Ching Shih: The Pirate Queen

Happy Friday! Today we are talking about the most successful pirate in history, and I don’t mean Jack Sparrow or Blackbeard - I’m talking about Ching Shih, the former sex worker turned pirate queen who controlled the South China Sea to such an extent the Qing dynasty paid her to retire! As an Asian woman she defies all the pirate stereotypes toted by historians and western sources alike, and had one hell of a career both on the sea and land! If you're wanting more Hot History you can follow along on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/hothistoryclub/?hl=en, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@hot.history?lang=en and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@hot.history and of course, right here! Til next week, Ainslie x

• 0:15Speaker 00

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• 0:47Speaker 01

  Hi guys and welcome back to Hot History, the place where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know but don't. I'm Ainslie Harvey, your hot historian, and I am ready to chat today about the most successful pirate in human history. I'm not talking about Blackbeard or William Kidd or Captain Jack Sparrow today. I am talking instead about one of my favorite women in history, Qing Shi, the pirate queen of the South China Sea, who was so successful that the Qing Dynasty paid her to retire. So let's get into it, guys,

• 1:29Speaker 01

  by rewinding all the way back to 1775. And here we find ourselves in the town of Xinwei in the Guangdong province in southern China. Now, as was tradition amongst communities that lived along the coast of the South China Sea at this time, many families, including Qing Shi's, lived and worked aboard a seafaring community. So this independent group of floating ships that formed almost a town. These were called Tunca's, named after the kind of sailing ship which made up the bulk of these communities. And there was a Tunca for everything, guys.

• 2:13Speaker 01

  I am not kidding, there was a shop, a medical office, a brothel, a gambling house, a weapons ship. So these were fully functioning, independent communities, like on the coast, just off the mainland. Now, as I said, Qing Shi, whose name was Shi Yang, prior to marriage, just to be really clear, I'm calling her Qing Shi, just for ease, but her name originally was Shi Yang, was born into one of these families around seventeen seventy-five. We don't know a lot about her childhood, other than the fact her family were very poor, which was the case for most of Tunca families. And we really only see her admitted to the historical record in her early teens, when

• 2:54Speaker 01

  she became a sex worker on the Tunca brothel, as well as a worker at the gambling house. Now, key to note here, guys, while we may not know a lot about her, one thing is for certain. Qing Shi was exceptional. She had an innate ability of discernment and understanding of human nature, which made her incredibly good at getting what she wanted. That, paired with beauty brains and pretty epic skills between the sheets, meant that Qing Shi rose through the ranks of both the brothel and gambling house, to truly become one of Guangdong's key power brokers.

• 3:36Speaker 01

  This woman had more agendas than I've had hot dinners, and she was able to skillfully get her way by getting her lovers to spill the beans in their post-coital bliss, which she then used all these secrets as leverage to manoeuvre herself, you know, through these existing sys- systems, which was almost entirely unheard of for such a young woman at the time.

• 4:00Speaker 01

  Now, it was this skillful keeping and sharing of secrets, like I said, which allowed her to kind of manage her way into the top ranks, and also allowed her to pick her clientele, which is how she met her future husband, Zheng Yi, a privateer, aka legal pirate, who fought for the Vietnamese Ta Son Dynasty before commanding a pirate fleet known as the Red Flag. Now, before we get to him, I just wanna do a little bit of a detour and talk about pirating more generally at this point in time. So, when I say the word pirate, let's be real, we all think Captain Jack Sparrow, right? It's Pirates of the Caribbean, there's white sandy beaches,

• 4:44Speaker 01

  and big Spanish galleons, and X marks the spot, and there's rum, and mermaids, and palm trees, and it's all incredible. But none of it's true. Well, the Spanish galleons and the rum was true, and we'll get to that in a second, but the point is, even during the Golden Age of Pirating, it is not what Hollywood portrays. So what was it like then? Well, in the Caribbean, piracy peaked during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, during the Golden Age of Piracy. And it was intimately linked to European imperial rivalry, mainly with privateers, who, like I said, were these legally sanctioned seafaring officers, who were sent out to patrol other European nations' fleets and trade vessels.

• 5:28Speaker 01

  So, for example, the British sending privateers to patrol and legally confiscate goods from Spanish marauders. Because, of course they did, right? What, what don't they get their grabby little hands all over? Now, where you go from privateers to pirates was post-rivalry, right? Like, a war ends, and you still have these seafaring men whose entire lives basically revolve around taking stuff they believe is theirs or just flat out want. So this line between privateer and scurvy, regular old pirate begins to become blurred. Again, majority of this activity in the Golden Age of piracy was in the Caribbean,

• 6:12Speaker 01

  an essential trade route at the time. And it is here that we see pirates like Blackbeard or Henry Morgan, targeting Spanish treasure fleets operating from island bases such as Tortuga and Nassau, both of which still heavily associated with piracy and the legacy of the Caribbean today. These pirates at this time were pretty successful, but largely unorganised, a motley crew, right? Who followed loose codes of conduct, but were mainly just drunken fools who usually rushed for the nearest landmass to spend their dough on women and drink.

• 6:50Speaker 01

  So that's the Caribbean. But like I said, piracy was a criminal system, not necessarily limited to a place. And with the expanding trade of the Qing Dynasty through the South China Sea, it also became a target for pirates who intercepted vessels carrying any number of goods. During the late 18th century, there was silk, alcohol, spices, jewels, livestock, like you name it, it was coming in and out of the South China Sea. And while, yes, these pirate crews during this time were moderately profitable, they were neither organised or overly successful.

• 7:29Speaker 01

  But there was a distinct change between 1790 and 1810, in which pirating in the South China Sea became not just a lifestyle or a way to make ends meet for criminal adventurers, but a business, an organisation. And as such, the South China Sea was transformed into a hotbed of criminal enterprises, with the entire dynamics of the Qing Dynasty turned on its head. And this is the climate in which we find Qin Shi and Zheng Yi.

• 8:04Speaker 01

  So let's get back to them. Now, like I said, Zheng Yi is the commander of the Red Flag Fleet, a pirate fleet consisting of around 200 ships and countless crew who wound up in Guangdong around 1801, where they stopped to rest and resupply, which is how Zheng Yi met the then 26-year-old Qing Shi, who, like I said, was called Shi Yang at the time. Recognizing the rich pirate commander at the gambling house, Qing approached him and the two spent the night together. After which, something incredibly unexpected happened. Zheng Yi proposed.

• 8:47Speaker 01

  Now historians tend to disagree on whether this proposal was a normal, "will you marry me?" or a very pointed, "you'll be my wife, there's no choice." But what we do know for certain is that Qing Shi was not going to marry this man without negotiating first. Even if he said, "this is happening", she said, "well, here's my conditions if so." And like I said, Qing Shi is an incredibly smart woman, guys. She spent years in brothels and gambling houses, so she's hardly someone who's going to accept a first offer. And told Zheng that she would happily accept his marriage proposal, but on two conditions. Firstly, she wanted 50% of his earnings.

• 9:31Speaker 01

  And second, she wanted control of a portion of the fleet for herself. Now, if you're thinking, "that sounds like a hell of a lot for a 19th century woman to demand", then you'd be right. I mean, even today, guys, where women are far more protected in marriages, do we see arrangements like this being made? Often not. Or if they're being made, they're not necessarily being the truth. But Qing wasn't going to leave her position for anything less than this. And Zhang, well, he just couldn't resist, guys. So Shi Yang, like I said, became Qing Shi, aka wife of Zhang, in eighteen oh five,

• 10:12Speaker 01

  trading her life as a businesswoman in the harbor for one as a pirate on the high seas. But was this unusual at the time? Well, yes, but also no. The conditions on which she entered piracy by negotiating a pretty big chunk of cash and control of some of the fleet, totally abnormal. But by this point in history, women had long played an active role in piracy itself. In the sixteenth century, there was Grace O'Malley, who was commissioned as a privateer by Queen Elizabeth the First, Rachel Wall, one of the most notorious American pirates, was around during the seventeen eighties, and of course, we have Anne Bonny and Mary

• 10:52Speaker 01

  Reed, who were both active and renowned throughout the Caribbean during the seventeen twenties. So Qing's involvement in her husband's piracy, while rare, was not unheard of. So Qing and Zhang start their new life together by setting off with their fleet of ships and by adopting a son. Yeah, we should probably talk about the elephant in the room, or sheep, I should probably say, because in seventeen ninety-eight, Zhang basically abducted a fifteen-year-old boy named Zhang Bao from his family's tanker. Side note, which I probably should have mentioned at the top, but gonna call out now instead. Again, Hollywood tends to portray piracy as these, you know, scurvy, morally gray characters

• 11:36Speaker 01

  who like rum and the sea and treasure, but ultimately do the right thing and respect the codes. In real life, though, guys, they raped, they pillaged, and they stole what they want, often being directly involved with the slave trade, including taking children and women from their homes directly. And in the case of Zhang Bao, that was absolutely what happened.

• 11:58Speaker 01

  So after taking him from his family, Zeng Yi forced him into a life of piracy, and later into being his son, making him the legal heir of the Red Flag Fleet. Now, you may be thinking, hectic, right? A free inheritance. But let me tell you, it came at a cost. Because Zhang was also Zeng's lover, which is pretty messed up even by pirating standards, guys. So now, bound to the fleet and the sea, Zhang, Qing, and Zhang, aka the most dysfunctional family on the seven seas, all decide what is best for them is to just divide and conquer,

• 12:43Speaker 01

  right? There is some much-needed space between them all, and they decide they're all gonna do their own thing. Zhang, he's at the helm of the fleet. Zhang controls a small portion of individual ships, and Qing is keeping everyone in line, kind of overlooking this whole grand affair. To be honest, they actually did make a pretty good team, managing all 200 ships between the three of them. But that would soon change. For in 1802, Zhang's cousin died, leaving his own fleet without a leader. Now, this is a huge opportunity for the Red Fleet to expand their numbers and their

• 13:22Speaker 01

  influence. So Qing convinced her husband to not only sail to this much larger fleet, but go directly to the heart of the command and take them over. After some convincing, Zhang agreed and pulled his flagship right up to the other commanders of his cousin's former fleet and told them they should join him. Now, this, as you can imagine, led to huge feuds between the existing captains, who kicked off a string of brawls that nearly blew all of them to smithereens. But Qing, unburdened by her male compatriots, testosterone and egos, came up with a master plan.

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• 14:35Speaker 01

  Qing Shi proposed that the two fleets rally together under one joint fleet called the Confederation. And in doing so, they could take control of the entire South China Sea. No more regional groups taking the odd ship here and there, no more small outposts, you know, tracking river entries and stalking ports. Qing had a vision of a fleet so large and so powerful, it could take every ship, have outposts at every river entry, and be strong enough to battle any port head-on. But most importantly, they would have one almighty treasure trove for the taking.

• 15:19Speaker 01

  So basically, guys, Qing Shi came up with the idea to franchise pirating, which was not only brilliant, but totally irresistible, with the existing captains present agreeing to the merger and neighboring fleets also wanting a piece of the action. The result of which was the largest pirate fleet on planet Earth, consisting of 1,800 ships across what became known as the Red, Black, Blue, White, Yellow, and Purple Fleets of the Confederation, and Zheng Yi and Qing Shi. Were in charge of them all. So having successfully garnered more power than she could have ever dreamt of in Guangdong,

• 16:04Speaker 01

  Qing Shi and the Red Flag Fleet spent the next few years championing the Confederation by showing just how much treasure they could haul. In fact, by 1806, every seagoing vessel throughout the entire South China Sea paid tribute to them for protection, amassing a fortune that makes Captain Barbosa look like a street peddler. Plus, Qing managed to do all of this while pregnant, giving birth to two sons in 1803 and 1807. So with two heirs, a huge fortune, and a loyal fleet, all seemed well in the piratedom. But then disaster strikes. Sailing off along the coast of Vietnam,

• 16:48Speaker 01

  Zhang Yi got caught up in a huge tsunami and dies, throwing the entire working dynamics of the South China Sea in two. The balance, there's widespread bawling, there's mutiny and disorder is breaking out, threatening Qing's position and her sons' lives. So she once again hatches a plant. While the fleet respected Qing, even feared her, to be honest, they would not allow a woman direct control of the Confederation. It just wasn't gonna happen. And with her boys just too young to make any reasonable claim over the fleet, she was forced to look elsewhere, which brought her to another who was not only grown and had a penis,

• 17:31Speaker 01

  but whose blood, sweat, and tears had earned him great respect with the crew. Zhang Bao. Now, I do wanna say, there was already and still remains today a great deal of speculation about the relationship between Qing and Zhang. Some say their shared desire for power united them in their struggle, while others maintained the relationship between the pair was sexual, even predating Zhang's death, making Zhang the lover of both his adoptive father and adoptive mother, which like, just fucked up in any of these cases. But although it's hard, let's put that aside for a minute.

• 18:14Speaker 01

  There is no denying that this man was the solution to Qing and the Confederation's problems. So the pair marry. It was a true pirate match for the ages because in this one union guys, they successfully fought off several power hungry captains, ensured Zhang's succession and set up Qing Shi as the true leader of the entire confederation. And when I say she hit the ground running, or the deck running, probably more appropriate, I absolutely mean it. This woman was the Kris Jenner of the South China Sea guys,

• 18:56Speaker 01

  and she would suffer no fools. So her first act was to clean up the motley pirate crew that Zhang had allowed to become sloppy by implementing the code. But unlike the code in Pirates of the Caribbean, Qing Shi's code of conduct was absolute law. And I have a copy of it, and I'm gonna read it out to you guys. So buckle in now. According to Qing Shi, only she could authorize an attack with any unsanctioned attack punishable by, I'm doing this so that I can still remain online, uh, your head being separated from your shoulders, right? We all know what I'm talking about.

• 19:37Speaker 01

  Secondly, loot was to be gathered and equally distributed by superiors, with any first time offenders who did not comply receiving a severe beating, and repeat offenders were head separated from shoulders. Number three, ears were cut off those who deserted their posts, including those who went ashore without permission. Four, rape was punishable by also head being separated from shoulders. Five, consensual sex without Qing Shi's permission meant head separated from shoulders. Six, pirates had to marry female prisoners before consensual sex. And seven, my personal favorite,

• 20:23Speaker 01

  cheating on your spouse or treating her poorly was punishable, also by your head being separated from your shoulders. Now, let me clarify. I don't support violence in any way, but the idea of a 19th century woman running such a tight ship...

• 20:41Speaker 01

  Hot. And if you're thinking, you know, she probably says this scare tactics and doesn't actually follow through, uh-uh. No ma'am. Qin Shi enforced her code with as much merciless fervor as Julia Fox in her dominatrix era. And soon, the entire Confederation fell in line behind her.

• 21:00Speaker 01

  But she wasn't just a top-notch lawmaker and disciplinarian, guys. She was also a heavily skilled tactician, so much so that by eighteen oh eight, the Confederation doubled its activity and take home whole, making them the sole focus of the Qing Dynasty's naval forces. So let's very quickly touch on the Qing Dynasty, who they are, what they did, why they're relevant here. I promise we won't spend too much time on it and we'll get back to the pirates. So, Qing Dynasty is the last imperial dynasty of China founded by the Manchus from Northeast Asia in sixteen forty-four, after they conquered the declining Ming Dynasty. The key thing to know about the Qing is they were truly conquerors.

• 21:43Speaker 01

  And as such, expanded China's territory to its greatest historical extent, incorporating regions such as Tibet, Xinjiang and Mongolia. But this was largely done by the early rulers, right? And they presided over these really long periods of stability called the Qing Golden Age. But by the time we reach Qin Shi in the nineteenth century, this was starting to decline. As massive land rebellions weakened the state, Western powers imposed unequal treaties, and economic losses from pirating boomed. And like I said, the person and crew responsible for this was none other than Qin Shi and the Confederation. The impact of the crew on the dynasty was so great

• 22:29Speaker 01

  that by eighteen oh eight, their entire navy was almost entirely focused on taking down Qin and her fleets. And the one key region they refused to back down or compromise on was the Pearl River. And the reason for that was because the Pearl River held one single port, Canton. The one place the Qing Dynasty restricted almost all foreign trade to, making it the central artery of global trade between China and the West.

• 23:01Speaker 01

  So the pirates could not take the Pearl and no man, not even Zheng in his heyday, had been able to come close. But Qing Shi was no man, and she intended to have it. So she hatches a plan. With most of the navy stationed at the mouth of the Pearl to defend it, it was near impossible to simply like ram-bam thank you man their way through. So Qing decides that if she couldn't remove the blockade, she'd make it smaller. To do this, she employed a system of ultimate carnage by basically decimating any remaining naval vessels out at sea, which were then replaced by vessels stationed at the Pearl.

• 23:43Speaker 01

  This went on for more than six months and by October 1808, the Confederation had successfully reduced the entire Qing navy by half. This obviously compromised the Pearl, but the Qing navy wasn't made up of spineless simpletons. And despite their dwindling numbers, they managed to not only retaliate against the pirates in late 1808, when they attempted to take the river, but they sent 100 ships to destroy the approaching White Flag Fleet in 1809, the result of which was devastating with the fleet's leader Liang Bao dying in the process.

• 24:24Speaker 01

  The entire Confederation was furious and pushed for an all-out front-on attack of the remaining forces at the time, but Qing encouraged restraint. You see, above all else, Qing Shi's goal was efficiency, whether it was aboard her vessels or in her strategy. And in this case, she didn't just want to destroy the navy, she wanted maximum chaos.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  The navy knew that retaliation would come and as such, recalled all of its seafaring vessels to the mouth of the Pearl, reinforcing its defenses with ships that had been out at sea or stationed in various coastal towns all coming in. So they're absolutely ready for a fight here. But days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and still there's no attack from the Confederation. But the threat to the navy was too great to disband the Pearl's defense. So all they could do was sit and wait, leaving every coastal town and minor port exposed.

• 25:34Speaker 01

  After an entire year of inaction, a year, guys, Qing decided it was finally time to make her move. And my god, was it a stroke of genius. So firstly, Zhang and the Red Fleet would raid the city of Dongguan in the Guangdong province. Guoipadi and the Black Flag would then raid Shundi and Qing and her own personal fleet would raid Jinghua. And when I say raid, I mean like full out proper carnage. Over a six-week-long bloody campaign, it is estimated that more than 12,000 people died. At least 10 towns and settlements were destroyed and countless treasures were plundered.

• 26:18Speaker 01

  Now, you're probably thinking, oh my god, holy shit, you know, what about all these innocent civilians who died in this process? And you are absolutely right and clearly very morally sound to ask these questions. And it is true. Qing Shi was responsible for the deaths of thousands, and that's very, very bad. However, she was unequivocally and all too transparently a pirate.

• 26:44Speaker 01

  She never lied about it, nor did she put on airs and graces about her morality. She lived to pillage, to maim, and to kill mainly her enemies, which were traders and government officials. Again, bad, bad, bad. But if there were civilians that also died in the process, like, so be it. The same attitude that was taken by pretty much every other pirate, king, commander, or president in history. We just don't find ourselves questioning it as much because they're mainly dudes. And I think it's really important when looking at women's history to understand the gendered influences that go into conflating and exaggerating many things from sexuality to influence to wealth,

• 27:28Speaker 01

  or in this case, morality. Now, in the end, Qing got exactly what she wanted, with the tirade of terror successfully goading the navy into a head-on battle that ended with their decimation and the pirates finally capturing the prestigious Pearl River.

• 27:47Speaker 01

  But now Qing has a whole navy of men to deal with. Like, what do you do? You take them prisoner? You kill them all?

• 27:55Speaker 01

  Not really Qing's style. You see, she was always the master of opportunity, and expansion was always her number one goal, so she offered the captured navy officers a choice. Beheading, or a job aboard the Red Flag Fleet. After all, why waste, you know, perfectly skilled men of the sea? Her mercy on this day alone doubled the already massive fleet's size, and finally forced the Qing navy to face reality. Qing Shi ruled the sea. And since obtaining control of the confederation, she picked fights and won against the East India Trading Company, the Qing itself, and several other foreign barbarians,

• 28:40Speaker 01

  including the Portuguese, who tried to take the Pearl once Qing had controlled it by trapping the pirate fleet in the river. This genuinely is one of my favorite, like, Jack Sparrow-esque, cannot-believe-they-got-out-of-this stories. So, the Portuguese did trap the pirate fleet at the mouth of the Pearl, making it impossible for them to reach the sea and escape, and as such, forced the pirates into stalemate. Now, the Portuguese bought in nearly one hundred of its strongest ships to form this blockade, and really wanting to make the fleet hurt, they came up with a rather ingenious plan, or at least they thought it was ingenious at the time.

• 29:23Speaker 01

  So firstly, with this grand abundance of ships they've decided, you know, they're gonna bring, they've got way too many, they abandoned forty-three of them, piling all the remaining soldiers into smaller vessels. But why abandon ship, right? What's the point? Well, they decided to use an ancient Mediterranean tactic used by both the Greek and Roman navies: fire ships. So the idea here, you essentially turn your largest vessels into floating weapons by setting them on fire and using the tide to catch, you know, the enemy's ships alight. It goes towards them, they're all on fire, it all then spreads. So the Portuguese start doing this, you know, it, it worked for the Romans, like it'll work on these pirates.

• 30:08Speaker 01

  But they failed to take into account probably the most fundamental thing: the wind direction. Yeah, so instead of heading straight for the pirates' ships, the fire ships made their way back towards the Portuguese, with three of their manned vessels burning. The pirates, of course, you know, they take full advantage of this and use the chaos to escape. In the end, the pirates lost forty men and zero ships, while the Portuguese lost three ships and seventy-four men. So while this isn't a decisive battle victory by any means,

• 30:49Speaker 01

  Qing Shi once again turned her own enemy's weaknesses back on them, as she had done and would do her entire life. Now, by this point, it's eighteen ten, and there's really no match for the Confederation. Qing Shi is at the height of her power, the South China Sea and its entire trade was hers, which makes Qing Shi the greatest pirate to ever live.

• 31:19Speaker 01

  That's not opinion or speculation, it is fact just based on the numbers. Take this from Stanford historian D N H Murray, who says in its peak, Qing Shi's fleet had an estimated 1,800 ships and 80,000 pirates at her disposal. For comparison here, Blackbeard, the most well-known pirate in history, had four ships and 300 men. So why is Blackbeard famous when he had 2% of the ships that Qing Shi had? Well, it all comes down to one thing: stereotypes. Think about it, Blackbeard, right? He ticks every single box.

• 32:02Speaker 01

  He, along with Jack Sparrow and the majority of other famed pirates we know, are white, British, fearsome men, who are delusional enough to get out of a bind in some far-fetched manner usually involving cannons.

• 32:16Speaker 01

  But Qing Shi is none of those things. As a former sex worker turned pirate through marriage, Qing Shi, an Asian woman, hardly fits the bill of your average stereotypical pirate.

• 32:29Speaker 01

  But still, she bested them all.

• 32:32Speaker 01

  Blackbeard, William Kidd, Bartholomew Roberts, Francis Drake. They all look like kids waving swords on diggies in comparison to Qing Shi. As do the history writers who glazed these men and hoped to find these stereotypes in the first place. And while we all know, right? It's like the key thing, history is written by the rich and victorious, both of which Qing Shi was. But there was two far greater powers whose reputation as controllers of the seas were paramount to their survival. Britain and the East India Trading Company, both of whom, one, controlled the majority of the Western narrative we have, and two, were beaten by Qing Shi in several encounters throughout the South China Sea

• 33:17Speaker 01

  and the Pearl River more specifically. So they're hardly gonna go around, right? Advertising through their history books that they were all bested by an Asian former sex worker. Who also happened to be a woman. And as such, they diminish her significance. Which, again, when we are looking at women's history is why we need to detach ourselves from the narrative and often take a step back to look at the biases and the dynamics at play. Question that history. So to do this, we are going to look at the incredible work of author Laura Silk Duncan, who breaks down the facts of Qin Shi's life.

• 33:58Speaker 01

  Not the biased accounts or Western reporting, the facts based on government documents and firsthand local accounting. And what we know based on these numbers alone is, quote, "She pirated longer, she made more money, she surrendered on her own free will, got to keep her money and live out the rest of her days in freedom, as opposed to being cornered and murdered by a government like Blackbeard was." Which reveals the truth here. Qin Shi, a female, Asian, former sex worker, beat everyone at their own game, which makes largely what she does next truly shocking.

• 34:42Speaker 01

  Having bled the coastline dry for years and knowing she held all the cards here, Qin decided to approach the Guangdong government with a proposition. If it would pardon her and her crew, she'd retire.

• 34:57Speaker 02

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• 35:27Speaker 01

  Now whether she was tired of life at sea or, you know, simply just wanted to go out on top, we don't really know. But the news of a potential retirement from the Pirate Queen rang throughout the entire Qing Dynasty. And they were absolutely determined to close this deal, whatever the cost.

• 35:48Speaker 01

  So the government bent over backwards to basically wine and dine Qing Shi. They literally dated her, including organising a delegation of seventeen women and children to escort her into the city hall for the negotiations. Here, she met with the Viceroy of Lingguang, who agreed to all of her demands, including total amnesty for herself and her crew, who kept their loot, along with gifts of pork, wine and money from the government. She also managed to negotiate a fat cash settlement, a title of nobility and twenty to thirty personal ships for herself, with the government throwing in a nice little estate

• 36:31Speaker 01

  in Macau and a job for naval lieutenant for Zhang Bao to sweeten the deal.

• 36:38Speaker 01

  So, with both parties satisfied, Qing Shi and Zhang Bao surrendered the Red Fleet in April eighteen ten with a total of seventeen thousand three hundred and eighteen pirates, one thousand three hundred and fifteen cannons and two thousand seven hundred and ninety-eight weapons.

• 37:01Speaker 01

  So what now? Like, what does the most fearsome pirate in history do when she retires? Well, she did something that shocked many. She moved to the country. You might be thinking, grass? Duh. Trees? Surely not. But it's true. Her life at sea was over. But it was far from dull. After all, you can't keep a bad girl down, guys. So from 1810 onwards, Qing operated one of the most successful gambling houses and raffles in Macau, using the time she formerly spent on her pirate empire to now grow her own

• 37:43Speaker 01

  business and her family, having two more children, while also dabbling, just on the side, in the lucrative salt trade. So for those of you perhaps a bit disappointed, the pirate queen didn't sail on forever, rest assured, she was just as fearsome on land as she was at sea, using her leadership skills, fearsome reputation and sharp tongue to make herself incredibly wealthy. Yet again. Honestly, guys, get this woman on Shark Tank. She is the ultimate serial entrepreneur. Obsessed. But a pirate's life is not all sea, sun and scurvy. And in 1822, Zhang Bao found that out the hard way.

• 38:27Speaker 01

  After a long and grisly battle at sea, Zhang, captain of the Guangdong Navy, died, leaving Qing and his children behind. She mourned her husband slash former adoptive son, but didn't let his loss keep her down for long, getting right back to swindling sailors for all their worth, while teaching her children to take over the family business. In fact, there are still rumours that the descendants of the pirate queen remain key figures in the Macau underworld to this day, which, if you need a visual in your mind here, that's the criminal underworld we see in Skyfall, the James Bond film. And Bond actually visits

• 39:06Speaker 01

  a floating casino in the sequence, so like, heavily inspired by Qing Shi here. And actually, Mistress Chang, in the third Pirates of the Caribbean film.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  Also inspired by Qing Shi, but of course shit. In real life, wipe the floor with all of them.

• 39:24Speaker 01

  In the end, however, even the most fearsome pirates cannot outrun death. And so Qing Shi, at the age of sixty nine, surrounded by loved ones at her home in Macau, died. Sailing off forever into the seas of eternity as the undisputed greatest pirate to ever live. Expanding the Confederation to a size and strength never before seen, challenging a dynasty who had rarely seen opposition and being smarter than every single person in every single room. Qing Shi proved everyone wrong, especially the great seafaring British, whose maritime

• 40:06Speaker 01

  identity was essential in maintaining its empire overseas. And I'm here for anything that shivers the timbers of the Brits, especially when it's a woman. And that brings us to the end of another episode of Hot History, a short, sharp one for you guys. Thank you so much for following along with me and make sure to tune in next week because we are talking about the Gilded Age, one of my favourite historical periods to study. And we are specifically going to be looking at a property, a new one for Hot History. We usually talk about empires or figures or balls or battles, but we are looking at Linwood Hall, built for New Money Millionaire Peter A. B. Widener, who made his fortune

• 40:51Speaker 01

  in railways and the U. S. Steel and American Tobacco Co. This huge, one hundred and ten room mansion is now abandoned after Widener's heirs went down to the depths of the Titanic. I'm super excited to chat to you guys about it next week. As always, if you are looking for some more hot history, then you can follow us on Instagram at Hot History Club and on TikTok at Hot dot history. It has been a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you and I'll speak to you all next Friday. Thanks, guys. Love you. Bye.

• 41:36Speaker 02

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