Koxinga of Taiwan

This is a modest digest of what should be known about the life and deeds of Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), the Ming military mandarin who founded Chinese Taiwan, and belonged to a family of international traders commanding a vast fortune and a fleet of merchantmen. Sometimes, instead of smoothly following its predictable course, history swerves to another direction because of an unexpected event. When Ming China was invaded by the Manchus, instead of collaborating to make even more profits, Koxinga launched a resistance movement. Yet, his fate was apparently sealed for hadn't he been compelled by tradition to celebrate his birthday during the siege of Nanking, he would not have been defeated by the Manchus the morning after. If he had not died suddenly the year he ordered the Spaniards of Manila to pay him a tribute as to their sovereign, the Philippines would now be an overseas Chinese territory like Taiwan.