Koxinga Ancestral Shrine
Encyclopedia
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....
built in Tainan City, Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
in 1663 by Zheng Jing
Zheng Jing
Zheng Jing was a seventeenth century Chinese warlord and Ming Dynasty loyalist. He was the eldest son of Koxinga and grandson of pirate-merchant Zheng Zhilong. After the conquest of Taiwan in 1662 by his father, Zheng Jing controlled the military forces in Xiamen and Quemoy on his father's behalf...
, to worship his father Koxinga
Koxinga
Koxinga is the customary Western spelling of the popular appellation of Zheng Chenggong , a military leader who was born in 1624 in Hirado, Japan to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant/pirate, and his Japanese wife and died in 1662 on the island of Formosa .A Ming loyalist and the arch commander of...
.
When Taiwan became part of the Qing Empire
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, it was renamed "The Cheng's Ancestral Shrine" (鄭氏大宗祠) and today the official name is "Ancestral Shrine of Koxinga". The complex is traditional and elegant. There is an old well in front of the gate and this is all that remains of the original shrine.
The central hall worships the statue of Koxinga as well as the spirit tablets of each generation of ancestors. In 1771, there was a famous wooden tablet with the character "Three Generations Heritage" (三圭世錫) to prize the virtue of Koxinga's family.
In this shrine, there is also a sculpture of young Koxinga and his mother
Tagawa Matsu
Tagawa Matsu , or Weng-shi , was the mother of Koxinga, a Chinese national hero, and Tagawa Shichizaemon , a servant to a Japanese feudal lord. She was a Nagasaki Japanese who lived most of her life in the coastal town of Hirado, then later migrated to China...
.