Trading-Raiding, A Family Business: Piratical Lineage in Early-Modern China

Abstract

In the mid-sixteenth century, the South China littoral experienced an explosion of maritime predation. In response, the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) dedicated immense resources to carrying out military expeditions and revitalizing coastal defenses. Field reports regularly claimed the campaigns captured or eliminated hundreds—if not thousands—of accused bandits. This raises important questions about how smuggling traders and roving raiders persisted despite such losses. One means to survive in this violent world was, in a word, family. During the coastal crisis, kinship and lineage reinforced the strength of illicit operations and contributed to group survival. This essay explores the development of two lineage-based syndicates in the Guangdong-Fujian borderland of South China. It demonstrates transgenerational linkages between crews carried multiple benefits, including ensuring access to financial, technological, and human resources at home and abroad. Most importantly, kinship associations allowed for the rapid reconstitution of crews when leaders fell in battle.