Transcript Voyages of Zheng He

The Voyages of Cheng Ho
(1405-1433)
Armand Bodrug
IT 7360
World History
10th Grade
Cheng Ho aka Eunuch Sanbao
Life of Cheng Ho (b. 1371)

Belonged to the Hui ethnic
group in modern-day south
western Yunnan Province, still
under Mongol influence at the
time

Religious affiliation: Islam;
toleration; syncretism with
Taoism and Buddhism

Taken back to Nanjing as an
eunuch to serve in the Ming
imperial household
Life of Cheng Ho (continued)

Confidant of the 3rd emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the Yongle Emperor;
might have been appointed commander because as a Muslim he could
more easily negotiate with Muslim merchants on the Indian Ocean

Helped the Yongle Emperor with a coup d'état and as a result Cheng Ho
was made head eunuch and admiral

Today, Cheng Ho is used by PRC as a model for the integration of the
Muslim minority into the larger nation
Expeditions of Cheng Ho
(1405-1433)
7 naval expeditions to over 30
Why?
countries sponsored by the

Ming in order to:




Establish/maintain a
Chinese presence in SE
Asia
Impress foreigners from the
Indian Ocean (aka Western
Ocean to the Chinese at
the time) basin
Impose imperial control
over trade
Extend tributary system
and collect pledges of
loyalty
Armada and Crew

Over 300 ships including 62
treasure ships (junks) and
28,000 crew including sailors,
clerks, interpreters, officers,
soldiers, artisans, doctors,
traders, astrologers, et al.
Largest naval force in world
history before World War I

15th
century Chinese junk (400
feet long) vs. European Santa Maria
(85 feet long)
Map: Expeditions of Cheng Ho
Summary of Voyages
(1405-1433)

1st, 2nd, 3rd: SE Asia, India, Ceylon;
pirates defeated in the Strait of
Malacca; favorite places: Malabar
Coast city-states, Calicut

4th: Persian Gulf, Arabia, Mecca; the
first to travel beyond India and the
Arabian Sea

5th, 6th, 7th: East Africa, Kenya; in
Aden the sultan presented exotic gifts
(i.e. zebras, giraffes, lions, and
ostriches); Cheng Ho died in 1433
and buried at sea; fleet dismantled
and records purged
Google Earth file: 37092TheVoyagesofAdmiralZhengHe1
405-1433.kmz
(Click link to open in
Google Earth)
Interaction across Sea Lanes
First giraffe brought to
China misidentified as the
qilin, the unicorn central to
Chinese mythology


Made in China: porcelain, silk, textiles,
iron goods, military might and display

To China: spices, nutmeg, gum,
precious stones, gifts, tribute, exotic
animals, diplomatic envoys

Fun facts:

In Thailand, Cheng Ho discovered
that women managed all affairs
including trading and
punishments…and were “decidedly
smarter than the men”

The crew regarded the Javanese as
“the most cruel people in the world,”
charging that “the purchaser of a
new knife tries it on the first person
he meets”
Why was the Fleet Dismantled?

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High taxes were required to
maintain such a huge armada

Growth of piracy and
smuggling led to a ban on
trade to SE Asia

A 15th century Minister of War
complained: "The expeditions
wasted tens of myriads of
money and grain“

Comparison between Cheng
Ho’s expeditions (financed by
the state) vs. contemporary
European expeditions (selffinanced, based on trade and
profit)
Increasing costs of Mongol
threats in the north and cost of
the Great Wall
Increasing power of merchant
class seen as negative by
Confucian authorities
Implications and Legacy of
Cheng Ho’s Voyages

Large numbers of Chinese
Muslims relocated to Malacca;
propagation of Islam in SE
Asia

Malacca: large Islamic
entrepôt/trade center

High organizational and
technological display of
voyages did not lead to
significant trade (Cheng Ho =
admiral/official not merchant)

Contemporary Chinese naval
technology dismantled and
possibly forgotten
Implications and Legacy of
Cheng Ho’s Voyages
(continued)

Cartographic knowledge
expanded and accounts of
visited places and customs
recorded

Banning of ocean going
expeditions led to black market
smuggling on local sea lanes

PRC sees a parallel between
Cheng Ho’s China not seeking
hegemony in the 15th century
and today (propaganda?)
Cheng Ho’s Tomb in Nanjing
(d. 1433)
Further Reading

Levathes, Louise (1997). When China Ruled the Seas: The
Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405–1433. Oxford University
Press

Dreyer, Edward L. (2006). Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the
Early Ming, 1405–1433 (Library of World Biography Series).
Longman

If you like fantasy: Menzies, Gavin (2003). 1421: The Year the
Chinese Discovered the World. Morrow/Avon
Primary source: Ma Huan (1970). Ying-yai
Sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean's
Shores (1433), translated from the Chinese text
edited by Feng Ch'eng Chun with introduction,
notes and appendices by J.V.G.Mills. White Lotus
Press

Related Topics of Interest

Minorities in China

The overseas Chinese

Yi Soon-shin (1545-1598): Korean
admiral who repelled the Japanese
invasion of Korea

Wokou (Japanese pirates)