The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
Zheng He, considered the “Columbus of China” for his epic voyages of exploration, was born in Kungyang, in Yunnan Province to a Muslim family known as Ma about 1371. His father and grandfather had made the pilgrimage to Mecca and doubtlessly the young boy grew up hearing tales of far away lands.
In 1382, the armies of the newly established Ming Dynasty conquered Yunnan Province and the eleven year old Zheng He was carried off and made a eunuch in the household of Yong Le, a Ming Prince living in the imperial capital of Nanjing.
In 1403, Yong Le seized the throne of , making himself Emperor. Zheng He, by this time a tall, vigorous man with “clear-cut features and long ear lobes; a stride like a tiger’s and voice clear and vibrant”, is said to have played an instrumental role in the campaign. He was well liked and a brave soldier.
Yong Le was an ambitious Emperor. He repaired the Great Wall to the state we find it in today. He moved the imperial capital the Beijing. He dispatched fleets across the oceans to bring his glory and that of to far away lands. Yong Le placed Zheng He in charge of this project, naming him “Admiral of the Western Ocean.” Over the next twenty eight years, He undertook voyages of discovery that rival anything that later Europeans embarked on.
In order to undertake his first voyage starting in 1405, Zheng He constructed a huge fleet of 317 ships with 27,800 men. His crew consisted of sailors, clerks, interpreters, soldiers, artisans, medical men and meteorologists. The fleet carried tribute goods consisting of silk goods, porcelain, gold and silverware, copper utensils, iron implements and cotton goods.The ships consisted of: Treasure ships, nine masted, 400 feet long by 120 feet wide, which were the capital ships of the fleet used by Zheng He and his commanders.
Horse ships, eight masted, 339 feet long by 138 feet wide, carrying tribute goods and repair material for the fleet. Supply ships, seven masted, 257 feet long by 115 feet wide, carrying food supplies for the fleet. Troop transports, six masted, 220 feet long by 83 feet wide. Fuchuan Warships, five masted, 165 feet long. Patrol Boats, eight oared, about 120 feet long. Water Tankers, each with a months supply of fresh water.
By contrast, the ships Columbus took across the Atlantic were all less than fifty feet long. The first voyage took Zhen He and his fleet down the coast of what is now Vietnam, across the South China Sea to Java and Sumatra, through the Straits of Malacca to Sri Lanka, along the west coast of India, and then home. At every stop, Zheng He presented gifts to the local rulers and received tribute goods in turn for the Emperor Yong Le. He returned to in triumph in 1407 with envoys from and other countries in
Asia to pay court to the Emperor. Zheng He’s second and third voyages plied much the same route. Zheng He’s fourth voyage, beginning in the Fall of 1413, was the most ambitious. He took a huge fleet and thirty thousand men to Arabia , coasting around the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, at the Persian Gulf, to the Aden, at the entrance to the Red Sea. It is not known whether Zheng He took this opportunity to visit Mecca, It is known that his arrival caused such a sensation that envoys from nineteen countries sailed to with him with gifts to the Emperor. Two years later, in 1417, Zheng He escorted the foreign envoys home. Then he voyaged down the west coast of Africa, visiting Mogadishu, Matindi, Mombassa and Zanzibar. His sixth voyage also visited Africa.
Emperor Yong le died in 1424 and his successor, influenced by neo-Confucian Mandarins, was uninterested in voyages of discovery. The cost of these voyages, even considering the tribute goods Zheng He had brought back to , was consisted excessive. And the Mandarins were suspicious of out reach to foreign lands, with foreign and dangerous ideas. The Middle Kingdom of China was the greatest power on Earth and nothing beyond it was considered important.
Nevertheless, Zheng He received permission for a seventh and final voyage in 1430. He revisited the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and western Africa and died on the way home. After the death of Zheng He, the great, ocean going ships of the treasure fleet were burned and the construction of ships of more than two masts were forbidden, on pain of death. entered into a period of isolation that was to prove disastrous, as European merchant adventurers soon arrived in Asia in search of trade and plunder. spent the next few centuries being a virtual doormat for European powers, forced to accept humiliating trade agreements, including the import of opium, a highly addictive drug.
The Europeans knew the advantages of voyages of discovery and were better able to make them pay for themselves. It is a lesson but China and the West seem to be taking to heart, as plans are being laid for new voyages of discovery, this time in space, to the Moon and beyond. The descendents of Zheng He, in spirit, have already flown ships in low Earth orbit. What will happen in the future has yet to be written, but modern Chinese officials already have suggested the idea of voyages to the Moon.
Recently a book, 1421: The Year China discovered the World” by Gavin Menzies, suggests that Zheng He circumnavigated the world and discovered . The theory, which accompanies a map dated 1763 which is purported to be a copy of another map drawn in 1418, is hotly disputed. But if the theory turned out to be true, then the history of exploration would have to be rewritten and the glory Zheng He deserved greatly enhanced.
