The Diary of Philip Meij

Koxinga (in white) as recalled by Philip Meij

Philip Meij was a land surveyor employed by the VOC, trapped inside Ft Provincia when Koxinga's fleet entered Tai Bay on April 30, 1661 (for more, see here). He was released and left for Batavia with Coyett and remnants of the VOC on Feb 9, 1662. During this 9-month period, he worked for Koxinga not only in land surveys but also in translating letters from Koxinga to Coyett. Most importantly, Meij had written a company report based on his daily recalls after his safe return to Batavia. This diary complements, although is far more informative than Coyett's memoir of the siege of Ft Zeelandia, as it recorded activities unknown to Coyett. In addition, major events described in the diary also in most part agree with those archived by the Cheng court scribe 楊英Yang Ying, and the account of a near-contemporary historian 江日昇Jiang Ri Sheng. Meij's Dairy was translated from archaic Dutch into Chinese by 江樹聲Jiang Su-Sheng and published as 梅氏日記 in Taipei in 2003.

The diary told of the many unsuccessful attempts by Meij to reach Ft Zeelandia, the fate of the surrendered Dutch men, women, and children, the iron-fist rule of Koxinga, and the Ming-Cheng interaction with the Aborigines.

On May 5, 1661, while negotiating the surrender of Ft Provincia, Meij noticed 16 Aboriginal VIPs waiting outside of Koxinga's tent. They were the chiefs from 5 clans of previous Dutch colonial subjects, now all dressed in blue mandarin robes embroidered with gold and silk threads. Clearly, Koxinga was on good terms with Aborigines in the greater Sakam area. Not all Aboriginal tribes were friendly, though.

Some activists in Taiwan now decry the genocidal atrocity perpetrated on the Aborigines by Koxinga (and later his son Cheng Jing). This was not without provocation, however.

The major problem for Koxinga in the battle against the Dutch was the lack of enough food for his soldiers. He might have underestimated Coyett's resolve in defending Ft Zeelandia to wait it out for rescues from Batavia. A long siege must base on sufficient provisional reserve and Koxinga had great difficulties in getting re-supplied from his home base in Hokkien. The strategy was then changed to assigning his soldiers farming duties. Each military unit of 1,000-1,200 men was given a territory to build a town in the center and garrison forts in the periphery. There were also strict orders to leave current land ownership of both Han and Aboriginal undisturbed. And the land to be developed must meet certain farming standards complete with irrigation canals. Meji's surveyor skills were put in good use to erect the boundary markers of each territory. Along the way, for about 180 km north of Ft Provincia, Meji reported seeing men in groups of 100 busy planting sweet potatoes for immediate needs while getting the fields prepared for rice growing for the next season.

Of Koxinga's force, 11,000 to 12,000 men were sent to the north and 6,000 to the south leaving only 300 guarding Ft Provincia, now Koxinga's command center, and 5,000 to enforce the siege of Ft Zeelandia.

Both the north and south-bound forces quickly ran into Aboriginal hostilities. To the north, the Prince of Middagh (大度王） lured the Cheng frontier army into a false sense of security and murdered 1,400 to 1,500 of them in their sleep, the rest escaped into sugarcane fields and were smoked out and killed as well. Also lost was 陳澤Chen Ze who defeated Capt Thomas Pedel and his 120 musketeers on the beach of 北線尾Baxemboy. To the south, according to Albrecht Herport (an artist-soldier, either a German or a Swiss, working for the VOC), 700 to 800 soldiers were killed by the Aborigines after being surrounded; of the 5,000 Han and some straggler Dutch civilians in this area, most would also die of starvation and disease.

Meij recalled the Cheng soldiers "using their heavy weaponry and shamelessly asked for hospitality from the Aborigines". Some modern-day historians would point to this passage as evidence of maltreatment of the Aborigines while it might simply be a hunger-driven behavior. Regardless, the Ming-Cheng Kingdom would later mount punitive actions against these murderous Aborigines.

The Cafres

Above: Details of a map published in 1679 in Nuremberg showing Cafreria, the homeland of the Cafres. The geographic location matches the southern portion of present-day South Africa plus part of southern Namibia. To its north was Monomotapa where, in 1420, 鄭和Cheng He and his fleet paid a visit and were well received by the royal court. Among the gifts from Cheng to the kingdom were horses and gunpowder. Some folks there later became experts of gunpowder-powered firearms.

It remains a great mystery as to what happened to the Cafres, the Black Rifle battalion, after the fall of Ming-Cheng Tung-Ning Kingdom in 1683. They had previously served both Koxinga's father 鄭芝龍 and Koxinga himself well in combats and as personal/palace guards.

The last known action of the Cafres was to follow Lady Tung's order and execute Cheng Jing's illegitimate son Cheng Ke-Chang to make way for the younger, lineage-based heir-apparent Cheng Ke-Shuang. This would have occurred near the end of the Tung-Ning era (ca 1682-3).

Lady Tung's residence (now 開元寺) where Cheng Ke-Chang was summoned to
and assassinated en route

It is highly doubtful that the Cafres were allowed to stay in Taiwan since all Ming-Cheng soldiers were forced to penal colonies in China. It is also equally doubtful that they were repatriated back to Cafreria as freemen. Assimilation into the general population remains a possibility since some had married Han women; although this is yet to be verified.

Possibly a Cafre in a temple in Tainan

國姓 Royal surname

隆武帝: 南明第2代皇帝（1602～1646）

It is puzzling why after receiving the Ming royal gift of 國姓 (i.e., 朱), 鄭成功 still retained his own surname. So did his sons and grandsons, never a 朱 mentioned anywhere in the clan records compiled later.

In Chinese custom, no one changes his own surname unless married into the wife's family. This was quite different during the Ming Dynasty. Ming emperors gave out the royal name 朱 like candies, and the new 朱s in fact enjoyed special privileges. This renaming had also resulted in an unprecedented upsurge of the 朱 population in China.

By the end of Ming Dynasty, there was really no more privileges to enjoy. 隆武帝, who gave not only the 國姓 to 鄭成功 but also his new given name (in 1645, while lamenting that he did not have a princess for 成功 to marry to), was captured a year later by the Qing and committed suicide by starving himself to death. This had effectively ended the the practice of royal renaming and the prestige associated with it.

鄭成功 had never referred to himself as Koxinga or 國姓爺, that was the Dutch and the common folks, respectively, that did. It was still an honor as far as the Cheng Clan is concerned.

News from Penang

EyeDoc's visit to Penang, 10/19-10/22

大伯公 福德正神

On 9/15/2014, a 大伯公花车游行 in Penang, Malaysia, was conducted to celebrate 大伯公's birthday.

大伯公 of 開山聖王廟 in Jelutong, Penang

For a period, 開山王 was absent from the Koxinga Temple in Penang. During that time, 大伯公 took care of Koxinga's followers. 大伯公 is actually 福德正神, i.e., 土地公, not an ancestor as that in clan shrines. Honoring this local deity is a tradition in Taiwan. For example, in Tamsui:

Celebrating the birthday of 福德正神 in Tamsui (taken 9/20/2014)

青門興武六

青門 seems to have been established at the end of Ming Dynasty (or even later in 1726 according to another source). It is similar but not identical to 洪門. Here are some reports from Taiwan on its recent activities:

Aug 22, 2010

    今年是清[青]幫團體追溯源頭，思念國姓爺來台篳路藍縷，開創台灣386年紀念日，為了感謝延平郡王國姓爺的忠貞愛國情操，特別邀請今全世界、清門最高輩份通字班輩.興武六二十二代弟子 戴寅老爺子率門生弟子，以清門科儀恭祝國姓爺延平郡王聖誕千秋並敬贈鎮門宮【忠義匾】，象徵清幫永遠思念偉大的國姓爺，借此也讓全國百姓知到國姓爺永遠鎮守住台灣之門鹿耳門，保護台灣這片土地。
    戴寅老爺子表示，清門是一個「反清復明」的組織；在明朝末年，清幫極盛時期共有128幫半（其中半幫為香火船），後來減少只剩江淮泗、興武泗、興武六、嘉白、嘉海衛、杭三等6幫，各幫以三角或長方形旗幟做標誌，現在台灣約有10個幫頭。他說，在1946年膺選為首任參議會議長的黃朝琴，還有曾任台視董事長、養樂多公司董事長、中華職棒聯盟會長等職的陳重光（1913年－1998年2月22日），都曾加入清門。

Oct 29, 2012

    青門老爺子戴寅，昨日率領青門、洪門、馬來西亞洪門總會及中華正義協會成員等至鹿耳門鎮門宮參拜，眾人以虔誠的心，上香、獻花，向洪門武宗鄭成功祝禱。
    全球洪門聯盟前日至洪門始祖陳永華衣冠塚舉行追思祭祖典禮，昨日馬來西亞洪門總會與台灣青門、洪門及中華正義協會，由青門老爺子戴寅率領，前往鹿耳門鎮門宮參拜。
    洪門、青幫為具有神秘色彩的民間組織，不過青幫目前對外稱之青門，近年來青、洪門積極進行交流；洪門尊崇鄭成功為武宗，因此昨日的交流會，特地至鎮門宮進行參拜。來自馬來西亞洪門總會一行人約五十人，包括台灣的青門、洪門人員，一行約七、八十人。
     
The above explains the participation of 青門, in 2013-14, in the exchange programs with Koxinga followers in Penang, Malaysia.

鄭成功 and 金門

There is a recent saying that “金門人不喜歡鄭成功People of Kinmoy do not like Koxinga”, because all the trees in 金門 had been cut down to build ships for the invasion of Taiwan (in 1661). As a result, the island was laid bare with no greenery in sight, and people had suffered since, etc.

This tree issue appears erroneous. First, the whole 金門 island is a huge piece of rock with very little top soil. It would not have supported forests of any size. And wood used in ship-building is not just any wood. There are different types of ships and each requires different materials. A search turns up this interesting reference: “...南林教授曾对南京明代宝船厂遗址出土的大量与造船有关的木材进行了鉴定，采集了236个出土朽木样品，其中有杉木、松木、柚木、格木、娑罗双树、 锥木、杯裂香、柿木8种树材。” In other words, these are all huge tall trees suitable for putting together large ocean-faring warships. In 金門? Probably only 相思樹 could grow, a recent photo is shown below:

The "trees" in Kinmoy

It is highly doubtful that such "trees" can be used to make ships of any kind.

A good guess is that Koxinga's soldiers probably did chop them down for firewood; however, it would have been quite easy to re-grow these bushes unless the residents of 金門 chose not to. Some scholars appear to cite a certain 金門縣志 of the Qing era with regard to the "deforestation". Given the 清史's dubious nature as far as 鄭成功 (in fact, 胡說八道nonsensical smears), this record is also questionable.