The Study On Coastal Piracy Of Zhejiang Province In The Middle Of Qing Dynasty

Since the last years of Qianlong, coastal piracy became such a huge problem in the southeast China for a variety of reasons. Isolated piracy expanded and became better organized. A series of battles broke out between pirate groups and imperial navy. During the period, a Vietnamese fleet intruded Zhejiang working in concert with local pirates and ocean bandits. It took more than ten years for the government to put them down. Why did piracy take place in Zhejiang? If and how did they make their survival? These are some questions addressed in this thesis.As a marginal group on the sea, the pirates shared one particular lifestyle of the water world. It was a rational choice for the ones who took piracy as a way of existing, because of terrible local entironment and the effect-reaction system of the local society, such as social customs and the memory of the disturbance that had a long history of anti-piracy. Besides, the pirates could not get rid of the bound of the water world to make their survival and progress. Actually speaking, there had a complex relationship among the imperial navy, fisher, sailor, merchants and pirates, which connected those groups as a circle. Though that, they changed roles easily to pursue better life, so as the pirates, and maintain a dynamic equilibrium without external influences.When Lin shuang-wen uprise broke out in Taiwan, the navy of Zhejiang was sent to suppress this rebellion. Vietnamese fleet intruded the ocean of Zhejiang easily and the local pirates flourished greatly, which broke the balance of the water world and made situation even worse. In order to reconstruct the dominion of the state, Qing government adjusted policy to actively intervene in water world thought network of relationship. But it was the last struggle for the dynasty. Twenty years later, the water world was flourished by the pirates again which continued into the next century, as the western power invaded Southeast coast of China.