War, trade and piracy in the China seas (1622-1683) / Cheng Wei-chung.

• Author: Wei-chung, Cheng.
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Series: TANAP Monographs on the History of Asian-European Interaction 16.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (390 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.
• Other title: Preliminary Material /; Introduction: The Missing Link /; Chapter One: The Tributary System Challenged /; Chapter Two: Nicolas Iquan before 1627 /; Chapter Three: The Survival Game of the Mercenaries 1628–1631 /; Chapter Four: The Establishment of the An-Hai Trading Emporium 1630–1633 /; Chapter Five: Stormy Weather at the Imperial Court and on the South China Coast 1632–1633 /; Chapter Six: The Winding Ways towards the Western Ocean 1631–1636 /; Chapter Seven: The Risk of Politics and the Politics of Risk 1636–1640 /; Chapter Eight: In Search of Silver in a Changing World 1640–1646 /; Chapter Nine: The Open Coast of the Chinese Empire 1646–1650 /; Chapter Ten: Fukienese Exceptionalism Transformed into a Political Project 1650–1654 /; Chapter Eleven: The Passions of a Merchant Prince 1654–1657 /; Chapter Twelve: From Defeat to Victory 1658–1662 /; Chapter Thirteen: All Acknowledged by the Kings 1663–1667 /; Chapter Fourteen: Monopoly Lost 1669–1683 /; Conclusion: Defensive and Aggressive Monopolies /; Notes /; Appendix I /; Appendix II /; Bibliography /; Index /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 900425353X
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Cheng Wei-chung.

Approaching its demise, the Ming imperial administration enlisted members of the Cheng family as mercenaries to help in the defense of the coastal waters of Fukien. Under the leadership of Cheng Chih-lung, also known as Nicolas Iquan, and with the help of the local gentry, these mercenaries became the backbone of the empire’s maritime defense and the protectors of Chinese commercial interests in the East and South China Seas. The fall of the Ming allowed Cheng Ch’eng-kung—alias Coxinga—and his sons to create a short-lived but independent seaborne regime in China’s southeastern coastal provinces that competed fiercely, if only briefly, with Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch and English merchants during the early stages of globalization.