#306 - Qing 41: Dead Men Tell No Tales

The History of China

Chris Stewart

History

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Piracy in Great Qing surges to a "golden age" during the Qianlong & Jiaqing eras. Corsair Confederations like Zheng Yi Sao’s vast-beyond-reckoning Red Flag Fleet, backed by the likes of Vietnam’s Tay Son rebels, dominating the South China Sea through organized plunder and shadow economies. Jiaqing’s shift to accomodation, while necessary, may expose Qing naval vulnerabilities, paving the way for foreign interventions and imperial decline... Time Period Covered: Prelude: ca. 15th-18th Cs. Main: ~1780-1810 CE Major Sources Cited: Antony, Robert J. Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China. Andrade, Tonio. Lost Colony: The Untold Story of China’s First Great Victory over the West. Murray, Dian H. Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790–1810. Perdue, Peter C. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. Qing Shilu (Veritable Records of the Qing Dynasty). Spence, Jonathan D. The Search for Modern China. Woodside, Alexander. "The Ch'ien-lung Reign" in The Cambridge History of China Vol. 9, Pt. 1: The Ch'ing Empire to 1800. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast.
0:10.0	Hello and welcome to the history of China.
0:17.5	Episode 306, Men Tell No Tales
0:21.6	On the 17th September 1809, the Honorable Company's ship, Marquess of Eli, was attacked by a fleet of Chinese pirates, numbering upwards of 70 junks, each carrying from 10 to 20 guns and manned by crews of 50 to 100 men.
0:40.3	The engagement lasted several hours, but our ship, being outmatched, was boarded, and I, with
0:46.3	several others, was taken prisoner.
0:49.3	The pirate's fleet, under the command of a woman known as Qing Shi was a formidable force, said to number
0:55.2	1,800 vessels and 80,000 men, women, and children in total.
1:00.6	Their discipline was extraordinary.
1:03.1	Orders were obeyed with precision, and their attacks were executed with a ferocity that left
1:07.2	no room for resistance.
1:09.7	They plundered our cargo, silks, opium, and silver,
1:12.6	dividing it methodically with strict rules governing the shares.
1:16.6	I observed that any man who stole from the common stock
1:19.6	or disobeyed the chief's commands was summarily beheaded,
1:22.6	a fate I witnessed twice during my captivity.
1:25.6	Their junks were well armed, some with European cannons,
1:30.3	and they navigated the rivers and coasts with such skill
1:33.3	that neither the Chinese Navy nor foreign ships could suppress them.
1:37.3	From Richard Glasspool, an officer in the British East India Company,
1:41.3	who was captured by Jung-e-So's pirates in September of 1809 near
1:44.9	the Pearl River Delta. In his memoir,
	...

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