Editing Piracy (section)

==== Piracy in the Ming dynasty ====
Pirates in the [[Ming]] era tended to come from populations on the geographic periphery of the state.<ref>MacKay, Joseph. "Pirate Nations: Maritime Pirates as Escape Societies in Late Imperial China." ''Social Science History'' ''37'', no. 4 (2013): 551–g573. {{doi|10.1017/S0145553200011962}}. p. 554</ref> They were recruited largely from the lower classes of society, including poor fishermen, and many were fleeing from obligatory labor on state-building projects organized by the dynasty.  These lower-class men, and sometimes women, may have fled taxation or conscription by the state in the search of better opportunities and wealth, and willingly joined local pirate bands.<ref>MacKay. 2013. p. 553</ref><ref>MacKay. 2013. p. 555</ref>  These local, lower class individuals seem to have felt unrepresented, and traded the small amount of security afforded them from their allegiance to the state for the promise of a relatively improved existence engaging in smuggling or other illegal trade.

Originally, pirates in the coastal areas near Fujian and Zhejiang may have been Japanese, suggested by the Ming government referring to them as "''[[wokou]]'' (倭寇)", but it is probable that piracy was a multi-ethnic profession by the 16th century, although coastal brigands continued to be referred to as ''wokou'' in many government documents.<ref>Higgins, Roland L.  "Pirates in Gowns and Caps: Gentry Law-Breaking in the Mid-Ming." ''Ming Studies Volume 1980'', Issue #1.  pp. 30–37 [31]</ref>  Most pirates were probably [[Han Chinese]], but Japanese and even Europeans engaged in pirate activities in the region.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=David M. |title=Banditry and the Subversion of State Authority in China: The Capital Region During the Middle Ming Period (1450–1525) |journal=Journal of Social History |date=2000 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=527–563 |id={{Gale|A61372233}} {{Project MUSE|17725}} |jstor=3789210 |doi=10.1353/jsh.2000.0035 |s2cid=144496554 }}</ref>