Chinese Piracy in the Late 18th and Early 19th Centuries and its Contribution to the Fall of the Qing Empire

Abstract In the decades before the First Opium War, Qing China faced many internal and external crises. One of the least studied of these crises is that of pirate risings. Although pirates have always existed in the Asian world, between 1790 and 1810, pirate groups organized themselves into a cohesive confederation that openly opposed Qing authorities. These pirates represented a significant threat to the stability of China in the early 19th century. Not only did they cause severe damage to the Qing navy, but they had a major negative impact on the Jiaqing’s outlook on his mandate. This paper will explore both how these pirate risings contributed to the fall of the Qing dynasty and why they were so successful in this. It makes the argument that China’s defeat in the First Opium war can be partially blamed on the pirate threat that they had faced and their reforms (or lack thereof ) after suppressing these pirates. This paper offers a unique look at the rarely studied topic of Asian piracy which is so often overlooked compared to piracy in the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. It shows a unique form of piracy less culture driven and more opportunistic and desperation driven than that of the West.