The Pirate Queen Who Made an Empire Negotiate

In April 1810, the most powerful pirate in China walked into the viceroy's city with no weapons, just seventeen women and children behind her, and hundreds of pirate ships waiting on the river for her answer. History barely kept her name. The records call her Zheng Yi Sao, "wife of Zheng Yi." When her husband died in a gale in 1807, she didn't step aside. With Zhang Bao at her side, she turned a loose alliance of pirate gangs into a disciplined protection racket that ran the South China coast, and beat the Qing navy again and again. So why would a woman who controlled one of the largest pirate fleets in history walk into her enemy's city to negotiate? And why, thirty years later, was she still fighting the government, this time in a courtroom? Chapters 0:00 The walk to the gate 1:08 The woman with no name 2:16 Six flags and a gale 3:38 She moves first 5:21 The captive 6:45 War with the empire 7:59 The trap at Lantau 9:14 The deal 11:04 The last negotiation Sources: Wikipedia (Zheng Yi Sao), World History Encyclopedia (Zheng Yi Sao), Big Think (Ching Shih), Not Even Past, UT Austin (Primary source: the pirate Zheng Yi Sao), Royal Museums Greenwich (Mr Glasspoole and the Chinese Pirates), Charles Ellms, The Pirates Own Book (1842), Sixth Tone (The ever-evolving legacy of China's pirate queen, 2022), Robert J. Antony, Outlaws of the Sea (Hong Kong University Press, 2024) Made with original illustrations, AI-assisted narration and original music. #history #mystery #pirates #truecrime #chinesehistory