Why am I passionate about this?

For half my life Iā€™ve lived on an island near Hong Kong, walking distance from former pirate havens. I made my career as a cartoonist and published numerous satirical books about Hong Kong and China. Recently, I've spent years deeply researching the pirates of the South China coast, which culminated in writing an utterly serious book about the most powerful pirate of all, a woman about whom the misinformation vastly outnumbers the facts. I made it my mission to discover the truth about her. The books on this list hooked me on Chinese pirates in the first place and are essential starting points for anyone prepared to have their imaginations hijacked by Chinese ā€œfroth floating on the seaā€.


I wrote

Book cover of The Flower Boat Girl

What is my book about?

This is a historical novel based on the life of Zheng Yi Sao, the legendary 19th-century Chinese prostitute who becameā€¦

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea from 1807-1810

Larry Feign Why did I love this book?

The original chronicle of the massive pirate outbreak along the China coast in the early 19th century. Written by a Chinese amateur historian, he makes his patriotic agenda clear on every page: to boost the maligned reputation of Chinaā€™s imperial navy in allegedly quashing the pirates (by twisting the historical truth, to put it mildly). The main characters and incidents are based on fact, while he fills in the gaps with private conversations and meetings that no one could have been privy to. Translated into English by a German missionary in 1835, this mix of fact and speculation is the ur-document on which every western account of these pirates is based. Newer editions include an eyewitness narrative by a British sailor who spent six months as a captive of the pirates. Essential and entertaining reading which should be taken with large pinches of (pilfered) salt.

Book cover of Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790-1810

Larry Feign Why did I love this book?

Dian Murray spent ten years in Taiwan and mainland China in the 1970s and 1980s doing groundbreaking research into the early 19th century pirates, which became her PhD dissertation, later expanded into this book. This is the first attempt in any language to put together the full story of these pirates. Being an academic, her interest was less on the wider narrative and personalities, and more on various issues of historical development, sociology, weaponry, and more. By far the most important book for anyone researching these pirates. Sadly out of print.

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Book cover of Eclipse Chasers

Eclipse Chasers by Nick Lomb,

Forthcoming eclipses coming up in Australia include that of 22 July 2028, which will cross Australia from the Northern Territory to Sydney, home of the internationally famous sights of the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Eclipse Chasers will act as a guidebook for both locals and international visitors, givingā€¦

Book cover of Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China

Larry Feign Why did I love this book?

Formerly a professor of History at the University of Macau, Robert Antony has made it his lifeā€™s work to study piracy along the China coast. Among his several books on the topic, this one digs deepest into the development of piracy in the early 19th century, citing weather, economic, and political conditions, told in a highly readable narrative style. Among the entertaining details, he tracks the average annual going rates for ransom and stolen goods. He writes in an agreeable, relaxed manner, with a number of incidents told as edge-of-your-seat thrillers. The title itself was a common term of invective to describe Chinese pirates. An essential read for students of piracy.

Book cover of I Sailed with Chinese Pirates

Larry Feign Why did I love this book?

Lilius, a Finnish-Russian journalist and adventurer, describes his first-hand account of sailing around the Pearl River Delta in the 1920s with the female pirate chieftain Lai Choi-san. Itā€™s a swashbuckling page-turner, featuring cutthroats, cannons, and opium dens. Itā€™s a wonder he survived unscathed. Yet even though he includes photos, there is reason to believe that he made up the whole thing, since there are no other records of Lai Choi-san. Worth reading anyway, for the details about ships, boat people culture, and coastal life in the late 1920s, were properly researched and all ring true. First published in 1930, it was reissued in 2009.

By Aleko E. Lilius,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked I Sailed with Chinese Pirates as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

An enthusiastic history of rampant Cantonese piracy in the 1930s, this first-hand account follows globetrotting journalist Aleko E. Lilius as he sets out to infiltrate mysterious pirate gangs. Describing every detail of the reporterā€™s life as he eats, sleeps, and sails with murderous gangs, this recollection chronicles the rapport between Lilius and South Chinaā€™s notorious pirate queen, Lai Choi San. Including the harrowing misdeeds witnessed on Liliusā€™s journey, this record is a sensational, adventurous tale.


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Book cover of Loveland

Loveland by Susan Ostrov,

What happens when a feminist who studies romance turns the lens on her own romantic adventures?

Loveland is about how the author came to understand this journey to the far country of loveā€”dating, marriage, a forbidden love affair, an unusual love affair as an older womanā€”as part of a largerā€¦

Book cover of A Lady's Captivity Among Chinese Pirates: In the Chinese Seas

Larry Feign Why did I love this book?

In 1852 a young French woman set out on a round-the-world tour, stopping in Brazil and California before sailing to the young British colony of Hong Kong. Her return vessel to San Francisco was damaged in a typhoon, then hijacked by pirates. She chronicles in effervescent detail her treatment by the pirates, both callous and kind, offering a rare glimpse of Chinese pirate life. The original French edition was a big hit and soon translated into other languages. In the spirit of other 19th century travelogues, this book transports the reader in exquisite detail to many colorful and exotic far-off places, but the highlight is her engaging account of the terrors and discoveries of her captivity on the South China Sea. For the serious researcher, it offers a wealth of rare details of shipboard and captive life.

By Fanny Loviot, Alex Struik (illustrator), Amelia B. Edwards (translator)

Why should I read it?

1 author picked A Lady's Captivity Among Chinese Pirates as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

On the 4th of October 1854, a Chilian ship, called the 'Caldera,' sailed from the port of Hong-Kong and was grounded by stress of weather amid a group of islets lying to the south-west of Macao. One Mademoiselle Fanny Loviot, a young French lady, happened to be on board. The pirates took her prisoner, as well as a Chinese merchant, who was her fellow-passenger, and sent on the captain to Hong-Kong, to treat for a double ransom. This is her story.


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Book cover of The Flower Boat Girl

What is my book about?

This is a historical novel based on the life of Zheng Yi Sao, the legendary 19th-century Chinese prostitute who became the most powerful pirate in history. Sold as a child to a floating brothel, kidnapped by pirates, and forced to marry their leader, she must survive a world of violence, treachery, and greed, until she faces a choice between two things she never dreamed might be hers: power or love. Exhaustively researched, her story has never been fully told until now.

Book cover of History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea from 1807-1810
Book cover of Pirates of the South China Coast, 1790-1810
Book cover of Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China

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