Battle of Penghu (1683): The Qing Conquest of Taiwan

The Battle of Penghu was a naval battle fought in July 1683 in the Penghu (Pescadores) Islands, in the strait between Taiwan and mainland China. The Qing admiral Shi Lang destroyed the fleet of the Kingdom of Tungning, the Ming loyalist state founded on Taiwan by Koxinga. Within months the regime surrendered, and in 1684 Taiwan became part of the Qing empire for the first time.

Background

After Koxinga drove the Dutch from Taiwan at the Siege of Fort Zeelandia in 1662, his son Zheng Jing ruled the island as the Kingdom of Tungning. The regime kept the calendar of the fallen Ming and traded across East and South-East Asia. During the Revolt of the Three Feudatories Zheng Jing landed troops in Fujian, but by 1680 they had been driven back across the strait.

Zheng Jing died in 1681. A court faction led by the minister Feng Xifan killed his eldest son and placed a younger son, Zheng Keshuang, then a boy of about eleven, on the throne. The regime was weakened by these divisions just as the Qing, having crushed the feudatories, could turn their full attention to Taiwan.

Shi Lang

Shi Lang, born in Fujian in 1621, had served Zheng Zhilong and then his son Koxinga. In 1651 he fell out with Koxinga, who had him arrested; Shi escaped, and Koxinga executed his father and brother. Shi joined the Qing and became admiral of the Fujian fleet, but attempts to invade Taiwan in 1664 and 1665 were defeated by storms, and he spent years in Beijing without a command.

In 1681 the Kangxi Emperor, urged by the scholar-official Li Guangdi and others, restored him to the naval command in Fujian. Shi spent two years building and training a fleet and insisted on sole authority over the expedition.

The battle

Shi Lang sailed from Tongshan on the Fujian coast in July 1683, using the summer winds that defenders had not expected an attacking fleet to risk. His force is usually put at about 200 to 300 warships and some 20,000 men; the Zheng commander, Liu Guoxuan, held Penghu with a fleet and garrison of broadly similar size.

A first clash ended indecisively, and Shi Lang was reportedly wounded. On 16 July Shi attacked again, dividing his fleet into squadrons that concentrated several ships against each enemy vessel. The Zheng fleet was overwhelmed. Qing reports claimed that many thousands of Zheng soldiers were killed or captured and most of their ships destroyed, against relatively light Qing losses; the exact figures cannot be checked, but the destruction of Zheng sea power was complete. Liu Guoxuan escaped to Taiwan with a small number of ships.

Shi Lang is said to have treated captured soldiers well, feeding them and tending their wounds before releasing some to carry news of Qing leniency back to Taiwan.

Surrender of Taiwan

With its navy gone, Tungning could not defend itself. After some debate at court, where Liu Guoxuan argued for submission, Zheng Keshuang and Feng Xifan sent word of surrender. In the autumn of 1683 Shi Lang landed on Taiwan and received the regime’s formal submission. Zheng Keshuang and his officials shaved their heads in the Manchu style, ending the last refuge where men had kept their hair in defiance of the Queue Order. The Ming prince Zhu Shugui, who had lived under Zheng protection, took his own life.

Zheng Keshuang was taken to Beijing, given a noble title and enrolled in the banner system. Shi Lang was made Marquis Jinghai, a hereditary title meaning “who pacifies the sea”.

Keep or abandon Taiwan?

Some Qing officials argued that Taiwan was a remote, unhealthy island that should be evacuated once the rebels were gone. Shi Lang submitted a memorial arguing that it was vital to the defence of the coast, and that abandoning it would invite pirates or Europeans to take it. The Kangxi Emperor agreed, and in 1684 Taiwan became a prefecture of Fujian province with three counties. The same year the court lifted its ban on maritime trade.

Shi Lang credited the sea goddess Mazu with helping his campaign, and the Qing court soon raised her to the rank of Tianhou, Empress of Heaven. The Mazu temple at Magong on Penghu preserves a stone inscription recording his victory.

Timeline

• 1662: Koxinga takes Taiwan from the Dutch; his son Zheng Jing succeeds him.
• 1664–1665: Shi Lang’s first attempts to invade Taiwan are defeated by storms.
• 1681: Zheng Jing dies; Zheng Keshuang is installed; Shi Lang is restored to command.
• 1683, July: Shi Lang sails from Tongshan and reaches Penghu.
• 1683, 16 July: decisive Qing victory at Penghu.
• 1683, autumn: Shi Lang lands on Taiwan and accepts the Zheng surrender.
• 1684: Taiwan becomes a prefecture of Fujian; the maritime ban is lifted.

Why it matters

The Battle of Penghu ended the last Ming loyalist state and completed the Qing conquest that had begun in 1644. It brought Taiwan under Chinese imperial rule for the first time, beginning a period of Qing administration that lasted until 1895.