Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4-7 2019 | Page 311

The Ming Treasure Voyage
Harrow International School Shanghai, Shen, Skye - 9
Hello and welcome to the history show. Today we will be talking about the Ming Treasure Voyages. It all
happened from 1405 to 1433. The voyages were started by Zhu Di, The Yongle Emperor.
There are many important people involved in the voyages, one of who is the Yongle emperor, Zhu Di. He
was a friend of Zheng He and also the emperor from 17 July 1402 to12 August 1424. Zheng He was the
main leader of the fleets. His dad, Ma He, was captured because he resisted the great Ming empire. He was
then forced to be a servant, but his son, Zheng He and Zhu Di became friends and then Zheng He became
one of Zhu Di’s most trusted generals. Zheng He died on the way back to Nanjing on the seventh voyage.
His body was buried in the ocean at Calicut, India. Then he was given an official tomb in Nanjing, although
his body never made it there.
The seven voyages all happened from 1405 to 1433. The first one was from 1405 to 1407, featuring 27,000
troops and 317 ships. The fleet visited many places such as Champa (central Vietnam), Siam (today's
Thailand), Island Java, Straits of Malacca, Cochin and the Kingdom of Calicut on the Southwestern coast of
India. On his return, Zheng He put down a pirate uprising in Sumatra, bringing the pirate chief, an overseas
Chinese, back to Nanjing for punishment. The second voyage was from 1407 to 1409, featuring 68 ships,
traveling to Champa, Java, Siam, Cochin, Ceylon and Calicut. The third voyage was from 1409-1411,
featuring 48 treasure ships, with 30,000 troops. Zheng He visited many of the same places from the first
voyage but also traveled to Malacca on the Malay Peninsula and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). When fighting broke
out between Zheng He’s forces and those of a small kingdom, Zheng He put down the fighting, captured
the king and brought him back to China where he was released by the emperor.
The fourth voyage was from 1413 to 1415, featuring 63 ships and 28,000 troops. It visited many of the same
places, including Hormuz on the Persian Gulf. The fifth voyage was from 1417 to 1419. The main reason
for this voyage was to return 17 tributes from South Asia. On this trip Zheng He ventured even further, first
to Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea, and then on to the east coast of Africa, stopping at the city states of
Mogadishu and Brawa (in today's Somalia), and Malindi (in present day Kenya). The sixth voyage was from
1421 to 1422, with 41 ships. Zheng He went to many of the previously visited Southeast Asia places and
India’s courts and stopped on the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and the coast of Africa, mainly to return
nineteen ambassadors to their homelands. Two years later on 12 th August 1424, the Yongle emperor died.
His successor, the Hongxi Emperor, put the voyages on a halt! Unfortunately, he died the very next year of
a heart attack. The Hongxi emperor’s successor, Xuande Emperor, allowed one last voyage for Zheng He
and his crew. The last, but not least voyage was the seventh voyage, from 1431 to 1433, with more than a
hundred ships and over 27000 men! It was more like a farewell voyage than a treasure voyage like the other
six voyages. Zheng He unfortunately died on the way back. After that the money and resources were shifted
to build a big, powerful, strong, beautiful wall to keep the annoying neighbors (the Mongles) out.
There were many interesting things that the Chinese brought back from the voyages and once they brought
back an actual living GIRAFFE! The Yongle Emperor He was extremely shocked because it looked very
similar to a Chinese mythical beast, and when seeing it, it meant that the right emperor was on the throne.
China was impressive in building ships four times bigger then Marco Polo’s ships and they also built a large
quantity of them, as well as a great giant walls. The Chinese exploring spirit has helped human society
progress.