View source for Shi Lang

{{Short description|17th-century Chinese naval officer}}
{{distinguish|Shi Liang}}
{{family name hatnote|[[Shī (surname)|Shi]]|lang=Chinese}}
{{Infobox military person
| honorific_prefix  = Marquis Jinghai
| name              = Shi Lang
| honorific_suffix  = 
| image             = Generaal Shi Lang met een gezelschap hoogwaardigheidsbekleders bij een waterput aan zee(cropped).jpg
| image_upright     = 
| alt               = 
| caption           = Shi Lang in the company of high-ranking officials
| native_name       = 施琅
| native_name_lang  = zh
| birth_name        = 
| other_name        = 
| nickname          = 
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1621|03|07}}
| birth_place       = [[Jinjiang, Quanzhou|Jinjiang]], [[Quanzhou]], [[Fujian]], [[Ming dynasty]]
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1696|04|22|1621|03|07}}
| death_place       = [[Fujian]], [[Qing dynasty]]
| death_cause       = 
| placeofburial     = [[Shi Lang Tomb]], [[Hui'an County]], [[Quanzhou]], [[Fujian]], [[Qing dynasty]]
| placeofburial_label = 
| placeofburial_coordinates = <!--{{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}}-->
| allegiance        = [[Qing dynasty]]
| branch            = [[Bordered Yellow Banner]]
| branch_label      = <!--"Branch" or "Service"-->
| serviceyears      = 
| serviceyears_label = 
| rank              = 
| rank_label        = 
| servicenumber     = 
| unit              = 
| commands          = 
| known_for         = 
| battles           = [[Battle of Penghu]]
| battles_label     = 
| awards            = 
| memorials         = 
| alma_mater        = 
| spouse            = Lady Wang <br> Lady Huang
| children          = [[Shi Shihui]] <br> [[Shi Shilun]] <br> [[Shi Shiliu]] <br> [[Shi Shiji]] <br> [[Shi Shiqi]] <br> [[Shi Shihui]] <br> [[Shi Shihua]] <br> [[Shi Shifan]]
| relations         = Shi Daxuan (father)
| laterwork         = 
| signature         = 
| signature_size    = 
| signature_alt     = 
| website           = <!--{{URL|example.com}}-->
| module            = {{Infobox Chinese |child=yes
|title='''Shi Lang'''
|pic=
|piccap=
|c=施琅
|p=Shī Láng
|poj =Si Lông
|w =Shih Lang
}}
}}
'''Shi Lang''' (March 7, 1621<ref>Chan, Wing-ming. “Official Historiography and Ideological Indoctrination in High Qing: Emperor Qianlong's Compilation of the ‘Erchen Zhuan’ and ‘Nichen Zhuan.’” Oriens Extremus, vol. 44, 2003, pp. 253–274. {{JSTOR|24047576}}.</ref>– April 22, 1696<ref>Po, Ronald C. (2017) Shi Lang: hero or villain? His evolving legacy in China and Taiwan.
Modern Asian Studies . {{ISSN|0026-749X}} © 2017 Cambridge University Press http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/81309/1/Po_Shi%20Lang%20Hero%20or%20Villain_2017.pdf</ref>), '''Marquis Jinghai''', also known as '''Secoe''' or '''Sego''',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.laijohn.com/works/articles/wa1.pdf |title=台灣鄭氏與英國的通商關係史 |accessdate= |author=John Lai |date=1965 |publisher= }}</ref> was a Chinese admiral who served under the [[Ming dynasty|Ming]] and [[Qing dynasty|Qing]] dynasties in the 17th century. He was the commander-in-chief of the Qing fleets which destroyed the power of [[Koxinga|Zheng Chenggong]]'s descendants in the 1660s, and led the conquest of the Zheng family's [[Kingdom of Tungning]] in [[Taiwan]] in 1683. Shi later governed part of Taiwan as a marquis.

==Early life and career==
Shi Lang was born to a distinguished lineage in [[Fujian]], in 1621. He studied military strategy in his youth, and became particularly proficient in naval warfare. He was also famous for his strength, ferocity and martial skills in battle. [[Kangxi Emperor]] once described him as a fierce warrior who was also highly adept in military command skills, however, he was a blunt and rude person who lacked basic manners and courtesy. After fighting a number of minor operations locally with his father, he joined [[Zheng Zhilong]]'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|Zheng Chenggong]]. When Shi defected to the [[Qing dynasty]] in 1646, Zheng Chenggong killed Shi's father, brother and son.

==Campaign against the Zheng family==
The Qing rulers prized Shi Lang for his extensive naval experience and his network of contacts in the major trading ports of [[East Asia]]. He accompanied Prince Jidu (son of [[Jirgalang]]) on an expedition in [[Fujian]] in 1656, and attained the rank of Assistant Brigadier-General. In the campaign of 1663 against the Zheng family, he commanded Dutch ships and men to follow up the Qing victories.<ref name="Macgowan1906">{{cite book|author=John Macgowan|title=The Imperial History of China: Being a History of the Empire as Compiled by the Chinese Historians|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924023119872|quote=Shi Lang was known for his attitude and refusal to obey orders.|year=1906|publisher=American Presbyterian Mission Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924023119872/page/n547 528]–}}</ref> In 1668, he submitted a plan to drive the remnants of the Ming dynasty from [[Taiwan]] and the Pescadores ([[Penghu]]), but the proposal was not utilised. He was given a post in the Imperial Bodyguard and attached to the Chinese [[Bordered Yellow Banner]].<ref>[http://www.ibiblio.org/chinesehistory/contents/06dat/bio.1imp.html Imperial China (?–1644)]</ref>

==Conquest of Taiwan==
{{main|Battle of Penghu}}

In 1681, following the [[Revolt of the Three Feudatories]], the [[Kangxi Emperor]] sought a possible leader for an amphibious operation against Taiwan. Following the advice of [[Li Guangdi]], he chose Shi Lang. Shi Lang 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 Lang led a force of 300 warships and 20,000 soldiers 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.<ref name="Dittmer2017">{{cite book|author=Lowell Dittmer|title=Taiwan and China: Fitful Embrace|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gqc0DwAAQBAJ&q=koxinga|date= 2017|publisher=Univ of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-29598-8|pages=284}}</ref> On 5 September, Shi Lang received [[Zheng Keshuang]]'s offer to surrender. On 3 October, he reached Taiwan and formally obtained the capitulation of Liu Guoxuan and Zheng Keshuang.

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" ({{lang|zh|靖海将军}}) and given the hereditary rank of [[marquis]].<ref name="BrunnertHagelstrom2013">{{cite book|author1=H.S. Brunnert|author2=V.V. Hagelstrom|title=Present Day Political Organization of China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s0wrdzMXPZ8C&pg=PA494|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-79795-9|pages=494–}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Present_Day_Political_Organization_of_China_1000115601/509 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160425023845/http://www.forgottenbooks.com/readbook_text/Present_Day_Political_Organization_of_China_1000115601/509 |archive-date=2016-04-25 |pages=494–495|title=Present Day Political Organization of China}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://archive.org/stream/presentdaypoliti00brun#page/494/mode/2up|title = Present day political organization of China}}</ref> 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 in 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 &ndash; 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 Lang in audience in [[Beijing]] and allowed him to sit in the imperial presence, reiterating his confidence in him. Shi Lang returned to Fujian and remained in office there until his death in 1696.

==Legacy==
[[File:Chin-Chew.jpg|thumb|[[Paifang]] in [[Quanzhou]] in memory of Shi Lang. (taken between 1860 and 1880)]]
Shi Lang was given the posthumous name "Xiangzhuang" ({{lang|zh|襄壮}}), and the title of [[Government of the Han Dynasty#Staffs of the heir apparent.2C empress.2C and harems|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, Fujian|Jinjiang]], instead of in Banner lands as was the case with other Bannermen.

Though famous for his military achievements, Shi Lang remains a controversial figure in contemporary China. He is generally denounced as a traitorous figure who abandoned the Ming loyalist cause for the Qing.<ref>{{cite book|editor1-last=Leong|editor1-first=Stephen|title=Asia Pacific Security: Imperatives for Co-operation: Papers Presented at the 19th Asia-Pacific Roundtable: 31 May – 3 June, 2005, Kuala Lumpur|date=2006|publisher=ISIS Malaysia|location=Kuala Lumpur|isbn=9789679472912|page=154|quote=Shih Lang had fallen out with the Cheng family in 1662 and offered his services to the new Manchu rulers – he was therefore regarded as something of a traitor to the Ming cause.}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Wong|first1=Young-tsu|title=Security and Warfare on the China Coast: The Taiwan Question in the Seventeenth Century|journal=Monumenta Serica|date=27 April 2016|volume=35|issue=1|page=113|doi=10.1080/02549948.1981.11731152|quote=Strangely enough he has been vilified as a traitor by the modern Chinese. To be sure, Shih betrayed Cheng Ch'eng-kung and the cause of the Ming loyalist movement.}}</ref> As a defector, his exploits have generally been downplayed by the governments of both Taiwan and China, and he is remembered in Taiwan as a conqueror and cruel governor.

==In popular culture==
Shi Lang [[List of The Deer and the Cauldron characters#Qing Empire|appears as a minor character]] in the [[wuxia]] novel ''[[The Deer and the Cauldron]]'' by [[Jin Yong|Louis Cha]]. In the novel, the Kangxi Emperor ordered Shi Lang to assist the protagonist Wei Xiaobao in destroying the Mystic Dragon Cult. The [[Battle of Penghu]], in which Shi Lang led the Qing navy to victory over the forces of the Kingdom of Tungning, is also mentioned in the later chapters.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cha |first1=Louis |author1-link=Jin Yong |editor1-last=Minford |editor1-first=John |title=[[The Deer and the Cauldron]]: 3 Volume Set |date=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford, United Kingdom |isbn=978-0190836054}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Shi Shilun]], Shi Lang's son
*[[Yao Qisheng]], another participant in the invasion of Taiwan

==References==
{{reflist}}
*http://www.zonaeuropa.com/20060403_2.htm
*{{cite ECCP|title=Shih Lang}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shi, Lang}}
[[Category:Hokkien people]]
[[Category:Ming dynasty people]]
[[Category:Qing dynasty admirals]]
[[Category:1621 births]]
[[Category:1696 deaths]]
[[Category:People from the Kingdom of Tungning]]

[[Category:Generals from Fujian]]
[[Category:People from Jinjiang, Fujian]]
[[Category:17th-century Chinese military personnel]]
[[Category:Chinese nobility]]
[[Category:Politicians from Quanzhou]]