Zheng Keshuang was born in of the
Kingdom of Tungning in Taiwan; the administrative centre of Chengtian Prefecture was at
Fort Provintia. His father was
Zheng Jing, the king of Tungning and the eldest son of
Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong), the founder of Tungning. His biological mother was Lady Huang (黃氏),
Zheng Jing's concubine. When Zheng Jing was leading a campaign against the
Manchu-led
Qing dynasty in China in the late 1670s, he designated his elder son,
Zheng Kezang, as his heir apparent and put him in charge of Tungning's internal affairs. At the same time, he also arranged marriages between his two sons and the daughters of two of his most trusted officials: Zheng Kezang married the daughter of
Chen Yonghua, while Zheng Keshuang married the daughter of
Feng Xifan. Zheng Jing returned to Tungning in 1680 from a failed campaign against the Qing Empire. In the same year, Chen Yonghua died after he was ousted from the political arena by his rivals, Feng Xifan and
Liu Guoxuan (劉國軒). Zheng Jing died a year later in Chengtian Prefecture. After Zheng Jing's death, Feng Xifan allied with Liu Guoxuan,
Zheng Cong (鄭聰) and others to slander Zheng Kezang in front of
Queen Dowager Dong, Zheng Jing's mother. They claimed that Zheng Kezang was not Zheng Jing's biological son, and launched a coup to kill Zheng Kezang and seize power. Following the coup, a 12-year-old Zheng Keshuang was installed on the throne as the ruler of Tungning under the title "Prince of Yanping" (延平王). After his accession to the throne, Zheng Keshuang rewarded the officials who supported him in the coup by granting them nobility titles. He also gave
posthumous honorary titles to his ancestors. In 1683, the
Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty ordered
Shi Lang to lead a naval fleet to attack and conquer Tungning. Shi Lang and his fleet defeated the Tungning forces, led by Liu Guoxuan, at the
Battle of Penghu. After the battle, the Tungning royal court split into two factions, with one advocating war and the other advocating surrender. The "war" faction was led by
Zheng Dexiao (鄭得瀟),
Huang Liangji (黃良驥),
Xiao Wu (蕭武) and
Hong Gongzhu (洪拱柱), while the "surrender" faction was led by Feng Xifan and Liu Guoxuan. Zheng Keshuang heeded Feng and Liu's advice. On 5 July 1683, Feng Xifan ordered Zheng Dexiao to write a surrender document to the Qing Empire. About ten days later, Feng sent Zheng Keshuang to meet Shi Lang. On 13 August, Shi Lang entered Taiwan and received the official surrender, the
Ming Dynasty Zheng family perished. Noble titles were given to the dynasts and officers of the formerly reigning
House of Koxinga. Zheng Keshuang and his family were taken to the Qing imperial capital,
Beijing, to meet the Kangxi Emperor. The emperor made Zheng Keshuang a member of the
Plain Yellow Banner and awarded him the hereditary title
Duke of Hanjun (漢軍公; lit. "the duke of
Han Eight Banners"). Some former Tungning military units, such as the rattan shield troops, were inducted into the Qing military and deployed in the battle against
Russian Cossacks at Albazin. Zheng Keshuang died of illness in 1707 in Beijing at the age of 37. His younger brother, Zheng Kexue (鄭克壆), was ordered by the Qing government to bury the remains of Zheng Chenggong and Zheng Jing in
Quanzhou,
Fujian – the
ancestral home of the House of Koxinga. Zheng Keshuang's mother, Lady Huang, tried to seek assistance from the Qing government to return their family property in Fujian to them, which was annexed by local officials, but she failed. Later, during the reign of
Yongzheng Emperor, the remaining family of Zheng's was reassigned to
Plain Red Banner. == Descendants ==