China‘s pirates boast colorful history

[Story]

China‘s pirates boast colorful history

Staff and agencies

14 February, 2007

By MIN LEE, AP Entertainment Writer Wed Feb 14, 3:03 PM ET

HONG KONG - While Western pirates are a familiar feature of Hollywood movies, Disney is introducing a Chinese sea bandit in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World‘s End."

Capt. Sao Feng — played by Chow Yun-fat — is a key figure in saving Jack Sparrow ( Johnny Depp ) from the world of the dead in the third installment of the megahit movie series, due out May 25.

Sao Feng is fictional, of course.

They wore bright silk costumes and ate the hearts of their enemies to strike fear in their subjects, historians say. In some parts of China, they overwhelmed the navy and served as a de facto government, regulating trade and collecting taxes.

The city was such a pirate stronghold that navigational charts of that era referred to the Hong Kong group of islands as "Ladrones" — Portuguese for robbers.

While Zhang is believed to have operated in Hong Kong waters, no evidence suggests he was ever based in Cheung Chau. But that hasn‘t stopped the legend from growing.

Zhang‘s legend is enhanced by his colorful personal life. As a youngster, he was adopted by the pirate Zheng Yi and his wife Zheng Yisao and became his stepfather‘s boy lover. After Zheng Yi‘s death, Zhang married his stepmother and had a child with her.

Rank-and-file pirates dressed in duller colors faded by sunlight and washing and stained with tar, blood and waterproofing tung oil, according to Davies. A 19th century scroll depicting the 1809 battle off Lantau island shows pirates wearing loose blue frocks and white pants with blue socks pulled up to knee level.

Pirates from Zhang‘s era fought with swords, pole guns and pike heads.

The junks carried fewer cannons than in the West because less-sophisticated Chinese ship building technology limited the vessels‘ ability to handle ammunition recoil.

But battleships from the imperial government — often converted rice transport ships — were even smaller and more poorly armed.

Zhang‘s fleet crushed the Chinese navy, more than halving its fleet from 165 ships to 72 in two battles in 1808 and 1809.

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[Story]

While later than the GAoP, this might interest some visitors to the Far East.

30/01/2007 12:00 AM (UAE)

Chinese pirate junk being built into a luxury cruise hotel

By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent

Mumbai: The Red Dragon, one of the notorious and historic Chinese pirate junks, is being reconstructed at Ghodbunder, in neighbouring Thane district, into a luxury cruise hotel that will ply in the Caribbean and Mediterranean.

The Red Dragon, built sometime during 1805-1834, is now being built by a local ship builder at Ghodbunder for German resident Alanzo Langecker.

Alanzo I, the first in the Alanzo series of ships and the largest wooden ship of its kind, at 160 ft, will be used as a luxury cruise for those who can afford its opulence.

The floating hotel has already partnered with Burj Al Arab in Dubai to offer cruise packages to its guests to the Caribbean and Mediterranean, said Shrikant Hathi of Hathi & Partners, the legal advisors for Langecker.

Langecker has sought various experts - naval architects, ship builders, designers, suppliers and engineers - to accomplish his dream and to ensure that the ship fits all the modern and international specifications.

Traditional method

Other construction sites like Naigaon were rejected for Ghodbunder, once a port where horses were traded, because of convenience since cranes could be easily taken near the coastline.

The Red Dragon Chinese junk or boat, also known as Junk of the Pirates, was originally a cargo vessel plying between North China and the Far East in Singapore. Many of these junks were destroyed by the prevailing ruler and therefore, Langecker had to do an intense research to garner all the details.

Langecker said that a traditional building method was being used for constructing the fully air-conditioned wooden cruise hotel using Malaysian Sal timber treated with fire retardant chemicals.

"The ship will be equipped with the latest electronic gadgets and navigation equipment on board while its hull is being built as per standards of the International Maritime Organisation with three masts and a large sail area powered by engine and sail with a speed of six knots per hour."

The cruise ship will have nine suites of 600 sq ft each accommodating up to 30 guests.

**

Note: piracy continues in that area, right up to today. Here's an account from the 1850s

http://www.logoi.com/notes/chinese_pirates.html

[Story]

China Raises 800-Year-Old Sunken Ship

AP

Posted: 2007-12-21 16:37:04

Filed Under: Science News

BEIJING (Dec. 21) - After 800 years at the bottom of the sea, a merchant ship loaded with porcelain and other rare antiques was raised to the surface Friday in a specially built basket, a state news agency reported.

The Nanhai No. 1, which means "South China Sea No. 1," sank off the south China coast with some 60,000 to 80,000 items on board, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing Wu Jiancheng, head of the excavation project.

Archaeologists built a steel basket around the 100-foot vessel, and it took about two hours for a crane to lift the ship and surrounding silt to the surface, Xinhua said. The basket was as large as a basketball court and as tall as a three-story building.

Green-glazed porcelain plates and shadowy blue porcelain items were among rare antiques found during the initial exploration of the ship. Archaeologists have also recovered containers made of gold and silver as well as about 6,000 copper coins.

The ship dates from the early Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). It was discovered in 1987 off the coast near the city of Yangjiang, in Guangdong province, in more than 65 feet of water.

The Nanhai No. 1 was placed on a waiting barge. It will be deposited in a huge glass pool at a museum where the water temperature, pressure and other environmental conditions are the same as where it has lain on the sea bed.

Feng Shaowen, head of the Yangjiang city cultural bureau, said visitors will be able watch the excavation of the ship through windows on the pool.

The recovery of the Nanhai No. 1 was originally scheduled for Saturday, but organizers decided to raise it a day early because of favorable weather.

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

That is way cool! as the kids still say! We studied the Chinese dynasties right towards the end of semester! Copper coins were more valueable at that that time than either gold or silver because of a shortage and due to the emporer coining all money in copper for trade on the silk road. This is amazing, I will have to let my professor know about this next semester! Thanx Story!

Bo