Tainan city government to build Ming dynasty sailing boat

Officials at the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Tainan city government said Monday that the plan is part of the city government’s program to commemorate Cheng Chen-kung (1624-1662), who expelled the Dutch colonists from Taiwan in 1662 after moving his troops from China to Taiwan a year earlier.

Cheng is better known to Westerners as Koxinga, a title meaning “Bearer of the Imperial Surname”, bestowed on him by the last emperor of the Ming dynasty.

The boat, expected to be completed in one year, is also intended to boost local tourism, according to the officials.

They said that Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp. has agreed to bear all the costs, estimated at NT$100 million, for building the boat.

Officials stressed that the boat, which will be 33 meters long and 8.9 meters wide, will not be an imitation “look-alike” of the Ming dynasty boat, but will be an exact replica of the earlier armed Chinese commercial sailing boat.

The United Ship Design and Development Center will begin examining the details of the blueprint for the boat Tuesday. Construction will begin as soon as the center gives approval to the design, the officials said.

In addition to building the boat, the Tainan city government has taken other steps in honor of Koxinga, including establishing a monument on an historical battlefield in Tainan to commemorate the nine-month war fought by Koxinga to end 38 years of Dutch rule.

Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair will inaugurate the monument in May next year in memory of the first major war in Taiwan’s history and Taiwan’s “first old battlefield.”

Koxinga is closely linked to the history of Taiwan, and the Tainan city government apparently attaches great importance to his contributions to Taiwan, and his close connection to the southern city.

There are several temples in An-Ping and Tainan dedicated to Koxinga and his mother. People not only worship him as a national hero but highly regard him because of the loyalty he demonstrated to his emperor even after the Ming dynasty collapsed. He died at the age of 38, probably of malaria.

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