一六四六年，朱由榔繼隆武之後，在肇慶稱帝，改元永曆。一六五六年入昆明，大封功臣，鄭成功被封爲「延平王」。一六六一年四月，鄭成功延續了宋、元、明三代中國海權發展和台灣經營的事業，東渡台灣，打敗荷蘭人。五月十八日下令「東都明京，開國立家」、「手闢草昧」、「遺子孫以萬世不拔之基業」，和周初封疆建藩（「封建」一詞之起源）實行武力拓墾一樣，在海外延續大明香火，建立延平王國，鄭經繼承延平王國，奉永曆正朔，「別立乾坤」繼續和清人對抗。延平王國是在中華帝國皇權交替時期的一個封建諸候，是中華體制的一部份，並不是現代意義的獨立王國。一六八三年，施琅東渡平台，重行編入大清帝國體制，成爲福建省轄下的一府三縣。此後，大量中國人移民拓墾，相沿至今。康熙皇帝曾說：「朱成功係明朝遺臣，非朕之亂臣賊子」。光緒初在台建延平王祠，唐景崧－聯謂：「由秀才封王，柱撐半壁舊山河，爲天下讀書人頓失顏色；驅外夷出境，開闢千秋新世界，願中國有志者再鼓蹉風」，敘史敘事，雖相隔百餘年，拜讀此聯，尤令人低迴感慨，見景生情督勉當世，尤爲貼切。

In 1646 Chu Yu-lang succeeded Lung-wu emperor, becoming the new emperor, whose reign title was Yung-li. In 1656, Chu moved to Ku-ming and granted his high officials with honorific titles and lands, Cheng Ch'eng-kung was honored as "Yen-p'ing King". In April 1661, carrying on the maritime expansion enterprise and managing Taiwan efforts during the Sung, Yüan, Ming period, Cheng defeated the Dutch colonial government in Taiwan. On the eighteenth day of May the same year, Cheng began to establish a new capital and a new kingdom in Taiwan, which bequeathed the offspring a solid political foundation. This action was similar to the early Chou's military expansion, which led to the famous patrimonial system. Therefore, Cheng Ch'eng-kung, by founding the "Yen-p'ing Kingdom" in Taiwan, extended the Ming dynasty overseas. His son, Cheng Ching, succeeded him and continued to honor the Yung-li reign as orthodoxy, and to defy the Ch'ing government in the mainland. Therefore, the Yen-p'ing Kingdom should be viewed as a principality during the dynastic change period in traditional China. Its historical significance should be understood in the context of Chinese imperial system, and the kingdom itself should not to be regarded as an independent. sovereignty in the modern sense. In 1683, Shih Lang conquered Taiwan and incorporated Taiwan into the Chi'ing imperial system. Taiwan was then placed under the administration of the Fu-chien province. Thereafter, a great number of the Han Chinese people emigrated to Taiwan, a movement that has been continued till the present day. The K'ang-hsi emperor once said that Cheng Ch'eng-kung was a loyalist of the fallen Ming dynasty, not a defector rebelling against him. In the late Ch'ing period, a Yen-p'ing King shrine was constructed to honor Cheng. Somewhere in the shrine inscribed a poem written by T'ang Ching-sung. The poem praised Cheng Ch'eng-kung as a hero, who not only became a king from a licentiate, but also single-handedly hold on the Ming dynasty, an heroic act which upstaged many Chinese intellectuals. In addition, Cheng's heroic deeds such as his expulsion of the foreigners and his settling of a "new world" were paradigms for the Chinese people. Although the poem was written a hundred years ago, it is still very appealing today Moreover, The poem is even more meaningful for us in light of the current cross-strait situation.