2015年6月9日 星期二

The Diary of Philip Meij Part 2

A 17th Century illustration: Koxinga (r) sentencing Hambroek to death
from 風中之葉:福爾摩沙見聞錄 by Lambert van der Aalsvoort
The appearance of Koxinga remains unclear to this day. Philip Meij might have been the only one who gave a somewhat detailed first-hand description of Koxinga. Besides large teeth with gaps inbetween them, Meij had also noticed Koxinga‘s big and black eyes that darted around, his sparse beard that reached down to the chest, and that he spoke/barked with a severe and agitated voice 【translation of the diary in Chinese: "他眼睛又大又黑,那對眼睛很少有靜止的時候,不斷到處閃視...鬍子不多,長及胸部。他說話的聲音非常嚴厲,咆哮又激昂"】.

Since the names of Koxinga's generals spelled in Dutch were based on Hokkien, the latter was probably the language used by Koxinga in daily conversation (in addition to Mandarin官話 and Japanese). 

Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that Meij saw a bearded Koxinga that seems to confirm that portrayed in paintings commissioned (allegedly) soon before his death in 1662. In the Cheng Family tradition, men are always clean-shaven and mustaches/beards are kept only when in mourning of parental deaths. It now appears that Koxinga was still remembering his mother Lady Wen's untimely demise.
Koxinga playing Go (artist unknown)
Meij night have also exaggerated Koxinga's eyes. In the portrait of a middle-aged Koxinga (above), his were the classical phoenix's eyes (鳳眼), not "big and dark" that usually depict bandits and criminals. 

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