or Cheng Ch'eng-kung or Koxinga born Aug. 28, 1624, Hirado, Japan died June 23, 1662, Taiwan Chinese military leader of the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. After the Ming dynasty fell to the Manchu, Zheng refused Manchu offers of rank and power and launched a military campaign against the new dynasty in 1659, taking a large force from his base in Fujian province up the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang). Initial success turned into failure, but, undaunted, Zheng took Taiwan from the Dutch in 1662 to use as a secure rear base area. Further glory was cut short by his death later that year. He became a popular deity and cultural hero to the Chinese on Taiwan, and even the Qing court honoured him as a paragon of loyalty. In Japan the playwright Chikamatsu Monzaemon celebrated him on the stage (Zheng had a Japanese mother), and in the 20th century both Chinese communists and Nationalists embraced him as a national hero
or Cheng Ho orig. Ma Sanbao born 1371, Kunyang, Yunnan province, China died April 1433, Calicut, India Eunuch admiral and diplomat who helped extend Chinese maritime and commercial influence throughout the region bordering on the Indian Ocean. The Yongle emperor named Zheng commander in chief of missions to the "Western Oceans." He first set sail in 1405 and on this mission visited Champa (southern Vietnam), Siam (Thailand), Malacca, and Java, traveled through the Indian Ocean as far as Sri Lanka, and returned to China in 1407. Subsequent voyages took him to Arabia, the eastern coast of Africa, Southeast Asia, and India. Chinese emigration increased in the wake of these missions, resulting in Chinese colonization of Southeast Asia and consequent tributary trade that lasted into the 19th century