Cheung Po Tsai

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Cheung Po Tsai
張保仔.jpg
Born Xinhui, Jiangmen, China
Piratical career
Type Pirate
Allegiance Qing Dynasty
Years active c. 1800-1810
Rank Colonel (naval)
Base of operations Hong Kong

Cheung Po Tsai (simplified Chinese: 张保仔; traditional Chinese: 張保仔; pinyin: Zhāng Bǎozǎi; Wade–Giles: Chang Pao Tsai; 1783 – 1822[1]) was a 19th-century Chinese pirate. He was also known as Cheung Po/Chang Pao/Zhang Bao ("Cheung Po Tsai" literally means "Cheung Po the Kid").

Several places in Hong Kong are linked to Cheung Po Tsai:

  • Cheung Po Tsai Cave, on Cheung Chau island. It is a small cave, said to be the place where he stored his prizes.
  • Cheung Po Tsai built several temples dedicated to the goddess Tin Hau and seafaring activities on Ma Wan, Cheung Chau, and Stanley.

Biography

Cheung Po Tsai
Cheung Po Tsai Cave 1.jpg
Cheung Po Tsai Cave Cheung Chau.
Traditional Chinese 張保仔
Simplified Chinese 张保仔

A famous pirate in Hong Kong, he was a son of a Tanka[citation needed] fisherman who lived in Xinhui of Jiangmen but was kidnapped by the pirate Cheng I and his wife Ching Shih when he was 15. He was adopted by the kidnappers as their son. Cheung Po later took over the pirating business from his adopted parents.

Cheung Po Tsai was active along the Guangdong (Canton) coastal area during the Qing Dynasty. His followers are said to have reached 50,000+ and his fleet said to have possessed 600 ships. His piracy mate was Cai Qian and the two worked together until Cai Qian was destroyed by the Qing government, making Cheung decide to surrender. Cheung Po capitulated to the Chinese government in 1810 and became a captain in the Qing imperial navy, receiving the rank of navy colonel and an appointment in Penghu, far away from Hong Kong. He spent the rest of his life helping the government fight other pirates.[2]

In popular culture

  • The 1973 Hong Kong action film The Pirate (Da hai dao) has Cheung Po Tsai as its lead character.[3]
  • The 1983 Hong Kong action film Project A depicts a character based on Cheung Po Tsai. The lead villain, San Po (played by Dick Wei) is a pirate with similar characteristics. Project A's time period is a composite of several in Hong Kong's history.
  • The 1994 Hong Kong action film Once Upon a Time in China V has Cheung Po Tsai as one of the main villains opposing the protagonist Wong Fei-Hung. As the movie apocrythally takes place shortly after the Boxer Rebellion, however (over seventy years after Cheung Po Tsai had historically lived), Cheung is depicted in that movie as an extremely old man.
  • The movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End depicts a pirate named Sao Feng as a member of the Brethren Court. This character is based on Cheung Po Tsai, although the film is set many years before he lived.
  • The Amazing Race 17 visited the cave during Leg 10 Episode 10 in Hong Kong.
  • In the anime One Piece, one of the characters, Scratchman Apoo, is influenced by Cheung Po Tsai.
  • The Aqua Luna junk ship is named after Cheung Po Tsai.[4]
  • Tony Hung portrays Cheung Po Tsai in the 2015 Hong Kong television drama Captain of Destiny, a historical sci-fi series about a 21st-century police officer who meets Cheung Po Tsai after traveling back in time.

References

  1. ↑ Dian H. Murray 1987, p.64.
  2. ↑ 〈乙〉《靖海氛記》原文標點及箋註
  3. ↑ Da hai dao at the Internet Movie Database.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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External links

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