Outlaws of the Sea: Maritime Piracy in Modern China

In Outlaws of the Sea, Robert J. Antony provides a comprehensive account of the history of maritime piracy in coastal south China from the 1630s to the 1940s. He neither romanticizes nor maligns pirates, but rather analyzes them in the context of their times and the broader world in which they lived. The author demonstrates that Chinese piracy was a pervasive force shaping maritime society as it ebbed and flowed between sporadic, small-scale ventures and professional, large-scale enterprises in the modern era. This book offers important new insights into the underside of modern China’s history and the interactions between pirates, foreign traders, local communities, and the state.

Before retiring in 2019, Robert J. Antony was Distinguished Professor at Guangzhou University and recently visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton. His publications include Unruly People: Crime, Community, and State in Late Imperial South China (HKUP, 2016) and Elusive Pirates, Pervasive Smugglers: Violence and Clandestine Trade in the Greater China Seas (HKUP, 2010).