Battle of the Tiger's Mouth
The Battle of the Tiger's Mouth was a series of engagements between a Portuguese flotilla stationed in Macau, and the Red Flag Fleet of the Chinese pirate Ching Shih, led by her second-in-command, Cheung Po Tsai - known to the Portuguese as Cam Pau Sai or Quan Apon Chay. Between September 1809 and January 1810, the Red Flag Fleet suffered several defeats at the hands of the Portuguese fleet led by José Pinto Alcoforado e Sousa, within the Humen Strait - known to the Portuguese as the Boca do Tigre - until finally surrendering formally in February 1810. After her fleet surrendered, Ching Shih surrendered herself to the Qing government in exchange for a general pardon, putting an end to her career of piracy.
An illustration of the battle by a Portuguese cartographer
The lorcha was a hybrid ship combining Portuguese hull design with Chinese rigging
The Pearl River Delta, with Humen marked as Bocca Tigris ("Tiger's Mouth") where the heaviest fighting took place
Chinese engraving of Cheung Po Tsai, or Quan Apon Chay
Macau was a Portuguese colony from the establishment of the first official Portuguese settlement of Macau in 1557 to its handover to China in 1999. It comprised the Municipality of Macau and the Municipality of Ilhas. Macau was both the first and last European holding in China.
16th century Portuguese watercolour of the Chinese, contained within the Códice Casanatense.
Church of St. Dominic, among Macau's oldest, and where the first modern newspaper in China. A Abelha da China was published.
Portuguese carrack depicted in a Japanese lacquer screen.
Amacao, by Theodor de Bry, c. 1598
