Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Non-Fiction 2019 | Page 35

Zheng He, born in 1371 and hailing from Kunming, Yunnan, was originally surnamed ‘Ma’, a Chinese
rendition of Muhammad. He was ten when he was captured by Ming forces pushing remaining Mongol
forces in Yunnan, then castrated and sent as a servant soldier of the then-Prince of Yan Zhu Di, who later
became the Yongle emperor. Zheng proved to be talented in literary and military training, ascending in his
ranks. Zhu Di became good friends with Zheng because of his loyalty and his skill in military commanding.
Under Zheng’s command, the 250 strong treasure fleets set sail to the islands of Southeast Asia, India, the
Persian Gulf, and later on farther away to the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. The ships ventured out
brimming with silk, coins, ceramics, jewellery, and returning laden with fragrant woods, animals, medical
herbs, Indian spices, African ivory, Arabian horses, and tributaries brought from foreign territories.
The first voyage lasted from 1405-1407. The treasure fleet first went to Champa near modern day Quy
Nhon in Vietnam, to Java and Malaca. They landed in Sumatra, then Ceylon (present day Sri Lanka),
before moving around the tip of India to Calicut. There, they traded and exchanged gifts with the locals.
When the fleet turned back and was traveling through the Malacca Strait, the pirate fleet of Chen Zuyi
attacked the treasure-laden armada. The ships and sailors fought back, successfully capturing Chen Zuyi and
when the fleet arrived back in China, they executed him.
The second and third voyages lasted from 1407-1411, and the fleet stopped in ports in and around Siam and
India. On their return journey, they travelled back to Ceylon. There, the locals treated the Chinese with
hostility and committed piracy towards neighbouring states. So the Ming-Kotte war erupted, ending with
King Alakeshvara being captured and sent to the Yongle emperor. The king was later sent back to Ceylon.
In 1413, the treasure fleet set off again., This time Zheng led the armada all the way to the desert ports of
the Arabian Peninsula and the vibrant coast of East Africa. They landed in Hormuz (Iran), Aden (Yemen),
Djofar (Arabia), and Muscat (Oman). With the help of the Chinese Arabic translators, they engaged in the
trade of camels, dried fruits, Islamic scriptures, and spices. They then sailed south, to Mogadishu and Barawa
(Somalia) and Malindi (Kenya), and traded gold, salt, ivory, and exotic animals, including the giraffe that
later inspired the auspicious Chinese mythical creature the qilin . On their return, they captured Sekandar, a
rebel leader against the harbour kingdom of Samudera Pasai near Malacca. For their fifth and sixth voyages,
the treasure fleet sailed the same routes and brought many tributaries back who acknowledged the Chinese
emperor as their ruler.
In 1424, the Yongle emperor died, and the treasure armada halted for ten years before being ordered by the
Xuande emperor to make one last voyage across the Western ocean. This time, the ships visited the ports
from the Horn of Africa, the coast of India, and the city states scattered across the Indonesian archipelago.
Zheng died while in Calicut at the age of 62 and was buried at sea. Faced with the invasion of the Mongols
in the north and a depleted treasury back in the capital, the voyages were put to a stop for good, and the
treasure ships never set sailed again.
By the first quarter of the Ming dynasty, China had emerged as a naval power unsurpassed anywhere else,
having reached a peak of maritime technology with advances in navigation and shipbuilding techniques as a
result of centuries-worth of maritime experience.
Before the Ming dynasty, the Chinese had developed the magnetic compass in the early Han period and
used it for maritime navigation two centuries before Europe. Astrologers were taken aboard to analyse the
position of the stars, and by using star charts and detailed compass bearings available since the late Song era,
ships were able to pinpoint their location on the waters and thus accurately predict their movement on a
map. Another invention developed in the first century was the sternpost rudder. The rudder, positioned at
the rear of the ship, could be moved back and forth that allowed the vessel to turn much more easily,
particularly when navigating crowded harbours and narrow canals.
Along with navigation and steering devices, an essential improvement in shipbuilding was the construction
of double hulls that separated the main ship from the water via a second watertight compartment. This
proved be life saving when the outside hull was rammed, as the ship could still remain buoyant. The double
hulls also served as a method of transporting and storing water.