En garde! It’s the early 1800s and you have to worry about pirates stealing from you. As the pirates are racing towards you and you’re running away, do you know who is leading the charge? Do you think of famous pirates, like Blackbeard or other men? What if I told you that the most successful pirate was a Chinese woman?
Zhen Yi Sao, originally called Ching Shih, was born in the coastal city of Guangzhou, China around 1775. Not much is known about Sao’s childhood or background before she became a pirate. Her name was first mentioned when she was working on a floating brothel. While working there, she gained a reputation as a shrewd business woman.
By 1801, Sao had married a man named Zheng Yi (also referred to as Cheng I). He most likely was one of her clients and it is not known how exactly they ended up together. One version of the story is that Yi asked Sao to be his wife, whilst another version is that Sao persuaded Yi to marry her.
When they were married, Yi was already powerful pirate: he helped lead pirates to re-establish power across the border in China. Sao helped her husband by being an organizer and consolidator for the pirates and they worked to unify small gangs into a confederation that eventually included 70,000 men. However, by 1807, Sao’s husband had died. She immediately set about taking control of the fleet herself. To help with that, she made Zhang Bao, her adopted son with Yi and his protégé, her second in command. At some point, they became husband and wife.
She created systems that enabled her to maintain power. For example, she set a code that would keep her men loyal to her, a severe code where death was a constant threat. If anyone was caught disobeying their superiors, it was automatic decapitation. If a man had a wife, he was supposed to be faithful or else he could be put to death.
Although the code was severe, she made sure to keep the pirates happy as well. One of these methods was ensuring stolen treasure was divided up fairly. 20% of the goods were allotted to those seizing them and the rest was put into communal treasures.
Along with capturing booty, she also had additional revenue sources by having ships pay her and her pirates fees to not be attacked, and there were even also official passports that ships had to pay for.
While it may have been uncommon to see a female pirate captain during this period, women pirates were not unusual. Some women fought while others did things like cooking and laundry. Unlike as is seen in popular culture such as Pirates of the Caribbean, women and children were allowed on ships and not always seen as bad luck.
During Sao's time as captain, her fleet was undefeated. The pirates would fight using hand to hand combat to win battles along with using cannons and guns, and Sao would have her ships sneak up on unsuspecting ships.
Because Sao was so powerful, the Chinese Navy did not have the money or manpower to stop pirate attacks. The Chinese Navy tried many times to stop Sao’s fleet but was unsuccessful. To stop other pirates, the Chinese government began negotiating with pirates to stop fighting.
Around 1810, a negotiation began with Sao and Pao to allow them to surrender. Initially, the negotiations did not go well as the government wanted them to hand over all their boats. Yet eventually, due to Sao’s negotiation, they were able to keep their fleet and Bao was given a place in the imperial army.
Bao quickly moved up ranks in the imperial army. Because he was a respectable, rising official, Sao petitioned the government for a title to go with her husband’s. As she was a remarried widow, this was considered illegal, but she did eventually refer to herself as the wife of an official.
In 1822, Bao died. Sao moved with their eleven year old son to raise him in her hometown and she continued to live her life where she ran a gambling den. She died a the age of sixty-nine in 1844.
While Zheng Yi Sao may not be a household name, her biggest appeared in global popular culture is when she inspired the character Mistress Chin in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, a very small nod to a woman that was one of the most powerful and successful pirates of all time.
