Word: chenggong
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...central figure in the propaganda battle is Zheng Chenggong, traditionally known to Westerners as Koxinga, the mentally unhinged son of a pirate, now lauded on the mainland as a "nationalist hero." After Manchu "barbarians" breached the Great Wall to establish the Qing dynasty in the 17th century, Zheng led his coastal forces in resistance before fleeing in 1661 to Taiwan, then a scarcely populated outpost supporting some Dutch traders and a small garrison, which he defeated. Shortly after, Zheng ordered his officers to execute his own son over a love affair with a nurse; they refused, so the hero killed...
...worthy tales need a bad guy, and it is the Dutch who are used to symbolize 21st century Washington. In the coming mainland film Hero Zheng Chenggong, the naval leader overwhelms the colonialists from Holland because, says director Wu Ziniu, "he is like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, fighting for his love of freedom." A state-produced TV mini-series premiering in October will present the Dutch as scheming to divide China. In fact, they were ensconced in Indonesia, "with no plans for a big presence in Taiwan," says Philip Kuhn, a Harvard historian. "They held out for a while...
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