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This website will be used to track my own process and fascinations upon the topic Heritage.

It can be fragments, sketches or loose thoughts like loose change in your pockets.

The year is 1624. In southwestern Taiwan the Dutch establish a trading settlement; in Nagasaki a boy is born who will become immortalized as Ming dynasty loyalist Koxinga. Lord of Formosa tells the intertwined stories of Koxinga and the Dutch colony from their beginnings to their fateful climax in 1662. The year before, as Ming China collapsed in the face of the Manchu conquest, Koxinga retreated across the Taiwan Strait intent on expelling the Dutch. Thus began a nine-month battle for Fort Zeelandia, the single most compelling episode in the history of Taiwan. The first major military clash between China and Europe, it is a tale of determination, courage, and betrayal – a battle of wills between the stubborn Governor Coyett and the brilliant but volatile Koxinga. Although the story has been told in non-fiction works, these have suffered from a lack of sources on Koxinga as the little we know of him comes chiefly from his enemies.While adhering to the historical facts, author Joyce Bergvelt sympathetically and intelligently fleshes out Koxinga. From his loving relationship with his Japanese mother, estrangement from his father (a Chinese merchant pirate), to his struggle with madness, we have the first rounded, intimate portrait of the man.Dutch-born Bergvelt draws on her journalism background, Chinese language and history studies, and time in Taiwan, to create an irresistible panorama of memorable characters caught up in one of the seventeenth century’s most fascinating dramas. Source Amazon

A Dutch woman who studied Chinese language in National Taiwan Normal University more than 30 years ago was so fascinated with the history of Formosa under colonial Dutch rule in the 17th century that she wrote a historical novel about it.Bergvelt said almost all Dutch people have no knowledge about this part of Dutch history, the CNA report said. They chose to totally forget about the history of losing Formosa, and many Dutch people even don’t know Formosa is Taiwan as their history textbook only mentions this part of history in one or two sentences, she added, according to the report. Thanks in part to some publications, this has begun to change as the interest of Dutch people in the Dutch East India Company has been growing in recent years, she said, according to the report.When talking about Taiwan, which she hasn’t visited since 1995, Bergvelt said she really wished to visit Taiwan again because she misses the country's mountains, waters, friendly people and delicious cuisine. Src Taiwan News

Menno Goedhart, a former Dutch ambassador stationed for nine years in Taiwan, also wrote a book about Taiwan, titled The Real Taiwan and the Dutch. Exerpt: The book’s main author Menno Goedhart was, from 2002 until his retirement in 2010, the Netherlands representative at their Trade and Investment Office, i.e. at the de facto embassy. Goedhart stayed on after his retirement, settling in Xinhua, Tainan, in the heart of Siraya territory to further his investigations into the Dutch heritage and continue his work promoting Dutch-Taiwan cultural ties. Although perhaps not immediately obvious, the two nations share more than an episode of seventeenth-century history; they’re both small countries with similar population numbers – Taiwan’s 23.5 million to the Netherlands’ 17 million – and both modern trading nations blessed with educated, outward-looking citizens.

During Goedhart’s travels he was surprised by how widely the Dutch had traveled around the island. And how many people had a connection to the Dutch, either an oral traditional from the Dutch time and also how many claimed to have Dutch ancestors, something of which they were proud. Src Bookish Asia

I am right now doubting whether to buy this book or not. It seems more of an introductory guide, but maybe there is more to be found historically. What is quite interesting is that I came across this book whilst staying in Doulan, Taiwan. Back at the time I refused to take this book, although it was offered to me.