The Fall of Tungning

In 1662, Koxinga died of illness in Tainan. His eldest son, Zheng Jing, inherited the newly born kingdom.

In 1664, Zheng Jing renamed "Tungtu" to "Tungning" — "Eastern Peace." A Han kingdom on an island that had never belonged to the Han.

Chief minister Chen Yonghua built Taiwan's first Confucian temple in Tainan and founded its first official school. Books from Fujian, seeds from the South Seas, took root in this new soil.

Tungning's merchant ships sailed between Nagasaki, Luzon, and Batavia. Silk, sugar, and porcelain flowed in every direction. Two decades of peace raised a generation on the island.

In 1673, the Revolt of the Three Feudatories broke out in China. Zheng Jing saw his chance to return — to finish what his father, Koxinga, had not.

He landed in Fujian, took Quanzhou and Zhangzhou in succession, and pressed all the way toward Guangdong. The banner of Tungning had returned to the mainland.

But the Three Feudatories did not trust one another, and the alliance fell apart quickly. The Qing struck back. Zheng's armies retreated step by step. In 1680, Zheng Jing returned to Tungning empty-handed, bringing back only broken troops and old wounds.

In 1681, Zheng Jing died of illness, aged thirty-nine. He left behind an empty treasury, a battered army, and a divided court.

On his deathbed, Zheng Jing named his eldest son, Zheng Kezang, as successor. Kezang had been groomed by Chen Yonghua — composed, decisive, already capable of governing at nineteen.

But the chief of the imperial guard, Feng Xifan, did not trust him. He spread rumors: "Kezang is no blood of the Zhengs — he is an adopted child."

Three days after Zheng Jing's death, Zheng Kezang was summoned to the palace. In the great hall, he was strangled by trusted guards. He was nineteen. He had reigned for three days.

Feng Xifan's son-in-law, the twelve-year-old Zheng Keshuang, was raised up as the new lord of Tungning.

A child king, a manipulating minister, and a veteran soldier who trusted neither. That night, the foundations of Tungning began to crack.

In the summer of 1683, the Kangxi Emperor appointed Shi Lang as Admiral of the Fujian Naval Forces. The Qing court had prepared for this moment for a decade — three hundred warships, twenty thousand sailors.

Shi Lang had once served under Zheng Zhilong, and once been Koxinga's second-in-command. His father and brother had died at Koxinga's hand. This battle was not only state business — it was a thirty-year private feud, finally being settled.

On June 22, the Qing fleet set sail from Tongshan, heading straight for Penghu. Liu Guoxuan, commander of Tungning's navy, took Penghu as his natural stronghold and assembled two hundred warships to meet him.

Three days of battle. Cannon, boarding, fire-attacks, hand-to-hand. Over the Penghu bay, smoke blotted out the sky. Tungning's navy lost more than half its ships.

Liu Guoxuan led the survivors back to Taiwan. From Penghu to Chengtien Prefecture was but one favorable wind away — but he no longer had ships to fight with.

In Chengtien Prefecture, Zheng Keshuang heard the news from Penghu through the eunuchs. He was thirteen. His ministers were silent.

Feng Xifan argued for terms. Liu Guoxuan was silent for a long time, then nodded: "The army can fight no more."

August 1683. Zheng Keshuang signed his name on the letter of surrender. It was the first time he had not used the reign title "Yongli, Year 37."

Shi Lang entered Chengtien Prefecture, but did not first take his seat at court. Instead, he walked to the Yanping Prince Shrine. Before the spirit tablet of Koxinga, he knelt, and he wept.

In 1684, the Qing court established the Prefecture of Taiwan under Fujian Province. Taiwan was, for the first time, drawn onto the map of China.

Zheng Keshuang and his family were relocated to Beijing, granted the title "Duke of Haicheng," and confined to the capital for life. He lived to thirty-seven, and never saw Taiwan again.

For the next 212 years, Taiwan was the Qing's frontier. The Han came across the sea in endless waves. The indigenous peoples retreated, inch by inch, toward the mountains.

Today, the Yanping Prince Shrine still stands in Tainan. Koxinga's statue faces west — toward the mainland he never reached in life.

A dynasty vanished. An island stayed behind.