# Death of Chen Yonghua (July 1680)

URL: https://allhistories.com/taiwan/timeline/1680-death-of-chen-yonghua
Location: Tainan
Themes: Tungning, Naval war

Chen Yonghua died in July 1680 at about the age of 45 or 46 and was buried in the hills near Tainan. He had been Chief Minister of Tungning, tutor and adviser to its ruler. Wikipedia's article says that after the failed 1680 campaign Feng Xifan and Liu Guoxuan removed him from power, reportedly out of jealousy, though Feng's own article does not mention the removal. Born in 1634 near Quanzhou, he lost his father in 1648 when Qing forces forced him to commit suicide, then joined the Zheng cause. In Taiwan he is credited with introducing Chinese bureaucratic practices, a salt-evaporation method, water storage and the promotion of sugarcane, and with the 1665 Confucian temple, though the article is flagged as needing more citations and also describes a harsh tax system. His fall left the regime without its main civil administrator just as the war with the Qing turned against it. His daughter was married to the crown prince, Zheng Kezang, who was killed in the 1681 coup. In popular culture he appears as the model for a martial-arts hero in a Jin Yong novel. At this point in the timeline (1680), Zheng Jing (November 1662 – 17 March 1681) ruled the Kingdom of Tungning. Other contemporary rulers included the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing (1661 – 1722).

## Why it matters
The loss of the regime's chief civil administrator left Tungning in the hands of military factions on the eve of the Qing invasion.

Ruler at the Time: [Zheng Jing](https://allhistories.com/taiwan/rulers/zheng-jing)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Chen Yonghua](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Yonghua)
- [Wikipedia — Feng Xifan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Xifan)
- [Wikipedia — Liu Guoxuan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liu_Guoxuan)