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The imperial Chinese, British, & Portuguese navies could not bring Zheng Yi Sao to lớn justice, & it was only when she herself choose khổng lồ accept a pardon that the great pirate confederation was disbanded. Over three years, she had beaten all comers but also caused terror along the coast of southern china where thousands of civilians were robbed, murdered, and sold into slavery.
Zheng Yi"s Pirate Confederation
Zheng Yi (also known as Ching I), was the leader of a large pirate confederation, & he caused terror in the South china Sea. Over a period of just two years, Zheng built up this force to around 600 ships & up to 40,000 men. They were divided into six divisions, each led by an independent commander who operated in an agreed area of the South đài loan trung quốc Sea. Each of the six fleets was easily identified by their ships carrying a specific coloured flag. Zheng Yi himself commanded the largest of these, the 200-ship Red Flag Fleet. The pirates attacked ships from Hong Kong to Vietnam, including foreign ships và large merchant vessels carrying precious goods to & from china and Malaysia. One particular pirate hotspot was around Canton (modern Guangzhou) and the islands of the Canton River Delta – so much so, European sailors called this place, and the pirates who haunted it, Ladrones (meaning thieves or brigands).
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Captured cargoes included precious goods lượt thích gold, silver, rolls of silk, spices, Chinese porcelain, tea, và cotton. These goods were then sold on to lớn merchants on the coast. In the case of foreign ships, captured mariners were often ransomed. Coastal towns were also attacked, either lớn loot them of provisions or khổng lồ encourage the payment of protection money, a strategy also applied to captains of merchant vessels who were required khổng lồ purchase a pass or risk attack from any ship in the confederation. On occasion, even coastal fortifications fell khổng lồ the pirates. Zheng Yi was remarkably successful, and not even raids by the Chinese authorities had very much impact on his operations. Then disaster struck, and the pirate chief was killed in November 1807, either in action or in a typhoon. The other five pirate captains had to lớn decide on a successor, và they chose Zheng Yi"s widow, Zheng Yi Sao. Although we know a great deal about her exploits from here on in, there are no reliable descriptions of either her character or physical appearance. Zheng Yi Sao must be judged by her deeds alone.
Did you know the world’s most powerful pirate was a woman? Her name was Zheng Yi Sao, or Madame Ching, who lived in the Qing Dynasty of ancient china and at one point commanded a fleet of about 1800 ships with more than 70000 men, terrifying the Imperial Navy. You can see her on the right, this is one of the very few authentic images of her. But let’s start at the beginning.
She was born on the coast of Southern china and lượt thích many women there, she later worked as a prostitute on one of the many swimming brothels. 1801, when she was 26 years old, the already quite powerful pirate captain Zheng Wenxian asked for her hand in marriage & bought her free. At first they went lớn Vietnam, where the pirate life was a lucrative one. The Zhengs shared every aspects of their lives – yes, the fighting too – life was good.
Unfortunately after just one year the pirates who had been allies in Vietnam, now found themselves competing for the limited ressources of the Chinese coastline again. That’s when the Zhengs started khổng lồ work on a pirate alliance. In 1804/05, they had established a confederation of six pirate leaders, each commanding a fleet và all under their supreme command. Well, officially HIS supreme command, but that would change when he drowned in a Taifun in 1907, aged 42. Without hesitation Zheng Yi Sao assumed leadership – surprisingly without any uproar và soon she had earned the nickname “Dragonlady.”
và she led well, delegating the command of her fleet to her adoptive son & lover (ignoring both, the mourning tradition và the incest taboo – which still did not diminish her authority) & implementing a strict code of rules. By 1808 (when she was 33) her alliance had brought the whole coast of the Guangdong province under their control (the red part in the picture), so that’s quite a bit of coastline they controlled there) and ships faring the Southern Chinese waters had to pay them for protection – so basically all the ships because the vast majority of trade routes went South. The salt and opium trade had also become a pirate monopoly.
& now the emperor finally had enough. The pirate problem was obviously out of control và his military offences kept failing. So in 1809 he took the desperate measure of forbidding all maritime traffic, all goods had to be transported by land. But well, hungry pirates are not necessarily tamer than well-fed ones, so that plan kinda backfired. Realizing the coast was dead, they began sailing the rivers, advancing into the inland. They frightened the people so bad, that they killed every stranger on sight, fearing him to lớn be a disguised pirate. With no one left to oppose them, it was now time for inner conflicts. Gu Podai, the captain of the second-most powerful fleet in Zheng Yi Sao’s alliance (after hers), was not happy with the quick rise of her adoptive son and lover (whom she had appointed captain of her fleet), taking orders from someone so much younger và less accomplished did not go with his honor. & there was an opportunity: because the Imperial Navy was rendered completely powerless, the authorities offered rewards for pirated denouncing their trade. So Gu Podai left và he và his feared black Fleet joined the Imperial Navy – not without a generous “compensation” of course. Not a critical change for the pirates but life had become uncomfortable. Zheng Yi Sao had khổng lồ decide now: continue her pirate life or give up now, as long as the rewards were high? She made her decision & spoke before the governor on April 17, 1810 và three days later surrendered herself, 17318 pirates, 226 ships and 1315 cannons. Then she và her frenemy Gu Pao ran down the remaining pirates. Now the time for surrender was over, no more rewards. The power nguồn had shifted – once more thanks to lớn Zheng Yi Sao. That same year the pirate queen retired, aged 35, and lived a happy và relatively quiet life. Just as quietly & entirely unobstructed she led a smuggling operation for opium & a gambling house. In 1844 she died in peace at 69 years old.
While she is certainly not an entirely forgotten “heroine” – I mean, she was in Pirates of the Caribbean – not many people know how powerful she really was and how she defied the rules of society to find happiness for herself. So this is why in my opinion she was the perfect opener for this project – a prostitute from the flower boats becoming a pirate queen, no, THE pirate queen.
image credits:
portrait: found at Ancient Originsmap: That’s Magazine – The Explainer, HK Focus truyền thông Groupmovie still: from “Pirates of the Caribbean – At World’s End,” 2007 – Link
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