Shi Lang
Encyclopedia
Shi Lang was a Chinese
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 admiral who served under the Ming
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

 and Qing Dynasties
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....

. He was commander-in-chief of the Manchu
Manchu
The Manchu people or Man are an ethnic minority of China who originated in Manchuria . During their rise in the 17th century, with the help of the Ming dynasty rebels , they came to power in China and founded the Qing Dynasty, which ruled China until the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, which...

 fleets which destroyed the power of the Zheng family
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...

 in the 1660s, and led the conquest of the Kingdom of Tungning
Kingdom of Tungning
The Kingdom of Tungning was a government that ruled Taiwan between 1661 and 1683. A pro-Ming Dynasty state, it was founded by Koxinga after the Ming government in mainland China was replaced by the Manchu-ruled Qing Dynasty...

 (東寧王國) (now 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 1681.

Early life and career

Shi Lang was born to a distinguished lineage in Jinjiang, Fujian, in 1621. He studied military strategy in his youth, and became particularly proficient in naval warfare, knowing how to take advantage of wind and tide. After fighting a number of undistinguished operations locally with his father, he joined Zheng Zhilong
Zheng Zhilong
Zheng Zhilong also known as Nicholas Iquan Gaspard, a native of Nan'an, Fujian, China. He was a Chinese merchant, pirate and admiral for the Ming Empire. He was the father of Zheng Chenggong , also a military leader. Under the Qing Dynasty, Zheng was elevated to the rank of Count of the Second Rank...

's naval fleet as captain of the left vanguard. Shi Lang served most of the early 1640s in the Zheng family's fleet, where he apparently saw some conflict with Zheng Zhilong's son 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...

 (Zheng Chenggong). When Shi defected to the Qing Dynasty
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....

 in 1646, Koxinga killed Shi's father, brother and son.

Campaign against the Zheng family

The Manchu royals prized Shi Lang for his extensive naval experience and his network of contacts in the major trading ports of East Asia
East Asia
East Asia or Eastern Asia is a subregion of Asia that can be defined in either geographical or cultural terms...

. He accompanied Prince Jidu (son of Jirgalang
Jirgalang
Jirgalang or Jirhalang , the sixth son of Nurhaci's younger brother Šurhaci of the Aisin Gioro clan, was a Manchu noble and an important military and political leader in the early years of the Qing dynasty. From 1638 to 1643, he took part in many military campaigns that helped bring down the fall...

) on an expedition in Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

 in 1656, and attained the rank of Assistant Brigade-General. In the campaign of 1663 against the Zheng family, he commanded Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 ships and men to follow up the Manchu victories. In 1668, he submitted a plan to drive the remnants of the Ming from 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...

 and the Pescadores
Pescadores
The Penghu Islands, also known as Pescadores are an archipelago off the western coast of Taiwan in the Taiwan Strait consisting of 90 small islands and islets covering an area of 141 square kilometers....

, but the proposal was not utilised. He was given a post in the Imperial Bodyguard and attached to the Chinese Bordered Yellow Banner.

Conquest of Taiwan

In 1681, following the Revolt of the Three Feudatories
Revolt of the Three Feudatories
The Revolt of the Three Feudatories was a rebellion in the Qing Dynasty during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor. The revolt was led by the three lords of the fiefdoms in Yunnan, Guangdong and Fujian provinces against the Qing central government....

, the Kangxi Emperor sought a possible leader for an amphibious operation against Taiwan. Following the advice of Li Guangdi, he chose Shi Lang. Shi insisted on having an independent command, not one shared with Yao Qisheng, the Governor-General of Fujian.

On 8 July 1683, after extensive preparation, Shi led a force of 300 warships and 20,000 crack troops out of Tongshan, Fujian. On July 16–17, he defeated the Zheng family's leading naval commander, Liu Guoxuan, in a major engagement near the Pescadores. On 5 September, Shi received Zheng Keshuang's offer to surrender. On 3 October, he reached Taiwan and formally obtained the capitulation of Liu and Zheng.

Following this successful campaign, Shi Lang returned to the Chinese mainland and worked hard to persuade the Kangxi Emperor to make Taiwan part of China's recognized territory. At the time, there was opposition among many within the Qing government toward the annexation of Taiwan, arguing that its maintenance would become an economic burden on the empire. However, the Kangxi Emperor accepted Shi Lang's views, and in 1684 Taiwan was divided into three counties and established as a prefecture of Fujian province. Shi Lang was declared the "General Who Maintains Peace on the Seas" (靖海将军) and given the hereditary rank of Marquis
Marquis
Marquis is a French and Scottish title of nobility. The English equivalent is Marquess, while in German, it is Markgraf.It may also refer to:Persons:...

. At his own request, he was specially granted the privilege of wearing an honorary peacock feather. Shi Lang continued at his post in Fujian, seizing almost half of the developed land on Southern Taiwan for his own profit. Shi annually extorted monetary resources from rich and poor local communities alike, and instituted policies that deliberately aimed to isolate Taiwan from the rest of the Qing Empire - coastal provinces were forbidden to interact with Taiwan, and even people from inland provinces were disallowed to bring their families with them, effectively preventing them from making any permanent foothold in Taiwan. Although he was later charged with arrogance, in 1688 the Kangxi Emperor received Shi in audience in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

 and allowed him to sit in the imperial presence, reiterating his confidence in him. Shi returned to Fujian and remained in office there until his death in 1696.

Legacy

Shi Lang was given the posthumous name of "Xiangzhuang" (襄壮), and the title of Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent. In 1732, his name was entered for worship in the Temple of Eminent Statesmen. One of his sons achieved distinction as an admiral, whilst another was a state official. The Shi family was granted the special privilege of burial in their ancestral cemetery in Jinjiang
Jinjiang
Jinjiang City is a county-level city of Quanzhou Municipality in Fujian. It is located in the southeastern part of the province, on the right or south bank of the Jin River, across from Quanzhou's urban district of Fengze...

, instead of in Banner lands as was the case with other Bannermen.

Though famous for his military achievements, Shi remains a controversial figure in contemporary China. As a defector, his exploits have generally been downplayed by the governments of both Taiwan and the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

, and he is remembered in Taiwan as a conqueror and cruel governor.

PLA Navy aircraft carrier

The People's Liberation Army Navy
People's Liberation Army Navy
The People's Liberation Army Navy is the naval branch of the People's Liberation Army , the military of the People's Republic of China. Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate role to the PLA Land Forces. Since then, it has undergone rapid modernisation...

 (PLAN) purchased its first aircraft carrier
Aircraft carrier
An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

, formerly the Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 carrier Varyag
Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag
Varyag was to be an Admiral Kuznetsov class multirole aircraft carrier of the Soviet Union. She was known as Riga when her keel was laid down at Shipyard 444 in Nikolayev December 6, 1985. Design of the carrier was undertaken by the Nevskoye Planning and Design Bureau...

, from the Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

 in 1998. As of 2011, the renovated ship is widely speculated to have been named the Shi Lang, although this has yet to be confirmed.

In popular culture

In The Deer and the Cauldron
The Deer and the Cauldron
The Deer and the Cauldron, also known as The Duke of Mount Deer, is a novel by Jin Yong, and was the last of Jin Yong's works. The novel was initially published as a serial, and ran between October 24, 1969 to September 23, 1972 in Ming Pao.Although the book is often termed as a wuxia novel, it is...

(鹿鼎記), a 1969 wuxia
Wuxia
Wuxia is a broad genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists. Although wuxia is traditionally a form of literature, its popularity has caused it to spread to diverse art forms like Chinese opera, manhua , films, television series, and video games...

 novel by Louis Cha, Shi Lang is appointed by Kangxi to help the protagonist Wei Xiaobao
Wei Xiaobao
Wei Xiaobao is the fictional protagonist of Jin Yong's wuxia novel The Deer and the Cauldron . He is a witty, sly and illiterate teenager, born to a prostitute from a brothel in Yangzhou during the Qing Dynasty. He bumbles his way into the Forbidden City and has a fateful encounter with the young...

(韋小寶) to bombard the Mystic Dragon Cult. Shi Lang succeeds in the mission, but Wei is captured during the battle by Hong Antong – the leader of the cult – and taken to Russia. Shi Lang's capture of Taiwan is also briefly described in later chapters.
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