Note 16 — Chapter II

The recent change of view-point on the part of the Japanese regarding Koksinga throws an interesting side-light on the psychology of that race. Previous to 1895 the name of Koksinga was in Japan held up to universal execration. He had been a “villainous Chinese pirate; one who had behaved in Taiwan with the usual cruelty of his race” (i.e. the Chinese). Since 1895 when the Japanese came into control of Formosa, and, in turn, dispossessed the Chinese, it has been discovered “in old Japanese records” that Koksinga had a Japanese mother. Therefore he was Japanese—and a hero. Temples have recently been erected in honour of this “Japanese hero” by the Japanese, in several places in Formosa. To one who knows how strictly patrilineal the Japanese are—how little relationship through the line of the mother is usually considered—“c’est à rire”!