Commemoration Ceremony of the 360th Anniversary of the Recovery of Taiwan by Koxinga in the Ming Dynasty

29 April in the 110th year of the Republic (2021)

At 10am on Thursday 29 April in the 110th year of the Republic (2021), the Allegiance to the National Flag Committee of Sung Tao Society held the Commemoration Ceremony of the 360th Anniversary of the Recovery of Taiwan by Koxinga in the Ming Dynasty at the Koxinga Shrine in Tainan. The Officiate of the Ceremony was Mr. Wu Shih-wen (伍世文部長), former Minister of Defense.

On 29 April, 360 years ago, during the Southern Ming Dynasty, in the 15th year of the Yung-li reign (1661), Koxinga (鄭成功) commanded a combined army and navy of 25,000 men, left Fukien Province on hundreds of ships, and landed in Luerman Harbour in Tainan, Taiwan. At that time, Taiwan was colonized by the Netherlands, the preeminent maritime power of the second half of the 17th century. Their stronghold was Fort Zeelandia in Tainan. Koxinga laid siege to Fort Zeelandia for nine months, ended with the surrender of the Dutch force led by governor Frederick Coyett. This was the first battle between China and a Western power in modern history. By recovering Taiwan, Koxinga continued the Ming Dynasty for forty more years from the distant territory of the empire.

The government of the Republic of China set the date 29 April 1661 of Koxinga’s landing in Taiwan as the anniversary date to commemorate the recovery of Taiwan.