A long time ago, I read a history piece in one of the local papers that talked about some military figure in Taiwan raising an army of ducks - training them march, etc. It wasn’t a joke. My question is: was that Koxinga? If not, do you know who it was?
Secondly, I was wondering if anybody has read Coxinga: And the Fall of the Ming Dynasty by Jonathan Clements and whether they thought it was worth reading, bought it here, etc.
Thank you,
Ed
The person in question is Zhu Yigui (朱一貴); he was born in Zhangzhou, Fujian after Koxinga’s time. He later moved to Taiwan in his 20’s. As his family business was breeding ducks, he had a knack for training them. Relying on his surname of Zhu and the impression that he was part of the Ming imperial bloodline, he led an army to try to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming, but the root cause was actually local gov’t corruption. Although initially successful, the insurrection was ultimately short lived.
Thank you,
That’s very impressive that you know that. 
Ed
I’ve read Clements’ book, and his one about Confucius. It’s not perfect by any measure, but it contains interesting detail about Koxinga that is hard to find elsewhere in English, and is pretty readable to boot. It’s sitting in a box in my father’s attic in England at the moment, otherwise I’d lend it to you.
Right, OK. Thanks. I don’t think I’m going to bother with it. I find can find enough bits and pieces about him elsewhere which will suffice for the moment.
Thank you,
Ed
Jonathan Clements book on Coxinga is an excellent book. I’ve read it twice.
On a maybe connected note, Ming dynasty generals used a amphibious attack formation that was known as “mandarin ducks”. General Qi discusses it in his Ming dynasty training manuals (which has illustrations of it too) and the key to it was to keep two fighting units (be they individuals or vessels) right side by side while the attack was underway. The “mandarin duck” name came about because I guess according to Chinese folklore mandarin duck mates will always stay side by side and stay as a pair.
Here is a thread on it from another forum
chinahistoryforum.com/index. … opic=17894
This formation was probably used by Koxinga.
Take care,
Brian