She commanded over junks traditional Chinese sailing ships manned by 20, to 40, pirates [1] : 71 โmen, women, and even children. She entered into conflict with the major nations, such as the British Empire , the Portuguese Empire , and the Qing dynasty. Ching Shih and her crew's exploits had since been featured in numerous books, novels, video games, and films about piracy , pirates and their way of life in China as well as worldwide.
She is widely considered to be the most successful pirate in history, based on the fact that she commanded the largest crew ever assembled, and that she died in her own bed as a free woman. In , she married Cheng I , a notorious pirate. Cheng I was from a family of notorious pirates whose roots trace back to the midth century. Sources differ on Cheng I's motivation for marriage: some argue that he became infatuated with Shih Heang Koo, while others argue that the union was purely as a business move intended to consolidate power.
They adopted Cheung Po as their step-son, making him Cheng's fully legal heir. Cheng I used military assertion and his reputation to bind former rivalling Cantonese pirate fleets into an alliance. By , this coalition was a formidable force, and one of the most powerful pirate fleets in all of China; by this time they were known as the Red Flag Fleet. On 16 November , Cheng I died in Vietnam at She started to cultivate personal relationships to get rivals to recognize her status and solidify her authority.
She acted quickly to solidify the partnership with her adopted son Cheung Po with intimacy. Then she drew on the coalition formed by her husband by building upon some of the fleet captains' existing loyalties to her husband and making herself essential to the remaining captains. Since Ching Shih would have such a large force at her command, her second-in-command Cheung Po Tsai would assist her in managing the Red Flag Fleet's day-to-day operations, however, as the time called for a male to be in charge, she named him official captain of the fleet, [6] but he would remain loyal to her and be accepted by the low-level pirates.
Once she held the fleet's leadership position, Ching Shih started the task of uniting the fleet by issuing a code of laws. The booty was registered by a purser and then distributed by the Fleet Leader. Large amounts of withheld treasure or subsequent offenses carried the death penalty. Ching Shih's code had special rules for female captives. Standard practice was to release women, but J.
