Second Battle of Tamao The Battle of Tamao was a naval battle when the Ming Dynasty Imperial Navy defeated a Portuguese navy led by Martim Afonso in 1522 . Tamao was the Portuguese name for Tunmen , also known as Tou - men . Causes . Martim Afonso de Mello started with six vessels from Malacca on 10 the July 1522 and arrived at Tamao at August to conduct negotiations with the Chinese , due to relations being strained between China and Portugal . Portuguese like Simão de Andrade had been kidnapping Chinese children to sell in Malacca , and ignored Chinese sovereign authority at Tamao , building a fort . Among the 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 place a fort at its location . The Portuguese had also conquered the Muslim Malay Malacca Sultanate at the Capture of Malacca ( 1511 ) . The Malacca 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 . 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 to be released . This occurred in 1521 . The Chinese effectively held the Portuguese embassy hostage , using them as a bargaining chip in demanding that the Portuguese restore the deposed Malaccan Sultan ( King ) to his throne . The Chinese proceeded to executed 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 confisticated all of the Portuguese property and goods in the Pires embassy ' s possession . The Portuguese came up with a false explanation that they conquered Melaka 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 ambasador 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 ( ) and 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 . This battle was noted for the Chinese usage of cannon to destroy 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 Falanxi 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 " . ) 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 place in charge of manufacturing breech loading artillery reverse engineered from captured Portuguese cannon , which replaced existing Chinese cannon . 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 executed the Portuguese embassy , slicing their bodies into multiple pieces . Their genitalia were inserted into the oral cavity . 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 .