An inscription found in the tomb of Zhu Yihai (朱以海, 1618-1662), Prince of Lu during the Ming Dynasty, is on display at the Historical Folk Museum in Kinmen County.
The inscription, which was carved into a tombstone and buried with Zhu shortly after his death in the county in 1662, was discovered during construction work in 1959 and transferred to the National Museum of History in Taipei.
The 726-character inscription records Zhu’s visits with civilian officials and militia generals in China’s Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces after the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644.
Zhu and three other princes led resistance movements — called the Southern Ming — against the military of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
At the official opening of the exhibition on Friday last week, former National Museum of History director Chang Yui-tan (張譽騰) said he is glad to see the inscription returned to Kinmen for the exhibition and hopes the county would become a center for Southern Ming studies.
Since the inscription is to return to Taipei after the exhibition, a 3D-printed replica was made and presented to county government, National Museum of History director Chen Teng-chin (陳登欽) said.
The exhibition is significant as culture from both Minnan (Southern Fujian Province) and the Southern Ming enable the county to act as a bridge between Taiwan and China, County Secretary-General Lin De-gong (林德恭) said.
The inscription also says that Zhu died of asthma on Kinmen and not at sea on the orders of Koxinga (Cheng Cheng-kung, 鄭成功) as recorded in the dynastic history of the Ming, indicating that Zhu had died about six months after Koxinga’s death.
The exhibition is part of activities to mark the 400th anniversary of Zhu’s birth and is to run until Aug. 30.
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