中英雙語話史記 第122期:鄭成功收復臺灣

Ming Dynasty

明朝

The Recapture of Taiwan by Zheng Chenggong

鄭成功收復臺灣

As an island in East Asia， Taiwan (臺灣）is located off the coast of mainland China, south of Japan and north of the Philippines.

作爲東亞的一個小島，臺灣位於中國大陸沿海地區，日本的南部和菲律賓的北部。

It is bounded to the east by the Pacific Ocean, to the south by the South China Sea, to the west by the Taiwan Strait and to the north by the East China Sea.

臺灣東臨太平洋、南臨中國南海、西接臺灣海峽、北接中國東海。

The island is 245 miles long and 89 miles wide and consists of steep mountains covered by tropical and subtropical vegetation.

小島長245英里、寬89英里，島上佈滿了覆蓋着熱帶和亞熱帶植被的崇山峻嶺。

Evidence of human settlement in Taiwan dates back 30000 years.

臺灣島上的居民區可追溯到30000年前。

Records from ancient China indicate that Han Chinese might have known of the existence of the main island of Taiwan since the Three Kingdoms period, having assigned offshore islands in the vicinity names like Greater and Minor Liuqiu (琉球），though none of these names have been definitively matched to the main island of Taiwan.

中國古代的記錄顯示中國人早在三國時期就已經知道了臺灣本島的存在，並把其周邊沿海的島嶼命名爲大琉球和小琉球，儘管這些名字沒有一個與臺灣本島完全相配。

It has been claimed but not verified that Zheng He (鄭和 Ming Dynasty) visited Taiwan between 1403 and 1424.

據稱鄭和曾在1403到1424年間到訪過臺灣，不過這個信息並沒有得到證實。

In 1624, the Dutch established a commercial base on Taiwan and began to import workers from Fujian and Penghu as laborers, many of whom settled.

1624年，荷蘭人在臺灣建立了一個商業基地並開始從福建和澎湖徵收勞動力，這些人大部分都在臺灣定居了。

The Dutch made Taiwan a colony with its colonial capital at Tainan.

荷蘭將臺灣變成了自己的殖民地，首都位於臺南。

In 1661，Zheng Chenggong (鄭成功）led his troops to a landing at Lu’ermen to attack Taiwan.

1661年，鄭成功帶領軍隊駐紮在鹿耳門攻打臺灣。

By the end of the year, he had chased out the Dutch, who had controlled Taiwan for 38 years.

到這一年的年末，他趕走了控制了臺灣38年的荷蘭人。

Following the fall of the Ming dynasty (明朝），he retreated to Taiwan as a self-styled Ming loyalist, and established the Kingdom of Dongning (東寧王國 1662—1683).

明朝滅亡後，鄭成功撤回臺灣，在當地自封爲反清復明之人並建立了東寧王國（1662——1683）。

Zheng Chenggong establishing his capital at Tainan and he and his heirs continued to launch raids on the east coast of mainland China well into the Qing dynasty, in an attempt to recover the mainland.

鄭成功定都臺南，他和他的繼位者們依舊從中國大陸東岸向清朝發動襲擊，企圖光復大陸。

At the age of 39, Zheng Chenggong died of malaria, although speculations said that he died in a sudden fit of madness upon hearing the death of his father under the Qing.

鄭成功39歲那年死於瘧疾，儘管有傳言說他是在聽到自己的父親被清朝迫害後死於突然的發瘋。

His son, Zheng Jing (鄭經），succeeded as the King of Taiwan.

他的兒子，鄭經，繼承了他的位子。

In 1683，the Qing dynasty (清朝）defeated the Zheng holdout， and formally annexed Taiwan, placing it under the jurisdiction of Fujian province.

1683年，清軍戰勝了鄭家軍的頑強抵抗，官方宣稱臺灣爲附屬國，歸於福建省管轄。

Following the defeat of Zheng’s grandson to an armada led by Admiral Shi Lang, Zheng’s followers were expatriated to the farthest reaches of the Qing empire, leaving approximately 7 000 Han on Taiwan.

自從鄭成功的孫子被施琅大將軍的無敵艦隊擊敗後，鄭成功的追隨者被大清帝國流放到了最偏遠的地區，臺灣島上大約有7000漢人留下了。

The Qing government wrestled with its Taiwan policy to reduce piracy and vagrancy in the area, which led to a series of edicts to manage immigration and respect aboriginal land rights.

清朝爲了減少這個地區的海盜和流浪者就實行了臺灣本土的政策，這帶來了一系列管理移民和尊重當地原住民的法令。

Illegal immigrants from Fujian continued to enter Taiwan as renters of the large plots of aboriginal lands under contracts that usually involved marriage, while the border between taxpaying lands and “savage” lands migrated east， with some aborigines while others retreated into the mountains.

來自福建的非法移民不斷進入臺灣，這時納稅人的土地和蠻人的土地之間的界限向東遷移，他們作爲原住民大部分土地的合約承租人通常都與當地人結婚，而其他一些原住民已經退回了山中。

During this time， there were a number of conflicts involving Han Chinese from different regions of China, and between Han Chinese and aborigines.

在這段時期，來自中國不同地區的漢人之間有矛盾，漢人和當地的原住民間也有矛盾。

The bulk of Taiwan’s population today，the “native” Taiwanese，claim descent from these migrants.

今天我們所說的臺灣的“當地”人其實是指這些移民的後裔。