明代中期，西方殖民帝國葡萄牙西班牙勢力擴展到南海，中國開始和西方“海盜”有所衝突。

多數中國人不知道的一件事實是，16世紀初葡萄牙曾向中國派出過使節團。 1517年這個使節團到達廣東，1520年到達北京，等待正德接見，正德死後中國大臣們發現葡萄牙文國書並不像中文國書那樣恭順，完全不符合中國”朝貢“系統的規則，因此將葡萄牙使節團驅除出北京。當葡萄牙使節團回到廣東，又因為明朝和葡萄牙“海盜”衝突，使節團團長Tome Piras和使節團 被控海盜和間諜罪， 據說Tome Piras於1524死在廣州監獄。 當時葡萄牙人罪名之一就是吃人。 葡萄牙使節團被囚禁其間，有位叫Cristavao Vierria的使節團團員寫了封信(1524)，請求葡萄牙派兵援救，聲稱用不着十五艘葡萄牙戰船和三千葡萄牙士兵足以攻克和占據廣州， 受壓迫的百姓將起來反抗明廷。 這封信走了數年才到達歐洲。

Lach 名著“Asia in the Making of Europe"第一卷有此信的英文譯文。 這本書主要講歐洲亞洲早期交往史，強調的亞洲對歐洲的影響。 書中提到當時歐洲兩派，一派極力“美化”中國，一派對中國相當”鄙視“。 就軍事而言， “鄙視”派占絕對上風。 Lach 這本書發表之後，西班牙史學家從書中引用資料發現西班牙進攻中國計劃蛛絲馬跡，最後挖出這個計劃（西班牙和菲律賓檔案）。 新版“Asia in the Making of Europe”第一卷好像已經把這段加了進去。

下面是1524年對葡萄牙人的指控。葡萄牙人喜歡吃小孩。

These people [the Portuguese] like to eat small children. It is said that in their country only the king can eat them; the ministers and those underneath them cannot do it. At that time [ca. 1521], they secretly bought small children aged ten and older and ate them. They bought each child for one hundred gold coins.... [and] devoured countless [of them].
Their method: they bring water to boil in a big pot. As soon as the water boils, they place a little boy in an iron cage, fixing the latter above the pot in order to make him sweat. When [the child's] body has been purged of sweat, they take him out of the cage. They brush away the coarse skin with an iron brush. [Since] the child has been kept alive, they then kill him, slitting open his belly and disembowelling him, so that they can eat up the cooked body.
In the course of two or three years, they abducted an ever increasing number of children. Near and far people suffered from this. ((qtd. in Pelliot 94n)