From the height of its undisputed maritime supremacy in early Ming, China had stagnated and its technology and innovation languished. For a country with a coastline of over 4,500 kilometres, the Qing naval force was inadequate in number; its fighting power and defence capacity were woefully insufficient; its hierarchy was ill-prepared for the maintenance of peace in its coastal waters. With the population growing faster than could be sustained through agriculture, the problem of feeding the masses became an acute issue. Some disgruntled citizens began joining the outlaws at sea. Groups of pirates began intercepting trade vessels towards the end of the Qianlong period (乾隆) (1736-1795). Piracy activities east and west of Guangdong gradually spread to the central area of the Pearl River delta. Pirates built faster ships and procured better firepower. The gangs grew quickly in number. By the era of Jiaqing, the Red Banners headed by Zheng Yi (鄭一) controlled over 200 vessels, while his rival Guo Podai (郭婆帶) of the Black Banners had over 80, numbers that made the Qing navy look minuscule in scale and strength.
The pirates made regular incursions to plunder villages. To make voyages even more hazardous for ordinary traders, the pirates set up their own “customs stations” in the waters under their control to tax passing cargo ships. Shipowners would have no choice but to pay “protection fees” to ensure safe passage, a practice commonly called dadan (打單) in Cantonese.[36]
In the 10th year of Jiaqing (1805), the pirates took control of Da Hao Dao (大濠島- today’s Lantau Island) as their base for launching raids on the delta area. Large-scale sea battles, with the pirates pitting themselves against the navy, ensued. In 1808 (the 13th year of Jiaqing), the battle at Mazhou (孖州) off Shenzhen resulted in the annihilation of the government fleet, and Admiral Lin Guoliang (林國良) was killed. In August the same year, another fleet under Vice-Admiral Lin Fa (林發), whilst on patrol near Humen (虎門), was attacked by pirates, with the loss of several score sailors and six ships.[37]
Emperor Jiaqing deployed Commissioner Bai Ling (百齡) to restore peace in the area. Bai Ling was unable to strengthen his navy by building bigger and stronger ships. His sole tactic was to close all sea ports in the province, allowing no ships in the waters and prohibiting supplies to the pirates. The strategy gradually began to bear fruit. As pirates ran low on food, they were forced to make more frequent forays into the villages, pushing the villagers to side with the authorities. Guo Podai soon surrendered to Bai Ling.
In 1809, the Red Banners, headed then by Zheng Yi Sao (鄭一嫂), wife of Zheng Yi, and Zhang Bao (張保), who had both inherited the pirate gang after Zheng Yi’s death in a typhoon, ravaged the rich regions of the delta, including the counties of Xiangshan (香山), Dongguan (東莞) and Xinhui (新會), terrorising the villagers and plundering their harvests to replenish their ships’ provisions. Part of the pirate fleet, including Zhang Bao and Zheng Yi Sao, then sailed down the Pearl River to gather at Tung Chung Bay, Lantau Island, perhaps to ponder their next move.
The news was quickly relayed to Bai Ling, who hastily mustered a fleet of war boats, including six men-of-war from the Portuguese in Macao, and promptly sealed off the mouth of the bay. However, the firepower of Bai Ling’s ships proved too tame to be effective. Observing the wind conditions, his fleet set fire to an old ship and let it drift towards the pirates. Unfortunately, the wind soon faded away and then changed direction. Zhang Bao took advantage of the darkness, forcibly breaking the blockade and sailing away.[38]
Although the famous Battle of Tung Chung had no clear victor, the pressure Bai Ling had imposed on Zhang Bao and his peers did take its toll. Soon afterwards, in early 1810, Zhang Bao sent words that he was willing to accept Bai Ling’s pacification programme, and surrendered the entire fleet to the Qing court. The peace of the South China coast was more or less secured after Bai Ling promptly seized the opportunity to accept Zhang Bao’s surrender and at the same time sent a big fleet, assisted by the former pirates of Zhang Bao and Guo Podai, to round up and suppress all other pirates still active in west Guangdong.
Even after Bai Ling’s successful campaign, smaller scale piracy operations still persisted until the British took over Hong Kong.
