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Ching Shih — The Woman Who Became the Most Successful Pirate In History
Beautiful and intelligent, Chinese pirate queen Ching Shih commanded 80.000 pirates
At the beginning of the 19th century, lived a pirate who controlled the entire South China Sea and fought against the Portuguese and British navies. The pirate we are talking about commanded 1,800 war junks with 80,000 pirates. This particular pirate accumulated great wealth, negotiated peaceful retirement, and died of old age.
The name of this extraordinary pirate was Ching Shih, and she was a woman, not a man.
For comparison, the most famous pirate, Blackbeard, commanded four ships and 300 pirates.
The legendary story of Ching Shih
Ching Shih (1775-1844), known also under the name Zheng Yi Sao, was a very beautiful woman who was also educated, intelligent, and business-savvy. She began her career as a prostitute, and her beauty caught the attention of the powerful pirate, Ching I, known also as Zheng Yi.
