to work rebelling against the new [[Qing Dynasty]] by attacking coastal shipping and other targets. The loyalists lost [[Fuzhou]], their last foothold on the Chinese mainland, in [[1646]], but then worked to consolidate their position on Taiwan. The Qing government attempted to blockade Taiwan in [[1656]], but were largely ineffective; the following year, they imposed a policy known as ''[[qianjie]]'', forcing Chinese to retreat inland, emptying the coastal regions of southern China in order to deny Coxinga targets to attack.
He inherited control of his father's network of maritime trade, pirate bands, and bases of operation, and after the fall of the Ming to [[Manchu]] invaders in [[1644]], put these to work rebelling against the new [[Qing Dynasty]] by attacking coastal shipping and other targets. The loyalists lost [[Fuzhou]], their last foothold on the Chinese mainland, in [[1646]], but then worked to consolidate their position on Taiwan. That same year, Chenggong's father turned to support the Qing, and began working to convince Chenggong to give up the resistance.<ref name=jansen>[[Marius Jansen]], ''China in the Tokugawa World'', Harvard University Press (1992), 26-27.</ref>
Chenggong solidified his position on Taiwan in [[1662]] by seizing the Dutch fortress, and in total managed to hold out against Qing forces until [[1684]].
The Qing government attempted to blockade Taiwan in [[1656]], but were largely ineffective; the following year, they imposed a policy known as ''[[qianjie]]'', forcing Chinese to retreat inland, emptying the coastal regions of southern China in order to deny Coxinga targets to attack.
After his father's execution in [[1661]],<ref name=jansen/> Chenggong solidified his position on Taiwan the following year by seizing the Dutch fortress, and in total managed to hold out against Qing forces until [[1684]].
==Legacy==
==Legacy==