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.

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