Carved Stone of Xu Yiming’s Campaign Against the Red-Haired Foreigners

The Carved Stone of Xu Yiming’s Campaign Against the Red-Haired Foreigners

The Carved Stone of Xu Yiming’s Campaign Against the Red-Haired Foreigners is a cultural relic protection unit of Fujian Province.

The Carved Stone of Xu Yiming’s Campaign Against the Red-Haired Foreigners, a cultural relic protection unit of Fujian Province, is located within Hongshan Temple in Hongshan Park on Siming South Road, Siming District, Xiamen City, Fujian Province. It was originally carved in the second year of the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty (1622), stands 2.8 meters high and 1.56 meters wide, and features six vertical lines of regular script totaling 60 characters, each character measuring 17 cm in height and 15 cm in width. The text reads: “On the 26th day of the 10th month in the second year of Tianqi and other days, Xu Yiming, the imperial commissioner and regional commander-in-chief for the defense of Fujian and surrounding areas, supervised guerrilla general Zhao Po and camp commander Chen Tiance, and led company commanders Zhu Liang, Wang Zongzhao, and Li Zhigang from the three battalions of Zhejiang troops to this place to campaign against the Red-Haired Foreigners.” This inscription reflects that in the second year of the Tianqi era of the Ming Dynasty, the Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company, Koen, ordered Admiral Reijersz to lead a fleet to occupy Penghu for the second time and used it as a base to harass China’s southeastern coastal regions. Areas such as Xiamen, Haicheng, Zhangpu, Zhao’an, and Tongshan (Dongshan) suffered greatly, prompting Fujian’s regional commander Xu Yiming to lead troops in a campaign against them in October of that year. The Carved Stone of Xu Yiming’s Campaign Against the Red-Haired Foreigners is a valuable historical record for the study of Ming Dynasty maritime defenses and anti-aggression struggles.

Hongshan Temple is situated in the middle section of Siming South Road and is now part of Hongshan Park. The Carved Stone of Xu Yiming’s Campaign Against the Red-Haired Foreigners is located on the cliff to the south of Hongshan Temple. It is just next to the inscription “Hongshan Weaving Rain.” When I came up earlier, I passed by Hongshan Temple but didn’t go in for a closer look because the temple looked too new. After descending from Jiaxing Fort and still not finding this provincial-level protected stone carving, I wondered if it might be inside the temple. So, I entered through the side gate of Hongshan Temple near the “Hongshan Weaving Rain” inscription, and on the right-hand side, I saw the provincial cultural relic protection plaque — and the inscription I had been looking for was right there on the adjacent cliff.