Ningpo massacre

Last updated

The Ningpo Massacre
Date26 June 1857
Location
Result Chinese victory
Belligerents
Flag of the Qing Dynasty (1862-1889).svg Qing dynasty Portuguese Pirates
Commanders and leaders
Flag of the Qing Dynasty (1862-1889).svg Ah Pak [1]
Casualties and losses
2 Chinese
1 English dead
40 Portuguese dead

The Ningpo Massacre was a massacre of Portuguese pirates by Cantonese pirates led by Ah Pak around the city of Ningbo. During the Qing dynasty, in the 19th century, the Ningbo authorities contracted Cantonese pirates to eliminate by extermination Portuguese pirates who raided Cantonese shipping around Ningbo. The campaign was "successful", with 40 Portuguese dead and only two Chinese dead, being dubbed "The Ningpo Massacre" by an English correspondent, who noted that the Portuguese pirates had behaved savagely towards the Chinese, and that the Portuguese authorities at Macau should have reined in the pirates.

Contents

Battle and Massacre

Portuguese pirates who raided Cantonese shipping in the early 19th century were eliminated by Cantonese forces around Ningbo. [2]

The people from Ningbo supported the Cantonese massacre of the Portuguese pirates and the attack on the Portuguese consul. The Ningbo authorities had made an agreement with a Cantonese pirate named A'Pak to exterminate the Portuguese pirates. The Portuguese did not even try to fight when the Cantonese pirates sacked their consulate, fleeing and hiding among the tombs. The Cantonese butchered around 40 Portuguese while sacking the consulate. Only two Chinese and one Englishman who sided with the Cantonese died.

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References

  1. the London Times (26 November 1858). "The Pirates of the Chinese Seas". The New York Times.
  2. Zhidong Hao (2011). Macau History and Society (illustrated ed.). Hong Kong University Press. p. 67. ISBN   978-988-8028-54-2 . Retrieved 4 November 2011. There was indeed a group of Portuguese who became pirates, called "Macau ruffians," or policemen who turned bad, along with "Manila-men" from the Philippines and escaped African slaves. Their fleet attacked "the Cantonese ships when they could get them at an advantage, and murdered their crews with circumstances of great atrocity."55 They were destroyed in Ningbo by a fleet of Chinese pirates with the support of the local Chinese government and other Europeans.