Battle of Xicaowan

The Battle of Xicaowan (traditional Chinese: 西草灣之戰; simplified Chinese: 西草湾之战; pinyin: Xicǎo Wān zhī Zhàn) was a 1522 naval battle during which the Ming Dynasty Imperial Navy defeated a Portuguese navy led by Martim Afonso. The battle was fought off the northwestern coast of Lantau Island, Hong Kong at a location called Sai Tso Wan today.

Causes

Due to strained relations between China and Portugal, Martim Afonso de Mello set off from Malacca with six vessels on 10 July 1522 and arrived at Tamao in August to conduct negotiations. Portuguese such as Simão de Andrade had been kidnapping Chinese children to sell in Malacca, and ignoring Chinese sovereign authority at Tamao, built a fort. Rumors spread was that Simao and other Portuguese were cannibalizing Chinese children for food. The Chinese responded by blockading the Portuguese.

The Portuguese wanted China to allow them to use Tunmen as a base and to construct a fort there.

The Portuguese had also conquered the Muslim Malay Malacca Sultanate at the Capture of Malacca (1511). The Sultanate was an ally of China, and China demanded that the Portuguese withdraw from Malacca and restore the Malay sultan to the throne. The Chinese were notified of the Portuguese conquest of Malacca by the Sultan, and they were displeased about it.

In 1521, the Chinese held an entire Portuguese diplomatic mission hostage, with Pires as its leader, trying to force the Portuguese to return Malacca to the Sultan in exchange for Pires' release. The Chinese proceeded to execute several Portuguese by beating and strangling them, and torturing the rest. The other Portuguese prisoners were put into iron chains and kept in prison. The Chinese confiscated all Portuguese property and goods in the Pires embassy's possession.

The Portuguese came up with a false explanation that they conquered Malacca due to "the local ruler's tyrannies against the Chinese", which made the Chinese even more suspicious of the Portuguese.

Simao's activities, which were piratical in nature, angered the Chinese people and the Chinese government, which led to the Chinese officials to order the eviction of the Tunmen Portuguese.

The battle

The Chinese had expelled Simão de Andrade and his Portuguese troops from Tamao the year before. The Chinese went on the offensive against Martim, assuming he was there for the same purpose as Simão. The Malay Sultan of Malacca also sent an ambassador to the Chinese, warning that the Portuguese had evil intentions. Muslim traders already present in Canton in China were hostile towards the Portuguese, wanting to keep their monopoly of trade with the Chinese.

The Chinese destroyed one vessel by blowing up its gunpowder magazine, and captured another Portuguese ship. Martim Afonso was forced to escape back to Malacca, which he reached by October.

During the battle, Chinese artillery destroyed the ship of the Portuguese Captain Diogo De Mello, killing him.

Yang San (Chinese: 楊三; pinyin: yáng sān; Wade–Giles: Yang San) and Dai Ming (Chinese: 戴明; pinyin: dài míng; Wade–Giles: Tai Ming), assisted the Chinese commander Wang Hong in constructing artillery and firearms which were used to defeat the Portuguese. They had experience interacting with Portuguese before.

The Chinese usage of cannons defeated the Portuguese forces.

Aftermath

All sides suffered serious casualties. The Portuguese lost 42 men, who were taken into custody by the Chinese along with two ships after the violent battle. In Guangzhou (Canton), Chinese officials condemned the prisoners to death, and the remaining Portuguese were put to death on September 23, 1523.

The Chinese gained war booty in the form of Portuguese cannons and displayed them at the Imperial Court. The Chinese then reverse-engineered the Portuguese cannons, building their own copies and using them. The cannon were named "Feringis" by the Chinese. (Ferengis is Folangji 佛郎機 in Chinese, which means "Frankish", a word used by many Asian peoples to refer to western Europeans. The Persians and Turks called the Europeans "Farangi".) The Portuguese cannons captured by the Chinese were Breech-loading swivel guns.

He Ru, who had recruited Yang San and Dai Ming to successfully covertly obtain artillery making secrets from the Portuguese, was elevated to higher rank after the battle, and was put in charge of manufacturing breech-loading artillery that was reverse-engineered from captured Portuguese cannons, and which replaced the existing Chinese cannons.

Only three Portuguese ships returned from the battle.

Another battle occurred in 1523 at Hsi-ts'ao wan, when the Chinese again defeated the Portuguese. Hsi-ts'ao an alternate spelling for Xicao.

Hengqin island is located to the south of Tunmen, Xicao Bay is located to the south of Zhuhai city's Sanzao island.

The Chinese used Portuguese prisoners to compose letters demanding that Portugal cease its occupation of Malacca to hand it back to the Malay Sultan. The Malay Ambassador to China was fearful for his life, so he refused to deliver the message to the Portuguese lest he be killed by them. The Chinese did not even know if the Malay Sultan was alive, so they sent a junk to track him down. It found him, and the Malay Sultan sent a message requesting assistance from the Chinese since the Malays were under Portuguese attack. In 1524 the Chinese sent the Malay ambassadors Tuan Mohammed and Cojacao to send the message to the Portuguese. They got lost at sea. The Chinese forced Pires to write letters for them, demanding that the Portuguese restore the deposed Malaccan Sultahn (King) back onto his throne. The Malay ambassador to China was to deliver the letter.

The Chinese had sent a message to the deposed Sultan (King) of Malacca concerning the fate of the Portuguese embassy, which the Chinese held prisoner. When they received his reply, the Chinese officials then proceeded to execute the Portuguese embassy, slicing their bodies into multiple pieces. The Portuguese had their genitalia cut off and inserted into their oral cavities by the Chinese. The Portuguese were executed in public in multiple areas in Guangzhou, deliberately by the Chinese in order to show that the Portuguese were insignificant in the eyes of the Chinese. When more Portuguese ships landed and were seized by the Chinese, the Chinese then executed them as well, cutting off the genitalia and beheading the bodies and forcing their fellow Portuguese to wear the body parts, while the Chinese celebrated with music. The genitalia and heads were displayed strung up for display in public, after which they were discarded.

The Portuguese Jorge de Albuquerque requested immediate assistance from the King of Portugal on January 1, 1524, for him to send the Captain-major, because he feared that the Chinese would come to retake Malacca and punish the Portuguese for destroying the Sultanate.

The Chinese built several new massive naval fleets of war junks to prepare for new Portuguese invasions, however, the attacks did not happen, and the fleet was left to decay, the entire fleet disappearing by 1528.

Over the decades, as hostilities began to wane, the Portuguese were finally allowed to establish a trade colony at Macau in 1557, following assistance given to Ming China to expel Wokou Japanese pirates from China's southern shores. The Malay Sultanate of Johor also improved relations with the Portuguese and fought alongside them against the Aceh Sultanate.

See also

• First Battle of Tamao (1521)
• Kau Keng Shan
• Fernão Pires de Andrade

References

•  This article incorporates text from Journal of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society for the year ..., Volumes 27-28, by Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. China Branch, a publication from 1895 now in the public domain in the United States.
•  This article incorporates text from Journal of the North-China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, Volumes 26-27, by Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. North-China Branch, a publication from 1894 now in the public domain in the United States.