When Pirates Ruled Asia: 1000 Vicious Years of Chinese and Japanese Piracy // DOCUMENTARY

the lofty pagoda towered above guangzhou harbour as china's only open port this was where the world came when they wanted to trade within the great qing empire and from the pagoda's highest and most exclusive floors the view was magnificent closer by however the waters themselves were hardly visible beneath the anchored ships and bustling wharfs scuttling boats and swaying jetties the sights smells and tastes of a thousand different cultures being bought and sold traded and bartered smuggled and stolen it was the center of the world and she was at the very heart of it madame zhang asia's greatest pirate settled herself comfortably at an expansive table the breeze of the rarified upper levels of the pagoda whistling in her ears exquisitely painted fingernails tapped slowly on the arm of the polished wooden chair on the other side of the negotiating table sat the qing empire's provincial viceroy portuguese naval officers and merchant officials of the english east india company at stake was madame jung's vast pirate empire enforced by a strict set of laws her colossal fortune gathered through merciless raiding and legitimate business and a possible enforced retirement from the world of maritime violence but her adversaries had far more to lose the qing risked the continued destabilization of their whole chinese empire pirates having years before destroyed the last remnants of their southern navy the portuguese feared the viability of their incredibly lucrative macau colony the last bastion of long dwindled imperial glory and finally the british stood to lose the opium trade which powered their domination of india the loss of the american colonies was still raw the asian empire must be preserved at all costs they thrashed out a deal madame humbly agreed to retire from piracy stand down her 70 000 strong crew cease seizing foreign vessels and grant the ching navy use of her fleet she was offered an imperial pardon full custody of her ill-gotten gains 120 ships and a high military rank for her husband she had wrapped representatives of three of the world's most powerful empires around her perfectly manicured little finger not bad for a woman who had started out in a floating brothel [Music] the coastal areas of east asia are peppered with tiny islands secret coves and steep mountainous looking points ideal for hiding raiding evading and fortifying it shouldn't come as a surprise that seaborne robbery smuggling kidnap murder extortion rape slaving sedition treason rebellion and revolution piracy in all its forms has always thrived here in fact the coastal peoples of the east may justifiably claim to have been masters of piracy's art this is the millennia long story of those cutthroat villains philanthropic heroes protectors of the oppressed loyal to the death brotherhoods and merciless scoundrels of small raids off the coast of korea growing exponentially in scale to vast pirate empires acting as both king makers and scourges of the people living on the shore this is the incredible story of the pirates of the east [Music] this video was sponsored by magellan tv the documentary streaming service magellan have been supporting voices of the past for a while now with their help we've got some fantastic long-form documentaries coming up more pirates more ancient china more japanese embassies and even some surprises not related to zelda unfortunately sorry and magellan is a great choice to accompany our videos too one recommendation i enjoyed recently was how china got rich a fascinating study of the incredible economic boom definitely worth a watch to help understand a hugely important topic a great companion piece for this video on one of more than 3 thousand documentaries available and you can now take advantage of an exclusive offer 30 off an annual membership this gives you an entire year for less than 3.50 a month even if you've joined magellan before and lapsed you can simply click on the link in the description to claim your discounted membership today thanks [Music] on land gan ning and his gang travelled by riding on horses or in chariots in certain formation on the water they sailed on light vessels linked together they also wore elaborate and flamboyant garments to attract attention the earliest chinese records of piracy stretch back to the 4th century bc and over the coming centuries seabourn traffic and coastal communities in the vast ocean which stretches between current day vietnam china indonesia the philippines korea and japan were always a danger of attack or extortion even the romans of augustus's time warned of asian piracy on their most distant sea charts during the 9th century korean pirates haunted the coasts of their neighbors and every nook and cranny of asian shoreline had gangs of rough fisher folk ready to try their hand at seabourn banditry but our story really starts in 1019 at the same time as danes were raiding england on the other side of the globe george ends ancestors of the manchu and like the danes the dwellers of inhospitable icy lands took to their sturdy vessels and headed south to raid japan they rampaged through the remote islands of tsushima and iki wiping out the men seizing women and children as captives drunk on their success they then attacked the much larger island of kyushu carrying off a thousand more prisoners an army was swiftly mobilized to drive them off but the raiders swanned away with their plunder a grim omen for the future but it wouldn't be long before these initial raids paled in comparison to the carnage going in the opposite direction prior to 1223 there had been peace on the southern maritime border of korea but as the provinces were stripped of troops to counter mongol raids in the north and plague typhoons and extreme drought struck the outlying western japanese islands the starving people of those islands resorted to attacking their weakened neighbors to feed their families the attacks increased steadily as did the speed of the korean military response but the marauder's depredations only worsened a formal communication was sent to the japanese government the people of the island of tsushima of your country have of old come presenting tribute in native products annually harmonious relations were cultivated it came to pass that in the sixth month of the year of the senior fire dog taking advantage of the night while the residents slept they entered a hole in the town wall and plundered indiscriminately and disturbed innocent peasants without end a number of ships are coming and going in a disorderly fashion and committing mischief what is the reason for this japanese governmental authorities had been unaware of their wayward western subject's piratical activities and were no less incensed than the koreans swiftly executing 90 japanese perpetrators this swift and brutal act of justice having the desired effect restoring calm to the seas fifth month junior wood ox day a document arriving from japan apologizing for the crime of the bandit ships raiding our borders harmonious relations and mutual trade were requested but a word which would change asian history had been etched the koreans termed these pirates weigoo or wako in japanese the term by which pirates in east asia whether japanese or not would generally be known for the next 400 years so in 1260 as louis ix of france was considering eighth crusade the priest nichiren knelt on the hard earthen floor of his hut and gazed through the open door down the green pine-coloured valley more and more in recent times there have been extraordinary occurrences in the heaven and on the earth famine and epidemics everywhere spread across the land more and more are pressed by famine beggars meet the eye everywhere and the dead fill the eye corpses lie about and in rose like a bridge he paused sighed and set down the bamboo brush the rain's music intensified this year a novice nun had even been found eating human flesh was it any wonder then that piracy had flourished the people had nowhere else left to turn nothing left to sell nothing left to reap nichiren was right piracy had again reared its head both in japan and in renewed raids on korea these depredations continued for a few years until the much bigger threat than mere famine and disease occupied southern korea mongols publi khan of the mongols emperor of china stroked his beard as he considered a problem which so enraged him that he had been unable to sleep the khan had spent most of his life on horseback even on elephants and camels but he had never ridden in a ship the whole idea of water and far more so the sea frightened mongols a desert of water was far far more frightening to a mongol than any hospitable expanse of grass or sand but five times the impudent japanese had refused his envoys the rulers of an insignificant island realm had unceremoniously rejected his generous offer to grant them vassal status he came to his decision now was the time to act he beckoned a eunuch officer call in the sea men after nearly 30 years of trying the mongols had finally imposed vassal status on the korean peninsula in 1259 conversely the next year had seen a reversal of mongol fortunes on the other side of eurasia defeat in palestine by mamluk egypt to mark the maximum westward reach of the empire but there was still room to expand eastwards japan now lay just beyond the horizon over the next decade increasing numbers of mongol troops were seen in the southern reaches of korea japanese pirates wisely refrained from raiding meanwhile kublai had continued his invasion of china and in 1273 seeing which way the tide was turning the yancey pirates zhu ching and zhang xian had offered their 500 ships to his cause these now respectable pirates had become stalwarts of the mongol navy planning and commanding mongol invasions and raids to champa and java they also provided their services in the two expeditions against japan in 1274 and 1281 and indeed the japanese defenders who had the most experience with naval warfare were the very people who had been raiding the korean coast for the previous half century pirate fought pirate at sea regular troops engaged on land japanese warcraft being small in size were no match for these ships those which came up to attack were all beaten off the whole country was therefore trembling with fear in the markets there was no rice for sale the japanese ruler went in person to visit the hachiman shrine to make supplication he also had a royal rescript red at the shrine of the sun goddess imploring that his country be saved in exchange for his own life the gods listened winds blew and waves raged a divine wind kamikaze or shinpoo delivered the mongols and their korean levees to a watery grave the shogunate's prayers have been answered japan remained independent and although no one knew it the black deaths which would wipe out hundreds of millions of people and spread as a result of the secure trade and communication routes that the mongol empire guaranteed would never reach japan but the mongol invasions led to a far greater long-term military deployment in the western areas where pirates had traditionally ruled the roost aware that japan had only narrowly escaped incorporation into the mongol empire the shogunate strengthened by its military success was determined to keep as lower profile as possible piracy for a time died away in the sea of japan who were young had been one of the most powerful men in china until four days ago great minister of the left the ming emperor's chancellor now surrounded by armored soldiers their guan dao weapons grounded and gleaming in the soft morning sunlight he and his entire family knelt in nanjing's execution grounds awaiting death who had been instrumental in bringing about the rise of the new ming dynasty by providing ships for the decisive 1363 battle of lake poijang which secured the end of mongol rule and ushered in a new dawn the great ming da min who had served his lord and then emperor hung wu faithfully and as far as he was concerned justly ushering in a better governed more secure and more just nation rid of the stinking mongol nomads but who had become too powerful perhaps occasionally taking the law into his own hands and emperor hongwoo's increasing paranoia had turned him against his chief minister who could feel that his days were numbered and had decided to strike first he ordered a servant to japan to engage a gang of samurai pirates to assassinate the emperor they were known to spare no one kill swiftly without remorse the 400 pirates disguised themselves as a tribute mission with weapons concealed inside huge candles the samurai had made landfall and were proceeding towards completion of their mission when at the last minute emperor hongwoo had smelled the rat and now who was only grateful to be spared death by a thousand cuts he knelt with his hands tied behind his back and his whole family was decapitated before his eyes finally the executioner came for him as he died he wondered what had become of the pirates whose gamble on mercenary samurai had all come about due to another breakdown of central government in japan which around 1350 had allowed the wako to quietly return to their piratical ways these raids focused primarily on korea culminated in outright pirate invasions involving up to 3 000 men they plundered far inland seizing everything of value and carrying off the population as slaves it was inevitable that china amidst collapsing mongol rule would also suffer the newly enthroned hongwoo emperor dispatched a letter to japan in 1369 japanese pirates repeatedly plunder areas along the coast separating men forever from their wives and children and destroying property and lives if there are those who nonetheless continue to engage in piracy i will be compelled to order naval officers to set sail for japan the threat was not carried out the issue of who were young and his cabal proved far more pressing over the next decade thirty thousand of whose associates were ruthlessly hunted down fortunately by the time the emperor hung wu would satisfy his bloodlust japan was once again unified under a strong government and a new and dynamic korean dynasty the joseon who would rule until the 20th century had smitten the worst of the pirates the new ashikaga shogunate acted swiftly to repair diplomatic ties with china and korea legitimate trade delivered far greater riches for less risk time and time again over the next century visiting ming chinese ambassadors would return not only with japanese merchandise but also with a sorry looking retinue of chinese bandits awaiting death by boiling peace reigned in the sea of japan [Music] [Laughter] and then in 1517 a whole new gang of rogues hove into view off the chinese coast it was a fine june day when a strange-looking ship arrived in the southern chinese port of guangzhou the crew were of many unusual races some with very dark skin and curly hair others boasting turbans and extravagant beards these types of men had been noted in chronicles of previous ages the leaders however were unfamiliar they had skins of violent pink big noses deep eyes with thin weak looking hair and declared themselves representatives of a land that the chinese had barely heard of before portugal this kind of thing happened occasionally in the unusual new people almost always came from remote southern islands so the chinese as usual called these men southern barbarians the newcomers were polite at first and eventually after receiving permission from beijing were allowed to conduct an embassy while the diplomats were away however the barbarians showed their true colours [Music] foreigners from the west called falang ki who said they had tribute abruptly entered the bulgar and by their tremendously loud guns shook the place far and near this was reported at court and an order returned to drive them away immediately and stop the trade they fortified an island raided local villages for children to eat engaged in street brawls intimidated other foreign shipping and worst of all carried out the death penalty without adhering to the due process stipulated by the law of the land it was clear that they were in reality pirates the barbarian pirates were ordered to leave when the captain refused they were forcibly expelled for the next few decades wherever the portuguese landed or attempted trade they were fought off and if caught executed yasuke stood on deck the fresh spring breeze playing on his smooth face in front of him an island spattered sea twisted gently between the deep green mountainous shores on either side waves glimmered as the rising sun caught each crest the giant african warrior was bodyguard to a jesuit missionary traversing japan's seto inland sea on route to the capital kyoto wherever explorers went the word of god had been sure to follow the only safe way to get there was by ship and by the late 1500s the only ships that plied the waters were pirate ships as a military man yasuke cast his sharp eyes around taking in every detail of their host's attire the pirates went about their business in rough-looking faded tunics tied at the waist with hemp and rope some boasted hodgepodge items of light armor they all had swords thrust through their belts the ships themselves were equipped with surprising arsenals small cannon muskets grenades spears grappling hooks and chains pole arms sickles and bows they were far better equipped than he had expected there were also strange looking wooden rocket launchers yaske had not seen these before and supposed that there must be an innovation acquired on raids in china and korea despite his size strength and prowess with myriad weaponry yasuke prayed that these business-like killers would not turn on their jesuit passengers the japanese seto inland sea had always been the haunt of pirates but yasuke was present during their heyday a far cry from the calm of the ashikaga shogunate everything had changed in 1467 the japanese archipelago had once more descended into strife and the shogunate had collapsed in a brutal civil war leading to a period of almost 150 years of constant conflict the warring states period had begun the chaos and desperation in the wake of conflict on the mainland had led to clans like the murakami controlling the waves and the huge seabourn traffic which passed upon them they were the kings of the maritime realm just as other lords commanded thiefs on land the pirates ruled from fortified islands guaranteeing safe passage past their lairs for a hefty fee these same men and women would also hire their own services to land-based lords and famously even constructed the world's first iron-clad ships in civil war riven japan the pirates were another force vying to hold to and expand spheres of influence at the expense of the land-based lords warrior monks bandits or ninja their power and reputation for ruthlessness was known throughout asia peaceful trade with china by states such as japan or korea had been traditionally carried out with a licence called the kanhur a tally only the bearer of the kanha the representative of a recognized tributary government was permitted to trade this system had been functioning since 1404. kendo sotetsu was enraged he and his men carrying valid japanese trade tallies had landed first a rival clan the hosokawa had also sent a mission but they had arrived late to the port of ningbo and carried out dated tallies his mission should have been unquestionably allowed to engage in trade the usurpers sent packing but the chinese trade official had taken hosokawa bribes and declined kendo's rightful claim the samurai jumped up he would not stand for this there was a sharp wash and blood spattered across his kendo's envoys slew the rival klansmen burned their ship and chased their leader over a thousand kilometers inland unable to apprehend their quarry they raped and pillaged their way back to ningbo laid waste to the chinese garrison stole a squadron of ships and sailed off into the blue now it was the chinese authority's turn to be enraged kendo sotetsu's extradition was demanded it was not forthcoming the tally system would only work smoothly as long as there was an uncontested central authority in the barbarian realm in question and japan had no such authority legitimate trade had continued sporadically but by 1523 the spiraling chaos had all come to a head with kendo sotetsu's exploits which led to legitimate trade all but dying out and in 1548 it was forbidden entirely with trade outlawed piracy became the only way to fulfill the needs of the japanese market this lucrative business fell to a band of multicultural corsairs mostly comprising chinese renegades and japanese mariners but also including the new southern barbarians portuguese africans and other asians they earned the reputation of being fearless in battle often fighting to the death against forces 10 times their size rather than conceding the government established a great line of coastal fortresses beacons and other defenses but to little effect many coastal peoples took the path of least resistance giving the pirates a safe haven treacherous people from the interior gang up with foreigners like the japanese follangi and those from pahang and siam the evil people of the interior trade with them and supply them necessities in the 40 years after kendo sotetsu's rampage 601 pirate raids were recorded more than at any other time in history and so in 1581 yasuke found himself aboard one of their vessels he turned away from musing on the sea to see one of the japanese crew gaping at him taking in his enormous height bulging muscles and ink black skin he was used to ogling eyes by now no one in japan had ever seen a man like him and they couldn't help but stare yasuke flashed the man a wide grin at the same time letting his right hand drop to where an ornate arab jambia dagger nestled he would not do any harm to show he meant business but the japanese were not alone in their efforts to carve up the seas the red-faced barbarians had plans of their own it was a warm morning lazily peaceful in the pirate settlement above the banks of the cagayan river on the island of luzon in the modern day philippines the calm did not last long a lookout strum sounded a deep sonorous boom a young girl co ran down the low hill from the palisade to see the prowl of a huge ship bearing down upon the riverside pirate kingdom hundreds of armed men appeared from nowhere leaping and bounding down to their boats to counter the attack before the enemy could land and threaten their families the great galleys swivel guns spat laird at the pirates tumbling down the riverbanks in the surprise of the moment few pirates had more than their swords or spears to hand even fewer were dressed for battle the majority were only the loincloths they had woken in the enemy approached co had never seen such strange men their upper body was clad in shiny steel they wore straight swords at their sides and held long bladed spears but the strangest thing was their faces above ridiculously bushy beards of red orange black and yellow stuck noses like beaks deep set ugly round eyes under bushy eyebrows took everything in they looked fearsome wild almost inhuman they were the southern barbarians [Music] captain juan pablo dicarion admiral of the south seas and the sea of china in the navy of the most illustrious philip by the grace of god king of the spains and the indies had planned the surprise attack well he'd only narrowly defeated the main pirate fleet at sea as it returned from raiding china now the spanish flotilla bore down on the pirate's nest to exterminate the vermin the spanish had established their first colony in the philippines in 1565 and then in 1571 fortified a settlement called manila and set about seizing that lucrative trade with china and japan these actions did not endear the spanish to the locally established wacko the philippine islands had been the perfect base to escape the long arm of the chinese navy and stability had allowed the pirates to establish silver mines and prosperous colonies some even approaching mainland china for civilized sophistication the spanish however increasingly strident and dominating in their behavior were a severe threat and would need to be dealt with and in 1574 a pirate called lim hong gathered around 4 000 chinese and japanese pirates on 60 ships and pounced on manila spain had only just held on and badly shaken whenever a new pirate colony was discovered they sent their increasingly powerful local forces to pacify the area and one such incident had been in cagayan on the island of luzon in 1582 [Music] co stood rooted to the spot as officers from both sides barked orders in several languages the pirates had declined the spaniard's offer of free passage and demanded gold in compensation this in turn was refused the spanish frantically dug in on shore prepared their guns oiled their pikes to prevent them from being grasped and prepared to defend their new position 600 pirates returned to the fort armed themselves properly this time and charged the bodies of koh's kinsmen piled high until there were few left ko knew what her future held she had seen it often enough with prisoners brought back from pirate raids following these horrors most pirates reverted to honest trades exchanging the goods they plundered or smuggled in china for gold and silver mined by american slaves in mexico and peru the chinese contraband made its way via spanish vessels to the households of the rich and powerful of europe and the americas the slave extracted gold and silver oiled the chinese economy the spanish managed to secure manila until 1898 and increasingly confident actually started hiring japanese and chinese mariners to man their ships this policy continued happily until 1593. gomez perez governor and general of manila having all his forces ready in the province of pincardos remained at manila with the admiral gali and having taken in 250 indians of china good rowers without training them smoothing them with fair speech and allowing them weapons as pikes and swords of japan which they called katana these good fellows one arrived near the isle kaza spying the spaniards asleep fell upon them and cut their throats the governor awoke with the noise and the captain of these indians perceiving it and treated him to come out of his cabin which he had no sooner done than they slew him and so made a way for borneo as his thought [Music] a lesson in why not to trust pirates even handsomely rewarded ones the spanish never did retrieve the galley but red-faced steel-encased strangers were far from the only threat to wacko for in tune with the wax and wane of japanese central government the tide turned once again for japan-based pirates of all ethnicities when the warlord toyotomi hideyoshi subdued japan's western domains and reunified the country under central rule in the 1580s his government was probably stronger than any before him and backed by half a million samurai hideyoshi issued an edict stating that should any lord be found to harbor pirates then his thief would be forfeit he also provided employment for former bandits co-opting them to his navy to invade korea between 1592 and 1598. this disastrous campaign saw many of the former pirates meet their ends at the hands of the fearful korean turtle ships hideyoshi then enacted a system of licenses called shuinsho or the million seal permits any seafarer of any nationality who wished to trade in japan had to apply for one and if caught without was automatically assumed to be a pirate and dealt with legitimate merchants once again took over where pirates had left off another swell of east asian piracy subdued but for the states of south east asia and seafarers passing through those waters it was sometimes hard to tell john davies did not like this heat he'd always been more comfortable in the ice-bound wastes of north america where he had spent much of his explorer's life trying to find a way to china and japan through the north-west passage it had eluded him so now he was on a voyage going the southern route not through magellan strait but around the tip of africa and into the indian ocean the famous explorer was piloting his ship tiger under captain michelleborn to china and japan aiming to be the first english ship in those parts and lo and behold a few days ago on christmas eve 1605 just north of java and east of the malay peninsula they had met a ship full of japanese merchants in danger of capsizing the english seeing an opportunity to ingratiate themselves with the first real japanese people they'd ever met offered to help tiger took the vessel in hand and the two ships found refuge in the lee of a small island the japanese were invited to join the english christmas meal and they responded likewise by hosting the english sailors aboard their vessel it had been fascinating to dine with these swaggering asian sea men laughing and joking together despite the language differences some jokes easily transcended cultural barriers he liked these ruffians and looked forward to seeing their country that he'd been trying to reach for two decades or more one of the english sailors who had had too much to drink however had started poking around the rice bales they certainly contained something more valuable than rice these men were clearly not only rice merchants others joined him and eventually the japanese men ended up imprisoned on the english ship where they had been feasting davis liked to think of himself as an honorable man and despite the fact that these ruffians were clearly up to no good he liked them against his captain's orders he allowed them to keep their weapons davies gazed out on the stunning sunset the light was failing fast there came a loud crash from behind him the door to the pirates prison was bulging about to rupture before he could run a warrior rushed out grabbed him around the neck and pulled davies inside the cabin a huge sword to his neck in the cabin another pirate impaled him on a spear and charged out using the first ever englishman to die at japanese hands as a human shield davies passed out and passed away an ignoble end to a great life japanese katana clashed against english broadsword as darkness fell over the floating battlefield all the englishmen who had been on the japanese ship were killed or thrown overboard but the japanese sailors failed to take control of tiger and retreated back to the cabin where it had all begun they held out for four hours captain mitchell born had had enough the ship's cannons were brought up on deck and aimed point blank the last holdouts were literally blown away so was the whole rear of the ship tiger's crew having survived the battle but in unknown waters and too shaken to continue without davey's expertise seized two chinese ships to make good their losses and set a course for home the english so-called merchant explorers were in reality no better than the pirates they had fought when it suited them they simply raised their mask of legitimacy and took whatever they fancied from those who were weaker it was a fine portent for the centuries to come the english had come seeking spices at that time worth far more than their weight in gold they could go for tens of thousands of percent profit in the london market but they had nothing to pay for them with england produced little besides wool and weaponry the people of the tropics had no need for wool and were already amply supplied with weaponry but japan was a cold country and their warriors were said to be the fiercest in the world or so they said surely the perfect market for wool and weapons and japan had silver mountains of it sadly for the english this stream would never become a reality japan preferred silk and was entering 250 years of unsullied peace but centuries later england would find the perfect substitute for both silver wool and weapons an irresistible asset opium and 200 years later that would turn world history on its head [Music] what is the cult of deus what are the scriptures on which the cult's adherents rely and the terminology which they use who is the main deity they worship because the followers of the buddhas do not inquire into these matters they are not able to vanquish this cult's adherence and chase them from the lands and therefore the cursed doctrine has grown day by day around the turn of the 17th century several events occurred to cause a large diaspora of japanese to emigrate around eastern asia the 1603 battle of sekigahara secured the rule of the tokugawa family in japan until 1868 but the defeated samurai fled some overseas to places where the long arm of the new shogunate could not reach the new government acted to secure its control over the country rooting out its enemies the ever-growing strength of the catholics potentially loyal to rome and not edo presented a potential threat and they were encouraged to recant their beliefs many christians refused to apostate to ties and were exiled others found it expedient to search out more tolerant enclaves where they could practice their outlawed faith manila macau siam and dozens of other japanese merchant settlements scattered throughout the maritime world of the south china seas welcomed them over the years these new communities some numbering thousands became integral to their host nations trading extensively with japan and also due to their faith acting as useful middlemen for european merchants but as so often in this era there was a fine line sometimes so fine that it was indistinguishable between legitimate merchants and pirates many of the japanese diaspora had spent their youth on the battlefields of civil war japan violence was second nature when it suited them they could speedily transform from merchant to pirate and vice versa local powers saw this and often employed their new subjects japanese mercenary pirates ended up fighting and dying in a whole host of battles and brawls all over asia in korea a samurai corps bravely fought off manchu incursions on the northern border for decades in 1603 the spanish despite previous awkward episodes used japanese pirates to massacre the rebellious chinese population of manila many of them also pirates in 1623 the dutch employed a shipload of japanese pirates when attempting to capture macau from the portuguese the defenders emancipated their african slaves to join the fight and the combined dutch japanese force was driven back into the sea and sometimes hiring japanese soldiers of fortune backfired badly in 1611 a force of 280 japanese men took the siamese king prisoner until they were paid off king song tam seems to have been impressed rather than repulsed and he promptly employed other japanese mercenaries to form his palace guard and ki among these japanese adventurers to win honor and high position in siam was a man called yamada nagamasa poison poison poison it had to be poison yamada had felt himself weakening for months and now on the eve of his wedding he felt his life slipping away as the music and feasting sounded outside his tent his bride a beautiful thai princess held him in her arms and he looked into her deep brown shiny young eyes the old japanese pirate started to talk he told his queen of how he had traversed the seas from japan as a common sailor then pirate risen to captain hedman and eventually decorated general in the thai king's army his 600 samurai mercenaries former pirates all ruled the siamese roost swaggered around thai battlefields sweeping all before them none could resist this had won him a kingdom subject to none but the thai king himself it had been his downfall he was too powerful somehow he had been poisoned perhaps in his food perhaps by that medicine the king had recently gifted but finally the japanese king of ligo the most successful japanese pirate in history yamada nagamasa laid back fell silent died his final breath played slowly on the young queen's silky black hair [Music] yamada is believed to have reached siam around 1610 and engaged in piracy in a minor way before setting himself up legitimately in the thai capital finally yamada had become king maker as king song tam was dying the former pirate was tasked with ensuring the enthronement of his young son nagamasa had become one of the most powerful men in the country and was caught in the violence and strife of the succession he had failed the young boy had perished yamada and his men had survived and he was appointed king of the tributary kingdom of ligo on the malay peninsula an incredible rise records differ as to how yamada was poisoned but some say the fatal dose was administered by the princess his new queen yamada nagamasa pirate merchant general law enforcer diplomat king maker and king died in 1630 he was only 40 years old with peace reigning supreme in the japanese islands the shoguns were increasingly annoyed by reports from overseas that japanese subjects were exporting their violent tendencies it had to stop ever increasing restrictions were placed on leaving the japanese islands until in 1635 no one was allowed to leave upon pain of death it was final and effective the seaways between japan and the rest of asia once so full of brigands was now empty but nature abhors a vacuum the year was 1647. tagawa matsu was a pirate queen her husband zhang jielong controlled vast swathes of the south china seas with a corsair fleet of thousands his realm was a state unto its own and had been at least until recently effectively an almost independent entity within the great ming empire a true pirate kingdom the colorful gold and red zhang pendants atop the towers and pagodas of the clan stronghold of anhai fluttered vigorously in the sea breeze as tagawa looked landwards to wear black clouds of smoke from the burning city collected over a manchu army approaching swiftly on horseback golden dragon banners billowing proudly aloft a few heavily armored soldiers still guarded the walls yet her husband had abandoned them all thrown in his lot with the enemy and the still loyal armies of tagawa's son were engaged on distant battlefields now the barbarian horsemen thousands of miles from their northern snowbound step home approached this southern bastion there was no help coming the battle would be brutal and swift the defending pirates were heavily outnumbered rather than endure the humiliation of being ravaged by unwashed nomadic warriors tagawa dressed all in white silk walked calmly to the edge of the great fortifications climbed daintily to the crest took the japanese kaiken blade she had brought with her from the land of her birth and plunged it into her throat her body fell from the battlements the wide sleeves of her kimono ballooning in the wind the pure white of her death robes swiftly turned to red on the hard cobbles as the shocked manchus looked on they are said to have remarked if the women of japan are of such a sort what must the men be like it all started in lord matsura's infamous pirate haven hirado in western japan [Music] snug in the cosy refuge hundreds of japanese coastal craft a host of chinese junks and more than a dozen european ships were anchored lord matsura's tiny backwater had become a hub of world trade frequented by chinese english dutch africans indians jarvans and many more from here the japanese vessels would load the foreign goods and transport them to the vast markets of osaka kyoto edo and a hundred lordly domains in between millions awaited the goods that matsura controlled the chinese in harbor such as li dan were outright pirates based here because the ming authorities were seeking their heads the dutch and english claimed to be representatives of respectable barbarian nations but they fought each other in drunken rages like pirates and even occasionally captured each other's ships as prizes the portuguese had been worse local blood had been spilled multiple times before finally being banished in 1561 pirates should keep their violent ways to unfriendly ports not safe havens tagawa had been a young girl when a dashing young chinese adventurer called zhang jialong made the busy little harbor his home they had a child together in 1624 and were married geelong was a polyglot and entered the service of the dutch who were building a colony in taiwan as they had few men of their own the dutch allowed any pirate ship that gave him fifty percent of the spoils to fly their flag and enjoy its protection so geelong transformed from interpreter to pirate by 1627 he had amassed a fleet of 400 chinese ships armed with superior european cannon and a private army of tens of thousands a man with flair he restricted his attacks to the rich and styled himself a protector of the poor he took anyone into his service and was particularly noted for having a personal african bodyguard of 300 men beijing's navy was reduced to splinters and the authorities were at their wit's end there was one last option co-opted geelong offer him great wealth and power within the empire zhang jielong switched sides in 1628 he was now a ming government man it was now geelong's job to hunt down his former comrades and destroy their dutch puppeteers he built up a new hybrid fleet of 30 large warships the first of its kind combining the best of both european and chinese technology but before they were complete the dutch attacked and annihilated the nearly completed armada in secret geelong gathered a new fleet of junks and in october 1633 issued a challenge the dutch of course had succeeded once and full of contempt they sailed against him with nine european ships and 50 allied pirate vessels and as they lay at anchor 150 small jung ships approached at speed the dutch primed their cannon they knew they could blow chinese junks from the water with ease it would be like shooting fish in a barrel but these were not ordinary ships each vessel was packed to the brim with explosives great destruction was wrought and dutch power was broken for good now the europeans were in their place it was geelong's ocean his ships controlled traffic between china japan the philippines and vietnam a huge maritime empire vaster than any other around this time geelong sent for his japanese son the boy later to be known as zhang chang gong or kochinga by the dutch was brought up as a ming nobleman it is thought that he was the first japanese candidate in 800 years to be successful in the chinese imperial examinations and was on course to be one of the highest ranking officials in the land times were good for the jung clan their wealth grew so large some said they were the richest family in china then came 1644. manchu tribesmen from north of the great wall menacing the border for decades finally took beijing the emperor hanged himself the manchus proclaimed a new qing dynasty and the ming forces retreated southwards the jung took a fiercely loyalist line to their employers and the city after city fell they prepared to defend their home provinces kochinga was forced to leave his scholar's life and take up arms his mother tagawa matsu with whom he had an extremely close bond made the journey from japan to take up residence in the family citadel of anhai then again geelong defected the qing offered him lordship over the southern provinces and he accepted but kochinga fought on and the qing withdrew their offer manchu troops came for geelong and only his african bodyguard remained with him massacred in a heroic class stand jalong was taken to beijing as a hostage and beheaded like a common criminal after his father's betrayal and his mother's suicide cochinga continued the fight against the manchu for 15 years the wheel of fortune had turned the pirate father had become a lord the noble son was now declared a pirate coaching knew he had to establish a safe base from which to plan a long-term ming reconquest and in 1661 decided upon the island his father had done so much to cultivate taiwan where the dutch retained their prosperous colony this island was the dominion of my father and should descend to none other than myself foreigners must go the dutch had never had to face a force like koching's pirate army before the siege lasted nearly a year brutal fighting devastating bombardment near starvation and torture finally a white flag fluttered above the broken fortress and the survivors were allowed to leave the dutch era on taiwan was at an end and kochinga declared a new realm the kingdom of tongning the qing could not compete with the jung navy so they chose to cut off all supplies enforcing a great clearance of the whole coastal region millions of people were forced to destroy their property and move inland anyone caught beyond the boundary was executed thousands perished millions starved the ban outlived cochinga the great pirate imperial loyalist scholar freedom fighter and tyrant died of malaria in 1662 at the age of 37. he had been about to invade the philippines to extend his anti-ching base had the tiny mosquito not bitten him he would have almost certainly succeeded such small things are what history hinges on his son zhang jing succeeded him and died in 1681 his grandson jungkook xuang surrendered to the qing in 1683. the qing ruled a unified china until 1911. the house of zhang was finished as an independent entity subsumed within the empire but the memory and fear of the sea people remained and less than 100 years later the power of piracy was to have one last hurrah [Music] opium has a harm opium is a poison undermining our good customs and morality its use is prohibited by law increasingly over the next century europeans people who the ching regarded as little better than pirates had been arriving in china's ports requesting trade limited access to the southern port of guangzhou was tolerated and european trade steadily increased out of sight and out of mind of the north china-based government europeans had little that the qing empire needed and were forced to pay for chinese products in silver something which was often in short supply and very expensive to source it was then the english east india company hit on the idea of smuggling the highly addictive deadly not to mention illegal drug opium from india to china selling it for chinese silver and then using that silver to buy the chinese luxury produce such as tea silk and porcelain which sold so well at home thus the poppy seed of the qing's eventual downfall arrived in ever-increasing quantities in guangzhou and the population fell ever deeper into the clutches of opium addiction the british who ruthlessly suppressed piracy in their own territory had transformed themselves into the world's most prolific drug smugglers and yet just prior to this this illicit trade had almost come toppling down and all thanks to one woman jung shi the most infamous and successful female pirate in history in the late 18th century vietnam was convulsed by revolution and civil war the tae-san rebels in the north and the wynne lords of the south both saw it as expedient to hire chinese pirates from guangdong to further their course with time the nascent taison state became yet another east asian piratical realm the rebellion was finally quelled by the win in 1802 and the last of the pirates fled back to china leaving a new dynasty which would rule until 1945 but these battle-hardened pirate refugees did not simply disband a captain called zhang yi rallied the refugee pirates around his flag and swiftly gathered a huge fleet this jung had only the year before fallen in love with a young girl from a floating guangdong brothel the girl's true birth name is lost to history but thanks to their partnership she became known as jiangxi madame pirat wives do not normally grace the pages of history books indeed most pirates did not have wives but madame zhang was no normal wife from the beginning she shared the business of managing the maritime bandits and the gangs thrived under the pair's joint command by 1804 their fleet comprised 400 ships and later at its height triple that number employing 70 000 men under arms their business was both protection in the time-honored pirate manor but also plunder human trafficking and after rendering the qing government's navy useless the purveyors of a huge salt monopoly the innocuous sounding condiment was in fact a hugely valuable commodity without which china could not function so control of salt brought unimaginable economic power the pirates had been able to impose a food tax on the whole of southern china zhang yi had abducted a young fisher boy called zhang bao in 1798 the pirate couple formally adopted him as their son and heir when the father and husband yi died in 1807 with the support of senior captains lady zhang took over and quickly married her adoptive son to cement the command [Music] for years past the documents from canton have noticed the alarming state of the coasts of china in possession of the pirates not a few strangling banditi hiding themselves in creeks and unfrequented harbours of the islands but a formidable organized body commanded by daring officers and certainly in complete possession of the whole coast the marine department at canton employed for the destruction of these banditi in the beginning shared the plunder till the pirates feeling their own superiority put an end to this useless association and beat them from the field under lady jung's leadership strict laws were enforced any independent action without her command meant death any stealing from the communal pot or friendly villagers meant a similar fate as did mistreating or raping female captives before this the absolute norm her rule was absolute the government was in despair their force was disabled by the pirates superior vietnam built vessels and what was left was immobilized with fear the pirates judicious use of bribes ensured that they were always one step ahead of the law even when on land for years they controlled all shipping even foreign as the european merchants the east india company prime among them found it easier to pay the pirate tax rather than have their opium seized but in 1809 lady jung went too far a thai diplomatic mission from siam was kidnapped and held to ransom american merchantmen were forced to seek protection in macau and a portuguese ship which had refused to pay the pirate tax was seized the crew paid with their heads the government of macau a portuguese outpost since the 16th century had had enough they mobilized for war the first battle in september 1809 had been an unfortunate wake-up call for the pirates only three portuguese vessels had easily held off 200 of madame chung's ships the pirates had never actually fought western ships before they'd never needed to their vast numbers had deterred retaliation the portuguese weaponry which included cutting-edge exploding shells had taken jung's men by surprise at the coming of night they scuttled away the qing government noted the portuguese victory and saw a way to rid themselves of zhang shi and her minions they proposed an alliance but jung heard of the plan and sent her ships to prevent the two fleets combining forces it had worked but the losses had been brutal [Music] madame zhang lay back in her grand bed she was dying and she knew it around her were gathered in numerous and adoring family they had heard the stories a hundred times before but they would endure one final time for the dying dame jung told of her last battle in 1810 how the pirates had mobilized 300 ships 1500 guns and 20 000 men to smite their portuguese foe how in the end their grandmother's glorious flagship a floating temple pagoda which dwarfed even the portuguese warships had been blown to the land of the gods her pirates had fled for the last time then came her cackle but we won in 1810 atop a pagoda as close to the heavens as a living woman can get i dealt with three governments and they gave me all i wanted and my men kept their lives and their riches their families welcomed them home with open arms madame jung prostitute pirate great dame of the south china seas lived out the final decades of her life raising her family and fleecing the locals in a macau gambling house she breathed her last in 1844 there never had been and never would be again a pirate like her [Music] piracy has shaped all the coastal peoples of the far east japan china the koreas vietnam and the philippines raised up great rulers dashed whole dynasties the pirates were men and women marginalized from mainstream society and economic opportunities they were criminals cutthroats and even regarded as something less than fully human by those who clung to the land they would have described themselves in polar opposite terms of course freedom fighters revolutionaries pioneers time and time again in east asia pirates became powerful enough to hold great nations to ransom and eventually in lieu of victory governments often embraced the sea brigands and their skills to defend the very states they had brought to their knees and throughout it all the common people both suffered as victims and thrived as perpetrators piracy did not entirely cease with madame chung's surrender minor bandits of one sort or another prowled asia's waterways well into the 20th century and the gunboat diplomacy engaged in by the great powers of the 19th and early 20th centuries looks suspiciously like piracy when we look back at it in the modern age but pirates never again had the power to determine international destinies and we are unlikely to ever again see a cochinga or a madam chang the seas where pirates once ruled are now patrolled and controlled by six of the world's 10 most powerful navies the usa russia china japan south korea and taiwan the story of the pirates of the east is now truly at an end [Music] you

Channel: Voices of the Past

Views: 702,414

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Id: _bxVzKoqB00

Length: 66min 10sec (3970 seconds)

Published: Sun May 30 2021

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[u/LordLederhosen]

Just found this channel recently. It's a goldmine of original quality docs.