A replica of the ship that carried Ming Dynasty hero Cheng Chen-king to Taiwan in 1616 is expected to be completed by the end of November.

TAIPEI: In southern Taiwan's city of Tainan, work is well underway, as shipwrights proceed with the task of creating a replica of the ship that carried Ming Dynasty hero Cheng Chen-king to Taiwan in 1616.

The Chinese general, also known as Koxinga (1624-1662), is revered in Taiwan and on the mainland for ending 38 years of Dutch occupation of the island.

The ship's replica, which is expected to be completed by the end of November, will be opened for public tours and set sail on short voyages, in the hope of setting off a new trend of historical tourism on Taiwan.

The timing is excellent with the growing influx of mainland tourists to the island.

"The vessel would ply the ancient sea routes on friendship missions to promote Taiwan and its cultural assets internationally," said Tainan City Mayor Hsu Tian-tsair at a recent ceremony to mark the completion of the hull.

The ceremony was witnessed by Wang Zhigang, a mainland official of the Hong Kong and Macao division of Ministry of Culture. Wang said he hopes Taiwan and the mainland can conduct more exchanges after the ship begins sailing to the mainland.

Over the last six years, Tainan has hosted an annual festival to celebrate Koxinga's legacy in Taiwan and his close links to the southern city, where he ruled Taiwan after driving out the Dutch. His rule was short lived. Koxinga died the following year of malaria.

In February, the Tainan City government began constructing the wooden vessel at the city's Lin Mo-niang Park at Anping Harbor. For their model, they used a 1706 painting of one of the boats in Koxinga's fleet. The painting is kept at a museum in Hirado, Japan's Nagasaki prefecture, where Koxinga was born.

Koxinga's father was a Chinese merchant and pirate. His mother was Japanese.

A 1706 painting of one of the boats in Koxinga's fleet is taken as a model to build the ship's replica.

Koxinga's fleet was called "Taoyuan boats" (Taiwan boats) by the Japanese. The Dutch colonists called the ships, "sailing junks".

Tainan-based Dragon Yacht Building Ltd was commissioned by the city government to build the replica to specifications of 29.5 meters in length, and 7.26 meters in width, with a displacement of 125 tons - exactly the same as the boats in Koxinga's fleet.

The replica is designed to be powered by wind. It weighs around 150 tons with the capacity to carry about 200 people and up to 36 cannon, Hsu said.

When the vessel is ready for launch, a crew of 20 will be recruited to sail first to Hirado, then to the mainland and to Jakarta, Indonesia, Hsu said.

The voyage will retrace an ancient marine trade route - across the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, the Yellow Sea, the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, the Bashi Channel and the Strait of Malacca. The trade route was in use at the time Taiwan was ruled by Koxinga.

"The building of the replica aims to honor Koxinga's pioneering spirit and highlight the glorious days when the Ming Dynasty had the world's greatest navy," according to Hsu.

The ongoing construction work is open to public view.

The vessel is similar to the Hong Kong-registered Princess Taiping, which was built by hand with traditional tools after being commissioned by Nelson Liu, a former Taiwanese businessman. It was powered only by cotton sails, but the Tainan boat will be more than twice the size.

The ill-fated Princess Taiping sailed from northern Taiwan June 26 last year on a voyage aimed at proving that Ming Dynasty explorers could have reached America more than half a century before Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. She sailed all the way across the Pacific, all the way to the United States. One day before her triumphal return home, the Princess Taiping was overrun by a freighter and sank April 26, off Taiwan's fishing port of Suao.

Mayor Hsu said the Tainan boat is being built more sturdily. "It will be able to withstand gale force 8 winds and waves up to six meters high," the mayor said.

The idea for building the new ship emerged about five years ago when Tainan city officials received archival information documented by academics over 10 years, said Hsu Ken-hsiu, director of the city's Tourism and Cultural Affairs Bureau.

The plan was put on the shelf until February, when the Council for Cultural Affairs (CAA) agreed to contribute NT$80 million ($2.35 million) to construction costs, the tourism chief said.

The feasibility study for the project was started two years ago. Later a special task force composed of historians and ship-building experts was formed.

In 2007, members of the team traveled to Japan to obtain a copy of the 1706 painting and other invaluable archival information related to that type of vessel, Hsu said.

The actual work of building the ship is something of a challenge, as it is difficult to find shipwrights with the required expertise, officials said.

It is extremely difficult to build such a ship," said Tseng Fan-han, deputy director of the Metal and Mechanical Division under the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), who is familiar with the plan.

The youngest of the shipwrights who have experience building wooden boats are in their 70s, Tseng said. Most manufacturers that supply wood and other building materials for recreating ancient ships have suspended operations because there is no demand, Tseng added.

This is the Dragon Yacht Building company's first attempt at building a replica of an ancient ship, but the company expects to obtain similar orders internationally once the current project is complete, said Lu Chung-yung, director of the United Ship Design and Development Center in Taipei county, which is overseeing the construction.

In 1644, when the Manchu forces took Beijing and established the Qing Dynasty, Koxinga, along with many Ming loyalists, escaped southward and resisted the invasion for over 20 years.

In the end, Koxinga's forces were no match for the Qing. He had no option but to retreat to Taiwan.

In 1662, Koxinga established Taiwan's first formal Chinese government at Anping in Tainan. He adopted the Chinese legal system and courts, and he instituted important cultural, artistic and commercial improvements and reforms, before his death.

In Taiwan, Koxinga is regarded as a patriot because he was a Ming loyalist who used Taiwan as a base to launch counterattacks against the Qing Dynasty.

Already, the ship being built in Tainan has drawn a lot of media attention, with its historic significance and archaic shipbuiding techniques. The National Geographic Channel Taiwan has been recording the ship's construction from the very beginning, including the signing of a contract for the shipbuilding, the laying of the keel, and the completion of the hull.

China Daily/CNA

The cabin structure of the ship replica under construction.

(HK Edition 05/09/2009 page8)