Chifan: Return to the South China Sea

This work is based on Shi Yang (Zheng Yisao), a real legendary female leader in the Qing Dynasty. It is based on the history of the Pearl River Estuary in Jiaqing, blends the folk customs of Lingnan Shuhu and the fantasy legends of the South China Sea sharks, and weaves a maritime epic of marginalized people seeking dignity. Shi Yang, a girl from a lower-class household, lost her father due to excessive taxes and had no choice but to join the Red Flag Gang. She rose to prominence with her tidal talent and sober approach to affairs. She joined hands with the young general Cheung Po Tsai to establish iron laws, pioneered the flag escort system, and established a maritime autonomous order that took into account the livelihood of fishermen. She defeated the Qing, Portuguese, and British coalition forces at Chek Lap Kok, and had thousands of warships and 70,000 tribesmen. Bai Ling, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, strangled the maritime base with an economic blockade and a series of security measures. Pirates from all walks of life surrendered one after another, and Hongqi fell into a desperate situation of running out of food. Shi Yang refused the temptation to forget about returning to the ruins in the deep sea, put down his weapons and went to Guangzhou for negotiations, and completed the recruitment based on the legitimate livelihood of the ethnic group. After landing, she founded a fishery cooperative and a free private school. In her later years, she collaborated with Lin Zexu to defend Humen, and spent half her life guarding the ocean. The whole book uses half-fish red robes, ocher-red sails, and account books as running symbols to dismantle the propositions of order, survival, and homeland layer by layer. It includes nine grand audio-visual battles and the warmth of Tinto fireworks. It breaks the stereotype of Eastern and Western pirate narratives and tells the story of the Eastern maritime character of the people at the bottom who do not rely on plunder, but only seek a dignified foothold.