Pirate King: Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty
"an engaging narrative… Clements has done us a great service in breaking through ... political myths and offering the most complete biography of the man and his deeds." -Asia Times
"Clements' biography of the contentious Chinese hero Coxinga weaves a colourful tapestry of 17th century China - a story of betrayal, intrigue, valour and violence." -Good Book Guide
"...combines clarity of history with vivid imagery... a compelling and absorbing look into a time and place many people find exotic and unfathomable."
- Pirates and Privateers
Excerpt 1: Brightness Falls
Excerpt 2: Birth of Coxinga
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The eldest son of a wealthy smuggler in Seventeenth-century China, Coxinga was raised in a palace and sent to elite schools where he developed a love of poetry and Confucian philosophy. From this unlikely beginning, he became one of the last warriors loyal to the doomed Ming Emperor, commanding a fleet of 3,000 ships and over 250,000 soldiers. When the Ming dynasty fell, Coxinga turned to piracy, ousting the Dutch from Taiwan to become ruler of the island. He was later made into a god -- twice.
The invasion of China by the Manchus and the collapse of the Ming dynasty in 1644 shaped Coxinga's life. It transformed him from a wealthy child of privilege into a renegade with a price on his head, and threw him into conflict with his cynical father, who became a war profiteer and collaborator. His family members were tempted by offers from the enemy, but when they deserted the last Ming stronghold Coxinga refused to follow. Burning his Confucian scholar's robes and donning a warrior's armour, he took charge of his father's fleet and embraced his new destiny - only to be struck with tragedy at the moment of his greatest triumph. Coxinga became a nobleman at twenty-one, a resistance leader at twenty-two, and was a prince at thirty. But by thirty-nine he was dead. This is the tale of a remarkable loyalist and his family, filled with a host of extraordinary characters -- including the sword-wielding priest Adam Schall, the trader and conman Captain China, and Coxinga's samurai mother. It begins with smugglers and pirates and ends with saints and deities.
'If I wish to set my forces to work, then I am able to move Heaven and Earth; wherever I go, I am destined to win.' Coxinga - 1661 This is a true story.
Pirate King: Coxinga and the Fall of the Ming Dynasty by Jonathan Clements Sutton Publishing. ISBN: 0-7509-3269-4