Who was Zheng Yi Sao, the woman who led a pirate confederation and then retired in peace?

Zheng Yi Sao was a Chinese pirate leader active in the South China Sea from 1801 to 1810. She took over the leadership of a huge pirate confederation after her husband, Zheng Yi, fell overboard in a gale and died on 16 November 1807. The confederation had six fleets, distinguished by the colour of their flags, whose leaders had agreed in 1805 to give up some of their autonomy. In 1805 her husband's fleet consisted of approximately 400 junks and between 40,000 and 70,000 pirates.

After her husband's death she balanced the various factions of the confederation. In 1808 the pirates destroyed fleets of the Chinese provincial navy, reducing it by half and clearing the way into the Pearl River. In 1809 a six-week raiding campaign along the river under one of her commanders ultimately caused approximately 10,000 deaths.

Then the tide turned. After defeats at the hands of the Portuguese Navy, in 1810 she negotiated a surrender to the Qing authorities that allowed her and Zhang Bao to keep 24 ships and over 1,400 pirates and to avoid prosecution. Sources differ on why the pirates surrendered. She and her crews were pardoned, but 14 of the worst pirates were beheaded, and 126 more executed. She died in 1844, aged about 68, as the proprietor of an infamous gambling house.

There is also a well-known myth: the pirate code often credited to her was written by Zhang Bao, and the confusion probably began in 1932 with a European book.