From Takow to Kaohsiung

Luermen (鹿耳門), Tainan

Luermen (鹿耳門; lit. "Deer Ear Gate"; Hoklo: Lok-ni-mng), in which 門 in Hoklo Taiwanese (mng / mui), through its meaning of "entrance", was used for the names of harbors (see, e.g. Kinmen {金門} in Fujian Province of the ROC, and Xiamen {廈門} in the PRC's Fujian Province), might perhaps look like a Chinese name for a port through which the ears of Taiwan's many deer carcasses were exported, just as Lugang (鹿港) in Changhua County was named after its role in the export of deer skins.
Nevertheless, the fact that this place appeared in 17th-century Dutch records as Lakjemuyse (and other spellings, e.g. Lacquymoye from 1643) would suggest that the name predates Han-Chinese immigration and, therefore, represents a transliteration of an Aboriginal place name. This, despite an early Ｑing-dynasty text stating 「形如鹿耳，分列兩旁，中有港門，鎮鎖水口」: "It is shaped like deer ears, separated into two parts, in the middle there is the harbor entrance, locking the river estuary', (tr. MC).

Luermen is the location at which Xoxinga's (a,k.a. Zheng Cheng-gong; 鄭成功) forces landed in 1661, outflanking the Dutch colony based at their strongly defended Fort Zeelandia to the south. Despite disorientating sea fog, Koxinga had sailed through the night from Penghu to avail of the new moon high tide, thus being able to float over obstacles the Dtuch had sunk in the Lakjemuyse Channel (in the estuary of the Zengwen River) to prevent enemies from landing. Apparently they were also fortunate in that the local Dutch fortifications had been destroyed by a typhoon of 1656. Koxinga's forces then besieged the Dutch capital until 1 February 1662, when Frederick Coyett, Dutch Governor of Formosa, surrendered.

The Matsu Temple (鹿耳門天后宮) at Luermen supposedly marks the spot where Koxinga's forces landed. Accorging to local legend, the temple is dedicated to Matsu (媽租), the seafarers' deity, because a) it was already in existence before Korxina's arrival, perhaps as early as 1604; b) Koxinga spcifically prayed to her for assistance when crossing from Penghu and sailing up the difficult-to-navigate channel, or c) because she intervened and miraculoously raised the waters several feet enabling the invading boats to clear the sunken obstacles.

The temple is still a major pilgrimage site today, albeit now located some distance from the sea due to subsequent silting of the waterways. The name Luermen is no longer used for a local government administrative unit; the temple is located within Annan District (安南區), Tainan City.



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