Chui A-poo

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chui (徐).

Chui A-poo
徐亞保
Born	Stanley, Hong Kong
Died	1851 Victoria Prison, British Hong Kong
Piratical career
Type	Pirate
Years active	mid-1800s
Rank	fleet commander
Base of operations	South China Sea
Commands	50 ship Chinese fleet

Destruction of Chuiapoo's Pirate Fleet, 30 September 1849

Chui A-poo^[1] (Chinese: 徐亞保;^[2] died 1851) was a 19th-century Qing Chinese pirate who commanded a fleet of more than 50 junks in the South China Sea.^[3] He was one of the two most notorious South China Sea pirates of the era, along with Shap Ng-tsai.^[4]

In September 1849, his fleet, which was based in Bias Bay east of Hong Kong, was defeated by British and Chinese warships.^[5] 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^[6] for the murder of two British officers.^[7] His punishment was lifelong exile to Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania), but he hanged himself in his cell before it could be carried out.^[8]

See also

• Battle of Tysami

Notes and references

1. Also spelt Chui-Apoo.
2. Piracy & the world of Zhang Baozai : first anniversary exhibition at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Hong Kong Maritime Museum, 2006. p.36 ISBN 988-98611-3-5
3. Grace Estelle Fox (1940), British Admirals and Chinese Pirates, 1832-1869 (in German), London: K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd., pp. 107
4. Martin Booth. Opium: A History. New York: Thomas Dunne, 1996. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-312-20667-3
5. Tim Travers (30 May 2012). Pirates: A History. History Press. pp. 53–. ISBN 978-0-7524-8827-1.
6. The Chinese Repository: From January to December 1849 (in German), Adamant Media, 2005, pp. 667, ISBN 1-4021-5159-4, Unabridged translation of the Cantonese original
7. Christopher Munn (2001), Anglo-China: Chinese People and British Rule in Hong Kong (in German), London: Routledge, pp. 205, ISBN 0-7007-1298-4
8. Solomon Bard (2002), Voices from the Past: Hong Kong 1842-1918 (in German), Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, pp. 28, ISBN 962-209-574-7

• Is the namesake of the One Piece character Scratchman Apoo.

Further reading

• Beresford Scott (1851), An account of the destruction of the fleets of the celebrated pirate chieftains Chui-apoo and Shap-ng Tsai, on the coast of China, in September and October 1849 (in German), London
• Magazine, University (January–June 1850), "Expedition against the Chinese Pirates", The Dublin University Magazine. A Literary and Political Journal (in German), no. XXXV, Dublin, pp. 521-531, retrieved 18 May 2008