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Battle of southern Fujian sea (1633)
Part of the Battle of southern Fujian sea (1633)
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Date October 22, 1633 Location Kinmen Gulf, near the southern Fujian Result Decisive Ming victory
Belligerents
Ming Empire	Dutch East India Company
Commanders
Zheng Zhilong colonel Chung yongzain	Hans Putmans Pirate boss Liu shenlau
Strength
200 little ships	60 ships
Casualties and losses
3 damaged, 80 KIA, 150 WIA	4 HMS Galleon sank, 1 HMS Galleon losed power damaged can't sail, 50 ships damaged, 150 drown, 250 KIA, 800 WIA and Prisoner of war

The Battle of southern Fujian sea (1633) (明荷崇禎海戰, lit. Battle of the gulf Kinmen ), took place on October 22, 1633. It involved the Dutch East India Company and the Chinese Ming dynasty's navies, and was the largest naval engagement of the 17th century. Kinmen is a little island off the Chinese coast in the southern Fujian sea, though the battle was actually fought at the gulf of this island's north coast, in the Taiwan strait. A Dutch fleet under Admiral Hans Putmans attempted to control tax of Taiwan strait while the southern Fujian sea traffic and trade was protected by a fleet under brigadier General Zheng Zhilong.

The engagement continued for 3 months, and while it was not the first of pre-dreadnought technology on a wide scale, there were significant lessons for naval observers to consider.

Background

The Ming Dynasty's last Emperor, Chongzhen Emperor, needed a large sum of money to pay his army, just raised to war on Manchuria and deal with an internal rebellion. At this time, the Dutch East India Company combined with the pirates in the South China sea and the East China Sea were disrupting trade in this area, which reduced the Emperor's tax base.

Quanzhou, on the southern Fujian sea, was a rich town, as it was the eastern end of the Silk Road and therefore needed a great deal of protection from the Ming naval fleet and the Dutch East India company

2 dragons: post Ming's finance

Zheng Zhilong's Chinese name means Chinese dragon. The Ming's finances depended on 2 "dragons", two navy general who had made their fortune from smuggling.

• the Southern dragon was Zheng Zhilong,
• the Northern dragon was Mao Wenlong(毛文龍), who commanded Ming's fleet and 30,000 Marines in the Yellow Sea, and belonged to the Wei Zhongxian's gang. Mao traded with Japan, China and the Dutch.
• A Chinese saying went thus: "Two dragons play with a pearl." The Chinese emperor's given name was Chu, which sounds like the Chinese word for 'pearl'; hence, the implication was that the two 'dragon generals' were controlling the emperor, and hence the country's economy. Beijing fell in 1644 to rebels led by Li Zicheng, Li discovered many official minister very rich.

Ming Dynasty victory

Dutch East India Company's galleons were commanded by Jach Brouckerhaven, Stootodijck and Weiringen but the Ming navy won the battle, in the greatest battle since the Ming Dynasty had been established in 1368.

The Prime Minister talked to the Chongzhen Emperor second day in Beijing emotionally.

The Chongzhen Emperor was so happy at this victory that he promoted Zheng Zilong to brigadier General on the spot. In 1640, Zheng Zhilong helped increase the Chongzen tax revenue, and promoted him to the navy marshal, Admiral of the fleet and Governor of Fujian province.

Wikipedia content modification information:

• This page was last modified on 26 October 2008, at 15:56.

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