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The Chinese Naval Expeditions of Zheng He

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THE CHINESE NAVAL EXPEDITIONS OF ZHENG HE In 1935, a Chinese official in Fujian province found a long-forgotten stone tablet that recounted one of the greatest series ofnaval expeditions in world history. The tablet briefly describes the seven voyages of the Chinese admiral, explorer, and diplomat Zheng He (1371-1435), who traveled as far as Arabia and the east coast of Africa and visited more than thirty present-day countries. Born in 1371 in Yun-nan (Kunyang) province, he was drafted at age ten to serve as an orderly in the army, which had just succeeded in overthrowing the Mongols and reestablishing Chinese authority under the Ming dynasty. Under the command of the Prince of Yen, Zheng He rose rapidly in rank, proving himself strong, loyal, ambitious, and a skilled junior officer. In 1403, when the Prince of Yen seized the Celestial Throne from a rival, Zheng He fought bravely on his behalf and was rewarded with an administrative position within the royal household. Two years later, he was promoted to commander in chief of one of the largest flotillas in world history. From 1405 to 1422, Zheng He led six different expeditions that took him as far as Java, Sumatra, Vietnam, India, and Arabia and to trading centers in east Africa (see Map). For the most part, these were diplomatic missions, centered on the exchange of ambassadors, presents, and tribute. Among the gifts he brought back to China for the Yongle Emperor were giraffes and lions. In exchange for tribute, Zheng He presented gifts from the emperor that included finely made porcelain dishes, rare silks, precious metals, and manufactured goods. But in places where the local "barbarians" did not adequately show deference and respect to representatives of the Celestial Empire, Zheng He and his crew used their power to impose their will on others. When the Yongle Emperor died in 1424, Zheng He lost his most important ally and benefactor. Although he made one last great voyage in 1431, subsequent Ming emperors turned their primary attention to overland ventures and defense, most notably the construction of the Great Wall. To underscore their change in foreign policy, court officials destroyed the official travel logs of Zheng He, leaving us with only the stone tablet inscriptions and some notes kept by his crew as evidence of his achievements. The last years of his life also remain shrouded in mystery, and it is believed that he died in 1435 at the age of sixty-five. QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER 1. According to the inscription, what were the goals of the voyages? In what ways might the Ming dynasty have hoped to benefit from these expeditions? 2. What role was played by the Celestial goddess? How did religious beliefs shape Zheng He's perceptions of his mission and his relations with others? How did it motivate him to leave a record of his voyages? 3. What kinds of interactions did Zheng He have with the peoples be encountered? What factors explain his different experiences and reactions? 4. In his voyage to China, Ibn Battuta was impressed with the economy and society but criticized their "heathen" practices. How might Zheng He, himself a Muslim, have responded? 5. After 1431, the Chinese abruptly stopped their overseas voyages. Based on Zheng He's account, what might have happened if they had continued into the next century? Would they have altered world history in a significant manner? What might have been different if China had "discovered" Europe.:, instead of Europe "discovering" China? INSCRIPTION OF WORLD VOYAGES -- Zheng He the barbarians from beyond the seas, though their countries are truly distant ... have come to audience bearing precious objects and presents. A record of the miraculous answer [to prayer] to the goddess the Celestial Spouse.1 The Emperor, approving of their loyalty and sincerity, has ordered us, Zheng He and others at the head of several tens of thousands of officers and flag-troops to The Imperial Ming Dynasty unifying seas and continents, surpassing the three dy- ascend more than one hundred large ships to go and confer presents on them in nasties even goes beyond the Han and Tang dynasties. The countries beyond order to make manifest the transforming power of the (imperial) virtue and to treat the horizon and from the ends of the earth have all become subjects and to the distant people with kindness. From the third year of Yongle [1405] till now we most western of the western or the most northern of the northern countries, have seven times received the commission of ambassadors to countries of the however far they may be, the distance and the routes may be calculated. Thus western ocean. The barbarian countries which we have visited are Zhancheng [Vietnam], Zhaowa [Java], Indonesia, Sanfoqi [Sumutra], Indonesia], and Xianlo to the barbarian countries ... in order to leave the memory forever. [Siam] crossing straight over to Xilanshan [Sri Lanka] in South India, Calicut [India], and Kezhi [India], we have gone to the western regions of Hulumosi THE SEVEN VOYAGES OF ZHENG HE [Ormuz], Aden [Yemen], Mogadishu [Somalia] altogether more than thirty countries large and small. We have traversed more than one hundred thousand I. In the third year of Yongle [1405] commanding the fleet we went to Calicut li2 of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like [India] and other countries. At that time the pirate Chen Zuyi had gathered mountains rising sky-high, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away his followers in the country of Sanfoqi [island of Sumatra] where he hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails loftily unfurled like plundered the native merchants. When he also advanced to resist our fleet, clouds day and night continued their course rapidly like that of a star, traversing supernatural soldiers secretly came to the rescue so that after one beating of those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare. Truly this was the drum he was annihilated. In the fifth year [1407] we returned. due to the majesty and the good fortune of the Imperial Court and moreover we II. In the fifth year of Yongle [1407] commanding the fleet we went to Zhaowa owe it to the protecting virtue of the divine Celestial Spouse. [Java] Calicut, Kezhi [India] and Xianle [Siam]. The kings of these The power of the goddess having indeed been manifested in previous times ha: countries all sent as tribute precious objects, precious birds and rare been abundantly revealed in the present generation. In the midst of the rushing animals. In the seventh year [1409] we returned. waters it happened that, when there was a hurricane, suddenly there was a divine III. In the seventh year of Yongle [1409] commanding the fleet we went to the lantern shining in the mast, and as soon as this miraculous light appeared the countries [visited] before and took our route by the country of Xilanshan [Sri danger was appeased, so that even in the danger of capsizing one felt reassured Lanka]. Its king Alagakkonara was guilty of a gross lack of respect and that there was no cause for fear. When we arrived in the distant countries we plotted against the fleet. Owing to the manifest answer to prayer of the capture alive those of the native kings who were not respectful and exterminated goddess, [the plot] was discovered and thereupon that king was captured those barbarian robbers who were engaged in piracy, so that consequently the alive. In the ninth year [1411] on our return the captured king was presented sea route was cleansed and pacified and the natives put their trust in it. All this is [to the throne as a prisoner]; subsequently he received the Imperial due to the favor! of the goddess. [forgiveness and] favor of returning to his own country. It is not easy to enumerate completely all the cases where the goddess has IV. In the eleventh year of Yongle [1413] commanding the fleet we went to answered [my prayers]. Previously in a memorial to the Court we have requested Hulumosi [Ormuz] and other countries. In the country of Samudra that her virtue be recognized ... and a temple be built at Nanking on the bank of [northern tip of Sumatra] there was a false king l named Sekandarl who the river where regular sacrifices should be made forever. We have respectfully was marauding and invading his country. The [true] king [Zaynu-I-Abidin] received an Imperial commemoration exalting her miraculous favors, which is the had sent an envoy to the Palace Gates in order to lodge a complaint. We highest recompense and praise indeed. However, the miraculous power of the went there with the official troops under our command and exterminated goddess resides wherever one goes.... some and arrested other rebels, and owing to the silent aid of the goddess, We have received the high favor of a gracious commission from our sacred Lord we captured the false king alive. In the thirteenth year [1415] on our return [the Yongle Emperor], we carry to the distant barbarians the benefits of respect he was presented [to the Emperor as a prisoner]. In that year the king of am good faith [on their part]. Commanding the multitudes on the fleet and being the country of Manlajia [Malacca, Malaysia] came in person with his wife responsible for a quantity of money and valuables in the face of the violence of and son to present tribute. the wind and the nights, our one fear is not to be able to succeed. How, then, V.
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