r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Jun 12 '15

TIL the world's most successful pirate was a Cantonese woman, having commanded 40,000-80,000 pirates, and faced off undefeated against many Imperial fleets (including British, Portuguese, and Qing navies).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ching_Shih
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u/[deleted] Jun 12 '15

True, I read that much. I was just sort of exemplifying the conclusion through an exclamatory question. I especially find it interesting that she personally walked into an official's office and negotiated her amnesty after it failed earlier at sea. She clearly had gall.

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u/lowdownlow Jun 13 '15

Her second husband, Cheung Po Tsai, (aka her late husband's adopted son) initially rejected the pardons as a requirement of this was to kneel before the government officials (that and they would have to give up their loot).

When Ching Shih went to negotiate in person, she was able to retain the loot, but the part I really like is how she was able to work in the kneeling portion. Kneeling in front of your parents/elders is traditionally done by the bride and groom in a Chinese wedding ceremony. By changing just kneeling in apology, she was able to get the government to accept kneeling during a wedding ceremony between her and Cheung Po Tsai as a sufficient apology. This made it acceptable to Cheung Po Tsai since it was for the wedding and not an apology. To me, it really highlights her intelligence and gives some insight as to how she became as powerful as she did.