During China's Qing Dynasty, a fearsome female pirate queen named Ching Shih ruled the South China Sea. She led the Red Flag Fleet, commanding over 1,800 pirate ships and around 80,000 pirates.

Ching Shih was born around 1775 in Canton (now Guangdong). At 26, she was captured by a famous pirate leader, Zheng Yi, whom she agreed to marry, but only if she became his equal business partner ...