ABSTRACT
Chinese tradition approves of war, provided that the war in question is a “righteous” one (yizhan 義戰). For example, King Wu of Zhou’s punitive campaign against the tyrant King Zhou of Shang in the distant past was celebrated as a righteous war.1 Like King Wu of Zhou’s initiative, Zheng Chenggong’s 1659 campaign against the Manchus was launched on a pretext of righteousness. It made use of a grand narrative of reclamation and wrapped its military operations in cultural symbolism and ritual. When Zheng’s forces reached Jiaoshan 焦山, an island nine li east of Zhenjiang 鎮江, Zheng conducted three days of solemn and elaborate ceremonies, from July 31 through August 2, as a parade and a rally for his warriors. Wearing red armor, they sacrificed to the Heavens on the first day; in black, to Earth on the second; and in white, to the late Chongzhen and Longwu emperors of the Ming on the third.2 So awed were the people who happened to witness the rituals that they dubbed Zheng’s men as “Heavenly Troops,” tianbing 天兵. In keeping with the spirit of the occasion, Zheng penned this verse:
“Chushi tao Manyi zi Guazhou zhi Jinling” 出師討滿夷自瓜州至金陵 (Launching a Punitive War Against the Manchu Barbarians, Sailing from Guazhou to Jinling) 縞素臨江誓滅胡 In mourning white we came to the River, our mission
to extinguish the Hu; 雄師十萬氣吞吳 Our heroic troops, a hundred thousand strong, awe
the Wu area. 試看天塹投鞭渡 Behold, my whip parts the waters of nature’s moat
and forth we go; 不信中原不姓朱 The Central Plain, I swear, is still named Zhu.3
