International Journal
on Marine Navigation
and Safety of Sea Transportation
Volume 1
Number 3
September 2007
285
An Important Waypoint on Passage of
Navigation History: Zheng He’s Sailing to West
Ocean
J. Ding & Ch. Shi
Shanghai Maritime University, Shanghai, China
A. Weintrit
Gdynia Maritime University, Gdynia, Poland
ABSTRACT: Zheng He, a famous Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral of Ming Dynasty,
sailed from China to many places throughout South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea, Pesian
Gulf, Red Sea and distant Africa in seven epical voyages from 1405 to 1433, some 80 years before Colubus’s
voyages to America on Santa Maria. This magnificent feat in the history of navigation was later considered as
a sheer waste of energy and money, and a “failure policy”. The scale of Zheng He’s navigation far exceeds
that of Columbus’s “Great Discovery” which followed, but the former had less effect on the progress of the
world history. In this paper, we recall Zheng He’s great adventure, as an important waypoint on the passage of
navigation history. An introduction to the historical condition of that age and Zheng He’s family background
is presented. The fleets, the passages, as well the experiences are illustrated. The shipbuilding technology and
science of navigation of China in the ancient period are also demonstrated. And finally we discuss the
historical significance, spirit and impact of Zheng He’s sailing. The great voyages are the magnificent
landmarks not only in China’s political and diplomatic history but also in navigational annals of the world.
1 INTRODUCTION
Zheng He’s Exploration of the Western Pacific
Ocean and the Indian Ocean was an important event
at the turning point of the world history. It was a
golden opportunity for China to strengthen itself and
make greater contributions to human beings.
Unfortunately, to some extend, Zheng He’s
magnificent feat in the history of navigation was
later considered as a sheer waste of energy and
money and a “failure policy”, and thus was put an
end to. Zheng He’s trip, therefore, did not produce
long-term effects. China still cut off itself from the
out side world and stopped her exploration of ocean
navigation, while Europeans, along the routes
opened up by their expeditions, reached America,
Africa and Asia and established colonies all over the
world, which greatly promoted the capitalist
development. In spite that the scale of Zheng He’s
navigation far exceeded that of Columbus’s “Great
Discovery” which followed some 80 years afterward,
the former had much less effect on the progress of
the world history.
The reasons behind the suppression are
complicated (Chen 2005, Lin 2003, Ma et al 2006).
Confucian culture focusing on harmony and not
conquering limited the achievements of collecting
wealth and expanding territory. Agriculture oriented
policy refrained exploration of nature and
undervalued the scientific findings and technological
innovations. The reasons may also include seeking
the undeserved reputation of “emperorship of the
whole world”, and spending too much money and
resources without the expected effects. However,
Zheng He’s sailing to West Ocean did mark an
important waypoint on the passage of world
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navigation history. Never before in the world had
there been any such adventure that was in such a
scale, lasted for such a long time, had so many
people under command, fared so far into the ocean,
and had such advanced navigation technologies. It
was suggested that the strength of Chinese naval
exceeded the total strength of all the other countries
of the world in that period of time (Wang 2005).
Zheng He’s great voyages marked the age that the
human civilization extended from land to ocean
materialized an unprecedented miracle in the
navigation history of China or even in the world.
To some extend, Zheng He’s voyages have been a
permanent interest of historians, and the interested
readers can be directed to Walner (2005), which
presents a good review of history texts about Zheng
He and his voyages. However, not so many maritime
experts are involved in the exploration of the event.
Ocean voyages are of professional and it is of special
value for maritime professionals to perceive more
intensively. Menzies (2003) states that “without the
experience of astronavigation I had gained in the
Navy this book would never have been written and
the discoveries I made might have remained
unrecognized for many more years”, and that “If I
had found information that escaped them
(historians), it is only because I knew how to
interpret the extraordinary maps and charts that
reveal the course and the extent of the voyages of the
great Chinese fleets between 1421 and 1423.”
2 ZHENG HE AND HIS TIME
2.1 Historical background
In the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), China became a
unified strong multinational feudal empire. Emperor
Yong Le, who named Zhu Di, was a man of vision
and strategy. At the beginning of his reign, the
country enjoyed political stability, economic
prosperity and a considerable level of science and
technology. While promoting economic and cultural
development in the country, Emperor Zhu Di
actively carried out diplomatic activities, expanding
China’s relations with foreign countries and
developing foreign trade. Although Zhu Di lifted the
ban to the seas imposed at the beginning of the Ming
Dynasty, he had no intention of expand the territory.
The principle of “bullying no weaker states” he
formulated was the continuation of the policy of
“never conquering other states” pursued by his father
who was the First Emperor of Ming Dynasty (Infor-
mation Office of Fujian Province 2005). In order to
strengthen ties with other countries, spread China’s
civilization and engage in international trade,
Emperor Zhu Di ordered Zheng He to go for a
voyage down the western seas, taking with them
luxury gifts.
After the emperor Zhu Di took over power,
council of ministers was in its course of
recomposing. Confucian officer and eunuch were
striking openly and secretly (Zhou 2006). He was
going to gain support from the council of ministers
where Confucian officer usually occupied the major
part in the former time, but it were eunuchs who
contributed a lot to Zhu Di’s ascending the throng.
So he put eunuchs in a very important position.
One of the duties of Chinese emperor was to attract
“all under heaven” to be civilized in Confucian
harmony. When foreign ambassadors came to the
Chinese court, they “kowtowed” (the process of
“kowtow” was to kneel three times and bow one’s
head to the floor three times at each kneeling). In
return for tribute from other countries, the emperor
sent gifts and special seals that confirmed their ruler’s
authority. In fact, these foreign kings were officially
made part of the Ming Dynasty.
2.2 About Zheng He
Zheng He (also known as Cheng Ho) was born in
Kunyang, Yunnan (present-day Jinning County,
Yunnan Province) around 1371 AD. He was
originally surnamed Ma, and was known as San Bao
(Three Treasures) subsequently. Raised as a Muslim,
Zheng He started to study the teachings of Islam at
an early age. Both Zhang He's father and grandfather
had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, and so were
quite familiar with distant lands. Listening to his
father and grandfather's stories, young Zheng He
developed a consuming curiosity about the outside
world. His father's straight character and altruistic
nature also made a lasting impression on the boy.
Zheng He was captured by Ming Dynasty forces
during their defeat of the remnants of the Yuan
Dynasty in Yunnan, around 1381 AD. He was taken
to Nanjing, where he was castrated and put into
imperial service. He was then sent to Beiping
(Beijing) to serve in the palace of Zhu Di, the Prince
of Yan and the fourth son of the Ming Emperor.
During Zheng He's time in the palace, his
brilliance and loyalty won him Zhu Di's trust. As a
result, the prince chose Zheng He to serve as his
personal bodyguard during his quest to become
emperor. It was during this period that Zheng He's
genius and leadership abilities became apparent. For
four years, Zheng He went through fire and water at
the side of Prince Zhu Di, accompanying him on
countless campaigns and battles throughout China.
Amassing victory after victory, Zheng He was
instrumental in Zhu Di's seizure of imperial power.
Zhu Di often discussed and consulted matters of
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state with him, offering him numerous opportunities
to learn about politics, military affairs, and strategy.
After Zhu Di ascended the throne as the Yong Le
Emperor, he promoted many of the military and civil
officers who had supported him. Among them was
the eunuch officer Zheng He. Zhu Di changed Zheng
He's surname from Ma to Zheng, and elevated him
to the position of Grand Eunuch.
Considering his extraordinary abilities and loyal
service, Emperor Zhu Di deemed Zheng He the
best choice for ocean voyage. Then, Zheng He
was promoted to the third rank, acting as an envoy
of the imperial court to foreign countries,
thus beginning the greatest voyage in the world
history. During his seven voyages, Zheng He fully
displayed his talent and exhibited his extraordinary
capabilities, proving himself to not only an
outstanding military commander but also a superb
diplomat and a statesman, with profound knowledge
about Confucius-Mencius and about the world.
From the first through the seventh ocean voyages,
Zheng He devoted 28 years of his youth to the great
cause of navigation.
3 THE EXPEDITIONS
3.1 Pre-sail preparations
The objectives or motivation of Zheng He’s voyages
can be divided into two phases: the first three
voyages, and the next fourth to seventh voyages. For
the first phase, the aim is to stabilize the emperor’s
status as well as show off China’s richness and
military strength. For the latter phase, the objective
was set to establish a friendly international relation-
ship with other countries, and meanwhile to put
emphasis on tribute trade. It is believed that to
search for Kirin (we call it giraffe) was as well a
purpose in the latter phase, because it was the
symbol of power and auspice in ancient China (Qian
2005). Another argument is that pilgrimage was also
one of the major motivations of the expedition (Ma
2002).
In 1402-1424, during the reign of Emperor Zhu
Di, the imperial court ordered the building and
modification of 25 batches of sea-faring boats,
totalling 2860. They included four batches of what is
known as “treasure ships”, totalling 343, the sea-
faring vessels especially for the voyages to the
western seas. There still remain seven docks for
building ships at the ruins of Nanjing Long Jiang
Shipyard and the Treasure Ship dockyard.
Some historical records show that the sea-faring
fleet under the command of Zheng He consisted of
more than 200 vessels and 61-63 Treasure Ships. As
the boats were built in different places, they varied in
types, such as “FU” boats, “WU” boats, “GUANG”
boats and “SHA” boats. The division of labour
among the boats also varied according to different
tasks they were assigned. There were large, medium
and small sized treasure ships and boats for carrying
water, soldiers, passengers, horses and foods. By
“treasure ship”, it means exquisitely made boats for
shipping official seals, official robes and all kinds of
treasures to and from China. It also carried back rare
animals, souvenirs and rare raw materials, spices,
herbal medicines and crop seeds given to China as
gifts from foreign countries. The king-size treasure
ship measures 133.2 meters long; mid-size ones
measure 111 meters long; and the smallest ones
measure 60 meters long for carrying supplies. In
Zheng He’s fleet, there were also eight-scull boats,
which measures about 24 meters long, with two
masts. It used masts in tailwind and when there was
no wind, it used sculls.
3.2 The seven voyages
From 1405 to 1433, Zheng He made 7 voyages down
to the Western Ocean.
The first voyage sailed in an orderly formation,
“forging ahead in full sail day and night, against
towering waves, just like going through a
thoroughfare” just as a Chinese historian described.
In order to avail the tailwind of the Northeast
monsoon, Zheng He defied fatigue and completed
preparations in less than one month and set sail from
Liujia Port of Taicang. The second voyage, Zheng
He visited Champa, Siam (Thailand), Java, Malacca,
Nanwuli, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Kayal (on the east
shore of the southern end of the Indian Peninsula),
Cochin and Calicut.
By the time of the third expedition, 1409 to 1411,
Zheng He had established a settled program. The
fleet used Malacca as its forward base and there the
fleet was divided into squadrons that sailed
independently to separate destinations.
The fourth voyage was the largest scaled
expedition ever. After left Champa, the fleet split
into two. One visited the Malaysian Peninsula. The
other, led by Zheng He, continued the journey down
the line of Java, Sumatra, Palembang and Malacca.
The mission of Zheng He’s firth voyage was to
escort envoys of 19 countries home and to procure
all kinds of rare animals and spices from the Arabian
Peninsula and East Africa.
Zheng He was order to go on the sixth voyage to
escort the envoys of 16 countries include Mogadishu
and Brawa in East Africa home. In order to sail
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directly to the eastern coasts of Africa, Zheng He
used stellar diagrams to measure the height of the
stars to position the fleet. Menzies (2003) suggested
that the fleet had not merely rounded the Cape of
Good Hope and traversed the Atlantic, they had been
gone to explore Antarctica and the Arctic, North and
South America, and had crossed the Pacific to
Australia.
On the last voyage, when the fleet, carrying with
rare animals and native produce, were sailing toward
Calicut, Zheng He died of illness. According to the
sea-faring tradition, he was buried at sea.
Figure 1 and Table 1 show some more
information about the voyages.
Fig. 1. Map of Ming China and Zheng He’s voyages
Table 1. Time and Size of Fleet of Zheng He
Time Duration
Time
Interval
Total
number of
vessels
Total
number of
people
1405-1407
21-22
-
62
27800
1407-1409
20
3
-
-
1409-1411
18-19
4
48
27 000
1413-1415
19-20
29-30
63
27 670
1417-1419
21
28
63
27 411
1421-1422
19-20
18-19
>100
>20 000
1431-1433
19 111 -
27 550
4 THE TECHNOLOGY
Various advanced technologies of the time were
employed by Zheng He and his fleet to make the
great feat. He successfully inherited the practice of
former navigators in Chinese history and assimilated
their ocean-going knowledge. He selected excellent
sailors, made thorough preparations and built
various types of seaworthy ships equipped with well-
designed devices such as stabilization boards,
watertight compartments, precise compass, and star
boards. Based on the knowledge of his predecessors
and the sea-going practice of his own, he prepared
scientific navigation charts, which are of great value
in history. He inherited and innovated the Chinese
tradition of navigation through celestial observation.
By inventing the technique of star board
measurement for determining the height of celestial
bodies and thus positioning, he elevated the
navigation technology to a new level. He also had
studied the general patterns of monsoon in the in the
Chinese sea area, Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea and
made effective use of these studies in his trip. The
following subsections are contributed to part of the
technologies employed by Zheng He and his fleet.
4.1 Ship building
China has a long history of building ships. The
general design featured vertical sails, with neither
horizontal sails nor fastening ropes. The sails were
usually made of cloth or woven by bamboo chips
stiffened by bamboo poles for wind-efficiency. With
centuries of experience in building ship to sail
storm-tossed oceans, the Chinese marine engineers
had evolved a robust frame built in sections. Each
section was contained by watertight bulkheads at
either end, resembling the internal partitions of a
bamboo. The watertight sections were bolted
together with brass pins weighing several kilograms.
Three layers of hardwood were nailed to a teak
frame, and then the planks were caulked (made
waterproof) with coir (coconut fibre) and sealed with
a mixture of boiled tung-tree oil and lime. This hard,
waterproof lacquer had been used to seal Chinese
ocean-going ships since the seventh century, but so
much tung-tree oil was required to build Zheng He’s
treasure fleets that acres of land along the Yangtze
banks were acquired to plant orchards of tung trees.
Marine engineers at the Longjiang shipyards
designed their ships to survive the fiercest storms on
the open ocean. Reinforced bows enabled the vessel
to smash through the waves, and at either side of the
bow were channels leading to internal compartments.
As the square bow pitched in heavy seas, water was
funnelled in; as the bow surfaced above the waves,
the water drained out, modifying the pitching
motion. A teak keel bound together by iron hoops
ran the length of the ship, and specially cut, large
rectangular stones - or composite stone and mud
balls - were packed around it for ballast. Additional
keels that could be raised and lowered were fitted at
either side for more stability. In a storm, semi-
submersible sea anchors could also be thrown
overboard to reduce rolling. Even in the roughest
weather and sea conditions, pitching and rolling
were greatly reduced by these ingenious
modifications. With the sophisticated technologies
China was able to build largest ship of the world at
the time. Some record noted the treasure ship is as
large as 132m in length and 54m of width. Figure 2
compares the treasure ship to Columbus’s St. Maria.
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Fig. 2. Comparison - Zheng He's treasure ship (440 feet) and
Columbus' Santa Maria (85 feet), by Caroline Hsu
The giant ship could survive typhoons and the
sectional construction reduced the risk of sinking in
case of a collision with a reef or an iceberg. They
were designed to remain afloat even if two
compartments were flooded after being punctured by
coral or ice. To increase cargo capacity, the hulls of
the junks were very wide compared with their length
and they were float-bottomed. Their sails were
balanced lugs, four-sided sails hanging from a
yardarm set at an oblique angle - the characteristic
sail of China. They were stiffened by a series of
bamboo battens, so the design was extremely
efficient when sailing before the wind. It also
allowed the sails to be reefed, or lowered, quickly in
an emergency.
A story tells that Zheng He’s flagship was once
holed on a reef but its triple hull and watertight
compartments enabled him to reach Malacca without
sinking, according to some legend.
It is also proposed that we can envisage the
development of modern shipping industry by
comparing that of Zheng He’s time. Shipbuilding at
the time had shown the characteristics of large size,
high speed and specialization (Yang & Jin 2005).
4.2 Celestial fixing
Zheng He developed a whole set of navigation
technology by looking at stars. Accompanying
Zheng He’s nautical chart, there were four stellar
diagrams. Figure 3 shows portions of two of them.
Those diagrams passed on by Zheng He have not
only enabled us to recapture the stars observed by
navigators but also revealed the secrets of ancient
navigation.
Zheng He was able to determine his latitude by
measuring the height of Polaris to the north and
Southern Cross to the south. Twelve star boards
(Fig. 4) were used depending on the different height
of the stars. The size of the largest board is around
24 cm by 24 cm (12 fingers as it was termed at
the time, using the size of human thumb) and
the smallest, 2 cm by 2 cm (1 finger), with 2 cm
difference in succession (Zhao 2005). By using the
attached thread, around 60 cm in length, the observer
was able to fix the distance from the eye to the
board, thus fix the angle of observation of the board,
about 1.9° per finger. When observing the celestial
bodies, the observer aligned the star on the upper
side of the board and the horizon to the lower side,
and thus the height of the star was determined.
According to different heights of the stars, different
sized boards could be used. By using Zheng He’s
method, the positioning error could be controlled
within 4.5 nautical miles, which was far superior to
the general level at that time (Zhao 2005).
Fig. 3. Portions of stellar diagrams
Fig. 4. Star boards
Menzies (2003) describes quite clearly astro-
navigation of the fleet. The fleet used Polaris in the
northern hemisphere. But when they were in Indian
Ocean, and altered course to the southwest, southern
Africa. Polaris, the Chinese guiding star, would
have sunk closer and closer to the horizon and
become invisible at 3°40′N, north of Mogadishu in
Somalia. Until they found another guiding star in the
southern hemisphere to fulfil the same purpose as
Polaris in the north, they were sailing into the
unknown. The Chinese needed a star in the southern
hemisphere to replace Polaris in the northern, and in
the event they selected two: Canopus for latitude and
the Southern Cross for navigation, they would have
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to sail far into the icy waters of the Deep South to
locate the stars. To use Canopus for latitude, the
Chinese had to determine its precise position by
sailing to a point directly underneath the star. The
Southern Cross points to the South Pole, but unlike
Polaris, it is not directly above the Pole. To be able
to use the Southern Cross for accurate navigation,
the Chinese also had to locate its position in the sky
- its height and longitude. Once again, the only way
to calculate the precise position of the Southern
Cross was to sail to a position directly beneath it.
Menzies believes that only when Canopus and the
Southern Cross had been located could new lands in
the southern hemisphere be accurately placed on
charts. When they reached Mount Adams in the
West Falklands, the Chinese cartographers were
nearly underneath Canopus. They were taking such
pains to fix their position so that they could calculate
their precise latitude: 52°40′S. By cross-referencing
Canopus to Polaris they could establish Canopus’s
height and then use that star to obtain their latitude
anywhere in the southern oceans.
4.3 Nautical charts
Zheng He Hanghai Tu (Zheng He's Nautical Charts)
provides comprehensive records of Zheng He's
western voyages. The original chart is a long scroll
called “Chart of the course taken by the treasure ship
from its start at Longjing to the destinations of
foreign lands”. That is one of the achievements of
Zheng He in his western sea voyages and also the
earliest international chart in the world (Information
Office of Fujian Province 2005).
Fig. 5. Zheng He's Nautical Chart
The charts utilize traditional Chinese landscape
painting techniques to portray features such as
mountains, islands, bridges, temples, and cities in
detailed perspective. Figure 5 illustrates a portion of
the chart. These graphic representations enabled the
navigators to more easily identify important
geographical features from shipboard. The charts
include over 530 place names, including over thirty
Asian and African countries and regions. Over fifty
separate routes are delineated. Navigational data
inscribed along the routes, such as compass headings
and time notations.
Zheng He’s nautical charts are of great both
historical and practical value. These charts fully
reflect the high level of navigational expertise of the
time, and indicate that China's maritime technology
had essentially been perfected. It has been proposed
that when Columbus, da Gama, Magellan and Cook
later made the “discoveries’, they were carrying
copies of the Chinese maps with then when they
set off on their own journeys into the “unknown”
(Menzies 2003).
4.4 Course and speed measuring
Compass was the main means used by Zheng He in
his epic ocean voyages. The compass was used to fix
the direction and “geng” which recorded by Chinese
era is used to measure distance.
The compass used in the treasure ship was a kind
of “wet compass”, that is a needle floating in water
contained in a circular box with the compass points
carved on wooden rim. On the compass there are 24
scales. Each scale, marked by different Chinese
characters, represents a direction. The characters
provided a way to mark the direction course route
lines on the charts. The ship may follow one
particular scale mark or follow a point between two
scales.
Fig. 6. Magnetic compass
Figure 6 shows the magnetic compass used by
Zheng He’s fleet. The lower part of the figure is a
replica of the compass and the upper shows the
bearing correspondents of the Chinese character
marks. Figure 7 shows a simple form of a “wet
compass” (Xin Yuan-ou 2003).
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Fig. 7. Simple form of “wet compass”
Zheng He’s fleet used hourglass to measure the
distances it covered. It was an instrument for
measuring time by the trickling of sand through
small opening from one glass bulb to another below
it in fixed period of time, usually a “geng”
(Information Office of Fujian Province 2005).
“Geng” is a time recording unit, representing one of
the five two-hour periods of a night, but here it refers
to a unit of distance. Usually one “geng” was 60 li,
about 30 kilometers. When taking the measure, they
threw a wooden plank into the sea and then walked
to the rear of the ship at a certain fixed speed to
gauge the ship’s speed. Then route and distance were
calculated and drawn on a map. That is what we see
as the navigation chart, a precious material for
studying Zheng He’s western ocean voyages.
By using compass and the “geng”, navigators
would know the position of the ship in the vast seas.
4.5 Organization
The eunuch captains and admirals of these great
treasure ships were men of awesome ability but, like
the European explorers who followed them, they
often drew their crews from the lowest levels of
society. Most were criminals, sent to sea in lieu of
imprisonment or internal exile, and in some respects
life as a crewman was far better than a prison
sentence. They were provided with a uniform - a
knee-length white robe - food and wine, and were
well cared for when at sea. The admiral’s staff
included 180 medial officers, and every ship and
company of soldiers had a medical officer for every
150 men. There was a varied and plentiful diet on
the treasure ships, but the perils of voyaging through
uncharted waters meant that life expectancy was
short: only one in ten returned from the great
voyages of exploration and discovery. But those who
had survived the earlier voyages of the treasure fleets
had been well rewarded. They were often freed and
given endowments or pensions.
Like all soldiers, the Chinese were superstitious.
Each of Zheng He’s ships had a small cabin
dedicated to Ma Tsu, the mariners’ deity, and
prayers were said to her every evening before
supper. When the crew went ashore in foreign lands,
they carried round bronze mirrors to ward off evil
spirits; on the reverse was the eight-spoked Taoist
wheel.
The elite of the crew were the navigators and
compass-men, operating from an enclosed small
bridge and living and dinning separately from the
rest of the man. The junks also carried artisans and
craftsmen of every description, capable of performing
any task. Caulkers, sail-makers, anchor- and pump-
repairers, scaffolders, carpenters and tung oil
painters would keep the ships in good repair on their
long voyage into the distant oceans. Tone-carvers
and stonemasons were also embarked to leave
permanent legacies of the fleets’ voyages across the
world (Menzies 2003).
4.6 Provisions
Provisions were fundamental and critical for
sustaining the long voyages at sea. The staple foods -
Soya beans, wheat, millet and rice - were carried in
separate grain ships, enabling a fleet to stay at sea for
several months without replenishing supplies. Soya
beans, grown in tubs all year round, were used in
several ways. Soaked in water, they sprouted yellow
curls from the green bean. The sprouting process
increased the content of ascorbic acid, riboflavin and
nicotinic acid, the basis of vitamin C, and protected
the crew from the deficiency disease scurvy. The
Chinese know well the dangers of scurvy and the
remedies to prevent it. Enough citrus fruits - limes,
lemons, oranges, pomelos and coconuts - were taken
aboard to give every man protection against the
disease.
Some of the rice was brown, not polished, and the
husks contained vitamin B1. As a result, beriberi - a
disease causing degeneration of the nervous system -
was rare among the crew. Fresh vegetables mainly
comprised cabbages, turnips and bamboo shoots.
When they ran out, the sprouting soya beans were
particularly valuable. Soya beans also produced
“mike”. When boiled, it became curd, or tofu, rich in
vitamin D, while fermentation of soya produced soy
sauce. Tofu and vegetables were flavoured with a
sauce made from fermented fish, soy, dried herbs
and spices, or glutamate made by chewing wheat
flour. The grains were chewed, spat out into a
container and left to ferment. The method is still
used in South America today. Noodles, pasta, and
dumplings were also made from wheat flour. Sugar
cane was used to sweeten dried fruit and was also
chewed raw by the crew.
Fruit and vegetables were preserved in ingenious
ways. Fruit was dried or caramelized, pears, bamboo
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shoots and grapes were buried in sand, and vegetable
was salted, pickled and marinated in vinegar and
sugar. Meat was limited, for the most part
comprising Chinese pigs, dogs bred for purpose and
frogs kept in tubs. Chickens were kept for divination
and were never eaten on board, but fresh, salted,
dried and fermented fish were plentiful. They were
caught by the trained otters, working in pairs to herd
shoals into nets, and by an array of hooks and nets.
They crew drank green oolong and red tea, carried in
both leaf and cake form, and rice wine was hugely
popular.
Wine was also distilled into liqueurs, brandy and
vinegar. The junks required huge quantities of fresh
water for crew and horse and replenished their tanks
whenever an opportunity arose, but they also knew
how to distil it from seawater, using paraffin wax or
seal blubber for fuel. Their capacity to desalinate
seawater and the fresh vegetable they carried gave
them the ability to cross the broad oceans.
5 IMPACTS AND SPIRIT
Zheng He’s expedition scores perpetual contribution
to the politics, economy, and culture, external
contacts of the ancient China, as well as the world
civilizations and other expeditions followed. It
helped China know the world in ancient time (Fig 8).
It has turned to be a spiritual wealth and an excelling
cultural legacy of China and even of the world.
Fig. 8. 1763 Chinese map of the world, claiming to incorporate
information from a 1418 map. Discovered in Shanghai by Liu
Gang in 2001
According to Menzies (2003), Magellan never
claimed to be the first man to have circumnavigated
the world; never the less, he was still in an amazing
feat. Magellan, Dias, da Gama and Cabral were very
skilful navigators and seamen; they were also brave
and resolute men with awesome qualities of
leadership, but not one of them actually discovered
“New Lands”. When they set sail, each one of them
had a chart showing where he was going. All their
“discoveries” had been made nearly a century earlier
by the Chinese. Nor did Christopher Columbus
‘discover’ the Americas. Far from setting sail full of
fear that his fleet might fall off the edge of the
world, he knew where he was going, as can be seen
in excerpts from his logs when he was still in mid-
Atlantic. Since that Vasco da Gama was not the first
to sail to India round the Cape of Good Hope, that
Christopher Columbus did not discover America,
that Magellan was not the first to circumnavigate the
world, why they deserve these glories? Because they
were on the shoulders of giants! All the charts they
used contain information that can only have come
from cartographers aboard the pioneering Chinese
fleets.
Unlike conquering other nation, collecting treasure
or expanding territory, peace and amicability are
Zheng He’s spirit. In undertaking the ocean-going
voyages, Zheng He pursued a policy of peace as laid
down in the imperial edict, which said: “you may go
the way of the heavenly kingdom, strictly abide by
words, keep in bounds, and refrain from bullying the
weak and share peace and happiness in the world”
(Information Office of Fujian Province 2005). Through
the voyages, Zheng He safeguarded peace, sowed the
seeds of amicability/friendship and deepened the
understanding of the people of other countries.
As a friendly envoy of the Chinese people, Zheng
He got on quite well with the local people. During
his voyages, group after group of foreign envoys and
business people came to China and more and more
Chinese went down the seas to seek a living outside
China and they got melt into the local communities.
Zheng He treated countries with a relatively
backward economy and culture equally and spread
the civilization of the Chinese nation, thus
contributing to the cultural exchange and mutual
understanding between China and foreign countries.
Many neighbouring countries sent their envoys to
China. In some countries, even the kings went in
person to China to conduct exchanges. The kings of
the kingdoms of Sulu and Borneo all headed their
ministers and other official to China to learn. When
the King of Sulu died in China, the Ming
government buried him with a ceremony.
According to statistics, there were 90 diplomatic
missions coming to visit China during the period of
Emperor Zhu Di alone. During the more than 30
years, 292 Asian and African countries sent 400
diplomatic missions to China, with each mission
making up of 60-70 people or even as many as 500-
600 people. Historical records show that in the 21
st
year of the reign of Emperor Zhu Di, a diplomatic
293
mission of more than 12000 people came to visit
China (Information Office of Fujian Province 2005).
6 CONCLUSIONS
Zheng He was a great navigator in the history of
China and the world and a momentous pioneer in the
great geographical discoveries. Zheng He’s voyages
were the record-breaking feats in the history. He
carried out the expeditions earliest in time and
largest in fleet scale. He developed and employed
the most advanced shipbuilding technology in his
time. The most sophisticated and systematic
navigation techniques were fully demonstrated in the
voyages. And the most powerful navy force was well
established. Zheng He’s great voyages are the
magnificent landmarks not only in China’s political
and diplomatic history but also in navigational
annals of the world.
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