Qing Shih Extended Biography
Qing ShihExtended BiographyYou may wish to share this biography with students, or just to read it for your own information.Qing Shih was born into poverty in 1775 in the Guangdong (Canton) Province of southern China.1 As an illiterate peasant with few career options available to her (and to women more generally under Confucian law), Qing moved to the province’s most populous port city of Guangzhou to work as a prostitute on one of the Pearl River’s (in)famous floating brothels, euphemistically referred to as “flower boats.”2 Because the historical record concerning Qing Shih’s early life is frustratingly thin, it is unclear whether she moved by choice or by force. Indeed, foreign merchants traveling through the delta during this period noted that “the pimps [were] numerous,” and that most prostitutes were “poor girls, whom the extreme destitution of their parents has obliged them to sell for a certain term of years; and they [remained] slaves until that time expires.”3 Beginning in the nineteenth century, girls as young as six years old “could be easily purchased...from poor families for as little as four or five dollars,” though they did not actually begin sex work “until they reached puberty, around twelve or thirteen years of age.” By 1859, records show that there were roughly “six to ten thousand prostitutes in Canton” alone, many of which had been sold into the profession.4 Based on this broader evidence, it is likely that Qing arrived in Guangzhou sometime between 1781 and 1788 perhaps against her will. This dramatic expansion of the sex work industry in the Guangdong Province coincided with both domestic and global economic transformations that would shape the trajectory of Qing Shih’s life. The Pearl River Delta, and the port of Guangzhou in particular, had long been a significant global trading hub, beginning as a major commercial center along the maritime Silk Road, and ultimately becoming China’s sole foreign trading port in 1757 under the Canton System, which lasted until 1842. During the period in between, however, two successive Chinese dynasties (the Ming and Qing) sought to severely restrict oceanic and foreign trade, which unevenly impacted the southern coastal regions, albeit for different reasons. For example, the Ming Dynasty’s order to “Let not an inch of wooden board set out to sea” in 1371, was part of a larger imperial effort to eliminate “dangerous” foreign influences they associated with the previous (Mongol) regime, and to move toward a more self-sufficient, or “isolationist,” agricultural-based economy. While such efforts did, in fact, boost China’s economy and improve the quality of life for many inland communities, they also stripped away the wealth and status of elite merchants and the livelihoods of fisherman living along the coasts. According to historian Joseph MacKay, such policies began to turn otherwise “innocuous fishermen into rebels,” legitimate merchants into smugglers, and caused a dramatic increase in pirate activity throughout the south China littoral.5Tensions in southern China only increased after the Ming Dynasty was overthrown and replaced by a new line of emperors, the Qing Dynasty, in 1644. In the same year, surviving Ming allies fled south from Beijing to resist Qing authority and restore Ming rule. Many among them were pirates, including one of their primary leaders, Zheng Chenggong (or Koxinga). Qing authorities initially responded by imposing more draconian laws against maritime trade to prevent a potential pirate-led oceanic coup from the south. However, much like earlier periods, their restrictions on oceanic activities proved counterproductive as the population of pirates grew in both number and political and military strength. Ultimately, Qing soldiers had no choice but to invade southern China, where they 1 Multiple spellings of her name appear in the historical record: Her birth name is believed to have been Shih Yang, she then became Qing Shih, or Ching Shih.2 Paul A. Van Dyke, “Floating Brothels and the Candon Flower Boats 1750-1930”, Revista de Cultura, 37 (2011), 112-142.3 Van Dyke, 116.4 Van Dyke, 116.5 Joseph MacKay, “Pirate Nations: Maritime Pirates as Escape Society in Late Imperial China”, Social Science History, 37 (2013), 551-573.
2Qing Shih - Extended Biographyeventually defeated Southern Ming forces and absorbed the rebel region back into the empire. In order to win back the south’s political allegiance and prevent further war, Qing leaders reopened oceanic trade, and granted Cantonese merchants, or Cohong, complete monopoly over foreign commerce as well as the authority to set the price and collect all tariffs on foreign goods that entered the port of Guangzhou. The concentration of all foreign trade in one southern port generated a tremendous amount of wealth and power for this largely autonomous group of Cantonese merchants. It also created a population boom in the region as the number of migrant laborers, Chinese businessmen, and foreign traders seeking to capitalize on newly open and expanded markets increased exponentially during the second half of the 18th century. The heavier ship traffic and stricter regulations imposed on foreign traders under the Canton System meant longer waiting periods at port and serious restrictions on the places foreigners were permitted to go. Thus, merchants, pirates, and local businessmen needed neutral places to go for both business and pleasure. “Flower boats” anchored just off the shores of the Pearl River became the most popular solution. It was in this context that Qing Shih reached Guangzhou. As she entered the port city, she would have encountered a densely-populated, bustling, cosmopolitan space completely surrounded by a brick city wall. Flower boat life and experiences:Prostitutes working in Guangzhou had several advantages over sex workers in other ports. First, the enormous revenue the port generated meant that its privately-owned “flower boats” were particularly luxurious, and only catered to wealthy elites who demanded knowledgeable, talented, and “more genteel women.”6 Thus, upon arrival, Qing would have received an education, learning and memorizing classic literature, poems, songs, hymns, and dances. She also would have gone through extensive training on the art of seduction and how to skillfully converse with powerful, elite men. In addition to only catering to wealthy elites, “flower boat girls” in Guangzhou only serviced fellow Chinese men. Foreign traders and ship crew, whom prostitutes often understood to be more dangerous, were strictly prohibited from coming aboard Cantonese flower boats between 1750 and 1930, which was not the case in other places like the port of Whampoa where all foreign ships were required to anchor. Third, Qing, like other Guangzhou prostitutes, would have had her feet bound—a symbol of ideal feminine beauty and status in China at the time. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, because business was often conducted on board flower boats, Qing would have regularly been present and observed negotiations and transactions... Taken together, Qing—a formerly illiterate peasant—received an education, embodied elite femininity and sexual power, and operated in powerful circles of Chinese merchants, politicians, and even pirates who often discussed strategy and conducted their business in her company.Marriage and early pirate life:During her time as a sex worker, Qing Shih met and entertained a powerful pirate, Cheng I (sometimes spelled Zheng Yi). The two formed a powerful connection and ultimately got married in 1801. She then left her life as a sex worker and joined her husband out at sea to live and work as a pirate. At the time of their marriage, Cheng I was just “one of several contenders for power” over the southern seas.7 Within just a few months of their marriage, the couple “found themselves at the forefront” of this competition, and by 1804, had unified a “formidable confederation” of roughly 70,000 pirates and 400 junks.8 According to historian Dian Murray, Cheng I was considered to be “the unifier and patriarch,” but Qing Shih was “the consolidator and organizer.” Together they established a pirate confederacy that included six squadrons under the Red, Black, White, Green, Blue, and Yellow flags, respectively, 6 Van Dyke, 131.7 Dian Murray, “One Woman’s Rise to Power: Cheng I’s Wife and the Pirates.” Historical Reflections / Réflexions Historiques 8, no. 3 (1981), 149.8 Dian Murray, “One Woman’s Rise to Power,” 149.
3Qing Shih - Extended Biographywith each “commanded by a semi-autonomous leader who...owed ultimate obedience to the Cheng family.”9 The couple continued to rule the seas together until November 1807 when Cheng I died suddenly for unknown reasons. Rise to Power:Unlike other Chinese widows under Confucian Law, Qing Shih refused to enter seclusion or chaste widowhood after her husband’s death. Instead, she drew on her skills and training as a sex worker in Guangzhou, as well as her reputation as a fierce pirate and capable leader to secure her position of power over the pirate confederacy she built. First, she began to “create and intensify her personal relationships that would legitimize her rule in the eyes of her followers and, at the same time, allow her to exercise authority.”10Once in power, Qing Shih united her pirate confederacy under a single legal code that helped to safeguard her authority and transform her more informal “personal relationships into a more formal power structure.”11 For instance, “anyone caught giving commands on his own or disobeying those of a superior was immediately decapitated.”12 Though on the surface she seemed to conform to gender norms to achieve legitimacy by making her loyal follower and soon to be second husband, Chang Pao, leader of the Reg Flag Squadron, in reality her code of laws granted her sole political, economic, and military power. She also imposed new legal protections for female pirates and other women on board her ships. Any pirate who raped a woman was put to death, and married pirates who were unfaithful to their wives were also severely punished. Qing Shih was a ruler of a virtual pirate state. She created a financial system so that much of the booty won by the pirates was saved in a joint treasury. She also turned the pirates to legitimate trade, such as the provincial salt trade. Under her authority, the confederacy established a system of ‘tax offices’ where they could collect fees from ships passing by, which were then immune from attack. But the pirates also formed a disciplined fighting force, able to resist attacks by the Qing at sea, and even assault prizes on land.Life after piracy: By 1810, Qing Shih’s pirate confederacy threatened the Qing Dynasty, which entered negotiations with Qing Shih and Chang Pao. Eventually, these negotiations were successful. Qing Shih retired. After her second husband died in 1822, she returned home to Guandgong Province with her 11-year-old son. She continued to be both politically active and an economic entrepreneur, and eventually died at the age of 69 as the owner of a gambling hall.9 Dian Murray, “One Woman’s Rise to Power,” 149.10 Murray, “One Woman’s Rise to Power,” 150.11 Murray, “One Woman’s Rise to Power,” 151.12 Murray, “One Woman’s Rise to Power,” 151.