Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (Chinese: 鄭成功; pinyin: Zhèng Chénggōng; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Tīⁿ Sêng-kong; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (Chinese: 國姓爺; pinyin: Guóxìngyé; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kok-sèng-iâ), was a Southern Ming general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern coast.

In 1661, Koxinga defeated the Dutch outposts on Taiwan[2][3] and established Zheng dynastic rule on the island, which continued to exist until 1683.

[8] He was raised there until the age of seven with the Japanese name Fukumatsu (福松)[9][10] and then moved to Fujian province of Ming dynasty China.

Owing to the natural defenses of Fujian and the military resources of the Zheng family, the emperor was able to remain safe for some time.

[16] In 1646, Koxinga first led the Ming armies to resist the Manchu invaders and won the favor of the Longwu Emperor.

The Longwu Emperor's reign in Fuzhou was brief, as Zheng Zhilong refused to support his plans for a counteroffensive against the rapidly expanding forces of the newly established Qing dynasty by the Manchus.

He used the superiority of his naval forces to launch amphibious raids on Manchu-occupied territory in Fujian and he managed to take Tong'an in Quanzhou prefecture in early 1647.

She was caught by Manchu forces in Anping and committed suicide after refusal to submit to the enemy, according to traditional accounts.

The Qing government then appointed Prince Jidu (son of Jirgalang) to lead an attack on Koxinga's territory after this failure.

[26] Koxinga had sent one of his naval commanders to capture Zhoushan island prior to Jidu's attack,[27] and now that the Manchus were temporarily without an effective naval force in the Fujian area, Koxinga was free to send a huge army to Zhoushan, which he intended to use as a base to capture Nanjing.

Koxinga's attack on Qing held Nanjing which would interrupt the supply route of the Grand Canal leading to possible starvation in Beijing caused such fear that the Manchus considered returning to Manchuria and abandoning China according to a 1671 account by a French missionary.

[29] Koxinga's Ming loyalists fought against a majority Han Chinese Bannermen Qing army when attacking Nanjing.

[35] The Aboriginals (Formosans) of Sincan defected to Koxinga after he offered them amnesty and proceeded to work for the Chinese, beheading Dutch people.

According to Frederick Coyett's own self-justifying account written after the siege, Koxinga's life was saved at the end of the siege by a certain Hans Jurgen Radis of Stockaert, a Dutch defector who strongly advised him against visiting the ramparts of the fort after he had taken it, which Radis knew would be blown up by the retreating Dutch forces.

Koxinga then devoted himself to transforming Taiwan into a military base for loyalists who wanted to restore the Ming dynasty.

[40] The Spanish refused to pay the tribute and reinforced the garrisons around Manila, but the planned attack never took place due to Koxinga's sudden death in that year after expelling the Dutch from Taiwan.

Contemporary accounts named heat stroke and cold as causes and modern historians suspect malaria.

Qing history claimed that he died in a sudden fit of madness when his officers refused to carry out his orders to execute his son Zheng Jing, who had had an affair with his wet nurse and conceived a child with her.

[46] Although many secondary sources claim that the two men shared a "close bond of affection", there is an absence of any reliable contemporary evidence on Koxinga’s relationship with the Longwu Emperor.

[12] Zheng Zhilong’s defection to the Qing must have seemed opportunistic and in stark contrast to Koxinga’s continued loyalty to the Ming.

But it is difficult to deny that in refusing to submit to the Qing, Koxinga was risking the life of his father, and that the subsequent death of Zheng Zhilong could only be justified by claiming loyalty to the Ming.

His descendants through his grandson Zheng Keshuang served as Bannermen in Beijing until 1911 when the Xinhai revolution broke out and the Qing dynasty fell, after which they moved back to Anhai and Nan'an in southern Fujian.

[56] One of Koxinga's descendants on mainland China, Zheng Xiaoxuan 鄭曉嵐, fought against the Japanese invaders in the Second Sino-Japanese War.

[60] In 1661, during the Siege of Fort Zeelandia, Koxinga executed Dutch missionary Antonius Hambroek and took his teenage daughter as a concubine.

Koxinga is worshiped as a god in coastal China[clarification needed], especially Fujian, by overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and in Taiwan.

[75][76] Koxinga has received renewed attention since rumors began circulating that the People’s Liberation Army Navy were planning to name their newly acquired aircraft carrier, the ex-Soviet Varyag, the "Shi Lang".

Admiral Shi Lang famously defeated Koxinga’s descendants in the 1683 Battle of Penghu, thus bringing Taiwan under Qing rule.

[77][78] The People's Republic of China considers Koxinga a national hero for driving the imperialist Dutch away from Taiwan and establishing ethnic Chinese rule over the island.

In Taiwan, Koxinga is remembered and revered as a divine national hero with hundreds of temples, schools, tertiary educations, and other public centers named in his honor.