Yppong (birth date unknown, died in Maluku, 1614) was a Chinese merchant, presumably named Xing Pu 興浦 (simplified 兴浦) in Mandarin Chinese ("Yppong" is how his name was rendered in Latin and Dutch texts that record his travels). He is one of the first Chinese and Asians to have visited Europe in recorded history. On 31 May 1600, he boarded a vessel for Europe at

Banten Banten (, , Pegon alphabet, Pegon: بنتن) is the westernmost Provinces of Indonesia, province on the island of Java, Indonesia. Its capital city is Serang and its largest city is Tangerang. The province borders West Java and the Special Capi ...

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

, purely out of curiosity, and arrived in

Middelburg Middelburg may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Europe * Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...

later that year, and would remain there for several months. During this period he was converted to Protestantism. According to historians, his level of calligraphy shows that he did not belong to the uppermost classes of society. The English translation of his Chinese inscription is "A guest merchant from the Great Ming, named Yppong, first arrived at the lower port of Banten, then proceeded to the province of Zeeland, afterwards visited the province of Holland, returned to Banten, and finally made his way back to the Great Ming. In Holland, in the year 1600, on a Friday of January, in Vlissingen, he left this note as a record." Yppong calligraphy 1601

He was probably portrayed by

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged compositions reference erudite aspects of clas ...

in his painting ''Miracles of St. Francis Xavier'' (c. 1617) and on a chalk drawing of the same year. The hat worn by Yppong on the portrayals designates literacy. Rubens and Yppong never actually met, as Rubens was in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

at the time of Yppong's visit. Up to 2016, the man pictured was thought to be

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

, possibly António Corea.

In popular culture

In 2019/2020, horeca tycoon Won Yip posed as Yppong for the photo series "Hollandse Meesters Herzien" in Museum The Hermitage, Amsterdam. In 2021, artist Lisianne Smit devoted an exhibition to Yppong in the Abdijcomplex in the city of Middelburg. In 2024, Yppong featured briefly in the Dutch TV series ''Hollandse Meesters Herzien.''

References

{{Reflist Chinese merchants Middelburg, Zeeland 17th-century Chinese businesspeople Chinese explorers 17th-century explorers 17th-century merchants Converts to Protestantism Chinese expatriates in the Netherlands Chinese Protestants 16th-century births 17th-century deaths