From June 28-30, 2019, Prof. Vickers and Dr. Maehara took a group of Kyushu University students on a field trip to Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture - birthplace of Zheng Chenggong (鄭成功), celebrated as a ‘hero’ (for different reasons) in Taiwan, mainland China and Japan. In addition to the museum and shrine at Zheng’s birthplace, we also visited Hirado Castle and sites in the nearby town associated with Zheng’s family history, including the reconstructed Dutch trading post and the Matsuura Historical Museum. We also visited sites associated with the ‘hidden Christians’ of Nagasaki, recently designated a UNESCO ‘World Heritage Site’. On this year’s trip, we were joined by a visiting scholar, Agnes Lam of the School of Journalism at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Outside the Zheng Chenggong Museum next to the shrine at Zheng’s birthplace in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture.