Cheung Po was born in Xinhui of Jiangmen to a Tanka fisherman in 1783 and when he was just fifteen was shanghaied by pirate Cheung Yat and his spouse. He quickly adapted to the pirate life and soon became a skilled buccaneer himself and was eventually adopted by the ones who kidnapped him which assured his possible rise to command. This came to pass in 1807 when the pirate leader Cheng I dies and his surviving wife Ching Shih garnered support from his followers and relatives who were also pirates. A short time later both began a romantic relationship and both Cheung Po and Ching Shih were later joined in matrimony. After successful voyages of plundering things took a downward turn in 1809 when his ships started losing battles against the Portuguese Navy.

This led to his surrender in 1810 to Guangdong Zhang Bailing weapons and ships as part of the agreement at Furongsha in Guangdong. With this act, he now left the life of piracy and when offered a commission in the Qing dynasty was made a colonel in the Qing's Guangdong navy. His role was now to hunt the very pirates he once shared a profession with and in 1813 had a son Cheung Yu Lin he continued his role until the age of 39 and in 1822 died at sea. With Cheung Po no longer in the picture, his husbandless wife relocated to Macau and pursue a career in a gambling house and salt trade.


• Headstuff
• Macao Magazine
• Mediakron
• Peoplepill
• Prezi
• The History of Piracy
• The Way of Pirates
• Timeout
• Wikipedia
• Zolima