Traversing the entire Chinese mainland from north to south, you will arrive at the end of the Leizhou Peninsula, which for thousands of years has echoed Hainan Island and become a natural barrier in the waters of the South China Sea. China's fifth-largest island, Donghai Island, is located in the eastern part of the peninsula. Historically, Donghai Island was an island under the jurisdiction of Gulei Prefecture and is now part of the Zhanjiang Economic Development Zone. From the outside, it is an island in the shape of a butterfly.
Like many of the islands around it that communicate in ancient dialects and are relatively inconvenient to communicate, the official historical record of The East Sea Island has been interrupted with the passage of time, and its yesterday may be stored in local oral stories and lyrics, or hidden in foreign historical sources due to maritime trade exchanges, and it is often absent in the main history.
"Ancient China advocated land, and under the great unification of the powerful Confucian culture, the marine culture was mostly submerged in the ocean of mainstream Chinese culture, and many people could not see it clearly and could not hear its voice." Chen Guanghai, vice chairman of Zhanjiang City of the China Folk Writers Association, told Interface News that the contribution of ancient Chinese pirates to coastal stability and economy has not received much attention from mainstream voices.
Chen Guanghai was born in 1955 in The Village of Tunshi, Min'an Town, Donghai Island, and has edited the Guangdong Folk Tales Complete Book - Zhanjiang Mazhang Scroll, Mazhang District Literature and History, including the Donghai Island area.
The ancient pirate history of Donghai Island is mainly concentrated in the records of European pirate history and Qing Dynasty local history, and Zheng Shishi is one of the representative figures.
According to historical data, Zheng Shishi, whose real name is Shi Xiugu, also known as Zheng Yiyi, was originally a famous prostitute in Guangdong. In 1801, she was kidnapped by Zheng Yi, a pirate on the East China Sea Island and the leader of the Red Flag Gang, and after Zheng Yi's death, she became the new leader of the Red Flag Gang. Became the most famous female pirate in Chinese history.
At the end of the 18th century, the Six Flags Pirate Alliance led by the Red Flag Gang and the Black Flag Gang was formed in the waters of Guangdong, and the Qing government, together with Portugal and Britain, formed a joint fleet with the intention of eliminating the Red Flag Gang stationed in the East China Sea Island area in one fell swoop. At this time, there were 500 or 600 large and small ships of the Hongqi Gang, and there were about 30,000 or 40,000 people.
Zheng Shi's Red Flag Gang not only survived this encirclement and suppression, but also counterattacked the Portuguese-Macao fleet, besieging Macao to the point of almost starvation. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Red Flag Gang also attacked British ships that illegally broke into the inland river in Guangzhou, shocking the British fleet.
But the alliance was soon broken. In 1809, under the Qing government's "Huairou Policy", the Black Flag Gang, as the second largest gang of the Six Flags Alliance, surrendered to the imperial court, which greatly reduced the strength of the Six Flags Alliance. Previously, the Red Flag Gang, which had caused conflicts between the various factions because zheng Shi's refusal to marry the black flag gang boss Guo Bodai, also quickly accepted the invitation and was awarded the title of lady of the imperial court. In 1844, Zheng Shi died in Guangzhou.
Chen Guanghai believes that the history of piracy in the East China Sea Island can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. After the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty, driven by the rule of the Yuan Dynasty, some of the surviving Han official tribes gradually evolved into pirate tribes, and Min'an Town and Zhenzhou Town became the main gathering places for pirates.
"This is one of the reasons why pirates in the East China Sea Islands are able to have a strong military power and organizational scale." Chen Guanghai told interface news reporters that in addition, because the East China Sea Island is in an important position leading to Europe and the Pacific Ocean, pirate tribes outside the island also tend to be stationed in nearby waters.
"My grandfather Zhuang Weidou told me that the pirates on the island did not disappear completely until 1953, when the island was truly liberated, and that was the year I was born." Zhuang Yiming of Shizu Village, Dongshan Town, Donghai Island, recalled that after the dissolution of the pirate alliance, the scale of pirates on Donghai Island had been greatly reduced compared with the Qing Dynasty, ranging from single people to hundreds of people, and they also fished and farmed in ordinary times, but when the harvest was not good, they robbed the fishermen of Haikang County opposite, and the people on the other side angrily denounced them as "East Sea thieves."
"They also plundered the poor people." Zhuang Yiming said that beihe town was one of the poorest towns on the other side of the East China Sea Island, and sometimes people risked their lives to swim over just to beg for some sweet potatoes and rice, and sometimes they still encountered pirates on the way back. "One of the leaders of a tribe of several hundred people is named Zhao Baolong, who lives in Dongshan Village, the village next door to us."
To date, the history of the bookmaker has lasted for more than 300 years in Dongshan Town. Zhuang Yiming still remembers that every time he pestered his father to tell these stories, his father, who was born in 1919, often lamented: "At that time, the East China Sea Island soldiers were in chaos, people were panicked, and some things had lost control." ”
In 1958, with the completion of the cross-sea levee, the East China Sea Island, which is surrounded by the sea on three sides, ended its "isolated island" history and was truly included in the jurisdiction of the Zhanjiang Municipal Government.
As a gathering place of ancient pirates, to this day, the people of Min'an Town on the East China Sea Island are still facing regional and cultural conflicts left over from the history of piracy.
"It is said that rumors make three people into tigers, so what will happen to rumors in the past hundred years?" Rumors about Min'an Town probably began before liberation. Shen Hongfei, who engaged in stunt performances in Min'an Town, told interface news reporters that before 1953, Min'an was long rumored to be an ominous place for worshipping "evil gods", which made the people of Min'an Town suffer a lot of restrictions in going out to work and intermarry.
"Min'an people go to Xiashan District (one of the most prosperous commercial areas in Zhanjiang) to do business and rent a house, and if they tell the truth, they will not buy, sell and rent, and feel that there are dirty things that are unlucky, and we have to lie that we belong to other towns." Shen Hongfei said that as a very bold person, he had personally gone to look for the legendary evil things in Min'an Town, but there was no actual harvest.
"Rumors of evil gods in Min'an Town are very widespread, and even Buddhist disciples who have come to practice here from other places have asked me about this." Yuanzhi, the abbot of Wugu'an, the largest surviving Buddhist hall on Donghai Island, said that what happened to Min'an Town had something to do with what had happened to it as a gathering place for ancient pirates and a unique way of worship.
Master Yuan zhi believes that the long-term pirate culture and regional conflicts have deeply rooted the cultural prejudices of the other side and the surrounding areas here, and feel that Min'an is the gathering place of the "East Sea Thieves"; coupled with the fact that the way the people of Min'an Town sacrifice has been quite different from other places, the rumors have become more and more exaggerated.
"The culture of the family gods on the East China Sea Island is very developed, for example, no matter the happy events and funerals, they like to invite the family gods, and The town of Min'an has always held the tablet of the family god in its arms, and it is particularly pious to kneel and worship, sometimes even for a few days, and it is difficult for outsiders to understand, so it will cause greater misunderstanding." Master Yuanzhi said.
In 1984, Master Yuanzhi and the previous abbot of the Buddhist temple came to Min'an Town with 18,000 yuan in reparations, built the Wugu Nunnery, and gradually developed into one of the most incense-rich Buddhist temples on the island.
"In the past thirty years, I have seen people who married from Dongjian Town to Min'an Town, and their parents severed their family relations with them, and I have also seen people who married from Min'an Town and were discriminated against, such as my niece." Master Yuan Zhi said that at that time, the neighbors of his niece's in-laws' house watched her from afar and wanted to sprinkle a handful of local plant seeds around her to ward off evil spirits.
In recent years, the economy of some large-scale industrial projects built on the East China Sea Island and the influx of people from other places are gradually changing the face of the island.
In mid-2016, the 54 billion yuan Baosteel Zhanjiang Iron and Steel Base was completed on The East China Sea Island, and one of the country's largest joint venture refining and chemical projects with a planned cost of 59 billion yuan is under construction. The 128.3-square-kilometer island with a population of about 43,000 people is in need of more labor and better facilities to support these two major projects.
"Min'an Town will become the main factory dormitory area, and it is said that more than 300 dormitory buildings will be built here." Shen Hongfei said that in his dealings with outsiders, he felt that people outside Guangdong Province no longer cared about cultural barriers, which was a good start for Min'an Town.
At the same time, the number of former villagers returning to Min'an Town from other places is also increasing, and Huang Huaixian is one of them.
"In 1949, I was captured by the Kuomintang army from Xishan Village in Min'an Town to Taiwan, and it was not until 1999 that I was allowed to return to the mainland." Huang Huaixian said he was born in 1927, he was only 22 years old when he was arrested, and the number of Zhuang Ding who were arrested around him ranged from 16 to more than 40 years old, with a total of more than 1,000 people.
In 2010, on the basis of integrating local Buddhism and Taiwanese Buddhist cultural materials, Huang Huaixian built a Buddhist hall "Degen Rong Garden" on the land of his hometown in Min'an Town, and decided to retire here.
"I don't remember much about pirates anymore, I just remember when I was a kid, I especially admired Zheng Chenggong, and always felt that people who could conquer the sea could conquer everything." Huang Huaixian said with a smile.
(The interview was mainly completed in the local dialect leizhou dialect, and some words were translated in semantically)