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{{Short description|Chinese mariner and diplomat (1371–1433 or 1435)}}{{Redirect|Ma Sanbao|the Tang dynasty general|Ma Sanbao (Tang dynasty)}}{{Other uses|Zheng He (disambiguation){{!}}Zhenghe}}{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}

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| birth_name = Ma HeDreyerp=11}}Kunming, Yunnan, Basalawarmi>Principality of Liang, Yuan China14331435|1371}}| death_place =| resting_place =| native_name_lang = zh| other_names = Ma He Ma Sanbao Cheng Ho Mahmud ShamsList of explorers>explorer, and palace eunuch| era = Ming dynasty}}

factoids

| myr = Jèng Hé| w = Cheng4 Ho2| wuu = Zen Wu| j = Zeng6 Wo4| y = Jehng Wòhz6w4}}| poj = Tēⁿ Hô| tl = Tēnn Hô}}Zheng He ({{zh|c=|s=郑和|t=鄭和|p=Zhènghé|w=Chêng-ho}}; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during the early Ming dynasty often regarded as the greatest admiral in Chinese history. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=22–23}} Commissioned by the Yongle Emperor and later the Xuande Emperor, Zheng commanded seven expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor, Zheng He rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing.

Early life and family

Zheng He was born Ma He () to a Muslim family of Kunyang, Kunming, Yunnan, then under the rule of the Principality of Liang loyal to the Northern Yuan dynasty.{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1pp=11, 148|Mills|1970|2p=5|Ray|1987|3p=66|Levathes|1996|4p=61}} He had an older brother and four sisters.{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1p=11|Mills|1970|2p=5|Levathes|1996|3p=62|Perkins|2000|4p=621}} The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions suggest that devotion to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, was the dominant faith to which he adhered, reflecting the goddess’s central role to the treasure fleet.{{harvtxt|Dreyer|2007|pp=148 & 150|ps=  “The inscriptions [...] devotion to Tianfei, the goddess of seafarers, had become the dominant strand in his eclectic religious heritage.“}} John Guy mentions, “When Zheng He, the Muslim eunuch leader of the great expeditions to the ‘Western Ocean’ (Indian Ocean) in the early fifteenth century, embarked on his voyages, it was from the Divine Woman that he sought protection, as well as at the tombs of the Muslim saints on Lingshan Hill, above the city of Quanzhou.“BOOK,books.google.com/books?id=nCIPD1V39QkC&pg=PA163, Quanzhou: Cosmopolitan City of Faiths, The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, John, Guy, 176, Yale University Press, 978-0-300-16656-9, 2010, Zheng He was a great-great-great-grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, who served in the administration of the Mongol Empire and was the governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan dynasty.BOOK, Shih-Shan Henry, Tsai, Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle, University of Washington Press, 2002, 978-0-295-98124-6, 38, ({{Google books|aU5hBMxNgWQC|restricted online copy|page=38}})BOOK, Chunjiang, Fu, Choo Yen, Foo, Yaw Hoong, Siew, The great explorer Cheng Ho. Ambassador of peace., Asiapac Books Pte Ltd, 2005, 978-981-229-410-4, 7–8, ({{Google books|VxJDSA80YcsC|restricted online copy|page=8}}) His great-grandfather Bayan may have been stationed at a Mongol garrison in Yunnan.{{sfn|Mills|1970|p=5}} Zheng He’s grandfather carried the title hajji,{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1p=11|Levathes|1996|2pp=61–62}} and his father had the sinicized surname Ma and the title hajji, which suggests that they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca.{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1p=11|Mills|1970|2p=5|Levathes|1996|3pp=61–62}}In the autumn of 1381, a Ming army invaded and conquered Yunnan, which was then ruled by the Mongol prince Basalawarmi, Prince of Liang.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=12}} In 1381, Ma Hajji, Zheng He’s father, died in the fighting between the Ming armies and Mongol forces.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=62}} Dreyer states that Zheng He’s father died at 39 while he resisted the Ming conquest, while Levathes states that Zheng He’s father died at 37, but it is unclear if he was helping the Mongol Army or was just caught in the onslaught of battle.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=12}}{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=62}} Wenming, the oldest son, buried their father outside Kunming.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=62}} In his capacity as Admiral, Zheng He had an epitaph engraved in honour of his father, composed by the Minister of Rites Li Zhigang on the Duanwu Festival of the third year in the Yongle era (1 June 1405).{{sfn|Levathes|1996|pp=62–63}}

Capture, castration and service

Zheng He was captured by the Ming armies in Yunnan in 1381.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=62}} General Fu Youde saw Ma He on a road and approached him to inquire about the location of the Mongol pretender. Ma He responded defiantly by saying that the Mongol pretender had jumped into a lake. Then the general took him prisoner.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=58}} He was castrated between the ages of 10 and 14,{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=58}}{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=12 & 16}} and placed in the service of the Prince of Yan.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=12 & 16}}Ma He was sent to serve in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor.{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1p=12|Levathes|1996|2p=58}} Zhu Di was eleven years older than Ma.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=18}} Enslaved as a eunuch servant, Ma He eventually gained the confidence of Zhu Di, who, as his benefactor, gained the allegiance and loyalty of the young eunuch.BOOK, Zheng He’s art of collaboration: Understanding the legendary Chinese admiral from a management perspective, Hoon, H.S, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012, 32, 155, The prince had been governing Beiping (later Beijing) since 1380.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=12}} It was near the northern frontier with hostile Mongol tribes.{{sfnm|Levathes|1996|1p=58|Dreyer|2007|2p=18}} Ma spent his early life as a soldier on the northern frontier.{{sfnm|Levathes|1996|1p=58|Dreyer|2007|2p=16}} and often participated in Zhu Di’s military campaigns against the Mongols.{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1p=18|Levathes|1996|2p=64}} On 2 March 1390, Ma accompanied the prince when he commanded his first expedition, which was a great victory, as the Mongol commander Naghachu surrendered as soon as he realized he had fallen into a trap.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|pp=64–66}}File:Kunyang - Zheng He Park - P1350545.JPG|thumb|Ma Hajji, a Yuan Dynasty official in Yunnan (a descendant of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar), and his young son Ma He, the future Admiral Zheng He, as imagined by a modern Kunyang sculptor.]]Eventually, he gained the confidence and trust of the prince.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=18}} Ma was also known as “(wikt:sānbÇŽo|Sanbao)” during his service in the household of the Prince of Yan.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=63}} This name was a reference to the Buddhist Three Jewels ({{zh|labels=no|t=|p=SānbÇŽo}}, also known as triratna).{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=12}} This name could also be written {{zh|labels=no|t=三保|p=SānbÇŽo}}, literally “Three Protections.“{{NoteTag|Historical documents have both phraseology. See BOOK, Xiang Da (), zh:关于三宝太监下西洋的几种资料, Regarding several kinds of historical materials on the expeditions of Eunuch Grand Director Sanbao to the Western Ocean, zh:郑和研究百年论文选, 100 Years of Zheng He Studies: Selected Writings, 978-7-301-07154-0, 10, zh, 2004, 北京大学出版社, }} Ma received a proper education at Beiping, which he would not have had if he had been placed in the imperial capital, Nanjing, as the Hongwu Emperor did not trust eunuchs and believed that it was better to keep them illiterate.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=63}} The Hongwu Emperor purged and exterminated much of the original Ming leadership and gave his enfeoffed sons more military authority, especially those in the north, like the Prince of Yan.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=19}}

Adulthood and military career

.|align = left|width = 350px|border = 1px|fontsize = 88%|bgcolor = #F9F9F9|qalign = left|quoted =|salign = right}}Zheng He’s appearance as an adult was recorded: he was seven chi {{NoteTag|A chi is thought to vary between 26.5–30 cm / 10.5–12 inches {{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=19}}}} tall, had a waist that was five chi in circumference, cheeks and a forehead that was high, a small nose, glaring eyes, teeth that were white and well-shaped as shells, and a voice that was as loud as a bell. It is also recorded that he had great knowledge about warfare and was well-accustomed to battle.{{sfnm|Levathes|1996|1p=62|Dreyer|2007|2pp=18–19}}The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor’s hostility to his uncle’s feudal bases prompted the 1399{{ndash}}1402 Jingnan Campaign, which ended with the emperor’s apparent death and the ascension of Zhu Di, Prince of Yan, as the Yongle Emperor. In 1393, the Crown Prince had died, thus the deceased prince’s son became the new heir apparent. By the time the emperor died (24 June 1398), the Prince of Qin and the Prince of Jin had perished, which left Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, as the eldest surviving son of the emperor. However, Zhu Di’s nephew succeeded the imperial throne as the Jianwen Emperor. In 1398, he issued a policy known as xuÄ“fān ({{zh |labels = no |c = 削藩 }}), or “reducing the feudatories”, which entailed eliminating all princes by stripping their power and military forces. In August 1399, Zhu Di openly rebelled against his nephew. In 1399, Ma He successfully defended Beiping’s city reservoir, Zhenglunba, against the imperial armies.{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1pp=19–23|Levathes|1996|2pp=67, 72–73}} In January 1402, Zhu Di began with his military campaign to capture the imperial capital, Nanjing. Zheng He would be one of his commanders during that campaign.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=70}}In 1402, Zhu Di’s armies defeated the imperial forces and marched into Nanjing on 13 July 1402.{{sfnm|Levathes|1996|1p=70|Dreyer|2007|2pp=21–22}} Zhu Di accepted the elevation to emperor four days later.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=21–22}} After ascending the throne as the Yongle Emperor, Zhu Di promoted Ma He as the Grand Director (, tàijiān) of the Directorate of Palace Servants ().{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=21–22}} During the Chinese New Year on 11 February 1404, the Yongle Emperor conferred the surname “Zheng” to Ma He, because he had distinguished himself defending the city reservoir against imperial forces in 1399.{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1pp=22–23|Levathes|1996|2pp=72–73}} Another reason was that the eunuch commander also distinguished himself during the 1402 campaign to capture the capital, Nanjing.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|pp=72–73}}In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy ({{zh|labels=no|t=正使|p=zhèngshǐ}}) during his sea voyages.{{sfnm|Mills|1970|1p=5|Levathes|1996|2pp=61–63|Perkins|2000|3p=621}} Over the next three decades he conducted seven of the voyages on behalf of the emperor , trading and collecting tribute in the western Pacific and Indian Oceans.In 1424, Zheng He traveled to Palembang in Sumatra to confer an official seal{{NoteTag|The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Zheng He was sent to deliver the seal because the old seal was destroyed in a fire. The Xuanzong Shilu 17 September 1425 entry reports that Zhang Funama delivered a seal, because the old seal was destroyed in a fire. The later Mingshi compilers seem to have combined the accounts, remarking that Shi Jisun’s succession was approved in 1424 and that a new seal was delivered in 1425, suggesting that only one seal was destroyed by fire. {{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=96}}}} and letter of appointment upon Shi Jisun, who was placed in the office of Pacification Commissioner.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=95 & 136}} The Taizong Shilu 27 February 1424 entry reports that Shi Jisun had sent Qiu Yancheng as envoy to petition the approval of the succession from his father Shi Jinqing, who was the Pacification Commissioner of Palembang, and was given permission from the Yongle Emperor.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=95}} When Zheng He returned from Palembang, he found that the Yongle Emperor had died during his absence. On 7 September 1424, Zhu Gaozhi had inherited the throne as the Hongxi Emperor after the death of the Yongle Emperor on 12 August 1424.{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1pp=136–137|Duyvendak|1938|2p=388}}{{sfnm|Dreyer|2007|1pp=95, 136–137|Duyvendak|1938|2p=387}}On 7 September 1424, the Hongxi Emperor terminated the undertaking of further treasure voyages.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=137}} On 24 February 1425, he appointed Zheng He as the defender of Nanjing and ordered him to continue his command over the treasure fleet for the city’s defense.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=139–140}} On 25 March 1428, the Xuande Emperor ordered Zheng He and others to take over the supervision for the rebuilding and repair of the Great Bao’en Temple at Nanjing.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=142}} He completed the construction of the temple in 1431.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=135 & 144}}On 15 May 1426, the Xuande Emperor ordered the Directorate of Ceremonial to send a letter to Zheng He to reprimand him for a transgression. Earlier, an official{{NoteTag|Unnamed official who served as a Department Director under the Ministry of Works, who had departed for Nanjing to supervise the renovation of government buildings and to reward the skilled workers.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=141}}}} petitioned the emperor to reward workmen who had built temples in Nanjing. The Xuande Emperor responded negatively to the official for charging the costs to the court instead of the monks themselves, but he realized that Zheng He and his associates had instigated the official. According to {{harvtxt|Dreyer|2007}}, the nature of the emperor’s words indicated that Zheng He’s behaviour in the situation was the last straw, but there is too little information about what had happened earlier. Nevertheless, the Xuande Emperor would eventually come to trust Zheng He.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|pp=141–142}}In 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the “Western Ocean” (Indian Ocean). In 1431, Zheng He was bestowed with the title Sanbao Taijian ({{zh|labels=no|t=}}), using his informal name Sanbao and the title of Grand Director.{{sfn|Mills|1970|pp=6–7}}

Expeditions

File:ZhengHeShips.gif|thumb|Early 17th-century Chinese woodblock print, thought to represent Zheng He’s ships]]The Yuan dynasty and the expanding Sino-Arab trade during the 14th century had gradually expanded Chinese knowledge of the world since “universal” maps previously displaying only China and its surrounding seas began to expand farther and farther southwest, with much more accurate depictions of the extent of Arabia and Africa.{{sfn|Chang|1974}} Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions.JOURNAL, Hagras, Hamada, The Ming Court as Patron of the Chinese Islamic Architecture: The Case Study of the Daxuexi Mosque in Xi’an, 20 December 2019,www.fayoum.edu.eg/english/shedet/ISSUES201908.aspx, SHEDET, 6, 134–158, 10.36816/shedet.006.08, free, 12 March 2020, 18 October 2020,www.fayoum.edu.eg/english/shedet/ISSUES201908.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20201018002837www.fayoum.edu.eg/english/shedet/ISSUES201908.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20201018002837www.fayoum.edu.eg/english/shedet/ISSUES201908.aspx, dead, The Yongle Emperor, disregarding the Hongwu Emperor’s expressed wishes, designed them to establish a Chinese presence and impose imperial control over the Indian Ocean trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin, and extend the empire’s tributary system.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}} It has also been inferred from passages in the History of Ming that the initial voyages were launched as part of the emperor’s attempt to capture his escaped predecessor,{{sfn|Chang|1974}} which would have made the first voyage the “largest-scale manhunt on water in the history of China.“{{sfn|Deng|2005|p=13}}Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook the expeditions.BOOK, Marks, Robert B., The Origins of the Modern World: A Global and Environmental Narrative from the Fifteenth to the Twenty-First Century, Rowman & Littlefield, 2020, 9781538127032, 4th, Lanham, Maryland, 44, en, Wang Jinghong was appointed as second in command. Preparations were thorough and wide-ranging, including the use of so many linguists that a foreign language institute was established at Nanjing.{{sfn|Chang|1974}} Zheng He’s first voyage departed 11 July 1405, from Suzhou{{rp|203}} and consisted of a fleet of 317WEB,www.international.ucla.edu/asia/news/article.asp?parentid=10387, Zheng He’s Voyages of Discovery, UCLA Asia Institute, Richard Gunde, 1 September 2008, dead,www.international.ucla.edu/asia/news/article.asp?parentid=10387," title="web.archive.org/web/20080612195734www.international.ucla.edu/asia/news/article.asp?parentid=10387,">web.archive.org/web/20080612195734www.international.ucla.edu/asia/news/article.asp?parentid=10387, 12 June 2008, ships holding almost 28,000 crewmen.WEB,www.travel-silkroad.com/english/marine/ZhengHe.htm, The Archaeological Researches into Zheng He’s Treasure Ships, Travel-silkroad.com, 1 September 2008, dead,www.travel-silkroad.com/english/marine/ZhengHe.htm," title="web.archive.org/web/20080827195453www.travel-silkroad.com/english/marine/ZhengHe.htm,">web.archive.org/web/20080827195453www.travel-silkroad.com/english/marine/ZhengHe.htm, 27 August 2008, Zheng He’s fleets visited Brunei,NEWS, China, Brunei jointly reviving ancient maritime Silk Road, Alex, Chan, China Daily, 2018,www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201811/19/WS5bf28b55a310eff303289a37.html, Java, Siam (Thailand), Southeast Asia, India, the Horn of Africa, and Arabia,JOURNAL, Faculty of Archaeology, Fayoum University, Hagras, Hamada, The Ming Court as Patron of the Chinese Islamic Architecture: The Case Study of the Daxuexi Mosque in Xi’an, 20 December 2019,www.fayoum.edu.eg/english/shedet/ISSUES201908.aspx, SHEDET, 6, 134–158, 10.36816/shedet.006.08, free, 12 March 2020, 18 October 2020,www.fayoum.edu.eg/english/shedet/ISSUES201908.aspx," title="web.archive.org/web/20201018002837www.fayoum.edu.eg/english/shedet/ISSUES201908.aspx,">web.archive.org/web/20201018002837www.fayoum.edu.eg/english/shedet/ISSUES201908.aspx, dead, dispensing and receiving goods along the way.BOOK, Tamura, Eileen H., Linda K. Mention, Noren W. Lush, Francis K. C. Tsui, Warren Cohen, China: Understanding Its Past, University of Hawaii Press, 1997, 978-0-8248-1923-1,books.google.com/books?id=O0TQ_Puz-w8C&q=Zheng+He+voyages&pg=PA70, 70, Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk, and in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, and ivory from the Swahili Coast.BOOK, Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle, University of Washington Press, 2002,books.google.com/books?id=aU5hBMxNgWQC, 978-0-295-98124-6, {{rp|206}}East Africa and its Invaders p. 37BOOK, Cromer, Alan, Uncommon Sense: The Heretical Nature of Science, Oxford University Press US, 1995, 978-0-19-509636-1,books.google.com/books?id=8cT2C87tb-sC&q=Zheng+He+voyages&pg=PA117, 117, WEB, Evan Hadingham,www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/ancient-chinese-explorers.html, NOVA | Ancient Chinese Explorers, Pbs.org, 6 June 1999, 17 August 2012, The giraffe that he brought back from Malindi was considered to be a qilin and taken as proof of the Mandate of Heaven upon the administration.{{sfn|Duyvendak|1938|p=402}} The Daxuexi Alley Mosque in Xi’an has a stele dating to January 1523, inscribed with Zheng He’s the fourth maritime voyage to Tianfang, Arabian Peninsula.(File:Voyages of Zheng He.png|thumb|Voyages of Zheng He|center|600x600px)While Zheng He’s fleet was unprecedented, the routes were not. His fleet followed long-established, well-mapped routes of trade between China and the Arabian Peninsula that had been used since at least the Han dynasty. That fact, along with the use of a more-than-abundant number of crew members who were regular military personnel, leads some to speculate that the expeditions may have been geared at least partially at spreading China’s power through expansion.NEWS, Book Review of Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405–1433, David A., Graffe,web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=6e77ebc7-6b4e-4827-bf59-1136f1b39b63%40sessionmgr14&vid=4&hid=10, Journal of Military History, 14 November 2012, During the Three Kingdoms Period, the king of Wu sent a 20-year diplomatic mission led by Zhu Ying and Kang Tai along the coast of Asia, which reached as far as the Eastern Roman Empire.{{sfn|Deng|2005|p=12}} After centuries of disruption, the Song dynasty restored large-scale maritime trade from China in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and reached as far as the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.{{sfn|Deng|2005}} When his fleet first arrived at Malacca, there was already a sizable Chinese community. The General Survey of the Ocean Shores (, Yíngyá ShènglÇŽn), composed by the translator Ma Huan in 1416, gives very detailed accounts of his observations of people’s customs and lives in the ports that they visited.{{sfn|Mills|1970}} He referred to the expatriate Chinese as “Tang” people ({{zh|labels=no|t=唐人|p=Tángrén}}).File:KangnidoMap.jpg|thumb|The Kangnido map (1402) predates Zheng’s voyages and suggests that he had quite detailed geographical information on much of East Asia and moderate information on the rest of the Old WorldOld WorldFile:FraMauro1420Ship.png|thumb|Detail of the Fra Mauro map relating the travels of a junk into the Atlantic Ocean in 1420. The ship also is illustrated above the text.]]The fleet did not engage in conquest or colonization; though it included troops, their purpose was to demonstrate the Middle Kingdom’s strength.BOOK, Curtis, Simon, The Belt and Road City: Geopolitics, Urbanization, and China’s Search for a New International Order, Klaus, Ian, Yale University Press, 9780300266900, New Haven and London, 2024, {{Rp|page=48}} However, a contemporary reported that Zheng He “walked like a tiger” and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China’s military might.BOOK, Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past,archive.org/details/traditionsencoun00bent_523, limited, Jerry H., Bentley, Herbert, Ziegler, McGraw-Hill, 2007, 978-0-07-340693-0, 586, He ruthlessly suppressed pirates, who had long plagued Chinese and Southeast Asian waters. For example, he defeated Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and returned him to China for execution.WEB, Shipping News: Zheng He’s Sexcentary,www.chinaheritagenewsletter.org/articles.php?searchterm=002_zhenghe.inc&issue=002, China Heritage Newsletter,www.chinaheritagenewsletter.org/articles.php?searchterm=002_zhenghe.inc&issue=002," title="web.archive.org/web/20111128061753www.chinaheritagenewsletter.org/articles.php?searchterm=002_zhenghe.inc&issue=002,">web.archive.org/web/20111128061753www.chinaheritagenewsletter.org/articles.php?searchterm=002_zhenghe.inc&issue=002, 28 November 2011, 4 December 2011, He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte on Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa.{{sfn|Pereira|2012|p=265}} From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from 30 states, who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.{{citation needed|date=October 2012}}In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (r. 1424{{ndash}}1425), stopped the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi’s son, the Xuande Emperor (r. 1426–1435) but, the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets then ended. Xuande believed his father’s decision to halt the voyages had been meritorious and thus “there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather’s sending Zheng He to the Western Ocean.“{{attribution needed|date=March 2019}} The voyages “were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huang Ming Zuxun” (), the dynastic foundation documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor:Some far-off countries pay their tribute to me at much expense and through great difficulties, all of which are by no means my own wish. Messages should be forwarded to them to reduce their tribute so as to avoid high and unnecessary expenses on both sides.Yen Ch’ung-chien. Ch’u-yü chou-chih lu, Vol. III, ch. 8, 25. National Palace Museum (Peiping), 1930. Cited in {{harvtxt|Chang| 1974}}.They further violated longstanding Confucian principles. They were only made possible by (and therefore continued to represent) a triumph of the Ming’s eunuch faction over the administration’s scholar-bureaucrats.{{sfn|Chang|1974}} Upon Zheng He’s death and his faction’s fall from power, his successors sought to minimize him in official accounts, along with continuing attempts to destroy all records related to the Jianwen Emperor or the manhunt to find him.JOURNAL, Hui Chun Hing, 2010, Huangming zuxun and Zheng He’s Voyages to the Western Oceans (A Summary), Journal of Chinese Studies, 51, 85,connection.ebscohost.com/c/articles/54558019, 11 May 2011, Although unmentioned in the official dynastic histories, Zheng He probably died during the treasure fleet’s last voyage.{{sfn|Chang|1974}} Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty since he was buried at sea.WEB,www.mariner.org/exploration/index.php?type=explorersection&id=57, The Seventh and Final Grand Voyage of the Treasure Fleet, Mariner.org, 23 July 2009, dead,www.mariner.org/exploration/index.php?type=explorersection&id=57," title="web.archive.org/web/20081220112256www.mariner.org/exploration/index.php?type=explorersection&id=57,">web.archive.org/web/20081220112256www.mariner.org/exploration/index.php?type=explorersection&id=57, 20 December 2008, (File:《鄭和歸來》。 藝術家弗拉基米爾·科索夫 2018.jpg|alt=Treasury ship.Zheng He.|thumb|Artist’s illustration of Zheng He’s fleet)Zheng He led seven expeditions to the “Western” or Indian Ocean. Zheng He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms, including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor for offenses against his mission.Zheng He wrote of his travels:We have traversed more than 100,000 li of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare....Tablet erected by Zheng He in Changle, Fujian, in 1432. Cited in {{harvtxt|Levathes|1996}}.

Sailing charts

{{see also|Chinese geography|Mao Kun map}}File:WuBeiZhi.jpg|thumb|One of a set of maps of Zheng He’s missions (), also known as the Mao Kun mapMao Kun map(File:Zhenghe-sailing-chart.gif|thumb|A section of the Wubei Zhi oriented east: India in the upper left, Sri Lanka upper right, and Africa along the bottom.)Zheng He’s sailing charts, the Mao Kun map, were published in a book entitled the Wubei Zhi (A Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He’s and earlier voyages.BOOK, Chinese Marine Cartography: Sea Charts of Pre-Modern China, Mei-Ling Hsu, Imago Mundi, 40, 96–112, 1988, It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.{{sfn|Mills|1970}}Investigation into folios 19V to 20R of the Mao Kun Map, which cover the Indian Ocean including South India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and East Africa, suggests that the map is a composite of four maps, one for Sri Lanka, one for South India one for the Maldives and one for around 400 km of the East African coast, no further south than 6 degrees south of the Equator. Each of these maps is positioned at a different orientation to fit with the ocean currents and winds required of a sailing chart, rather than a formal map. The analysis also suggests that Arabic-speaking pilots with a detailed knowledge of the African coast were involved in the cartography.{{sfn|Pereira|2012|pp=273–277}}There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead, the sailing instructions are given using a 24-point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time or distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks such as pagodas and temples, and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.

Size of ships

According to {{Interlanguage link multi|Luo Maodeng|zh|羅懋登}}’s novel Sanbao Taijian Xia Xiyang Ji Tongsu Yanyi (Eunuch Sanbao Western Records Popular Romance, published 1597), the first expedition had:{{sfn|Church|2005|p=6}}{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=104}}BOOK, 京 (Jing), 安 (An),books.google.com/books?id=XRCDEAAAQBAJ, 海疆开发史话 (History of Coastal Development), 社会科学文献出版社 (Social Science Literature Press), 2012, 978-7-5097-3196-3, 98, 886189859,

• “Treasure ships” (, BÇŽo Chuán) nine-masted, 44.4 by 18 zhang, about {{convert|127|m|ft|abbr=off}} long and {{convert|52|m|ft|abbr=off}} wide.
• Equine ships (, MÇŽ Chuán), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet, eight-masted, 37 by 15 zhang, about {{convert|103|m|ft|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|42|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide.
• Supply ships (, Liáng Chuán), containing staple for the crew, seven-masted, 28 by 12 zhang, about {{convert|78|m|ft|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|35|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide.
• Transport ships (, Zuò Chuán), six-masted, 24 by 9.4 zhang, about {{convert|67|m|ft|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|25|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide.
• Warships (, Zhàn Chuán), five-masted, 18 by 6.8 zhang, about {{convert|50|m|ft|abbr=on}} long.

On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers, along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen. Six more expeditions took place from 1407 to 1433, with fleets thought to be of comparable size.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007}}Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1,000 passengers in their translated accounts.{{sfn|Needham|1971|pp=460–470}} Niccolò de’ Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen five-masted junks weighing about 2,000 vegetes, that is Venetian butt. Christopher Wake estimated a burthen of 1300 tons.{{sfn|Wake|1997|p=58}} The ship of Conti may have been a Burmese or Indonesian jong.{{sfn|Lewis|1973|p=248}}The largest ships in the fleet, the Chinese treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been nearly twice as long as any other wooden ship recorded thereafter until the 20th century, surpassing Admiral Nelson’s HMS Victory, {{convert|69.34|m|ftin|frac=2}} long, which was launched in 1765, and the {{convert|68.88|m|ft|frac=2|adj=on}} Vasa of 1627. The first ships to attain {{convert|126|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Many scholars consider it unlikely that any of Zheng He’s ships were {{convert|450|ft|m|round=5|order=flip|abbr=on}} in length and have proposed much shorter lengths, as low as {{convert|200|–|250|ft|m|round=5|order=flip|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Church|2005}} Zhao Zhigang claimed that he has solved the debate of the size difference, and stated that Zheng He’s largest ship was about {{cvt|70|m}} in length.NEWS,epaper.tyrbw.com/tywb/resfile/2022-07-12/21/tywb2022071221.pdf, 郑和大号宝船到底有多大？ (How big was Zheng He’s large treasure ship?), Ling, Xue, Li, Ma, Limin, Wu, Xiuling, Pei, 扬子晚报 (Yangtze Evening News), 12 July 2022,

Disputes of historical records of length

File:Gall Trilingual Inscription.jpg|thumb|Galle Trilingual Inscription, left by Zheng He in Sri LankaSri LankaEdward L. Dreyer claims that Luo Maodeng’s novel is unsuitable as historical evidence.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=104}} The novel contains a number of fantasy element; for example the ships were “constructed with divine help by the immortal Lu Ban”.{{sfn|Church|2005|p=7}}One explanation for the seemingly-inefficient size of the colossal ships was that the 44 zhang treasure ships were used only by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He’s expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of the ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He’s fleet were instead six-masted 2000-liao ships.Xin Yuanou: Guanyu Zheng He baochuan chidu de jishu fenxi (A Technical Analysis of the Size of Zheng He’s Ships). Shanghai 2002, p. 8The Archeological Researches into Zheng He’s Treasure Ships {{Dead link|date=February 2019|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}, SilkRoad webpage. Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He’s voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships far larger than any other wooden ships in history. The most grandiose claims for Zheng He’s 1405 fleet are entirely based on a calculation derived from an account that was written three centuries later and was accepted as fact by one modern writer; rejected by numerous naval experts.BOOK, Empire of the Winds, Bowring, Philip, I B Tauris & Co. Ltd, London, New York, 2019, 9781788314466, {{rp|128}} There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as {{convert|183|m|ft|abbr=on}}.Taiwan: A New History, Murray A. Rubinstein, p. 49, M.E. Sharp, 1999, {{ISBN|1-56324-815-8}} The claims that the Chinese treasure ships reached such size is disputed because other 17th century Ming records stated that European East Indiamen and galleons were 30, 40, 50, and 60 zhang (90, 120, 150, and 180 m) in length.{{sfn|Naiming|2016|pp=56–57}}It is also possible that the measure of zhang (丈) used in the conversions was mistaken. The length of a Dutch ship recorded in the History of Ming was 30 zhang. If the zhang is taken to be 3.2 m, the Dutch ship would be 96 m long. Also the Dutch Hongyi cannon was recorded to be more than 2 zhang (6.4 m) long. Comparative study by Hu Xiaowei (2018) concluded that 1 zhang would be equal to 1.5–1.6 m, this means the Dutch ship would be 45–48 m long and the cannon would be 3–3.2 m long.{{sfn|Xiaowei|2018|pp=111–112}} Taking 1.6 m for 1 zhang, Zheng He’s 44 zhang treasure ship would be {{convert|70.4|m|ft|2|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|28.8|m|ft|2|abbr=on}} wide, or 22 zhang long and 9 zhang wide if the zhang is taken to be 3.2 m.{{sfn|Xiaowei|2018|p=113}} It is known that the measure unit during the Ming era was not unified: A measurement of East and West Pagoda in Quanzhou resulted in a zhang unit of 2.5–2.56 m.{{sfn|Xiaowei|2018|p=110}} According to Chen Cunren, one zhang in the Ming Dynasty is only half a zhang in modern times.{{sfn|Cunren|2008|p=60}}

Treasure Shipyard excavation

From 2003 to 2004, the Treasure Shipyard was excavated in northwestern Nanjing (the former capital of the Ming Dynasty), near the Yangtze River. Despite the site being referred to as the “Longjiang Treasure Shipyard” (龍江寶船廠) in the official names, the site is distinct from the actual Longjiang Shipyard, which was located on a different site and produced different types of ships. The Treasure Shipyard, where Zheng He’s fleet is believed to have been built in the Ming Dynasty, once consisted of thirteen basins (based on a 1944 map), most of which have now been covered by the construction of buildings in the 20th century. The basins are believed to have been connected to the Yangtze via a series of gates. Three long basins survive, each with wooden structures inside, interpreted to be frames onto which the ships to be built on. The largest basin extends for a length of {{convert|421|m|ft}}. While they were long enough to accommodate the largest claimed Zheng He treasure ship, they were not wide enough to fit even a ship half the claimed size. The basin was only {{convert|41|m|ft}} wide at most, with only a {{convert|10|m|ft}} width showing evidence of structures. They were also not deep enough, being only {{convert|4|m|ft}} deep. Other remains of ships in the site indicate that the ships were only slightly larger than the frames that supported them. Moreover, the basin structures were grouped into clusters with large gaps between thqaqqem, if each cluster was interpreted as a ship framework, then the largest ship would not exceed {{convert|75|m|ft}} at most, probably less.BOOK, Church, Sally K., Jun, Kimura, Shipwreck ASIA: Thematic Studies in East Asian Maritime Archaeology, Two Ming Dynasty Shipyards in Nanjing and their Infrastructure, Maritime Archaeology Program, Flinders University, Adelaide, 2010, 32–49, 9780646548265,www.shipwreckasia.org/wp-content/uploads/Chapter3.pdf, The 2003–2004 excavation also recovered two complete wooden rudderposts from the Treasure Shipyard, in addition to another recovered in 1957. They are made of teak and measurearound {{convert|10|to|11|m|ft}} in length. Zhou Shide (1962) claimed that the first rudderpost recovered was proof of the enormous dimensions of the ships based on his calculations on how big the rudderblade would be. However Church (2010) points out that Zhou was using calculations based on modern steel propeller-driven ships, not wooden ships; as well as the fact that Zhou’s hypothetical rudder shape was based on the flat-bottomed shachuan (沙船) ship type, not the sea-going fuchuan (福船). The rudderposts cannot be used to infer the actual size of the rudder blades. Church notes that in traditional wooden Chinese ships, rudderposts were necessarily long in order for them to extend from the water level up unto the ship deck, where it was controlled by the tiller. Church compares it with modern wooden junks built in the traditional Lümeimao (“green eyebrow”, 綠眉毛) style, which also have rudderposts that are {{convert|11|m|ft}} long, but are only {{convert|31|m|ft}} in overall length.

Death

One theory is that Admiral Zheng He died in 1433, during or shortly after his seventh voyage.{{sfn|Dreyer|2007|p=165}} Another is that Zheng He continued to serve as the defender of Nanjing, and died in 1435.{{sfn|Mills|1970|p=6}}A tomb was built for Zheng He at the southern slope of Cattle Head Hill, Nanjing. The original tomb was a horseshoe-shaped grave. It is a cenotaph believed to contain his clothes and headgear. In 1985, the tomb was rebuilt following a Muslim style.BOOK, 2005, Zheng He’s Voyages Down the Western Seas, China Intercontinental Press, 45, Lin, etal, Compiled by the Information Office of Fujian Provincial People’s Government,

Legacy

Zheng’s voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao’s Biography of Our Homeland’s Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.Liang Qichao. ”Zuguo Da Hanghaijia Zheng He Zhuan”. 1904. {{in lang|zh}}Hui Chun Hing. “Huangming Zuxun and Zheng He’s Voyages to the Western Oceans”. Journal of Chinese Studies, No. 51 (July 2010). Retrieved 17 October 2012.

Imperial China

File:Chen Zhang’s painting of a giraffe and its attendant.jpg|thumb|left|upright|The pet giraffe of the Sultan of Bengal, brought from the Somali Ajuran Empire, and later taken to ChinaWilson, Samuel M. “The Emperor’s Giraffe”, Natural History Vol. 101, No. 12, December 1992 WEB,muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART, Archived copy, 14 April 2012, dead,muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART," title="web.archive.org/web/20081202235051muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART,">web.archive.org/web/20081202235051muweb.millersville.edu/~columbus/data/art/WILSON09.ART, 2 December 2008, in the thirteenth year of Yongle (1415).]]In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials minimized the importance of Zheng He and his expeditions throughout the many regnal and dynastic histories they compiled. The information in the Yongle and Xuande Emperors’ official annals was incomplete and even erroneous, and other official publications omitted them completely. Although some have seen that as a conspiracy seeking to eliminate memories of the voyages, it is likely that the records were dispersed throughout several departments and the expeditions, unauthorized by and in fact counter to the injunctions of the dynastic founder, presented a kind of embarrassment to the dynasty.State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng’s voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from the surviving Yuan Mongols from the north. The relocation of the capital to Beijing in the north exacerbated this threat dramatically. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for the land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions. Further, in 1449, Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the Zhengtong Emperor at Tumu Fortress, less than a day’s march from the walls of the capital. The Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. The battle had two salient effects. Firstly, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Secondly, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released the emperor after his half-brother had already ascended and declared the new Jingtai era. Not until 1457 and the restoration of the former emperor would political stability return. Upon his return to power, China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In that environment, funding for naval expeditions was simply absent.However, missions from Southeastern Asia continued to arrive for decades. Depending on local conditions, they could reach such frequency that the court found it necessary to restrict them. The History of Ming records imperial edicts forbade Java, Champa, and Siam from sending their envoys more often than once every three years.

Southeast Asia

File:Miếu Nhị Phủ.jpg|thumb|The Ông Bổn Temple, built to venerate Zheng He, or Bổn Đầu Công in Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamVietnam

Veneration

File:Cakra Donya.JPG|thumb|The Cakra Donya Bell, a gift from Zheng He to Pasai, now kept at the Aceh Museum in Banda AcehBanda AcehAmong the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia, Zheng He became a figure of folk veneration.WEB,ias.umn.edu/2012/11/20/wade-geoffrey/,ias.umn.edu/2012/11/20/wade-geoffrey/," title="archive.today/20121211193248ias.umn.edu/2012/11/20/wade-geoffrey/,">archive.today/20121211193248ias.umn.edu/2012/11/20/wade-geoffrey/, dead, Events – November 20, 2012: The Chinese Admiral Zheng He: Uses and Abuses of an Historical Figure, Institute for Advanced Study, 11 December 2012, University of Minnesota, 25 November 2012, Even some of his crew members who happened to stay in some port sometimes did so as well, such as “Poontaokong” on Sulu.Tan Ta Sen & al. Cheng Ho and Islam in Southeast Asia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2009. {{ISBN|978-981-230-837-5}}. The temples of the cult, called after either of his names, Cheng Hoon or Sam Po, are peculiar to overseas Chinese except for a single temple in Hongjian originally constructed by a returned Filipino Chinese in the Ming dynasty and rebuilt by another Filipino Chinese after the original was destroyed during the Cultural Revolution.

Malacca

The oldest and most important Chinese temple in Malacca is the 17th-century Cheng Hoon Teng, dedicated to Guanyin. During Dutch colonial rule, the head of the Cheng Hoon Temple was appointed as chief over the community’s Chinese inhabitants.Following Zheng He’s arrival, the sultan and the sultana of Malacca visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects, bearing ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (r. 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. Malay (but not Chinese) annals record that in 1459, a princess named Hang Li Po or Hang Liu was sent from China to marry the sultan. She came with 500 high-ranking young men and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace, creating the descendants now known as the Peranakan.BOOK, Jin, Shaoqing, Zheng He’s Voyages down the Western Seas, Office of the People’s Government of Fujian Province, China Intercontinental Press, Fujian, China, 2005, 58,books.google.com/books?id=QmpkR6l5MaMC&pg=PA58, 2 August 2009, 978-7-5085-0708-8, Owing to this supposed lineage, the Peranakan still use special honorifics: Baba for the men and Nyonya for the women.

Indonesia

File:Stamps of Indonesia, 026-05.jpg|thumb|Stamp from IndonesiaIndonesiaFile:Cheng Hoo1.JPG|thumb|The Zheng Hoo Mosque in SurabayaSurabayaThe Chinese Indonesian community have established temples dedicated to Zheng He in Jakarta, Cirebon, Surabaya, and Semarang.In 1961, the Indonesian Islamic leader and scholar Hamka credited Zheng He for playing an important role in the development of Islam in Indonesia.Wang, Rosey Ma. “Chinese Muslims in Malaysia, History and Development {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717054928210.0.141.99/eng/malaysia/ChineseMuslim_in_Malaysia.asp |date=17 July 2006 }}”.{{unreliablesource-inline|date=October 2012}} The Brunei Times credits Zheng He with building Chinese Muslim communities in Palembang and along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula, and the Philippines. These Muslims allegedly followed the Hanafi school in the Chinese language.NEWS, Aqsha, Darul, Zheng He and Islam in Southeast Asia,www.bt.com.bn/art-culture/2010/07/13/zheng-he-and-islam-southeast-asia, 28 September 2012, The Brunei Times, 13 July 2010, dead,www.bt.com.bn/art-culture/2010/07/13/zheng-he-and-islam-southeast-asia," title="web.archive.org/web/20130509022407www.bt.com.bn/art-culture/2010/07/13/zheng-he-and-islam-southeast-asia,">web.archive.org/web/20130509022407www.bt.com.bn/art-culture/2010/07/13/zheng-he-and-islam-southeast-asia, 9 May 2013,

Western scholarship

In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He’s voyages China turned away from the seas due to the Haijin edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to participate in Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century, and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. Moreover, revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China.WEB, Goldstone, Jack, The Rise of the West – or Not? A Revision to Socio-economic History,www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/10/114.html, Although the Ming dynasty prohibited shipping with the Haijin edict, it was a policy of the Hongwu Emperor that long preceded Zheng He and the ban, so obviously disregarded by the Yongle Emperor, was eventually lifted entirely. However, the ban on maritime shipping forced countless numbers of people into smuggling and piracy. Neglect of the imperial navy and Nanjing dockyards after Zheng He’s voyages left the coast highly vulnerable to Japanese wokou during the 16th century.BOOK, Yuan-Kang Wang, Harmony and War: Confucian Culture and Chinese Power Politics,books.google.com/books?id=gxVfTuKsaJQC&pg=PT286, 2013, Columbia University Press, 978-0-231-52240-3, 286, BOOK, Jakub J. Grygiel, Great Powers and Geopolitical Change,books.google.com/books?id=oZjpcHnxH2QC&pg=PA153, 2006, JHU Press, 978-0-8018-8480-1, 153, Richard von Glahn, a UCLA professor of Chinese history, commented that most treatments of Zheng He present him wrongly, “offer counterfactual arguments,” and “emphasize China’s missed opportunity” by focusing on failures, instead of accomplishments. In contrast, Glahn asserts that “Zheng He reshaped Asia” because maritime history in the 15th century was essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of his voyages.WEB,www.international.ucla.edu/china/article.asp?parentid=10387, Zheng He’s Voyages of Discovery â€“ UCLA center for Chinese Study, International.ucla.edu, 20 April 2004, 23 July 2009,

Cultural influence

Despite the official neglect, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of some Chinese with some writing novelizations of the voyages, such as the Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch in 1597.Blacks in Pre-Modern China, pp. 121–132.On his travels, Zheng He built mosquesBOOK, Chen, Dasheng,www.worldcat.org/oclc/427974635, Cheng Ho and Islam in Southeast Asia, 2009, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 978-981-230-837-5, Singapore, 250, 427974635, and also spread the worship of Mazu. He apparently never found time for a pilgrimage to Mecca but sent sailors there on his last voyage. He played an important part in developing relations between China and Islamic countries.BOOK, Tan Ta Sen, Cheng Ho and Islam in Southeast Asia, 2009, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 978-981-230-837-5, 171,books.google.com/books?id=vIUmU2ytmIIC&pg=PA171, BOOK, Gunn, Geoffrey C., History Without Borders: The Making of an Asian World Region, 1000–1800, 2011, Hong Kong University Press, 978-988-8083-34-3, 117,books.google.com/books?id=E10tnvapZt0C&pg=PA117, Zheng He also visited Muslim shrines of Islamic holy men in the Fujian.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}}In modern times, interest in Zheng He has revived substantially. In Vernor Vinge’s 1999 science fiction novel A Deepness in the Sky, an interstellar society of commercial traders in human space are named the Qeng Ho, after the admiral. The expeditions featured prominently in Heather Terrell’s 2005 novel The Map Thief. For the 600th anniversary of Zheng He’s voyages in 2005, China Central Television produced a special television series, Zheng He Xia Xiyang, starring Gallen Lo as Zheng He. He is also mentioned in part of the main storyline of the first-person shooter game Far Cry 3. The Star Trek series (Star Trek: Picard|Picard) further featured an advanced starship named USS Zheng He. There was even a US Navy boat that was acquired for picket duty during World War II that was named Cheng Ho by its previous owner. In Civilization VI, Zheng He is a ‘great admiral’ unit that grants bonuses to trade and naval combat.

Relics

• Zheng He built the Tianfei Palace ({{zh|labels=no|t=天妃宫|p=TiānfÄ“igōng|l=Palace of the Celestial Wife}}), a temple in honor of the goddess Mazu, in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.
• The “Deed of Foreign Connection and Exchange” () or “Tongfan Deed Stele” is located in the Tianfei Palace in Liuhe, Taicang, whence the expeditions first departed. The stele was submerged and lost but has been rebuilt.
• To thank the Celestial Wife for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt the Tianfei Palace in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian Province as well before they left on their last voyage. At the renovated temple, they raised a stele, “A Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power” ({{zh|labels=no|t=天妃靈應之記|p=TiānfÄ“i Líng YÄ«ng zhÄ« Jì}}), discussing their earlier voyages.Fish, Robert J. “Primary Source: Zheng He Inscription”. Univ. of Minnesota. Retrieved 23 July 2009.
• The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved at the National Museum of Colombo. The three languages used in the inscription were Chinese, Tamil, and Persian. The inscription praises Buddha and describes the fleet’s donations to the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram frequented by both Hindus and Buddhists.Xinhua News Agency. “A Peaceful Mariner and Diplomat”. 12 July 2005.Association for Asian Studies. Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368{{ndash}}1644, Vol. I. Columbia Univ. Press (New York), 1976.WEB,en.unesco.org/silkroad/sites/silkroad/files/knowledge-bank-article/china_sri_lanka_trade_and_diplomatic_relations_including_the_voyages_of_cheng_ho.pdf, China-Sri Lanka: Trade and Diplomatic Relations including the voyages for Cheng Ho, B. E. S. J., Bastiampillai, UNESCO Silk Roads,
• Zheng He’s tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum built next to it, but his body was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut, in western India.{{sfn|Levathes|1996|p=172}} However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in a Muslim tomb inscribed in Arabic. The tomb of Zheng He’s assistant Hong Bao was recently unearthed in Nanjing as well.
• Seven large sunken ships were found in the sea near Dongsha Island, which were confirmed to belong to Zheng He’s fleet. The types of the seven sunken ships were Shachuan (沙船), Fuchuan (福船), and Zhanzuochuan (戰座船).WEB,www.nsysu.edu.tw/p/404-1000-52738.php?Lang=zh-tw, 打撈鄭和沉船 撈船 有宣示主權意義 再造鐵達尼傳奇 內政部委託國內學術單位進行海洋考古作業 初期探勘將花費數億元, 中國時報, 1 January 2004, National Sun Yat-sen University, Chinese, 21 November 2022,web.archive.org/web/20221121125614/https://www.nsysu.edu.tw/p/404-1000-52738.php?Lang=zh-tw, dead,

Commemoration

In the People’s Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (, Zhōngguó HánghÇŽi Rì) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He’s first voyage. Initially Kunming Changshui International Airport was to be named Zheng He International Airport.In 2015, Emotion Media Factory dedicated a special multimedia show “Zheng He is coming” for amusement park Romon U-Park (Ningbo, China). The show became a finalist of the amusement industry prestigious Brass Rings Awards by IAAPA.WEB,blooloop.com/news/,www.blooloop.com/news/emotion-media-factory-multimedia-romon-u-park/29189," title="web.archive.org/web/20150923192214www.blooloop.com/news/emotion-media-factory-multimedia-romon-u-park/29189,">web.archive.org/web/20150923192214www.blooloop.com/news/emotion-media-factory-multimedia-romon-u-park/29189, dead, Theme Park, Museum, Zoo Industry News for Professionals, 23 September 2015, Blooloop, WEB,www.eap-magazin.de/48-News/4150,China%3A-Two-New-Multimedia-Shows-at-Romon-U-Park.html, China: Two New Multimedia Shows at Romon U-Park, Zheng He is the namesake of the ROCS Cheng Ho missile frigate in Taiwan.The People’s Liberation Army Navy ship Zheng He (AX-81) is a Chinese training ship named for him. Like her namesake, she serves as a goodwill ambassador for China, becoming the first Chinese Navy ship to visit the United States in 1989 and completing a circumnavigation of the globe in 2012.NEWS, Zhang, Xiaomin, Naval training ship going round the globe,www.china.org.cn/china/2012-04/17/content_25160837.htm, China Daily, 17 April 2012, The proposed sample-return spacecraft Tianwen-2 was originally named ZhengHe.Its mission to explore Near-Earth asteroid 2016 HO3 is scheduled to launch in 2024.

Gallery

File:Zheng He’s tomb, Nanjing.jpg|Zheng He’s tomb in NanjingFile:Museum in honour of Zheng He in Nanjing.jpeg|Museum to honor Zheng He, NanjingFile:Zheng He Gallery in Malacca.JPG|Gallery of Admiral Cheng Ho in MalaccaFile:Admiral Zhenghe.jpg|Zheng He wax statue in the Quanzhou Maritime Museum

See also

{{Div col}}

• {{annotated link|Chang Yuchun}}
• {{annotated link|Chinese exploration}}
• {{annotated link|CMA CGM Zheng He}}
• {{annotated link|Fei Xin}}
• {{annotated link|Galle Trilingual Inscription}}
• {{annotated link|Hong Bao}}
• {{annotated link|Hui people|Hui}}
• {{annotated link|Ma Huan}}
• {{annotated link|Ming dynasty}}
• {{annotated link|Ming Veritable Records}}
• {{annotated link|Romon U-Park}}
• {{annotated link|Timeline of the Ming treasure voyages}}
• {{annotated link|Zhou Man}}
• {{annotated link|Zhu Di}}
• {{annotated link|Man-cheti}}

{{colend}}

Notes

{{NoteFoot}}

References

Citations

{{Reflist}}

Sources

• JOURNAL, Chang, Kuei-Sheng, The Maritime Scene in China at the Dawn of Great European Discoveries, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 94, 3, July–September 1974, 347–359, 600069, 10.2307/600069,
• JOURNAL, Church, Sally K., 2005, Zheng He: An Investigation into the Plausibility of 450-ft Treasure Ships, Monumenta Serica Institute, 53, 1–43, 10.1179/mon.2005.53.1.001, 161434221,contacthistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/monumenta_serica.pdf,
• {{citation |last=Cunren |first=Chen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=viFKAQAAIAAJ |title=被误读的远行: 郑和下西洋与马哥孛罗来华考 (The Misunderstood Journey: Zheng He’s Voyages to the West and Marco Polo’s Visit to China) |publisher=广西师范大学出版社 (Guangxi Normal University Press) |year=2008 |isbn=9787563370764}}
• BOOK, Deng, Gang, 2005, Chinese Maritime Activities and Socioeconomic Development, c. 2100 BC – 1900 AD, Greenwood Press, 978-0-313-29212-5,
• BOOK, Dreyer, Edward L., 2007, Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming, 1405–1433, Library of World Biography, New York, Pearson Longman, 978-0-321-08443-9,
• JOURNAL, Duyvendak, J.J.L., The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the Early Fifteenth Century, T’oung Pao, 1938, 34, 5, 341–413, J.J.L. Duyvendak, 4527170, 10.1163/156853238X00171,
• BOOK, Levathes, Louise, 1996, When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405–1433,archive.org/details/whenchinaruledse00loui, registration, Oxford University Press, 978-0-19-511207-8,
• {{citation |last=Lewis |first=Archibald|date=December 1973 |title=Maritime Skills in the Indian Ocean 1368–1500 |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |volume=16 |issue=2/3|pages=238–264 |doi=10.2307/3596216 |jstor=3596216}}
• BOOK, Mills, J.V.G., 1970, Ying-yai Sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean’s Shores (1433), Ch’eng Chun, Feng, Introduction, notes and appendices by J.V.G. Mills, White Lotus Press, 978-974-8496-78-8,
• JOURNAL, Naiming, Pang, 2016, 船坚炮利：一个明代已有的欧洲印象 (Ship and Guns: An Existing European Impression of the Ming Dynasty), 史学月刊 (History Monthly), 2, 51–65,www.doc88.com/p-2085237799491.html,
• BOOK, Needham, Joseph, Science and Civilization in China, 4, Physics and physical technology. Part III, Civil engineering and nautics, 1971, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, 634783184,
• BOOK, Perkins, Dorothy, Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture, 2000, Roundtable Press, New York, 978-0-8160-2693-7, registration,archive.org/details/encyclopediaofch00perk_0,
• JOURNAL, Ray, Haraprasad, An Analysis of the Chinese Maritime Voyages into the Indian Ocean During Early Ming Dynasty and Their Raison d’Etre, China Report, 1987, 23, 1, 65–87, 10.1177/000944558702300107, 154116680,
• BOOK, Zheng He and the Afro-Asian World, Chia Lin, Sien, Sally K., Church, Perbadanan Muzium, Melaka, 2012, 978-967-11386-0-1,
  • BOOK, Church, Sally K., John C., Gebhardt, Terry H., Little, A Naval Architectural Analysis of the Plausibility of 450-ft Treasure Ships, Zheng He and the Afro-Asian World, Chia Lin, Sien, Sally K., Church, Perbadanan Muzium, Melaka, 2012, 978-967-11386-0-1,
  • BOOK, Rivers, P.J., A Nautical Perspective on Cheng Ho, Admiral of the Western Oceans Concerning the Ming Voyages, Zheng He and the Afro-Asian World, Chia Lin, Sien, Sally K., Church, Perbadanan Muzium, Melaka, 2012, 978-967-11386-0-1,
  • BOOK, Pereira, Clifford J., Zheng He and the African Horizon: An Investigative Study into the Chinese Geography of Early Fifteenth-Century Eastern Africa, Zheng He and the Afro-Asian World, Chia Lin, Sien, Sally K., Church, Perbadanan Muzium, Melaka, 2012, 978-967-11386-0-1,
• JOURNAL, Wake, Christopher, December 1997, The Great Ocean-Going Ships of Southern China in the Age of Chinese Maritime Voyaging to India, Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries, International Journal of Maritime History, 9, 2, 51–81, 10.1177/084387149700900205, 130906334,
• {{citation |last=Xiaowei |first=Hu |year=2018 |title=郑和宝船尺度新考{{snd}}从泉州东西塔的尺度谈起 (A New Research on the Scale of Zheng He’s Treasure Ship{{snd}}From the Scale of Quanzhou East-West Pagoda) |journal=海交史研究 (Journal of Maritime History Studies) |issue=2 |pages=107–116 |url=https://www.doc88.com/p-7728721680403.html}}

Further reading

{{Library resources box |by = no |viaf = 72199054 }}

• BOOK, Chan, Hok-lam, The Cambridge History of China, Volume 7: The Ming Dynasty, 1368–1644, Part 1, 1998, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 978-0-521-24332-2, The Chien-wen, Yung-lo, Hung-hsi, and Hsüan-te reigns, 1399–1435,
• BOOK, Ming-Yang, Su, 2005, Seven epic voyages of Zheng He in Ming China, 1405–1433: facts, fiction and fabrication, Torrance, CA, self-published, 62515238,
• chinaheritagenewsletter.org/articles.php?searchterm=002_zhenghe.inc&issue=002" title="web.archive.org/web/20050623222048chinaheritagenewsletter.org/articles.php?searchterm=002_zhenghe.inc&issue=002"> Shipping News: Zheng He’s Sexcentenary – China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, {{ISSN|1833-8461}}. Published by the China Heritage Project of The Australian National University.
• MAGAZINE, Viviano, Frank, July 2005, China’s Great Armada, National Geographic, 208, 1, 28–53,

External links

{{Commons category|Zheng He}}

• World History Encyclopedia – The Seven Voyages of Zheng He
• Zheng He – The Chinese Muslim Admiral
• en.chinabroadcast.cn/2245/2005-6-13/Zt119%40569.htm" title="web.archive.org/web/20060310203031en.chinabroadcast.cn/2245/2005-6-13/Zt119%40569.htm">Zheng He 600th Anniversary
• BBC radio programme “Swimming Dragons”.
• www.time.com/time/asia/features/journey2001/" title="web.archive.org/web/20010913001234www.time.com/time/asia/features/journey2001/">TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)
• www.elibraryhub.com/zhengHe/home.html" title="web.archive.org/web/20060221135224www.elibraryhub.com/zhengHe/home.html">Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com
• Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)
• NEWS, Kahn, Joseph, 2005,www.nytimes.com/2005/07/20/international/asia/20letter.html, China Has an Ancient Mariner to Tell You About, The New York Times,
• proj.ncku.edu.tw/chengho/" title="web.archive.org/web/20141118011340proj.ncku.edu.tw/chengho/">Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages

{{Chinese travellers}}{{Islamic geography}}{{Authority control}}