“We have…beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising sky-high, 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 rapid like that of a star, transversing the savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare.”

Zheng He (also Known as Cheng Ho or Zheng He or Jung Hu) was born in Kunyang in 1371 and passed away in 1435.  He was a Chinese Muslim under the authority of Ming Emperor made several trips of exploration and diplomacy from 1405 – 1433.  He even made a hajj to Mecca!  His original name was Ma He, and he styled himself San Bao. He was from the Hui nationality. When he was 1 years old, his father died. His father and grandfather had once gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca, the Holy City of the Moslems on the Arabian Peninsula. When coming back, they were honored “hajjis”. A “hajji is one who has performed a pilgrimage to Mecca”. 

He was taken captive brought to the capital and made a servant to the prince at the age of eleven. The Prince would later be the Yong Le Emperor and it was he who gave Zheng the last name He. He is described as a tall, heavy man with clear-cut features, long earlobes, a stride like a tiger, and a voice loud and strong. He grew to be well liked, a brave soldier, and a quick-witted man.  He rose in the ranks, became an officer, and in 1404 was named Grand Eunuch by Emperor Yung lo. 

When Zhu Li, the 4th son of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty, ruled as prince of Yan Kingdom (the present-day Beijing area), Zheng He served as his eunuch. Zheng He showed his true talent and won great merits in the civil war launched by Zhu Li to seize power. Later, when Zhu Li won the war and ascended the throne, Zheng was assigned the post of the Imperial Eunuch in the royal court with the title of Eunuch San Bao. Because it was believed in the Ming Dynasty that any person with the surname Ma (meaning “horse”) should never be admitted into the royal court, the Emperor bestowed Ma He a new surname of Zheng.

In 1405, the 3rd year of the Yong lo era in the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Chengzu appointed Zheng as the Chief Diplomat and Wang Jinghong his deputy to lead a huge fleet composed of 62 ships and some 27,800 sailors in carrying out a royal mission to the Western world.

Zheng led his fleet to Champa (the present-day central-southern Vietnam), Java, Sumatra, Ceylon and a number of other countries. Zheng’s fleet completed the voyages ad returned to China after 2 long years. During the following 28 years, Zheng led his large fleet in 7 missions to cross the oceans. Together with his crew, he braved hardships and dangers and arrived in the Malaya Archipelago, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa, and landed in 39 Asian and African countries or regions including Vietnam, Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Iran, the Maldives Archipelago, South Yemen, Somalia and Arabia. Zheng’s voyages greatly helped to establish and promote China’s trade relations with foreign countries, and his long voyages were some 80 years earlier than Columbus’s discovery of the New Continent and Vasco da Gama’s arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, and 100 years earlier than the first circumnavigation by Ferdinand Magellan.

Zheng He’s long voyages not only helped to forge friendly ties between the Chinese people and the peoples in the Asian and African countries, but also developed China’s cultural and trade relations with those countries. Zheng’s pioneering work marked a new era in the world’s long-distance voyages, and thus made significant contribution to the cause of navigation of the world.  His voyages also opened China to the outside world but due to the jealousy of the royal court elites, the emperor was forced to dismantle all ships, stop all outgoing trade and isolate China. 

It was even believed that Zheng he and his crew was the first to find America. The evidence is from many finding and historical maps found in Europe during the 1400s  It is well established that in the early 15th century that China was the world’s greatest naval power and Zheng He (pronounced jung huh) was its Admiral. A British Navigator and amateur historian in a lecture before the Royal Geographical Society in London claimed that he has gathered evidence to show that the Chinese beat Columbus to America by 72 years and also circumnavigated the globe a century before the Magellan voyage. He believes that part of a Chinese fleet lead by Zheng He circled the globe from 1421-1423. Other ships from the fleet were said to have explored the Caribbean and the North American Coast.

His theory is based on his discovery that the Portuguese had a chart of the world as early as 1428 which was based on documents spirited out of China by the Venetian merchant and explorer Nicolas da Conti who supposedly sailed with Admiral Zheng on part of one voyage.

Bibliography

• Prof. Su, National Taiwan Ocean University, http://www.chinapage.com/zhenghe.html
• Sean Chamberlin, Fullerton Community College,  http://www.oceansonline.com/zheng.htm
• http://www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b3zhenghe.htm
• World Civilizations: the global experience by: Peter N. Stearns
• http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/Z/Zh/Zheng_He.htm
•  http://www.biography.com/find/results.jsp?alpha=25&subpg=1
• http://www.travelearn.com/ezinechinavol46.htm
• http://chinaguides.shanghai-window.com/destination/yunnan/kunming/zhenghe.htm