Yppong

Yppong (birth date unknown, died in Maluku, 1614) was a Chinese merchant, presumably named Xing Pu 興浦 (simplified 兴浦) in Mandarin Chinese ("Yppong" is how his name was rendered in Latin and Dutch texts that record his travels).

[3] On 31 May 1600, he boarded a vessel for Europe at Banten, Java, purely out of curiosity, and arrived in Middelburg later that year, and would remain there for several months.

[1][4] He was probably portrayed by Rubens in his painting Miracles of St. Francis Xavier (c. 1617) and on a chalk drawing of the same year.

[1][5] In 2019/2020, horeca tycoon Won Yip posed as Yppong for the photo series "Hollandse Meesters Herzien" in Museum The Hermitage, Amsterdam.

[6] In 2021, artist Lisianne Smit devoted an exhibition to Yppong in the Abdijcomplex in the city of Middelburg.