Zhang Wei

Zhang Wei was a minor Hokkien trader from Yuegang who led a large uprising against the Ming government. Historically it was a common practice among coastal Hokkien residents to venture out to sea to pursue high profits by conducting maritime trade.

Pooling capital together, in 1557, twenty four petty traders ley by Zhang Wei built a junk in hopes of making profits through transactions with overseas foreign traders. Because of the Ming sea bans, the government did not tolerate such acitivities, and sent three hundred soldiers to arrest them, thereby triggering a wide scale popular revolt. Again, unsurprisingly, government actions compelled Zhang Wei and his cohorts to join the pirates, and to organize local residents to attack the Fujian coast with the assistance of other bands of raiders.