did zheng he visit australia

Peaceful explorer or war criminal: Who was Zheng He, China's Muslim symbol of diplomacy?

He was a six-foot-five Muslim eunuch who sailed from China to the coast of Africa. The greatest explorer you've never heard of.

Key points:

• Zheng He has been promoted as a symbol of China's peaceful rise
• His fleets sailed from China through South-East Asia, the Middle East and Africa
• Some dispute the 'peaceful explorer' narrative and say he represents aggressive expansion

While it presides over a major crack down against Muslims , the Chinese Communist Party is also revitalising the myth of Zheng He — a naval admiral who commanded epic voyages in the early 15th century throughout South-East Asia, India, the Middle East and beyond.

As he spruiks the Belt and Road Initiative from Asia to Europe , President Xi Jinping has regularly invoked Zheng as a symbol of friendship with the world, particularly in South-East Asia, and peaceful Chinese ascendency.

Dubbed "Chinese Columbus", the explorer has even inspired a trendy coffee shop in Melbourne.

But was he truly the symbol of diplomacy that Beijing would have us believe?

Who was Zheng He?

Leading voyages across the globe a century before Christopher Columbus reached the Americas , Zheng has been described as one of the greatest explorers of all time.

He was born Ma He in 1371 in China's southern Yunnan province to parents from the ethnic Hui minority, who are majority Muslim.

While little is known about his family, Zheng's father and grandfather both made the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia — more than 5,000 kilometres from China.

His name Ma — the Chinese derivative of Muhammad — would later be replaced by Zheng, a name conferred on him by the Ming emperor as he rose to the highest possible rank for a eunuch.

Zheng undertook a series of epic voyages between 1405 and 1433 , leading more than 20,000 men aboard a fleet consisting of more than 100 ships — easily the most advanced navy of its day.

He is thought to have become interested in Buddhist teachings later in life and died in India.

While Zheng's fleet showed off Chinese might and naval prowess, orthodox Chinese histories depict him as never engaging in gunboat diplomacy, rather developing friendships with foreign leaders.

"He did not occupy a single piece of land, establish any fortress, or seize any wealth from other countries," China's then-deputy minister of communications Xu Zu-yuan said in 2004.

"In the commercial and trade activities, he adopted the practice of giving more than he received, and thus he was welcomed and lauded by the people of the various countries along his routes."

This is clearly how Beijing would like to be viewed internationally today, with the People's Liberation Army Navy naming one of its ships the Zheng He.

In 2012, the vessel undertook a "harmonious mission" to countries including Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Italy, Canada and Indonesia, with the aim of strengthening ties with foreign navies.

What is his significance for Chinese foreign policy?

Xi Jinping drew upon Zheng's fleet during his opening speech to the Belt and Road forum in 2017.

"These pioneers won their place in history not as conquerors with warships, guns or swords. Rather, they are remembered as friendly emissaries," Mr Xi said.

"Generation after generation, the silk routes travellers have built a bridge for peace and East-West cooperation."

Zheng is the "key person that represents the maritime Silk Road", said Sow Keat Tok of the Asia Institute at the University of Melbourne.

The explorer's legacy looms large in South-East Asia — a fact Beijing has sought to leverage in its dealings with the region.

"If you look how Zheng He is spoken about in folklore and oral accounts, it was generally positive," Dr Tok told the ABC.

In Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia, Zheng holds special status for his role in propagating Islam, remembered with mosques, temples and museums across the archipelago.

Xiamen University historian Liao Dake has written that he "supported the independence of the Melaka kingdom, injecting a driving force to the diffusion of Islam".

While reporting on an Indonesian parliamentarian's visit to the country last week, Chinese state media noted that Zheng's "legacy in places like Indonesia continues to show that his expeditions established important links that went beyond diplomacy and economics to include cultural aspects and other ties".

Prior to visiting Manila in November 2018, Mr Xi wrote an opinion piece widely published by Philippine newspapers that declared: "Over 600 years ago, Chinese navigator Zheng He made multiple visits to the Manila Bay on his seven overseas voyages seeking friendship and cooperation."

But Philippine Supreme Court justice Antonio Carpio claimed last month that historians had proven Zheng never came to the Philippines, and that his myth was simply part of China's attempts to justify its territorial claims in the South China Sea .

"I call this the fake history of the millennium, the fake news of the century," he said.

Was Zheng a peaceful explorer or something more sinister?

According to Dr Tok, Beijing's drawing upon the memory of Zheng "conveys the message that China is becoming a more powerful country without being more threatening".

While Beijing has emphasised the allegedly pacifist nature of his exploration, however, some Western observers see Zheng as representing something else.

Last year, the United States' then-secretary of defence James Mattis declared China had "long-term designs to rewrite the existing global order".

"The Ming Dynasty appears to be their model, albeit in a more muscular manner, demanding other nations become tribute states, kowtowing to Beijing; espousing One Belt, One Road."

Geoff Wade, an Australian historian focused on China's engagement with South-East Asia, has argued that Zheng's voyages represented a violent form of "maritime proto-colonialism".

In the case of Vietnam, for example, Dr Wade has written : "There was invasion, occupation, the imposition of a military and civil administration, economic exploitation, and domination by a court in the capital of the dominating power."

Ming rule of Vietnam is part of 1,000 years of Chinese domination of the South-East Asian country, which continues to anger Vietnamese nationalists to this day .

Dr Wade has written that the Zheng He voyages "involved the use of huge military force to invade peoples who were ethnically different from the Chinese, to occupy their territory, to break that territory into smaller administrative units, to appoint pliant rulers and 'advisers', and to economically exploit the regions so occupied".

Wildly different interpretations of Zheng's history reflect contemporary debates in Asia , Africa and the Pacific.

Is China a benevolent power seeking win-win relations with smaller states, or a bully seeking to economically exploit them?

Can a Muslim figure be a Communist Party-endorsed icon?

While Zheng's cosmopolitan image is being boosted on the world stage, the Communist Party is cracking down against Islam at home .

The Hui are culturally more similar to the ethnic Han majority, and thus, until recently, had not been targeted by Beijing to the extent of Turkic Uyghurs .

But Human Rights Watch has described "increasing scrutiny" of Hui people in their home region of Ningxia in north-central China.

Authorities have ordered mosques deemed too Arabic in style to be altered or demolished, as part of a broader policy to "Sinicise Islam" .

Last year, thousands of Hui people protested the demolition of the Grand Mosque in the Ningxia town of Weizhou — a rare display of defiance from a group often described as a "model Muslim minority".

"Chinese authorities' exploitation of the great expeditions of Zheng He, a Muslim, for diplomatic and commercial gains — while interning millions of Muslims in the Xinjiang region — is the height of hypocrisy and shamelessness," Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China, told the ABC.

"It also exposes the real goal of empire building and creation of vassal states along the Belt and Road route."

"The Chinese Communist Party's ongoing ideological indoctrination of all sectors of Chinese society with 'Xi Jinping thought' and efforts to 'Sinicise' religion make a mockery of any claims by authorities to respecting pluralism," Ms Hom said.

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China’s greatest naval explorer sailed his treasure fleets as far as East Africa

Spreading Chinese goods and prestige, Zheng He commanded seven voyages that established China as Asia's strongest naval power in the 1400s.

Perhaps it is odd that China’s greatest seafarer was raised in the mountains. The future admiral Zheng He was born around 1371 to a family of prosperous Muslims. Then known as Ma He, he spent his childhood in Mongol-controlled, landlocked Yunnan Province, located several months’ journey from the closest port. When Ma He was about 10 years old, Chinese forces invaded and overthrew the Mongols ; his father was killed, and Ma He was taken prisoner. It marked the beginning of a remarkable journey of shifting identities that this remarkable man would navigate.

Many young boys taken from the province were ritually castrated and then brought to serve in the court of Zhu Di, the future Ming emperor or Yongle. Over the next decade, Ma He would distinguish himself in the prince’s service and rise to become one of his most trusted advisers. Skilled in the arts of war, strategy, and diplomacy, the young man cut an imposing figure: Some described him as seven feet tall with a deep, booming voice. Ma He burnished his reputation as a military commander with his feats at the battle of Zhenglunba, near Beijing. After Zhu Di became the Yongle emperor in 1402, Ma He was renamed Zheng He in honor of that battle. He continued to serve alongside the emperor and became the commander of China’s most important asset: its great naval fleet, which he would command seven times.

China on the high seas

Zheng He’s voyages followed in the wake of many centuries of Chinese seamanship. Chinese ships had set sail from the ports near present-day Shanghai, crossing the East China Sea, bound for Japan. The vessels’ cargo included material goods, such as rice, tea, and bronze, as well as intellectual ones: a writing system, the art of calligraphy, Confucianism , and Buddhism.

As far back as the 11th century, multi-sailed Chinese junks boasted fixed rudders and watertight compartments—an innovation that allowed partially damaged ships to be repaired at sea. Chinese sailors were using compasses to navigate their way across the South China Sea. Setting off from the coast of eastern China with colossal cargoes, they soon ventured farther afield, crossing the Strait of Malacca while seeking to rival the Arab ships that dominated the trade routes in luxury goods across the Indian Ocean—or the Western Ocean, as the Chinese called it.

While a well-equipped navy had been built up during the early years of the Song dynasty (960- 1279), it was in the 12th century that the Chinese became a truly formidable naval power. The Song lost control of northern China in 1127, and with it, access to the Silk Road and the wealth of Persia and the Islamic world. The forced withdrawal to the south prompted a new capital to be established at Hangzhou, a port strategically situated at the mouth of the Qiantang River, and which Marco Polo described in the course of his famous adventures in the 1200s. ( See pictures from along Marco Polo's journey through Asia. )

For centuries, the Song had been embroiled in battles along inland waterways and had become indisputable masters of river navigation. Now, they applied their experience to building up a naval fleet. Alas, the Song’s newfound naval mastery was not enough to withstand the invasion of the mighty Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. ( Kublai Khan achieved what Genghis could not: conquering China .)

Kublai Khan kamikazed

Kublai Khan built an empire for the Mongols in the 13th century, conquering China in 1279. He also had his sights set on Japan and tried to invade, not once, but twice: first in 1274 and again in 1281. Chroniclers of the time report that he sent thousands of Chinese and Korean ships and as many as 140,000 men to seize the islands of Japan. Twice his massive forces sailed across the Korea Strait, and twice his fleet was turned away; legend says that two kamikazes, massive typhoons whose name means “divine wind,” were summoned by the Japanese emperor to sink the invading vessels. Historians believed the stories to be legendary, but recent archaeological finds support the story of giant storms saving Japan.

The Mongols and the Ming

Having toppled the Song and ascended to the Chinese imperial throne in 1279, Kublai built up a truly fearsome naval force. Millions of trees were planted and new shipyards created. Soon, Kublai commanded a force numbering thousands of ships, which he deployed to attack Japan, Vietnam, and Java. And while these naval offensives failed to gain territory, China did win control over the sea-lanes from Japan to Southeast Asia. The Mongols gave a new preeminence to merchants, and maritime trade flourished as never before.

On land, however, they failed to establish a settled form of government and win the allegiance of the peoples they had conquered. In 1368, after decades of internal rebellion throughout China, the Mongol dynasty fell and was replaced by the Ming (meaning “bright”) dynasty. Its first emperor, Hongwu, was as determined as the Mongol and Song emperors before him to maintain China as a naval power. However, the new emperor limited overseas contact to naval ambassadors who were charged with securing tribute from an increasingly long list of China’s vassal states, among them, Brunei, Cambodia, Korea, Vietnam, and the Philippines, thus ensuring that lucrative profits did not fall into private hands. Hongwu also decreed that no oceangoing vessels could have more than three masts, a dictate punishable by death. ( The Ming Dynasty built the Great Wall. Find out if it worked. )

Yongle was the third Ming emperor, and he took this restrictive maritime policy even further, banning private trade while pushing hard for Chinese control of the southern seas and the Indian Ocean. The beginning of his reign saw the conquest of Vietnam and the foundation of Malacca as a new sultanate controlling the entry point to the Indian Ocean, a supremely strategic location for China to control. In order to dominate the trade routes that united China with Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean, the emperor decided to assemble an impressive fleet, whose huge treasure ships could have as many masts as necessary. The man he chose as its commander was Zheng He.

Epic voyages

Although he is often described as an explorer, Zheng He did not set out primarily on voyages of discovery. During the Song dynasty, the Chinese had already reached as far as India, the Persian Gulf, and Africa. Rather, his voyages were designed as a display of Chinese might, as well as a way of rekindling trade with vassal states and guaranteeing the flow of vital provisions, including medicines, pepper, sulfur, tin, and horses.

The fleets that Zheng He commanded on his seven great expeditions between 1405 and 1433 were suitably ostentatious. On the first voyage, the fleet numbered 255 ships, 62 of which were vast treasure ships, or baochuan. There were also mid-size ships such as the machuan, used for transporting horses, and a multitude of other vessels carrying soldiers, sailors, and assorted personnel. Some 600 officials made the voyage, among them doctors, astrologers, and cartographers.

The ships left Nanjing (Nanking), Hangzhou, and other major ports, from there veering south to Fujian, where they swelled their crews with expert sailors. They then made a show of force by anchoring in Quy Nhon, Vietnam , which China had recently conquered. None of the seven expeditions headed north; most made their way to Java and Sumatra, resting for a spell in Malacca, where they waited for the winter monsoon winds that blow toward the west.

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They then proceeded to Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) and Calicut in southern India, where the first three expeditions terminated. The fourth expedition reached Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, and the final voyages expanded westward, entering the waters of the Red Sea, then turning and sailing as far as Kenya, and perhaps farther still. A caption on a copy of the Fra Mauro map —the original, now lost, was completed in Venice in 1459, more than 25 years after Zheng He’s final voyage—implies that Chinese ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1420 before being forced to turn back for lack of wind.

Treasure ships were the largest vessels in Zheng He’s fleet. A description of them appears in adventure novel by Luo Maodeng, The Three-Treasure Eunuch’s Travels to the Western Ocean (1597). The author writes that the ships had nine masts and measured 460 feet long and 180 feet wide. It is hard to believe that the ships would have been quite so vast. Authorities on Zheng He’s maritime expeditions believe the vessels more likely had five or six masts and measured 250 to 300 feet long.

Chinese ships had always been noted for their size. More than a century before Zheng He, explorer Marco Polo described their awesome dimensions: Between four and six masts, a crew of up to 300 sailors, 60 cabins, and a deck for the merchants. Chinese vessels with five masts are shown on the 14th-century “Catalan Atlas” from the island of Mallorca. Still, claims in a 1597 adventure tale that Zheng He’s treasure ships reached 460 feet long do sound exaggerated. Most marine archaeological finds suggest that Chinese ships of the 14th and 15th centuries usually were not longer than 100 feet. Even so, a recent discovery by archaeologists of a 36-foot-long rudder raises the possibility that some ships may have been as large as claimed. (A 1,200-year-old shipwreck reveals how the world traded with China.)

Ma Huan's true tall tales

Of the three chroniclers who recorded Zheng He’s voyages, Ma Huan was perhaps the most reliable. Of humble origins, Ma Huan converted to Islam as a young man and studied Arabic and Persian. At age 23 he served as an interpreter for the fourth expedition. He served on the sixth and seventh voyages as well. In East Africa Ma Huan first saw what he called a qilin —the Chinese word for a unicorn-like creature—evidently a giraffe: ”The head is carried on a long neck over 16 feet long,” he noted, with some exaggeration. “On its head it has two fleshy horns. It has the tail of an ox and the body of a deer...and it eats unhusked rice, beans and flour cakes.”

End of an odyssey

Zheng He’s voyages ended abruptly in 1433 on the command of Emperor Xuande. Historians have long speculated as to why the Ming would have abandoned the naval power that China had nurtured since the Song. The problems were certainly not economic: China was collecting enormous tax revenues, and the voyages likely cost a fraction of that income.

The problem, it seems, was political. The Ming victory over the Mongols caused the empire’s focus to shift from the ports of the south to deal with tensions in the north. The voyages were also viewed with suspicion by the very powerful bureaucratic class, who worried about the influence of the military. This fear had reared its head before: In 1424, between the sixth and seventh voyages, the expedition program was briefly suspended, and Zheng He was temporarily appointed defender of the co-capital Nanjing, where he oversaw construction of the famous Bao’en Pagoda, built with porcelain bricks.

The great admiral died either during, or shortly after, the seventh and last of the historic expeditions, and with the great mariner’s death his fleet was largely dismantled. China’s naval power would recede until the 21st century. With the nation’s current resurgence, it is no surprise that the figure of Zheng He stands once again at the center of China’s maritime ambitions. Today the country’s highly disputed “nine-dash line”— which China claims demarcates its control of the South China Sea—almost exactly maps the route taken six centuries ago by Zheng He and his remarkable fleet.

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W estern A ustralian M useum › Maritime Archaeology Databases › Zheng He and the Great Southland

Zheng He and the Great Southland

Author/s M. McCarthy

Year of publication 2006

Report Number: 212

Introduction It has been said of Australia—a land occupied by its own indigenous people for 40,000 years at least—that its campfires ‘were first lit in a past before time’. (Horton, 1997, xii). Not knowing that their land even existed, around two thousand-five-hundred years ago the Greek scholar Pythagoras argued that, as the earth was a sphere, the lands of the northern hemisphere had to be balanced by a large southern land mass. Three centuries later, this theory appeared envisioned in the globe shown below and in a Roman visualisation of the same notion produced another two centuries later.

A century further on from these depictions—apparently as a result of intelligence that was filtering through to him from travellers to Asia—Ptolemy of Alexandria extended Africa and Asia south to meet the hypothetical southern land mass.

Much was written on the subject of a vast legendary mass in the south that came later to be known as Terra Australis Incognita (Latin: literally—unknown southern land) (Wood, 1922; Schilder, 1976). The nature of southern seas, the location and form of the land itself, and the customs and appearance of its inhabitants were to become one of the greatest of all the European unsolved mysteries. These unknown lands were reputed—by virtue of their hypothetically-opposite and balancing nature to the ordered and familiar world in the north—to be the home of strange beings and grotesque animals; of lands surrounded by seas filled with horrendous creatures.

The European world retreated into what has been called its ‘Dark Ages’ after the fall of the Roman Empire and as a result, objective scholarly discourse about unknown regions to the south and east was not to re-emerge in Europe until the 13th Century. The emergence of Genghis Khan and the decision of the Catholic Pope to develop an overland contact with him were two major influences, eventually leading to the travels of the Polo family to what Europeans called the ‘Far East’. The Polo family were Venetian merchants who travelled overland to his court, eventually returning home with tales of his great empire. They had also been told of rich lands south and east of India with whom mariners were in regular contact. Java was of special interest with its apparently vast riches, multitudinous shipping and fabulous spices. Marco Polo, the best known of his family, also studied Chinese and Arab charts, and his reports on these matters are credited with having ‘revolutionized geographical conceptions’ in Europe about the eastern region (Wood, 1922: 36).

Chinese junks and Australian sampans

On July 11 in the year 1405 Admiral Zheng He’s Grand Fleet of over 300 ships with 28,000 crew departed China on the first of several expeditions through Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The expeditions were aimed at establishing Chinese influence over long established trade routes, now often referred to as the Maritime Silk Road

A section from a panorama of Hong Kong, circa 1940. Courtesy of the Hong Kong Maritime Museum.

Celebrating maritime connections between China and Australia

On July 11 in the year 1405 Admiral Zheng He’s Grand Fleet of over 300 ships with 28,000 crew departed China on the first of several expeditions through Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. The expeditions were aimed at establishing Chinese influence over long established trade routes, now often referred to as the ‘Maritime Silk Road’ .  The 600th anniversary of the date of the commencement of the first of these massive expeditions – July 11 – was chosen in 2005 as the annual China National Maritime Day. The Institute of Ancient Chinese Ships has led a conference on Chinese maritime history on this day for the last ten years, with a different international focus each year. Last year was the UK , and this year it was Australia’s turn. The Australian National Maritime Museum’s director Kevin Sumption was invited to deliver a keynote presentation on ‘Chinese Connections at the Australian National Maritime Museum’ and I was invited to give a paper on my research into Chinese watercraft built in Australia between 1870 and 1910.

From right: Zefeng You (Institute of Ancient Chinese Ships), Kevin Sumption (Director and CEO of the Australian National Maritime Museum) and Shaoxiong Lin (Shanghai University) taking audience questions after their keynote talks opening the 10th ‘Sailing for More’ conference at Ningbo, China. Image: Stephen Gapps/ANMM.

Junks and sampans in Northern Australia

My research into Chinese junks and sampans that were built in Australia has been further developed with the assistance of museum volunteer researcher and history graduate Aliza Chin. Aliza has been looking at newspaper reports of junks and sampans in Australia. My previous focus was on the huge numbers of these vessels constructed in northern Australia in the late 19th and early twentieth centuries. However, Aliza has found some interesting new material around the prominence of these vessels in the strong anti-Chinese sentiment that arose in Australia during this period.

Perhaps with the knowledge of the sailing capabilities of the famous Foochow trading junk Keying that sailed from China around the Cape of Good Hope to the United States and then Britain in 1848, in the late 19th century some Australian commentators suggested whole fleets of Chinese junks could arrive on Australia’s shores, particularly the undefended coast of Western Australia. While the story of anti-Chinese sentiment during the goldrushes is now well known, the element of a fear of Chinese invasion at this time is not.

The Chinese Junk Keying , Captain Kellet, PW7738. The Keying had a crew of 12 British and 30 Chinese sailors with co-Captain So Yin Sang Hsi. Royal Museums Greenwich Collection .

The colonisation of Australia’s north by the British during the 19th century was always fraught with the tension of the need for a cheap migrant labour force and the desire to keep Australia ‘white’ . The extensive use of Chinese junks and sampans in trade and transport in far north Queensland and later in Darwin allowed the opening of these areas for closer settlement. At the same time, it seems to have fuelled fears that fleets of junks could easily bring thousands of Chinese settlers, rather than more transitory goldseekers.

A fleet of Chinese junks at Cairns in northern Queensland, circa 1895. Sights such as this may well have fuelled fears of Chinese invasion in the 1890s. John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland .

Further research into the prominence of Chinese watercraft in late 19th century Australia and the role of sea-going junks in anti-Chinese sentiment continues and will be the subject of future posts.

The museum’s connections with Chinese maritime history will be complemented by connections with Chinese art and artists on show at the museum in November 2018 in an environmental art program called ‘On Sharks and Humanity’ , developed by Parkview Arts Action.

– Dr Stephen Gapps, Curator

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Stephen Gapps

Dr Stephen Gapps is the museum's Senior Curator, Voyaging and Early Colonial Maritime History.

clock This article was published more than  9 years ago

Did Chinese mariners reach Australia before the Europeans?

In Australia these days, China seems to shadow the antipodean nation’s future. China’s appetite for natural resources has reshaped Australia’s economy , and the disruptive threat of its expanding navy has led Australian officials to approve the deployment of U.S. marines on Australian soil.

We hear far less about China's role in the continent's far past. But a team of amateur Australian archaeologists found a curious piece of evidence linking the Chinese to a much earlier age in Australia's history. On a recent expedition to a remote island off the coast of the Northern Territory, the archaeologists, who call themselves the Past Masters, unearthed an 18th-century Qing dynasty coin. "It certainly shows the contact between Northern Australia and the trade with the Middle Kingdom, with China," Mike Owen, a member of the expedition, told  Australia's ABC television network.

Past Masters, which is based in the northern Australian city of Darwin, posted an image of the coin on its Facebook page. It features Manchurian script, which was the native language of China's imperial Qing dynasty.

The coin's presence is hardly proof that a Qing fleet would have landed on Australia's shores, of course. It's far more likely it ended up on the island off the continent as part of a linked chain of Asian trade that threaded China throughout Southeast Asia. Traders from the island of Sulawesi, now part of modern Indonesia, have a long history of visiting northern Australia and harvesting sea cucumbers -- a delicacy Australian experts believe would have also interested Chinese merchants. Past Masters also points to indigenous oral histories that recount supposed dealings with Chinese visitors and the Aboriginal practice of using Chinese coins as fishing weights.

In the 1940s, archaeologists working in the same island chain off the coast of the Northern Territory discovered nearly 1,000-year-old coins minted in East Africa, a fascinating snapshot of a world of Indian Ocean trade that existed before the arrival of the Europeans.

European sailors first caught a glimpse of Australia beginning in the early 17th century, but it was only after Britain's Capt. James Cook made landfall in 1768 that European settlement of the continent began in earnest.

Another theory involving China has won attention in the past decade. " 1421 ", a best-selling book by Gavin Menzies, a former British naval officer, suggests that the great 15th-century treasure fleets of the Ming dynasty, captained by the famed Muslim eunuch Zheng He, landed in Australia and even as far afield as the Americas. Most historians dismiss Menzies's claims  as flimsy pop history, built on dubious evidence and fraudulent maps.

But the voyages of Zheng He have grown increasingly important in China's own national conversation , where the country's contemporary rise on the global stage, along with its expanding economic clout, is seen almost as a restoration of a benign imperial past, when Ming-era fleets could call on ports across the Indian Ocean. The Chinese have been involved in archaeological expeditions off the coast of East Africa to find further proof of their historic contacts with the region. Perhaps a similar effort in northern Australia may not be too far off.

World History Edu

• Famous Explorers

Who was the Chinese Admiral Zheng He?

by World History Edu · February 16, 2024

Zheng He, a Ming Dynasty eunuch admiral, led seven epic voyages from China to Africa, showcasing maritime prowess and diplomatic influence. His expeditions, spanning 1405-1433, established trade routes, promoted cultural exchanges, and demonstrated China’s naval dominance, leaving a lasting legacy on global exploration and intercontinental relations during the early 15th century.

Who were the 10 Most Influential Explorers of the Age of Discovery?

Image: A statue of Zheng He, located at Stadthuys Museum in the Malaysian city of Malacca.

In the article below, World History Edu explores the life and major accomplishments of this famed Chinese explorer:

Zheng He was originally named Ma He. His family were Muslims and had a military background associated with the Mongol Yuan Dynasty.

After the Ming Dynasty overthrew the Mongols, he was captured as a child, taken to the capital Nanjing, and castrated to serve as a eunuch in the imperial court. Despite this early adversity, he proved to be highly capable and intelligent, quickly rising through the ranks.

Rise to Prominence

His prowess and loyalty caught the attention of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, who later became the Yongle Emperor. He played a crucial role in Zhu Di’s successful bid for the throne, known as the Jingnan Campaign.

As a reward for his service, Zhu Di, now the Yongle Emperor, entrusted him with a series of naval expeditions that were to make history. It was around this time that Ma He adopted the name Zheng He.

The Seven Voyages

Zheng He’s fleet was a massive armada that included treasure ships reportedly measuring up to 400 feet in length, along with numerous support vessels. These voyages demonstrated the might and wealth of the Ming Dynasty to the rest of the world and established Chinese influence across the Indian Ocean.

• First Voyage (1405-1407):  Zheng He’s fleet visited various territories along the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, including Java, Sumatra, and reached as far as the coast of present-day Sri Lanka, establishing Chinese dominance and influence in these regions.
• Subsequent Voyages:  Over the next three decades, Zheng He led six more expeditions, extending his routes to the Arabian Peninsula and the East African coast, visiting places such as Malindi (in modern-day Kenya). These voyages facilitated trade, collected tributes from foreign lands, and projected Chinese naval power.

Diplomacy and Trade

Zheng He’s expeditions were not merely displays of naval might but also diplomatic missions. They helped establish and strengthen ties with various nations along the Indian Ocean rim through the Chinese tributary system, where foreign states would acknowledge Ming superiority and in return, receive protection and trade rights.

These missions helped create a maritime trade network that was crucial for the exchange of goods, cultures, and ideas between East and West.

Cultural Exchange

The voyages of Zheng He played a significant role in cultural exchange between China and the visited regions. His fleet carried not just goods, but also technologies, knowledge, and religious beliefs, facilitating a two-way exchange of cultural practices and ideas.

For instance, Zheng He is credited with spreading aspects of Chinese culture, such as Confucianism and Chinese technology, while also bringing back to China knowledge about the wider world.

Zheng He’s voyages were remarkable for their time and left a lasting legacy. They were a testament to the Ming Dynasty’s naval capabilities and its far-reaching influence. However, after Zheng He’s death and the ascension of the Xuande Emperor, China’s policy shifted towards isolationism. The treasure fleets were discontinued, and many of Zheng He’s records and maps were destroyed, marking the end of China’s age of exploration.

Despite this, Zheng He’s legacy lived on in various ways. His voyages demonstrated the potential of international trade and cultural exchange. They also influenced maritime navigation techniques in the Indian Ocean and beyond. In modern times, Zheng He is celebrated as one of China’s greatest explorers, with his life and expeditions being the subject of extensive study and admiration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Zheng He is best known for his seven epic voyages between 1405 and 1433, which took his majestic fleet through the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean, and beyond, reaching as far as the east coast of Africa.

Here are some frequently asked questions about the Chinese admiral and explorer:

When was he born and what was his early life like?

Zheng He, born Ma He in 1371 in what is now Yunnan Province, China, was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, and fleet admiral during the early Ming Dynasty.

He was captured as a child by Ming forces during their military campaign against the Mongols and was subsequently castrated, becoming a eunuch in the service of the imperial court.

Despite his early hardship, Zheng He rose to prominence in the Chinese imperial court, mainly due to his close relationship with the Yongle Emperor, who ascended the throne in 1402.

The primary goals of Zheng He’s voyages were to establish Chinese presence, exert imperial control over trade in the Indian Ocean, and extend the tributary system of China. These expeditions were unprecedented in size, scope, and distance, involving hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of sailors.. Image: A woodblock print from China depicting the ships of Zheng He.

What were Zheng He’s voyages about?

Zheng He’s voyages were aimed at establishing Chinese presence and dominance in the Indian Ocean, securing and expanding trade routes, collecting tributes from foreign lands, and promoting diplomatic relations.

How far did Zheng He’s expeditions reach?

Zheng He’s expeditions reached as far as the east coast of Africa, including modern-day Kenya and possibly even beyond.

How many voyages did Zheng He lead?

Zheng He led a total of seven voyages between 1405 and 1433.

How significant were Zheng He’s voyages?

His voyages expanded the horizons of the known world, facilitating trade and cultural exchange on an unprecedented scale. Despite the subsequent period of isolationism that followed his voyages, Zheng He’s legacy as a symbol of China’s historical maritime prowess and its potential for engagement with the world remains influential to this day.

What were Zheng He’s major accomplishments?

His major accomplishments include leading seven grand naval expeditions, establishing and strengthening maritime trade routes, fostering diplomatic relations between China and over 30 countries, and demonstrating the power and wealth of the Ming Dynasty.

How did Zheng He die, and where is he buried?

Zheng He is believed to have died in 1433 during or shortly after his seventh voyage. The exact location of his grave is unknown, but a tomb believed to be symbolic of his burial exists in Nanjing, China.

What happened to Zheng He’s fleet after his voyages?

After Zheng He’s death and the subsequent rise of conservative factions at court, the Ming Dynasty shifted towards isolationism. The great fleets were dismantled, and ocean-going voyages were discouraged.

What were the sizes of Zheng He’s fleets?

Zheng He’s fleets were massive, with some estimates suggesting that the largest voyages consisted of over 250 ships and thousands of crew members, including diplomats and soldiers.

Are there any controversies or debates surrounding Zheng He’s voyages?

Yes, there are debates regarding the purpose and the scale of Zheng He’s voyages, the extent of the territories he might have reached, and the impact of his expeditions on global history, including speculative theories about his fleet reaching the Americas or Australia, which lack historical evidence.

Tags: China Chinese Explorers Ma He Ming Dynasty Yunnan Province Zheng He

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The Ages of Exploration

Zheng he interactive map, age of discovery.

Quick Facts:

Zheng He took seven major voyages throughout Asia and to parts of Africa, making him one of China’s greatest explorers

Click on the world map to view an example of the explorer’s voyage.

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Zheng He: messenger of peace, or of power?

Zheng He's remarkable adventures appeared to have been forgotten within a few years of his death, as China turned its back on such bold exploration and embarked on a long period of isolation.

But more recently – and particularly since 2005, when China held lavish celebrations to mark the 600th anniversary of his voyages – he has been lauded anew. As the country seeks to allay fears of its growing global influence, it has turned to the admiral as the exemplar of its "peaceful rise".

"I want to assure you that China is not to be feared," said Dai Bingguo, state councillor and a leading figure in foreign affairs, on a visit to Indonesia this year.

Pointing to the country's history, he added: "Leading the most powerful fleet in the world, Zheng He made seven voyages to the western seas, bringing there porcelain, silk and tea, rather than bloodshed, plundering or colonialism … To this day, [he] is still remembered as an envoy of friendship and peace."

Others argue that Zheng's record is more complex. One historian, Geoffrey Wade, has pointed to fighting in Java and Sumatra, portraying Zheng's voyages as "proto maritime colonialism" because they used force or the threat of force to control ports and shipping lanes for China's benefit, even though they did not seek to rule other people or territories. Another, Edward Dreyer, suggested they were "'power projection' rather than mere exploration".

Readers in the west know Zheng thanks to 1421, the bestselling book by British author Gavin Menzies, which claims that the Chinese ships reached America and Europe, circumnavigating the globe. Most historians dispute that.

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The last voyage of famed chinese admiral zheng he.

At its height, the Ming dynasty had more than a thousand ocean-going vessels, including large "treasure ships" equipped with luxury cabins and weaponry. At the helm was Zheng He, an admiral who has fascinated historians in recent decades.

This Week in China’s History : January 19, 1431

It’s the middle of the coldest season in the northern hemisphere; who wouldn’t want to head for the south seas? On a winter’s day in Nanjing, 591 years ago this week, the Ming admiral Zhèng Hé 郑和 stood on the deck of his flagship leading a fleet of vessels to do just that. It was something he had been doing for 30 years, but this would be his final embarkation. This Week in China’s History takes an overdue look at China’s most famous admiral and his celebrated voyages, and why they are both less, and more, than they are often portrayed to be.

Setting out in 1431, Zheng had reached 60 years old, the age for serious reflection. It had been an unlikely course for a life that began in 1371 in Yunnan as Mǎ Hé 马河, the son of a minor official in the Yuan dynasty who was killed during the Ming conquest. Captured at 10 years old, he was castrated and enlisted into military service, thus beginning a career that would lead him to become one of the Ming emperor’s most trusted advisors.

Zheng’s patron was the third emperor, who came to power in a three-year civil war. Claiming the throne from his nephew, the new Yongle emperor moved quickly to establish his legitimacy. Records of his predecessor’s brief reign were destroyed and censored. The new emperor set about moving the capital itself, from Nanjing to his base of political support in Beijing, where it would remain for 500 years. Internally, he purged rivals and their allies; externally, he set out to project Ming power.

Specifically, he wanted to expand Chinese influence to the south. Yongle began this through land-based campaigns into Yunnan and today’s Vietnam; and in the early 15th century he began preparing for maritime expeditions that would carry this program forward.

Starting in the early 15th century, the emperor ordered the construction of great fleets. The statistics are overwhelming, especially in contrast to the European voyages that would begin a few decades later. The Ming official histories ( all available online and in translation thanks to work by historian Geoff Wade and the National University of Singapore Press) record that well over a thousand ocean-going vessels were ordered. Zheng He’s flagship “treasure ships” may have been the largest wooden vessels ever constructed, and larger than any ship built until the end of the 19th century. The Ming official records, and many historians, contend that the treasure ships were some 450-feet long, though other scholars, including Sally Church and Xīn Yuánōu 辛元歐 , argue that the ships were only half that large. Even if that is the case, the achievements were remarkable.

​​The fleets themselves illustrated the advanced state of Chinese naval technology. Each voyage varied slightly, but all of them had dozens, and sometimes hundreds of ships. The largest vessels were multi-decked, with luxury cabins both for the officers and the many merchants who accompanied the voyages. Thousands of soldiers, and hundreds of horses, were aboard. If the sources are literally correct, the largest of the ships were perhaps 400 feet long with four decks and could transport 500 tons, larger than anything built in the world up to that time. Even if they were smaller, though, they were still advanced examples of naval architecture. Faster than the Spanish galleons and Portuguese caravelles that would dominate Indian Ocean trade in later centuries, particularly with a trailing wind, they were designed to take advantage of the well-known monsoon winds of South and East Asia. Properly timed voyages could travel throughout the Indian Ocean basin outbound for half the year, returning when the monsoon shifted in the second half of the year. They were double-hulled (as the Song vessels had been as well) with as many as a dozen water-tight compartments.

The parameters of the Ming voyages, most but not all of which were led by Zheng himself, are generally well known. The first few journeys visited Southeast Asia, transiting the straits of Malacca into the Bay of Bengal and then as far as Calicut, on the west coast of India. Later voyages went farther, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden, and south along the east coast of Africa, calling at Malindi and Mogadishu. There is reason to think they may have gone even farther south, as far as today’s Mozambique (there’s not, despite some claims, reason to think they rounded the Cape of Good Hope and entered the Atlantic).

This last voyage, setting out in the winter of 1431, was different from the others. For one thing, there was a long gap between it and the previous expedition. More significantly, the Yongle emperor had died, and this voyage was sent by Yongle’s grandson, the Xuande emperor. This fleet followed the now-familiar itinerary as far as the Persian Gulf, but also sent an excursion to the holy cities of Islam, Mecca and Medina.

In 1433, on the return voyage, Zheng He died. Buried at sea, an empty tomb honors him near Nanjing. With both the admiral and his patron gone, the Ming voyages came to an end.

The conventional wisdom, supported by a cottage industry in Zheng He studies that has ramped up in recent decades, suggests that Zheng represents a hopeful aberration in Chinese history. Before they were abruptly shut down, the Ming’s maritime ventures offered a tantalizing glimpse of an alternative past, where a peaceful cosmopolitanism might have defined the early modern era, rather than the violent colonialism that Europe would peddle just a few decades after Zheng died. Perhaps.

But an empty tomb is a fitting symbol for Zheng He and his voyages since there is both more and less than meets the eye. Zheng’s voyages were remarkable, but what if they weren’t peaceful, or an aberration, or abruptly ended?

Historian Wade has shown convincingly that although the Ming fleets did not lead to settler colonialism as their European counterparts did, they were projecting force, and sometimes wielding it. The ships were well armed, equipped with weaponry as advanced as any in the world at the time: Wade cites Ming orders that describe the cannons, rocket launchers, and other firearms on board. Gifts of giraffes and exotic destinations are well documented, but the fleets also carried tens of thousands of men at arms. And while trade and cultural exchange were on the itinerary, the voyages were not all peaceful. Ming troops captured and took captive a Sri Lankan ruler in 1411, established a colony in Sumatra in 1407, and intervened militarily in a half-dozen other sites in India and Southeast Asia. It wasn’t quite the “string of pearls” that today’s Chinese strategists envision, protecting oil lanes coming from the Middle East, but Zheng and his counterparts did establish strategic outposts throughout Southeast Asia, protected by force.

The Ming voyages were certainly a pinnacle of maritime achievement, but just how much of an aberration were they? Chinese navigators had been sailing the South China Sea and beyond for centuries by the time of Zheng He. Advances in naval architecture, like the sternpost rudder, magnetic compass, and square-rigging, had been available to Chinese mariners long before they existed in Europe. The shipyards used for building Zheng’s fleets had been started under the Mongol Yuan. Ports from Guangzhou to Fuzhou to Ningbo teemed with people from across the Indian Ocean basin as early as the Song dynasty. In her new book Distant Shores , Melissa Macauley describes how China’s southeast coast was, by the Song and Yuan dynasty, “one node in an emerging international trade system.”

And finally, did they really come to an end? The easy symbolism is that the Great Wall replaced Zheng He for Ming policymakers and that China turned inward, to be pried open by Europeans 500 years later. It is true that political factionalism, high costs, and shifting strategic priorities led the Chinese state away from the sea, but China remained centrally involved across Southeast Asia. The Batavia massacre is just one example of the semi-colonial presence Chinese retained in the region. Macaulay’s book shows that the Chinese diaspora of the post-Opium War era had roots in, and continuities with, the Ming era and earlier. China’s involvement with the sea remained before and after Zheng’s treasure ships.

In just a few decades, Zheng He’s voyages have gone from trivia that offered an intriguing counterpoint to the European “Age of Exploration” led by Europeans to standard components of world history textbooks. Sometimes seen as a “unicorn” event — uniquely impossible to recapture — the best way to appreciate the Ming voyages might be as part of an ongoing pattern, not a fleeting peek down a road not taken.

This Week in China’s History  is a weekly column.

James Carter is Professor of History and part of the Nealis Program in Asian Studies at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He is the author of three books on China’s modern history, most recently Champions Day: The End of Old Shanghai . Read more

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• Occupation: Explorer and Fleet Commander
• Born: 1371 in Yunnan Province, China
• Best known for: Treasure Ship voyages to India

• Another translation of his name is Cheng Ho. You will often see him referred to as Cheng Ho. He also went by the name of San Bao (which means Three Jewels) while serving the prince.
• The ships that Zheng He sailed were called "junks". They were much wider and larger than the ships used by the Europeans in their explorations.
• It is thought that some of Zheng He's ships may have rounded Africa at the Cape of Good Hope. They may also have visited Australia .
• He served three different emperors: his first six missions were under the Yongle Emperor, he was a military commander under the Hongxi Emperor, and made his final mission under the Xuande Emperor.
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Zheng has some extra inspiration after Li Na’s surprise visit at the Australian Open

Zheng Qinwen of China celebrates after defeating compatriot Wang Yafan during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

FILE - In this Jan. 25, 2014, file photo, Li Na, of China, holds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy after defeating Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in their women’s singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia. (AP Photo/Andrew Brownbill, File)

Zheng Qinwen of China celebrates after defeating compatriot Wang Yafan in their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Wang Yafan of China serves to compatriot Zheng Qinwen during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Zheng Qinwen, left, of China is congratulated by compatriot Wang Yafan following their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Wang Yafan of China plays a forehand return to compatriot Zheng Qinwen during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Zheng Qinwen of China plays a forehand return to compatriot Wang Yafan during their third round match at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Supporters of Shang Juncheng of China react during his third round match against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Shang Juncheng, left, of China walks from Rod Laver Arena after retiring in his third round match against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain at the Australian Open tennis championships at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

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MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Zheng Qinwen had just regaled the Rod Laver Arena crowd about her memories of Li Na’s triumph in the Australian Open final when she had a surprise visitor.

In the brief time on court between her 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (8) win over fellow Chinese player Wang Yafan in a tense tiebreaker Saturday and Shang Juncheng’s match against Carlos Alcaraz, Zheng was asked about her tennis inspiration.

The U.S. Open quarterfinalist said she’d watched Li win that 2014 final live on TV, and had watched it again at least 10 times since then.

Unknown to her, tournament organizers had invited Li along to watch the center court program that featured the all-China women’s singles match followed by Shang, an 18-year-old wildcard entry in the men’s draw.

Li, the first woman from Asia to win a Grand Slam singles title, was visiting to mark a decade since her title in Australia.

She won the French Open in 2011 and lost two finals in Australia before becoming champion at Melbourne Park.

Zheng said Li’s visit was a total surprise.

“She just (said) congratulations,” Zheng said. “I was feeling super happy to meet her and have the chance to talk with her because I never talked with her in person. That was feeling really special for me.”

The 21-year-old Zheng was even more complimentary after seeing Li, saying: “You know, I feel she’s much more beautiful than ... when I saw her on TV before.”

The Zheng-Wang match lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes and preceded compatriot Shang’s loss to Wimbledon champion Alcaraz.

Zheng had a chance to serve for the match at 5-4 in the third but was unable to convert, and needed two match points to clinch it in the tiebreaker.

Wang eventually netted a backhand volley to end a 25-shot rally, the longest of the match.

“That was really difficult tiebreaker. We gave our best,” Zheng said. “She never gives up. She always gets the ball back. I felt a lot of pressure in this match.”

Zheng hadn’t made it past the second round in her two previous trips to Melbourne Park, but has experience in the second week at Roland Garros and the U.S. Open.

Now the draw is opening up for her to make a deeper run. All the past major winners in this quarter, including 2022 Wimbledon champion and last year’s Australian Open runner-up Elena Rybakina, were gone before the fourth round.

So Zheng will next play No. 95-ranked Oceane Dodin, who beat Clara Burel 6-2, 6-4 in an all-French encounter and is past the second round for the first time in 20 Grand Slam tournaments.

The winner of that will advance to a quarterfinal against either No. 26 Jasmine Paolini or Anna Kalinskaya, who hadn’t been past the third round until her win over 2017 U.S. Open champion Sloane Stephens on Saturday.

Zheng is feeling more at home in Melbourne, saying there’s more support from Chinese fans than any of the Slams.

And Li is among them.

“We met once before when I was a junior, but not single-to-single, face-to-face,” Zheng said. “I didn’t have the chance to talk with her, but today is the real first time we talk with each other.”

And Li’s advice: “Yeah. She said to me don’t think too much, just keep simple. I think that’s right now what I need to do.”

AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis