Martinus Sonck News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

<strong>Aug. 1 to Aug. 7</strong> Admiral Cornelius Reijersen stubbornly held out at Penghu’s Makung harbor (馬公) for nearly two years, refusing the Ming Dynasty’s repeated requests for his fleet to depart for Taiwan. Instead, the Dutch fleet plundered Chinese merchant ships, captured sailors and terrorized the coast of Fujian for months, hoping to force the Ming to open up trade with them. To the Ming, Penghu was too close to home; they knew of the Dutch’s military strength and they were also worried that the archipelago would become a pirate haven with ships smu...

<strong>May 31 to june 6</strong> Douliuzai Village (斗六仔) was once considered the poorest settlement in Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井). The residents were often the butt of local jokes — one saying poked fun of their lack of money, yellowed faces and smelly feet. The village’s fortunes drastically changed in the late 1960s due to the efforts of Cheng Han-chih (鄭罕池), who planted the nation’s first Irwin mango trees in 1962. By the early 1970s, everyone was growing the lucrative fruit and “Irwin mansions” sprouted up in the area. In 1973, the government...