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Cheng I Sao - Pirate Queen - Extra History (Patreon)

Published:
2018-01-26 18:30:01
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

She was the most ferocious pirate China had ever known. She was a powerful fleet commander, a sharp businesswoman, and a consummate strategist. She was Cheng I Sao, leader of the Pirate Confederation, and she lived her life on her terms. 

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Cheng I Sao - Pirate Queen - Extra History

She was the most ferocious pirate China had ever known. She was a powerful fleet commander, a sharp businesswoman, and a consummate strategist. She was Cheng I Sao, leader of the Pirate Confederation, and she lived her life on her terms. CORRECTION: This episode's script is brought to you by Rob Rath! Support us on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon (--More below) Grab your Extra Credits gear at the store! http://bit.ly/ExtraStore Subscribe for new episodes every Saturday! http://bit.ly/SubToEC Play games with us on Extra Play! http://bit.ly/WatchEXP Talk to us on Twitter (@ExtraCreditz): http://bit.ly/ECTweet Follow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/ECFBPage Get our list of recommended games on Steam: http://bit.ly/ECCurator ____________ ♪ Get the intro music here! http://bit.ly/1EQA5N7 *Music by Demetori: http://bit.ly/1AaJG4H ♪ Get the outro music here! http://bit.ly/23isQfx *Music by Sean and Dean Kiner: http://bit.ly/1WdBhnm

Comments

Martin Verran

This is probably a little inaccurate but...YARR! AVAST, ME HEARTIES! At last, EH is doing a Pirate Topic!

Will Weaver

This looks like it’ll be awesome. Can’t wait until I get a chance to watch (currently at work).

Bryan (MightyAxeMan)

Awesome story! I wonder how it would've turned out differently if China could've borrowed Admiral Yi...

Andreas

cant' wait to watch!!

Ryan Wojciechowski

Best Surprise Episode ever! Prostitute to Pirate to Queen. Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!!!

Freddy Russell

Just in time for the sea of thieves beta! In a very piratey mood today

shadowscribble

Awesome lady. Should've hired her to help make their navy's stronger.

Sean Sarff

It’s always surprising what happens when you pull on the threads of history.

Christina Maria Jessen

One thing that's worth pointing out here is that while women had a very low status in the eyes of the Qing government, a status that kept getting reduced throughout the dynasty, China is a large place. Parts of southern China, specifically the Fujian province, didn't quite follow this practice. In the later parts of the Qing period, records exist of same sex marriage for women in the province. Provided that one of the women was independently wealthy enough to provide a proper dowry and take care of her prospective wife. And while it probably wasn't common, it does reveal that the prospect of independently wealthy women heading households was just an accepted fact of life in Fujian. This is probably relevant for the story, in that more than any other province, Fujian was the home of Chinese seafaring. Fujian was a fairly poor province, mountainous and with extremely tricky overland travel, to the point that inland Fujian dialects are the most archaic of all Chinese dialects due to isolation. So it made sense for its people to take to the seas, especially with the colonization of Taiwan just across the strait. In turn, the Chinese of Southeast Asia are primarily of Fujianese descent, even more so than the Cantonese you might expect given that Guangdong is further south and has vastly more people. So there would probably be a lot of Fujianese sailors in the pirate fleet who were used to women having more independent status than most Chinese. Also, as a bonus for the roleplayers out there, in Legends of the Wulin, the Southern Dragon Clan is an option for PCs and is clearly based on Cheng I Sao's fleet.

Noah Simons

Is this a one episode series like odenathus and the collapse of the Carolingian empire?

Christina Maria Jessen

Also, it might be worth pointing out that this pirate confederacy was at most the second largest and second most important criminal enterprise in Chinese history. It pales in comparison to the Green Gang of the Republican period. The largest organized crime organization in the history of the world, it numbered 100,000 members in Shanghai alone, it was also what brought Chiang Kai-Shek to power and provided the financial basis for the Republican government of the 1930s. They were still gangsters reliant on drugs, prostitution, gambling and similarly typical gangster activities.

Irakli Tchigladze

Love that episode references old series. Can't you do Takeda Shingen or/and Uesugi Kenshin? Pleaase...

Christina Maria Jessen
>>9725737

The only notable thing he really did before the end of WWI was join the Green Gang. His story is pretty firmly after the deadline set for non-sponsored episodes of the show. He's a pretty fascinating, and awful, figure, though. I'd certainly recommend looking him up some.

ExtraCredits
>>9724846

Thanks for the additional context! Very cool to hear about those early gay marriage records too :) --Belinda

ExtraCredits
>>9725236

Yup! Extra History is on a 7-week cycle--with the 7th week being Lies. If the core series runs less than 6 episodes, we'll do one-offs like these!

Laura Galm

So this was a topic I suggested a really long time ago while playing AC Black Flag!

Lamont Stewart

I need to rewatch the Opium Wars Series but does this take place around the same time frame as that series?

Christina Maria Jessen
>>9728319

It says near the end. The first Opium War was 29 years after Cheng I Sao went legit. Which is to say that this video takes place in 1809 and 1810, while the first Opium War was in 1839.

Chang E
>>9725737

Something most people don’t know is that the historical Green Gang of the Republican period had its origins in worker guilds who laboured along the Grand Canal during Ming Dynasty. They eventually morphed into a quasi religious/criminal syndicate.

Martin Verran
>>9722673

For some reason I cannot help Envisioning the Pirate Accountant saying, "AARR! HAND OVER YER RECIEPTS, YE SLOBS! Or we'll be unable to Claim Back Expenses for the last Quarter Reducin' our Potential Profits. Now, who be Responsible for VAT?" If I achieve my Ambition of getting Enough Money to become an $8 Tier Award Patreon I'd probably Suggest Blackbeard and Black Bart Roberts as Pirate Topics. I'd also be Tempted to Suggest Ragnarr Lodbrok, who certainly Counts as a Pirate, but there's an Issue with his Historicity, although it's Generally Accepted that he Existed.

Huw Rollinson

No doubting her talent, but a pretty unpleasant talent it was. A highly organised bunch of terrorists and hoodlums. Think Bai Ling would have done well to have cut off the snake’s head while he had the chance to do so in Canton.

Christina Maria Jessen
>>9725737

It started as an esoteric Buddhist group during the Ming Dynasty, then during mid-Qing it became the guild of the laborers along the Grand Canal. By late-Qing it had morphed into a criminal syndicate. While it did use some religious rituals, that was common for essentially all Chinese social organization unrelated to Communism. Even labor unions not directly related to the CCP used religious oaths and burning sticks of incense as part of inducting members. In this Republican Chinese people more or less followed the pattern of medieval and renaissance Europeans. Trade guilds were organized around church rituals and veneration of saints over here, even when in practical terms they mostly served to dominate the marketplace, provide a social venue and work as insurance. So I don't really think it's valid to call the Green Gang quasi-religious. It was about money and power and the religious aspects were just how all social organization was handled.

ExtraCredits
>>9724304

Oh, I am definitely planning to repost this for when we get around to Sea of Thieves on the Extra Credits Twitch channel!

ExtraCredits
>>9732100

Rob says that's the Mandarin version of her name and the more common one--we went with the Cantonese variation. --Belinda

ExtraCredits
>>9738443

Pirate stories are definitely a double-edged sword, especially with the narrative-driven approach we always take for these videos by setting up a protagonist/antagonist situation. Pop culture portrayals like Disney's "Pirates" movies haven't really helped either--we all want to be the badasses but it's easy to forget that the "badasses" did some legitimately bad things too. --Belinda

Succuri

This was a great story!

Bill Lemmond

Well, she was a very impressive person. Too bad her effects on the world around her were so destructive.