When we mention the term "pirate", we will probably, thanks to novels and movies, create before our eyes the image of a bearded man with a blindfold, a parrot on his shoulder and, why not, a hook instead of an arm. Even if our imagination is less clichéd, we will hardly imagine a woman as a person of that "profession". And a Chinese woman. It was Ching Shih - a pirate who sent hundreds of thousands of men into battle and whose moment could bring them a rich reward, but also a horrible death.
Her story began in a dirty brothel in the port, where as a prostitute she tried to make ends meet, and often, for a crust of bread, she was sold on the street. She was twenty-six years old when pirates broke into her "home" and kidnapped her.
In a twist similar to the one in the soap operas, one of them, strongman Cheng Ch’i, was touched by the frightened look of the beautiful girl and proposed to her. She agreed to marry her kidnapper, and he found out that her gaze of a deer was a mere mask. In addition to the bed, the newlywed wife willingly became his partner in the "business" - for which she showed incredible talent. With her help, Ch’i managed to form one of the largest fleets in China. The robbery idyll lasted for six years, until the pirate's death, after which the widow had to take the lead.
Using every conceivable cunning, she rose in a short time to the commander of the infamous Red Flag fleet, which drove fear into the bones of merchants across the China Sea. At the height of her power, she had hundreds of junks under her control, or forty thousand men. She devised her own laws and strictly enforced them, and disobedience was punishable by death. Her crew members were not allowed to steal the common "spoils of war", unattractive prisoners had to be released, while those pleasing to the eye were allowed to be kept as concubines. Furthermore, pirates who raped or beat prisoners would be executed. In a way, she had a sense of justice, but she was just as ruthless. She cut off the ears of those who would try to leave her fleet - and with their own hands.
Realizing that he could not defeat her, Emperor Jiaqing offered her an amnesty in 1810, on condition that she leave the bloody business. For her, it was the perfect offer at the right time, because the fleet, the Red Flag, found itself under attack by the Portuguese navy. The Portuguese navy has already been defeated twice. However, this time things were different, they came prepared with superior ships and weapons. This gave the Portuguese an advantage, and the Red Flag fleet could not retaliate with an attack of the same intensity, so it signed an agreement in exchange for freedom and the right to keep the fleet.
In addition, she received the title of "Lady of the Royal Decree", which she was very proud of. The emperor allowed the pirates to take home all the booty that had accumulated over the years without any major consequences, and moreover, several pirates got jobs within the Chinese bureaucracy. Ching Shih’s adopted son and later husband Chang Pao became captain of Qing’s Navy Guangdong. In 1813, she gave birth to her first child, a son named Cheung Yu Lin, and then a daughter whose place of residence was long lost in history. She was 35 when she retired. After she got married and gave birth, she opened - her own brothel!
Ching Shih died in 1844 at the advanced age of 69. The legacy she left behind from the time of her reign has penetrated popular culture. She even inspired a character in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise: the powerful Mistress Ching, one of nine pirate masters. Although nothing is known about the years she spent after retirement, one can only hope that she spent her last days in peace and anonymity, away from the torturous life at sea where she earned her name.
