Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 99

The Little-Known Voyage of Zheng He
St Peter's Catholic Primary School, Kuo, Kin Lok Darren - 10
A long time ago in China, the emperor wanted his people to voyage to the western seas to spread
his imperial influence. Therefore, he designated his minister, Zheng He, to be the fleet admiral of this
voyage. Then, Zheng He started the preparation for this voyage.
One day at a shipyard near the emperor’s castle, the fleet was preparing to sail to the western seas.
The emperor told Zheng He and his fleet, “Your main purpose of this voyage is to spread our Chinese
culture and showcase the strengths of our majestic nation. You also need to establish good relationships with
the western countries.” “It will be as you wish, my majesty,” replied Zheng He. “Has everyone prepared?”
shouted Zheng He seriously. “Yes, we are all ready to go!” the sailors replied in high spirits. “Open the
door to the shipyard,” shouted Zheng He loudly. Then, they set sail and waved goodbye to the emperor.
On the first few days of the voyage, the weather was pretty good. The sun always shone above the
fleet and the breeze blew softly in daytime. However, the sky turned grey gradually afterwards. “Oh no! A
thunderstorm is coming. I think we have to take preventive measures,” thought Zheng He. He called all
hands on deck. A sailor asked, “Admiral Zheng, why did you call all of us to come over?” “A powerful
storm is coming. I’ve prepared some garlic and ginger water. They will help you to avoid sea sickness,”
replied Zheng He.
However, the captain refused and said, “I hate both garlic and ginger. They stink!” “Please try
some, or you will have sea sickness when the storm comes,” said Zheng He. “No way! My body is strong
and I’m a pro at sea. I ain’t afraid of a little storm! This is just a piece of cake!” shouted the captain. Then,
the wind and waves got stronger and stronger, and the boat also swayed side to side. A waterspout formed in
a flash and it suddenly swallowed the whole fleet! Everyone felt dizzy.
After some time, the storm stopped and the ship was floating in the air! Zheng He woke up and
was transfixed by the wondrous view he had before him. He saw countless colorful nebulae all around! “Is
everyone alright?” Zheng He asked weakly. “Our ship is uncontrollable,” a sailor said. Zheng He opened
his star navigation handbook to check where the ship was. As he looked around, he saw enormous bright
and special stars shining in the starry space. Most of the stars had not been seen before and not even found in
his star navigation handbook. He thought, “Where are we?”. Finally, Zheng He remembered an ancient
astronomy book mentioned that there was an unknown dimension in space. He just realized that they had
fallen into that unknown dimension!
Suddenly, a strange force sucked the fleet towards an unknown planet. They landed on the surface
of the planet and saw many small elves wearing red metallic clothes. “Well, I think our visit to the western
world has begun,” thought Zheng He.
The elves took Zheng He and his sailors to see the ruler of the planet, Buddha. “Welcome to
Planet Leshan,” said the Buddha. “Greetings, we are the envoys from China on planet Earth. We want to
have cultural exchange with your planet. Here are some presents for you,” said Zheng He as he handed over
many precious treasures to the Buddha. “Wow, thank you. It’s my honor to receive your gifts and share our
cultures with each other. Please let me give you a present too. We will teach you how to build structures
such as city walls, palaces and statues. I also want to send our envoys to visit and learn from your planet too,”
said the Buddha. “That’s very impressive! We will report to our emperor about the friendliness of Planet
Leshan,” said Zheng He.
Then, the Buddha took Zheng He around the planet with their super-duper space ship. After that,
the Buddha sent the whole fleet back to Earth together with his envoys. Zheng He safely went back to
China and told the emperor everything about their incredible tour on Planet Leshan. The emperor was very
amazed at what Zheng He said and he praised Zheng He for his effort and bravery. Meanwhile, Planet
Leshan’s envoys taught them how to build various infrastructures. They then returned to Planet Leshan after
the people in China had mastered the building skills.
In the following years, Zheng He instructed many people to build and fortify their structures
including the boundless city walls and the royal palace. Afterwards, those city walls helped them to defend
their country in many battles. Zheng He and the emperor were happy about that and were very thankful to
the Buddha. Then, the emperor named the fortified walls as “The Great Wall of China” and the palace as
“The Forbidden City”. They became the biggest city wall and the greatest castle groups in the world. To
show their thankfulness and respect to the Buddha, they also built an enormous statue of the Buddha to
commemorate him. The emperor named this statue “Leshan Giant Buddha”. Zheng He hoped this biggest
Buddha in the world could help the people on Planet Leshan to spot their location easily and visit China
again in the future.