Chui A-poo (; died 1851) was a 19th-century

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

Chinese

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

who commanded a fleet of more than 50 junks in the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

. He was one of the two most notorious South China Sea pirates of the era, along with Shap Ng-tsai.Martin Booth. ''Opium: A History''. New York: Thomas Dunne, 1996. p. 143. In September 1849, his fleet, which was based in Bias Bay east of

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, was defeated by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

and Chinese warships. More than 400 pirates were killed and Chui was seriously wounded. Although he managed initially to escape, he was betrayed by his own crew and handed over to the British authorities. He was wanted with a bounty of £500 for the murder of two British officers. His punishment was lifelong exile to

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

(now Tasmania), but he hanged himself in his cell before it could be carried out.

Notes and references

*Is the namesake of the ''

One Piece ''One Piece'' (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. It follows the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy and his crew, the Straw Hat Pirates, as he explores the Grand Line in search of the myt ...

'' character Scratchman Apoo.

See also

Notes and references

Further reading