Timeline Overview
There are three distinct phases of major piracy along the South China coast.1 As all informative works on piracy will attest, piracy, generally understood as illegal activities in the seafaring world, has existed as long as legitimate sailing. Therefore, in looking at this time and by following Antony’s periodization model, the aim is not to make the case that these are the only periods during which pirates were active in this region, but rather to bring to light specific spans of time where piracy had a significant impact on the social, economic, and political status of South China.2
2 I recommend referring to "Concise Political History of China," compiled from Compton's Living Encyclopedia: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/core9/phalsall/texts/chinhist.html for a very condensed overview of general Chinese history, looking specifically over sections 12, the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and 13, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Additionally, the timeline appended with events taken from Timothy Brook's The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China can be helpful to have a more streamlined view of markers throughout the Ming Dynasty, while this timeline events provided by Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D. can be helpful for the Qing Dynasty.