Lai Choi San

Lai Choi San (meaning Mountain of Wealth) was a Chinese pirate active in the 1920s and 1930s. Her historicity, or at the very least the historicity of most of what is known of her, is disputed since the main source on her life is the 1931 report I Sailed with Pirates by Aleko Lilius, a journalist of dubious repute.

Historicity The primary source on Lai Choi San is the report I sailed with Chinese pirates (1931) by Aleko Lilius. Although Lilius's account of Lai Choi San is not a wholly unlikely tale, Lilius is considered a journalist of dubious repute. He self-described himself as being from various different countries and was arrested on fraud charges in both the Philippines and Singapore. I sailed with Chinese pirates includes photographs of women on ships, but there is no evidence beyond Lilius's word that the subjects of the photographs were pirates.

Lilius describes her fleet as "twelve smooth-bore, medieval-looking cannons onboard, and two rather modern ones. Along the bulwarks of the junk were bolted rows of heavy iron plates". Her crew are referred to as ladrones (pirates, robbers) by the Portuguese and, according to Lilius, were "all fearsome fellows, muscular bare-chested men who wore wide-brimmed hats and tied red kerchiefs around their necks and heads."

Influence in culture In Missee Lee, Arthur Ransome's young adult novel set in the South China Sea waters, the title role is taken by a character who shares many of Lai Choi San's distinguishing characteristics. Missee Lee, who commands a flotilla of armed junks sailed by muscular Chinese pirates, both kidnaps and then rescues the heroic English children sailing in the area.

Lai Choi San was also the model for the Dragon Lady, one of the main villains which appeared in the comic, radio and television series Terry and the Pirates. The series creator Milton Caniff later claimed to have been inspired by reading a story about her. The character would heavily influence the stock character whose persona is usually portrayed as a beautiful yet cold-hearted villainess as seen in later popular culture. In another book called Los Futbolisímos by Roberto Santiago, a Spanish thief called Almudena García uses Lai Choi San's name as a pseudonym.