The city is considered a locus of traditional Chinese culture. It boasts, for example, more than 200 Chinese temples, many several hundred years old, and almost half of the island's most important cultural and historical relics.
It therefore comes as no surprise that Tainan residents are fiercely loyal, exhibiting the strongest sense of provincialism of any native residents throughout Taiwan. In an unconscious show of their inbred sense of superiority, whenever Tainan residents leave home for a trip to other points on Taiwan, including the metropolitan capital of Taipei, they refer to it as "taking a trip to the country. "
Tainan was originally known as Chihkan, after the Chihkan aboriginal tribe living in the area when the first immigrants arrived from the Chinese mainland. There are no accurate historical records to indicate exactly when these first settlers arrived, and estimates by different researchers range from the 2nd to the 13th Century. Despite the considerable disagreement on this fact, it is certain that Chinese were well-entrenched in the area by the time the island was made a protectorate of the Chinese empire in 1206.
Taiwan was made a prefecture of Fukien province in 1684, and Tainan was at that time made the prefecture capital, known as Tainan Fu, The city maintained its status as the island capital until 1887, when Taiwan was made into a full-fledged province. The provincial capital was then moved to Taichung.
Despite Tainan's 200-year tenure as the island's capital, when it served as the political, economic, and cultural center of Tainan, a walk down the broad streets and avenues of the present-day city does not immediately reveal its noble heritage to the casual observer. Tainan is clearly a modem city with all the expected amenities, although it is admittedly slower-paced and has less traffic congestion than Taipei.
But a pause to look beyond the general yields instant results; a short step into one of the numerous government-maintained historical landmarks that dot the city quickly forces one's imagination back to the Tainan of days past.
The Dutch Governor of Formosa was abruptly awakened by the deafening sound of the large cannons of Fort Zeelandia being fired in rapid succession. Informed that the Chinese patriot, Cheng Cheng-kung was leading his extensive naval forces in an attack on the Dutch fort, Governor Coyett was confident that the firepower of his cannons would easily hold the Chinese forces at bay. Little did he know that Cheng—known to the West as Koxinga—had secretly landed thousands of troops at Luerhmen, just behind the fort, to reinforce his attack. Backed as well by natives hostile to the Dutch presence on Formosa, Koxinga soon captured the Dutch Fort Providentia, then proceeded to surround Zeelandia.
In years past, everyone had to dismount from horses—not Hondas—at the main gate of the Temple of Confucius.
When the Dutch refused his demands to return Formosa to Chinese rule and leave the island, Koxinga put the fortress under siege. Nine months later, on February 1, 1662, the Dutch, who were short of both men and supplies, finally capitulated.
The original Fort Zeelandia was located in the Anping area of present day Tainan. Construction of the fort began in 1624, the year the Dutch occupied Taiwan, and was completed ten years later. It was about 3,800 feet in circumference, with walls over 30 feet high. After Koxinga's conquest, the fort became his home and the political center of the island until it was taken by Ching Dynasty troops in 1683. Minor repairs were made to the fort several times during the Ching Dynasty, but the harbor eventually silted up, nullifying the fort's military value. In 1869 it was bombarded by the British, leaving it in ruins.
The present day structure, known as the Anping Fort, was built by the Japanese in 1920 during their occupation of the island. But sections of the wall from the original fort remain standing today, and on close observation reveal an encrustation between and over many of the original bricks. This unique material, which was used to cement the bricks together, was made of a mixture of sticky rice, sugar syrup, crushed oyster shells, and clay.
Fort Zeelandia with its high walls and mighty cannons might well have remained impregnable had it not been for the courage and cunning of Koxinga, now a local hero worshipped and revered by Chinese not only in Tainan, but island-wide, for the past three centuries. The shrine dedicated to him, called Yen Ping Chun Wang Tse, is located on Tainan's Kaishan Road. First built in 1875, the shrine is an impressive structure in traditional Chinese style, with a spacious courtyard in which twin banyans form an arch inside the main gate, where side wings meet the main hall. It is here that annual ceremonies are held to commemorate Koxinga's landing on the island in 1661, as well as his birthday, celebrated on the 14th day of the seventh moon. The tablet in the main hall, which reads "Loyalty and Courage" only hints at his enormous popularity and role in history.
When the Dutch set out to Taiwan from the Pescadores in the 1620's it was with the idea of establishing a trading post on the island. Finding the island "unclaimed," they quickly set up shop in the area of present day Tainan, started building the forts Zeelandia and Providentia, and eventually chased the Spanish out of the northern part of the island to secure their claim. Not wanting to create trouble with the Japanese who were also living on the island at the time, for fear of influencing their own trading rights at Japanese ports, the Dutch began to control and heavily tax the local natives instead.
Meanwhile on the Chinese mainland, troubles of another kind were brewing. The native Chinese rulers of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) were losing ground to the Manchurian invaders from the north. When unable to keep the country under their rule, the Ming loyalists, with their emperor, moved south to Foochow. Plans were made for taking back lost lands, but Ming hopes faded quickly. In 1646 the Ming Emperor Lung Wu fought and lost a decisive battle with the Manchurian forces. During this conflict, Koxinga was a patriot active for the Ming cause. Eventually he was made commander of the Ming forces in south China, and given the title Kuo Hsing Yeh, which means "Lord of the Imperial Surname" and is the source of his Westernized name.
Koxinga and his troops initially met with mixed success. Although Foochow was taken by the Manchurians, Koxinga was able to stage a comeback from his island fortress in Amoy. Defeating a Manchurian fleet of 800 junks, Koxinga then chased the non-Chinese troops out of Fukien, beginning a 12-year military expedition which went steadily north, almost entering Nanking, where the Ming Dynasty had been founded almost three centuries before. But discontent among Koxinga's soldiers prevented him from reaching Nanking, and the failures of other Ming troops to the west, plus advancing Manchurian forces, threatened to cut him off from his naval fleet. In 1660 he decided to retreat and make Taiwan the base for a future restoration of the Ming Dynasty.
For many years Koxinga had been "cooperating" with the Dutch by carrying goods for them aboard his ships from a trading post in Foochow to their base in Taiwan. This was done as much to keep the Dutch fleet inactive in the Taiwan Straits as to bring tens of thousands of Ming loyalists to Taiwan aboard the same ships. When Koxinga finally decided to force the Dutch off the island, he moved swiftly. Utilizing a fleet of 800 war junks and 30,000 soldiers, he reached Taiwan in a month's time, arriving on April 29, 1661, after stopping first in the Pescadores. His arrival was well-planned. The main Dutch naval fleet was in Batavia at the time of the attack, and Koxinga took the island with little resistance, although the well-defended Fort Zeelandia held out until February 1, 1662; the Dutch soon thereafter withdrew completely from Taiwan.
Koxinga promptly renamed the areas around Fort Zeelandia and Fort Providentia, calling them Anping County and Cheng Tien Fu, and immediately restored Chinese rule and customs to the island. To encourage further settlement, he distributed tax-free land to those willing to cultivate it. Unfortunately, before Koxinga could plan his next step in the restoration of the Ming, he fell ill and died in the same year he expelled the Dutch.
Dead in his prime at only 28, Koxinga's passing extinguished almost all hope for a Ming revival based on forces from Taiwan. Just over two decades later, in 1684, the Manchurians invaded and took over the island. Taiwan was made a prefecture of Fukien Province, and Cheng Tien Fu—Koxinga's center of government and present day Tainan city—was made the prefectural capital. Despite the takeover of Taiwan by the Manchurians, Koxinga's efforts were not totally in vain. Through his promotion of agricultural development, and his liberal conditions for those who came to the island to farm, Taiwan became known for its abundant harvests.
Equally important, during the exodus of immigrants from Fukien during Koxinga's rule, over 1,000 former Ming literati moved to the city, making Tainan a center of culture not only in Taiwan, but all of southern China.
Tainan continued to grow and prosper after the Manchu conquest, and remained the island's political, economic, and cultural center for the next two centuries. This was partially a result of Manchurian policy limiting intercourse between Taiwan and the mainland to trade between Tainan and Amoy. This policy was intended to stop the dissemination of anti-Manchurian sentiment, but it also guaranteed the commercial development of Tainan. In 1875, the construction of Koxinga's shrine began, with the express approval of the Ching Emperor Kuang Hsu, which indicated that Koxinga had been forgiven for his resistance to Manchurian rule, and elevated to the status of a national hero. The decision helped win popular support, and two years later Taiwan was made into a province and the capital moved to Taichung.
Koxinga is history, and Tainan's political heyday is past, but Tainan remains a quiet and unassuming cultural center with signs of its old loyalty to the Ming and traditional culture still evident. On Tainan's Wufei street, for example, is the Temple to the Five Concubines. In 1683, as the Manchurians were preparing to invade Taiwan, Prince Chu Shu-kuei of the Ming decided that he would commit suicide rather than surrender to the invading forces. When his five concubines heard of this, they put on their best clothes and hanged themselves, in hope of being reunited with the prince in the next world. Two days later, after the prince had put his affairs in order, served a formal dinner for friends, and prayed before the family altar, he joined his concubines in death. The five women are buried in a common grave mound behind the shrine built to commemorate their act of loyalty.
An ancient archway, now in Tainan park, erected by Ching period scholar and Tainan resident Lin Chao-ying.
Most of the scholars who flocked to Taiwan with Koxinga were strict adherents of Confucian learning and morals, and after their arrival they urged the establishment of appropriate Confucian facilities. Construction of Tainan's Confucian Temple, which is the oldest and largest on the island, was begun in 1665 and was completed two years later. The temple was built by Koxinga's son Cheng Ching, on the recommendation of Chen Yung-hua, a prominent Ming Dynasty loyalist who had followed Koxinga from the mainland.
The solemn nature of the Confucian Temple in days past is brought to mind by the notice carved in stone on the wall by the main gateway; it reads" All civil and military officials, soldiers, and civilians, dismount here." Annual services are still held at dawn each September 28th at the temple to honor China's greatest sage and teacher. Special rites, dances, and music- in Ming Dynasty style-make up the two-hour memorial service which is attended by Tainan's top officials, scholars, and specially invited guests.
On ordinary days, the Confucian Temple bustles with activity of another type, as city residents come for recreation or to seek respite in the shade of a 200-year-old banyan tree in front of the entrance to the temple's courtyard.
Other reminders of Tainan's past are interspersed throughout the city. For example, three of the eight gates from the original city wall still remain standing. They were built beginning in 1722 to help suppress anti-Manchu rebellions which had their roots in Tainan. Numerous carved archways bearing inscriptions of well-known scholars can also be seen in the city, some standing adjacent to modern architectural structures.
Kuan Kung, the God of War wields his famous and effective halberd.
The scores of ancient temples in Tainan are dedicated to a variety of popular religious figures, such as the God of War, the Goddess of Mercy (Matsu), and many other Buddhist, Taoist and local gods. Most of these temples have complex histories that match their exquisite architecture. Because they are filled with rare temple carvings seldom seen elsewhere in Taiwan or the mainland, they remain prime tourist spots for Chinese and foreigners alike.
Even though Tainan may have taken a political and economic back seat to Taipei in recent years, there is no doubt in the minds of Taiwan residents that the undisputed capital of culture remains Tainan. Although Koxinga did not see his dream of a Ming restoration realized, he ensured that Tainan—and Taiwan itself—would be anything but a backwater in China's long and rich history.