The Female Pirate Who Terrorised South China | Zheng Yi Sao | The REAL Pirate Queen

Female pirates were few and far between, but Zheng Yi Sao was not only a woman who dominated piracy, but became the most successful pirate in history. She rose from poverty to piratical riches, retiring to become a respected member of society in her old age, having led a full and exciting life terrorising the South China Seas. This video looks at her life and rise to power....

***NOTE ABOUT PRONUNCIATION! I always try where possible to use the names and placenames native to the place where the history is set, in this case, China! However, Mandarin is not my first language, and I do try to pronounce things properly, but please let me know (gently!) if I can improve it.

For my images and footage, thanks to:

Pexels
Pixabay
Wikimedia Commons
Many of my images in this video were made with Midjourney, see if you can spot which ones!

I strive to always credit everyone whose images I use, and try as much as possible to use images freely in the public domain (purchased where not possible) - please let me know if I have missed you so I can give you due credit.

[GwenWittig]

I am loving the female pirate and outlaw series! bet there is a slew of female highway'men'. you rock!!

[altinaykor]

She must be one of the luckiest people that ever set foot on this earth😅not only being an outlaw and also having a hell of criminal actions written in your case, being such a successful criminal and at the end, having a happy ending as well and having a normal life and totally put the past behind! I say this, because when you watch East Asian period dramas, you notice that they...let's just say pirates weren't treated gently once they were caught and surrendered

[monicaenriquez]

Excellent documentary! Such beautiful models too!

[lfgifu]

Interesting! Piracy in China is something my uneducated self knew nothing about!!

[crocodiledundee]

Learnt all about this amazing woman from Angus Konstam’s The Pirate World: A History Of The Most Notorious Sea Robbers from Osprey Publishing.

[kathleenmccrory]

I was just reading about her. How serendipitous. 😊

[chrisloomis]

Wonderful story from Chinese history, an amazing woman that is simply impressive and amazing. Wonderful.

[JangianTV]

Happy New Year HFP! A great start made with this video. 😊

[MichelleBruce-looc]

Hi, awesome live history video I enjoyed it. How was your new years 2024 and Mallard your cat? My new years 2024 was great. My cat Benjamin is doing well. He likes eating his cans of tuna and salmon. Have a great day see you next video. We finally have snow in Ontario Canada. Do you have any snow where you are? 😊

[lfgifu]

Just a minor correction: in Portugal, “José” is pronounced with a “J “somewhat like that in “John”, rather than how it would be in Spanish, and the “o” is read like the” o” in “move” :)

[JuliaKapp]

"PIRACY IS OUR ONLY OPTION " ELEANOR, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, 😂

[Vibrantly_Monochromatic]

there will be an adaptation of sorts about the famous pirate, let's see they wont ruin it

[lfgifu]

So, this one will probably have to do without explaining for them all, because there are A LOT, but how would you order the Plantagenet Kings from Best to worst? It’s a very interesting dynasty, as it has some of the best and worst english monarchs (Henry II and Edward II, Edward III and John, etc…)

[lilacgirl-zw]

Thank you for showing that piracy wasn't only a man's domain.

[joannmartir]

Wow, who knew, definitely not l, thanks

[SparkCroft]

Ubisoft after watching this video:

- Write that down, write that down. But make her non-binary with a black queer girlfriend, her ex a misogynist & they/them fighting against patriarchy.

[mike]

Her ship was junk.

Obscure Chinese naval joke 😂

[refraf]

Speak about her husband, he’s more interesting to me, he built his fleet from the ground up while zheng yi sao simply inherited it.