16 Facts About Shi Lang

Shi Lang, Marquis Jinghai, known as Secoe or Sego, was a Chinese admiral who served under the Ming and Qing dynasties in the 17th century.

Shi Lang was the commander-in-chief of the Qing fleets which destroyed the power of Zheng Chenggong's descendants in the 1660s, and led the conquest of the Zheng family's Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan in 1683.

Shi Lang was born to a distinguished lineage in Fujian, in 1621.

Shi Lang studied military strategy in his youth, and became particularly proficient in naval warfare.

Shi Lang was famous for his strength, ferocity and martial skills in battle.

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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 Zheng Chenggong.

When Shi Lang defected to the Qing dynasty in 1646, Zheng Chenggong killed Shi Lang's father, brother and son.

Shi Lang accompanied Prince Jidu on an expedition in Fujian in 1656, and attained the rank of Assistant Brigadier-General.

Shi Lang was given a post in the Imperial Bodyguard and attached to the Chinese Bordered Yellow Banner.

Shi Lang insisted on having an independent command, not one shared with Yao Qisheng, the Governor-General of Fujian.

Shi Lang was declared the "General Who Maintains Peace on the Seas" and given the hereditary rank of marquis.

Shi Lang continued at his post in Fujian, seizing almost half of the developed land in southern Taiwan for his own profit.

Shi Lang returned to Fujian and remained in office there until his death in 1696.

Shi Lang was given the posthumous name "Xiangzhuang", and the title of Junior Tutor to the Heir Apparent.

The Shi Lang family was granted the special privilege of burial in their ancestral cemetery in Jinjiang, instead of in Banner lands as was the case with other Bannermen.

Shi Lang is generally denounced as a traitorous figure who abandoned the Ming loyalist cause for the Qing.