Li Dan (magnate)

{{short description|Chinese merchant}}

{{other people|Li Dan}}

{{family name hatnote|Li|lang=Chinese}}

Li Dan ({{zh|c=李旦 / 李旭|poj=Lí Tàn / Lí Tòaⁿ}}; Christian name: Andrea Dittis; died 1625) or Li Tan or Litõa, was an influential overseas Chinese merchant, Chinese community leader, and pirate. He was a prominent early 17th century Chinese merchant and political figure, originally from Quanzhou in Fujian province.{{cite book |last1=Andrade |author1-link=Tonio Andrade|first1=Tonio |title=How Taiwan became Chinese: Dutch, Spanish, and Han colonization in the seventeenth century |date=2008 |publisher=Columbia University Press |location=New York |isbn=9780231128551 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WrQMAQAAMAAJ&q=%22li+dan%22+captain |accessdate=22 November 2018 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Mateo |first1=José Eugenio Borao |title=The Spanish Experience in Taiwan 1626-1642: The Baroque Ending of a Renaissance Endeavour |date=2009 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |location=Hong Kong |isbn=9789622090835 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8BvkxoCVBgC&dq=%22li+dan%22+captain&pg=PA138 |accessdate=22 November 2018 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Subrahmanyam |first1=Sanjay |title=Merchant Networks in the Early Modern World, 1450–1800 |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351918107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uyqoDQAAQBAJ&dq=%22li+dan%22+captain&pg=PT117 |language=en}}

Li operated out of Spanish Manila as the Captain of the Sangley Chinese there for a time before moving to Hirado, in Japan and becoming a part of the shuinsen trade, with a formal vermillion seal license from the Tokugawa shogunate. He served as head (Kapitan Cina) of the Chinese community in Hirado, and maintained a residence in the English sector of the city.

Pedro Yan Shiqi reportedly been the second of command of Li Dan.{{Cite book |last=Mateo |first=José Eugenio Borao |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H8BvkxoCVBgC&dq=Pedro+Chino+taiwan&pg=PA138 |title=The Spanish Experience in Taiwan 1626-1642: The Baroque Ending of a Renaissance Endeavour |date=2009-10-01 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=978-962-209-083-5 |language=en}}

Following his death, Li Dan's business was inherited by Zheng Zhilong, along with his role in the community.