Li Dan (;

Christian name A Christian name, sometimes referred to as a baptismal name, is a religious personal name given on the occasion of a Christian baptism, though now most often assigned by parents at birth. In English-speaking cultures, a person's Christian name ...

: Andrea Dittis; died 1625) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

merchant and pirate. He was a prominent early 17th century Chinese merchant and political figure, originally from

Quanzhou Quanzhou, postal map romanization, alternatively known as Chinchew, is a prefecture-level city, prefecture-level port city on the north bank of the Jin River, beside the Taiwan Strait in southern Fujian, China. It is Fujian's largest metrop ...

Fujian province Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its cap ...

. Li operated out of

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

for a time before moving to

Hirado is a city located in Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan. The part historically named Hirado is located on Hirado Island. With recent mergers, the city's boundaries have expanded, and Hirado now occupies parts of the main island of Kyushu. The component ...

, in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

and becoming a part of the '' shuinsen'' trade, with a formal vermillion

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

license from the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate (, Japanese 徳川幕府 ''Tokugawa bakufu''), also known as the , was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Tokugawa-jidai''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia ...

. He served as head of the Chinese community in Hirado, and maintained a residence in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

sector of the city.

Pedro Yan Shiqi Yan Shiqi (顏思齊) (1586 – September 1625), courtesy name Zhenquan (振泉), was a native of Haicheng, Zhangzhou. He was a tailor, fugitive, armed maritime merchant and also known as the "King of Pioneer Taiwan" (開台王). He may have als ...

reportedly been the second of command of Li Dan.The Spanish Experience in Taiwan, 1626-1642: The Baroque Ending of a Renaissance Endeavor https://books.google.com.my/books?id=H8BvkxoCVBgC&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=Pedro+Chino+taiwan&source=bl&ots=mWZrvNVKU-&sig=ACfU3U2epQg84NNtGkuudgh-yrntXQevMw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjUkJS5yaH1AhU_zjgGHVuRC_0Q6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=Pedro%20Chino%20taiwan&f=false Following his death, Li Dan's business was inherited by

Zheng Zhilong Zheng Zhilong, Marquis of Tong'an and Nan'an (; April 16, 1604 – November 24, 1661), baptismal name Nicholas Iquan Gaspard, was a Chinese admiral, merchant, military general, pirate, and politician of the late Ming dynasty who later defect ...

, along with his role in the community.

References

*This article's content is based on that from the corresponding article on the Japanese Wikipedia. 1625 deaths 17th-century Chinese businesspeople Businesspeople from Fujian Chinese merchants Chinese pirates Kapitan Cina People from Quanzhou Year of birth unknown {{PRChina-business-bio-stub