After the Dutch were expelled from Taiwan in 1662, the island briefly came under the control of the Ming loyalists led by Zheng Chenggong, better known as Koxinga. Koxinga, a Ming dynasty general of mixed Chinese and Japanese heritage, fled to Taiwan with his forces after the Ming dynasty fell to the Manchu-led Qing dynasty in China (Andrade, 2008). For Koxinga, Taiwan became both a strategic military base and a symbolic stronghold for continuing resistance against the Qing.

Koxinga’s arrival marked the first time that large-scale Han Chinese settlement took firm root in Taiwan. Under his short-lived regime, farmland was expanded, Chinese-style administrative structures were introduced, and Confucian schools were established to promote Chinese cultural practices (Shepherd, 1993). This shift laid the groundwork for Taiwan’s transformation from an indigenous-dominated island to one increasingly shaped by Han Chinese culture and identity.

While Koxinga is often remembered as a hero in Taiwan for expelling European colonial powers, his rule also displaced many indigenous groups, pushing them into the mountains and marginalizing their role in society (Teng, 2004). The memory of Koxinga remains contested today: he is celebrated as a national hero in Taiwan and China alike, but indigenous perspectives highlight the costs of his conquest.

The Ming loyalist period lasted only until 1683, when the Qing dynasty defeated Koxinga’s descendants and incorporated Taiwan into its empire. Yet Koxinga’s legacy endures in Taiwanese historical identity—representing both the spirit of resistance against foreign domination and the complicated interplay of colonization, culture, and migration.

References

• Andrade, T. (2008). How Taiwan became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han colonization in the seventeenth century. Columbia University Press.
• Shepherd, J. R. (1993). Statecraft and political economy on the Taiwan frontier, 1600–1800. Stanford University Press.
• Teng, E. (2004). Taiwan’s imagined geography: Chinese colonial travel writing and pictures, 1683–1895. Harvard University Asia Center.