Changes

*''Born: [[1624]]''

*''Born: [[1624]]''

*''Died: [[1662]]''

*''Died: [[1662]]''

*''Other Names'': 国性爺 ''(Coxinga/Koxinga, C: Guóxìngyé, J: Kokusen'ya)'', 和唐内、和藤内 ''(J: Watounai)''

*''Other Names'': 国性爺 ''(Coxinga/Koxinga, C: Guóxìngyé, J: Kokusen'ya)'', 和唐内、和藤内 ''(J: Watounai)'', 田川福松 ''(Takawa Fukumatsu)''

*''Chinese/Japanese'': [[鄭]]成功 ''(Zhèng Chéng gōng / Tei Seikou)''

*''Chinese/Japanese'': [[鄭]]成功 ''(Zhèng Chéng gōng / Tei Seikou)''

==Life and Career==

==Life and Career==

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 named Takawa Matsu,<ref name=yamagata>Yamagata Kin'ya 山形欣哉, ''Rekishi no umi wo hashiru'' 歴史の海を走る, Nôsangyoson bunka kyôkai (2004), 166.</ref>, 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, 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. Under his command, Amoy ([[Xiamen]]) became a bustling international entrepot, where Zheng oversaw ten trading companies dealing in goods ranging from [[sugar]] and [[silk]] to [[gunpowder]].<ref name=spence55>Jonathan Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 55.</ref> 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>

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. Under his command, Amoy ([[Xiamen]]) became a bustling international entrepot, where Zheng oversaw ten trading companies dealing in goods ranging from [[sugar]] and [[silk]] to [[gunpowder]].<ref name=spence55>Jonathan Spence, ''The Search for Modern China'', Second Edition, W.W. Norton & Co. (1999), 55.</ref> Around this time, Zheng gained the favor of the [[Longwu Emperor]] of the Southern Ming, who bestowed upon him the Ming Imperial surname [[朱 (Zhu)|Zhu]], and the honorary title "Guóxìngyé" (roughly, "Lord bearing the Imperial Surname").<ref name=yamagata/> 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>

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. Suffering a considerable defeat by the Qing at [[Nanjing]] in [[1659]], Coxinga fell back to Taiwan.<ref name=jansen85>Jansen, 85.</ref>

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. Suffering a considerable defeat by the Qing at [[Nanjing]] in [[1659]], Coxinga fell back to Taiwan.<ref name=jansen85>Jansen, 85.</ref>