History buff that I am I was shocked to learn from Julys issue of National Geographic Magazine that I had never heard of Admiral Zheng He. His story is movie-worthy and his exploits provide a new lens through which one may view South Asia during what were the Dark Ages in Europe and much of Asia. The article about Zheng He was brought to my attention by my father (because the article that immediately follows it was about the Mars rovers). From the article by Frank Viviano [I transcribed most of the quotes below since the full article is not available online]:
Exactly 600 years ago this month the great Ming armada weighed anchor in Nanjing, on the first of seven epic voyages as far west as Africaalmost a century before Christopher Columbuss arrival in the Americas and Vasco da Gamas in India. Even the European expeditions would seem paltry by comparison: All the ships of Columbus and da Gama combined could have been stored on a single deck of a single vessel in the fleet that set sail under Zheng He.
Its commander was, without question, the most towering maritime figure in the 4,000-year annals of China, a visionary who imagined a new world and set out consciously to fashion it. He was also a profoundly unlikely candidate for admiral in anyones navy, much less that of the Dragon Throne.
The greatest seafarer in Chinas history was raised in the mountainous heart of Asia, several weeks travel from the closest port. More improbable yet, Zheng was not even Chinesehe was by origin a Central Asian Muslim. Born Ma He, the son of a rural official in the Mongol province of Yunnan, he had been taken captive as an invading Chinese army overthrew the Mongols in 1382. Ritually castrated, he was trained as an imperial eunuch and assigned to the court of Zhu Di, the bellicose Prince of Yan.
Renamed Zheng after his exploits at the battle of Zhenglumba, near Beijing, he was chosen to lead one of the most powerful naval forces ever assembled.
Is ANYONE else feelin this guys story? His fleet included 62 baochuan ships that were 400 feet in length, 170 feet across, had nine masts, and a deck space of 50,000 square feet. There were 300 total vessels in the fleet. Zheng He himself was big. Seven feet tall, with a waste five feet in circumference, and a voice as loud as a huge bell. He was described as a deeply spiritual individual who believed in the unity of all religions. Most interesting are his observations as his fleet engaged the natives of the Indian subcontinent. Zheng seems to have been one of those rare warrior-poets, undoubtedly my favorite type of person.
In 1411 Zheng He had intervened in an earlier war on the island [Sri Lanka], pitting Hindu Tamils from the north against two mutually hostile Sinhalese Buddhist realms in the center and south. Zheng was forced to act when one of the Buddhist rulers, a rebel chieftan, attacked a Ming shore party. In a stroke of military genius, the main body of Sri Lankan troops was lured into a fruitless assault on the fleet, leaving their capital open to easy conquest.
The episode marked the only significant overseas land battle ever fought by a Chinese imperial army. It so strengthened the legitimate king, Parakramabahu VI, that he went on to defeat the Tamils and govern Sri Lanka for 55 years, before the kingdom collapsed into warring divisions once more.
Six centuries later those divisions remain ferocious.
Before leaving Sri Lanka however he erected a stela, evidence of his deep, Unitarian-like spirituality.
The stelas three inscriptions addressed respectively, to Buddha, Siva, and Allah, offering thanks for their compassion and moral virtue, and seeking their protective blessing for the voyages aims. The chief Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim shrines of Sri Lanka, the stela recorded, were to be presented with equal offerings of gold, silver, silk, and other precious gifts.
Elsewhere in Asia this is the epoch when entire cities were put to the sword in the name of Buddha, Siva, or Allah. It is the epoch of the Inquisition in Europe, when thousands of Muslims and Jews were burned at the stake. In the context of his centurys religious fanaticism, Zheng Hes Dondra stela was an ecumenical manifesto far ahead of its timeindeed, ahead of our own fanatic timesa plea for tolerance, articulated in three languages.
The main destination of the Treasure fleet was the Malabar Coast of India and its cities Calicut and Cochin. Cochin was described as Hes favorite city, reportedly because of the areas religious tolerance.
Anyways, if you get as excited about history as me, you might want to pick up a copy of National Geographic at the airport if you are flying anywhere in the next month. The article gets even more interesting as it goes on to describe the rest of Zheng Hes fascinating voyages.
Further Reading: Time Magazine 2001
