Author: Joyce M. Bergvelt
The book is written by Dutch-born Joyce M. Bergvelt and it is the story of Koxinga, or Zheng Chenggong, the son of a Chinese nobleman and a Japanese woman, and how he won Taiwan from the Dutch.
The book was first published in Dutch language in 2015. The English edition of the book was later published under the title ‘Lord of Formosa’ in April 2018 which is the author’s own, original work. Lord of Formosa is not so much a biography as it is a historical action novel in which Koxinga is the protagonist. Bergvelt portrays Koxinga not as a flawless but driven warrior who saw his destiny as driving the Dutch from Taiwan and then ruling it as a base from which to retake China.
Bergvelt must be praised for such a fine endeavor in bringing to the front both a restored Koxinga and in focusing the role of Dutch rule in the development of Taiwan.
> Shiuly Rina
