Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 2 - 2 | Page 57

New Tales of The Ming Treasure voyages
Shanghai Singapore International School, Roine, Kai Kustaa - 11
I was a crew member of Da Ming’s treasure ship, we had gold and silk and other exclusive items to
give out to other countries for exchange. We aimed to build relationships with other countries so that we
would not be enemies.
One day the emperor commanded us to sail to the west to explore and collect more exotic items that
we have never seen before. So we set sail. On the first week, we only traveled under a hundred kilometers
as some crew aboard felt ill. They have gotten seasick and had to be rushed off the ship and went to a nearby
city for the rest. We had another ordeal the following week as a storm struck our fleet and almost swept
everyone off the ship. When our food supplies ran out, Zheng He ordered, “I have explored many species
of fish in the sea. So let’s try to fish to get food to eat.’’ Everybody appreciated the idea and we ate fish for
about ten weeks .
Suddenly some land emerged not far from my sight and I exclaimed, “Look! We’re not far from land.
Let’s be ready to get there. Let’s steer our ship there. So we packed our things and about an hour later, we
arrived at Siam. The local people saw us and welcomed us there. We gave them our luxurious things and
built friendship with them. In return, we received an Asian elephant I had never seen before. We took it
aboard and locked it in a cage in case it attacked humans. We continued our journey and we passed the
Malay Archipelago and headed toward Burma. Everything was made of gold even the pagodas. On the way
to India, a greedy pirate saw that we had lots of fabulous things and he wanted murder us to get those
treasure from us. I steamed up and fired a cannon on his poor ship which left the ship sinking like a piece of
melted ice on a hot pot. Everybody cheered! Kai fired the evil pirates down! I beamed with pride.
About two weeks later, we arrived in India. It was not easy to deal with them and they did not like us
so they attacked us. We did not take revenge due to the high damage to our ship after the encounter with
the pirates. When we left India, we headed to Ceylon. We chose Ceylon as it was one the nearest countries
to India and Persia was also nearby. Neither people from India nor Ceylon welcomed us so we traveled to
Persia, a country in the middle east.
On the first day traveling to Iran, we fished. A couple of weeks later, we continued to eat the same
fish. A man tried to affect the morale of the crew by saying, “Oh gross! This food stinks!” Then he
intimidated everyone, “There’s poison in the fish, don’t eat it!’’ Everybody started groaning, “Come on this
fish stinks. How long will it take us to finish this fish? We want to get to the glorious city of Tehran.’’
Zheng He got really mad, he punched the man’s face and he raged, “What in the world are you doing
here?” The man replied, ‘‘I am a spy sent by the sect who is opposing the Ming emperor.” Zheng He
ordered the man to be thrown overboard. Then next day we arrived in Tehran. We met the Mirza who
welcomed us. We sat down and started to ask the Mirza, “Can we rest a day here around or in the palace?”
He replied, “Sure, there is a very comfortable place behind the palace. You can rest there.’’ We returned the
favour with gold and silk. The Mirza was a nice guy. But that is not true about everyone. Some tried to
chase us out of the city. They sneered, “Even there is the Mirza’s permission, you still can’t come. Look at
your clothes! They are like people who do farming. Beggars are not allowed or welcomed to this city. If you
don’t leave you will be severely punished.” An arrogant man almost attacked Zheng He but he was stopped
by the imperial guards. I tried to appease him by giving our luxurious things to him and his gang. Zheng He
thanked me for resolving the conflict but we lost some precious silk and other treasures. I told him that I
gave them some aluminum cans coated with gold paint. He was impressed by my quick-wit.
We still had not travelled to Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabi, Somalia and Kenya. I had heard some stories
on these lands. Somehow, we reached Somalia and there were lots of unusual looking things. We saw
giraffes and lions that never existed in Ming China. We asked the locals if we could take these incredible
animals from this grassland. They answered, “Yes, you may.” The crew members had to secure the animals
in case they escape. We really liked the presents. On the way to Kenya, Zheng He got seasick and also had
illness so he could not come with us inland. I had to lead the rest of the crew and searched for outrageous
things. We caught a Hippopotamus and brought it up the ship. The crew said, “It is so hard. We can’t do
this.” I burst out my fear and roared, “Hang in there! You can do this with your strengths and wits!’’ We
got most of the treasures and set sail home. Unfortunately, half way through the journey, Zheng He suffered
as he accidently ate the poisonous part of the puffer fish. He passed away onboard at 61 years old. We could
not do anything to keep his body so we threw it into the sea. Even though the was his last place, we kept
his shirts and belongings but in 1480, people took out the things and burned them. His exploration left
behind treasures for people up till this day.