In 19th century Guangdong, China, there was a business-savvy prostitute named Shi Xianggu, now often referred to as Ching Shih (Widow of Ching), who caught the attention of the fearsome pirate Cheng I. Cheng, who had heard tales of the prostitute who had used her wealthy clients’ secrets to control their political power, captured her and demanded her to be his bride. Just as he’d heard, she was a clever and shrewd businesswoman, and she accepted the marriage on the condition that she have equal control over his pirate fleet.
After six years of marriage, Cheng I died. The cause of death is not known for sure, but most believe he was either killed in a tsunami or murdered in Vietnam. Though Cheng’s successor was his adoptive son and lover, Cheung Po Tsai, Shi Xianggu was determined to keep her control of the fleet. She took Po Tsai as her lover, as well, and they married. Through the marriage, Shi Xianggu was able to regain control of the fleet, giving Po Tsai almost none.
In September 1809, Shi Xianggu’s pirates captured an East India Company employee named Richard Glasspool and held him until December of that year. After being released, Richard estimated that there were 1,000 large junks, a type of flat-bottomed Chinese ship, and 800 smaller junks and sailboats under her command, as well as 80,000 pirates. The famed Blackbeard, on the other hand, lived in the same century and had only 4 ships and 300 pirates under his command.
Like all pirate fleets, Shi Xianggu’s fleet had a strict code to abide by. While most rules were standard, Shi Xianggu had rules to punish rapists. For instance, if a pirate was caught raping a female captive, he was to be executed. However, if a pirate and a female captive were caught having consensual sex, they would both be executed – The pirate by beheading, but the woman would be weighed down by cannonballs and dropped into the sea.
Shi Xianggu operated as the Pirate Queen of the South China Sea for five years before opening peace talks with the Chinese government. The government, who had been defeated by Shi Xianggu’s fleet many times, offered her and her pirates amnesty from their crimes if they retired, even allowing them to keep their booty and offering them military jobs. In the end, only 400 of her pirates were punished, and only 126 of them were executed. Shi Xianggu used her wealth to open a casino, and lived the rest of her life as the lady of the house. She died peacefully at the age of 69 in 1884.
Over a hundred years after her death, Shi Xianggu still inspires books and movies, including one of the nine pirate lords in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Mistress Ching. Though her casino is closed and her treasures are lost, Shi Xianggu’s mark on history will not be forgotten anytime soon.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_Yi_Sao#Legacy
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-chinese-female-pirate-who-commanded-80000-outlaws
Ching Shih: the Pirate Queen who Ruled the South China Sea