Little is known about Ching Shih’s early life. She was born in the Guangdong province of China in 1775, and her birth name was ShiI Xiang Gu. She became a prostitute who worked in a floating brothel in Canton. In 1801, Pirate Zhèng Yi, who commanded a fleet of ships called the “Red Flag Fleet,” noticed Ching Shih’s beauty, and wished to be with her. There are varying accounts of how they actually came to be together. According to some, Zhèng Yi sent a raid and ordered them to plunder the brothel. He asked that they bring him Ching Shih, his favorite prostitute. The men did as they were ordered, and Zhèng Yi and Ching Shih were married. By other accounts, Zhèng Yi simply asked Ching Shih to marry him. She agreed to his proposal so long as she would have some power within his organization, and would receive an equal share of his plunder. While the accounts vary as to how they actually came to be together, Ching Shih and Zhèng Yi began to run the Red Flag Fleet together.
With Zhèng Yi and Ching Shih side-by-side, the Red Flag Fleet quickly grew from 200 ships to more than 600 ships, and eventually to 1700-1800 ships. Their fleet was “color-coded,” with the lead fleet being Red, and the remaining fleets Black, White, Blue, Yellow, and Green. They formed the Cantonese Pirate Coalition with pirate Wu Shi’er. Zhèng Yi died in 1807, only 6 years after marrying Ching Shih. At the time of his death, the Red Flag Fleet included approximately 50,000 – 70,000 pirates. Ching Shih, wishing not to go back to a life of prostitution, knew that this was her opportunity to rise to become a powerful pirate lord. She could have simply stepped down from the organization, allowing Chang Pao, Zhèng Yi’s second in command, to take over. Chang Pao had been adopted as a son by Zhèng Yi and Ching Shih. However, Ching Shih craved the power and glory of being the leader of the Red Flag Fleet. With Chang Pao’s support, Ching Shih took charge.
Ching Shih was a strict and regimented pirate lord. She focused much on business and military strategy. She even went to great lengths to form an “ad hoc” government under which her pirates were bound to and protected by laws and taxes. Any plunder that was seized had to first be presented to the fleet and registered before it could be distributed. Whichever ship captured the loot was entitled to retain 20% of its value, while the remaining 80% was placed into the fleet’s collective fund.
Ching Shih set forth very strict rules regarding the treatment of captured prisoners – female prisoners in particular. Female captives who were considered to be “ugly” were released, unharmed. A pirate who wished to take a beautiful female captive as their wife was free to do so, but they were bound to be faithful and to care for her. Unfaithfulness and rape were both offenses for which a pirate would be executed. Harsh capital punishment was common for pirates of the Red Flag Fleet who did not stick to the code. Deserters would be hunted down, and their ears cut off when captured. Other punishments included flogging, quartering, and clapping in irons.
Ching Shih’s fleet took leadership over many coastal villages, sometimes even imposing levies and taxes on the villages. These coastal villages stretched from Macau to Canton. Ching Shih was called "The Terror of South China," and she would cruelly punish those who resisted her by nailing their feet to her ship’s deck and beating them. Some claim that Ching Shih was an opium smuggler, while others claim that she stuck mainly to looting, robbing, and taxing the villages her pirates raided. Chinese, Portugese, and British naval ships were all lost to Ching Shih’s fleet. Because it appeared she could not be defeated, the Chinese offered amnesty to all pirates, hoping to eliminate Ching Shih’s reign over the sea.
Negotiations between Chang Pao and official Zhang Bai Ling hit a deadlock, though. The Chinese government wanted the pirates to kneel before them, and there was disagreement as to what would happen with the reserves of loot. Ching Shih took matters into her own hands, and walked into Zhang Bai Ling’s office unarmed, accompanied by 17 illiterate women and children. Ching Shih and Zhang Bai Ling concluded negotiations. Ching Shih was permitted to keep all of her loot. To settle the kneeling deadlock, Zhang Bai Ling agreed to witness the marriage of Ching Shih and Chang Pao, for which the two had to kneel before Zhang Bai Ling in thanks. At this point, Ching Shih ended her career as a pirate, and had a son with Chang Pao. When Chang Pao died, Ching Shih returned to Canton and opened her own gambling house. She remained in Canton until she died in 1844.
The story of Ching Shih is classic rags to riches tale. Through her strength and courage she became a powerful female pirate, in charge of a large fleet and a massive crew. As time went on she became more and more powerful, and her reserves of loot grew until she saw the opportunity for amnesty. Through tough negotiations, Ching Shih was able to walk away with everything she desired, and the amnesty she hoped for.
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