Zheng He

Chinese explorer

• Born: c. 1371
• Birthplace: Kunyang, Yunnan Province, China
• Died: Between 1433 and 1436
• Place of death: Possibly Calicut, India

An imperial eunuch, Zheng He commanded the Ming Dynasty's voyages of exploration in the early fifteenth century, sailing farther than any person in history at that time.

Early Life

Zheng He (jehng heh) was born into a Muslim family surnamed Ma (a Chinese transliteration of Muḥammad). Although little is known about his family, it apparently had a tradition of foreign travel and adventure because both his father and grandfather made the traditional Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.

In Zheng He's day, Yunnan was a frontier region heavily populated by non-Chinese (principally Tibeto-Burman) ethnic groups. Formerly a loose confederation of tribal states known as Nanzhao, Yunnan had been conquered by the Mongols in the thirteenth century during their invasion of China. The cities of Yunnan had a thin veneer of Chinese culture, but the civilization of the countryside remained essentially non-Chinese.

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Chinese generals campaigned in Yunnan to wrest control of the area from the Mongols. The founder of the Ming, Zhu Yuanzhang (Chu Yüan-chang), also known as Hongwu (Hung-wu), sent about 300,000 troops under the control of a redoubtable commander in chief named Fu Youde (Fu Yu-te) to subdue the region. In the process, Fu recruited eunuchs (castrated males) into the service of the new dynasty.

Eunuchs were employed at the Chinese court to manage internal palace affairs, particularly those of the emperor's harem. Despite the opposition of the imperial bureaucracy, eunuchs frequently exerted remarkable power in Chinese politics. Because most emperors lived in seclusion from the outside world, they relied on the eunuchs to bring them information and to advise them on matters of state. At times in Chinese history, eunuchs usurped effective control of the government from the emperor and his bureaucracy. Although this was not particularly true of the emperors Zheng He served, his rise to power does illustrate the influence eunuchs have frequently enjoyed in Chinese history.

Zheng He became a eunuch in 1381, when he was about ten years old. He was assigned to the emperor's fourth son, Zhu Di (Chu Ti), who eventually became the third Ming emperor and ruled under the reign title of Yonglo (Yung-lo; r. 1402-1424). Zheng He's long service with Zhu Di earned him access to wealth and power. A huge, commanding man his family records claim that he was 7 feet (210 centimeters) tall, with a waist 5 feet (152 centimeters) in circumference, glaring eyes, and a stentorian voice he distinguished himself as a warrior in Zhu Di's armies, particularly in campaigns against the Mongols from 1393 to 1397. He played a key military role in Zhu Di's rebellion and usurpation of the throne and thus became one of the emperor's most powerful advisers.

During the climactic battle in Nanjing (Nanking) that toppled the emperor Jianwen (Chien-wen) and brought Zhu Di to the throne, the Ming palace area was burned and the deposed emperor apparently escaped. The fate of the deposed emperor remains a mystery, for he was never seen again. Zhu Di (by then known as Yonglo), seeking to complete his conquest by finally eliminating Jianwen, sent one of his trusted advisers throughout China in search of the former emperor and dispatched Zheng He on seven maritime expeditions to the “western ocean” (a term used to denote South and Southeast Asia).

Life's Work

Zheng He's voyages were the most spectacular maritime expeditions China ever launched. They began in 1405 and continued until 1433. During this period of twenty-eight years, Zheng He directed seven voyages that visited some thirty-seven countries and reached as far as Aden at the southeastern end of the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa. Zheng He was the driving force behind these expeditions, which ceased with his death.

Zheng He was promoted to the position of director of eunuch affairs and was granted the surname Zheng in 1404, just before he was appointed commander in chief of the first expedition. In comparison with the early European voyages of exploration, Zheng He's expeditions were gigantic. His largest ships measured 440 feet (134 meters) long and 186 feet (57 meters) wide, the medium-sized ships measured 370 by 150 feet (113 by 46 meters), and the battleships, which were equipped with cannon, measured 180 by 68 feet (55 by 21 meters). Some of the vessels had four decks and watertight compartments. (In contrast, Christopher Columbus's largest ship, the Santa Maria, was less than 80 feet, or 24 meters, long.) Each of the voyages carried more than twenty thousand men.

Chinese sources offer two reasons for the launching of these expensive expeditions. First, Yonglo wanted to trace the whereabouts of the deposed emperor, who might have fled into Southeast Asia. Although this may have been one of the reasons for the first expedition, it apparently was not the primary impetus, for Zheng He made few efforts to search for Jianwen. The succeeding voyages, which ranged as far as Africa, obviously were not mounted in order to search for the former emperor. It is more likely that Yonglo authorized the voyages to demonstrate China's power and prestige to the world. Unlike the later Europeans, the Chinese were not exploring the world in search of commercial gain, for they did not believe that the non-Chinese could offer them products, ideas, or institutions that could equal their own. Believing that he was the son of heaven in control of all people on Earth, the Ming emperor sought to gain the allegiance of as many nations as he could. Paradoxically, then, it appears that the Chinese launched Zheng He's voyages, one of the most costly operations in history, for nonmaterialistic reasons.

It was the case, however, that the Chinese, particularly in the southeastern part of the country, had for centuries been engaged in overseas trade. As population pressures increased, they sailed abroad with Chinese products and returned with exotic goods of various kinds. Overseas trade proved extremely profitable, and consequently many southeastern seaports flourished. The migration of Chinese merchants to various parts of Southeast Asia began long before the Ming Dynasty. Seamanship improved with each succeeding generation, so that when Yonglo ordered the mounting of his huge expeditions, Zheng He could readily recruit his officers and crewmen. Moreover, the Chinese had perfected shipbuilding techniques and navigation skills to the level that they could undertake massive voyages of exploration. Their ships could travel as fast as six knots per hour, and their knowledge of the compass permitted accurate navigation. Therefore, Zheng He could lead seven huge and highly successful expeditions that nearly led to the Chinese discovery of Europe.

Zheng He's first voyage left the central coast of China in the summer of 1405 with a twenty-seven-man crew and 62 large and 255 small vessels carrying cargoes of silk, embroidered goods, and other such products. The colossal fleet called at Champa (the southeast coast of modern-day Vietnam) and fought to clear the strategic Strait of Malacca of the powerful Chinese pirates who had plagued the area for decades. Zheng He's victory over the pirates made passage through the straits safe and enhanced Ming prestige in Southeast Asia.

The second voyage left China in the fall of 1407 and eventually reached Calicut on the southwestern coast of India. Zheng He extended imperial gifts and greetings to the ruler of Calicut, who had frequently sent gifts to the Chinese emperors. On the return leg of the voyage, Zheng He called on Siam and Java, where he intervened in Javanese politics and established a ruler friendly to the Ming.

The third voyage began in September, 1409, and lasted until June, 1411. It again visited Calicut but traveled onward to Siam, Malacca, Sumatra, and Ceylon, where Zheng He defeated a Ceylonese king and carried out extensive trade. The fourth voyage took 27,670 men and sixty-three large vessels far beyond India to the Maldives, Hormuz, and Aden. As a consequence of this journey, nineteen countries sent tributary missions to the Ming capital at Nanjing. During the fifth voyage, from 1417 to 1419, Zheng He escorted the envoys of these missions home. Zheng He brought strange and exotic animals, such as giraffes, ostriches, zebras, and leopards, back with him to China. The sixth voyage, lasting from 1421 to 1422, also reached Aden and the east coast of Africa. Before a seventh expedition could be launched, Zheng He's patron, Yonglo, died, and opponents of the voyages recommended that they be abandoned. Eventually, however, the final Zheng He voyage left China in late 1431 and returned in July of 1433. It once again visited the Arabian peninsula, including Mecca, and eastern Africa. Zheng He is believed to have died between 1433 and 1436; one source maintains that he died early in 1433 at Calicut and was later buried in Nanjing.

Not much is known about Zheng He's private life. He may have had an adopted son, and he made his permanent home in Nanjing. He undoubtedly retained his Islamic faith, which facilitated his interchanges with the Muslim states of Southeast Asia, Africa, and Arabia, but he was interested in Buddhism and Chinese folk religion. He was a man of unique power and influence. To have led so many massive expeditions would have required a rare combination of navigational, managerial, and diplomatic skills.

Significance

Zheng He's achievements mark him as one of the great explorers of all time. His organizational and command skills were extraordinary. He established firm contacts with nearly forty countries in the “western ocean,” and he provided China with detailed geographical information about the outside world. The commercial contacts he initiated continued even though the Ming government terminated the large-scale voyages after his death.

The Ming did not continue the voyages for three reasons. First, the costs were extremely high and did not result in significant economic gains. Second, dangers on China's northern and western frontiers, where the Mongols and other Central Asians threatened the Ming, distracted Chinese attention from overseas adventures. Third, and most important, the Chinese saw little need to explore areas outside the “Middle Kingdom.” They believed China was a superior civilization that did not need to go overseas to propagate Chinese beliefs. Others could come to China to learn, but the Chinese had no desire to convince outsiders of the efficacy of their beliefs and institutions. Moreover, most Chinese believed they were economically self-sufficient and needed no foreign goods. Thus, even though Zheng He's voyages were spectacular, they were by no means essential to Chinese life and were discontinued as abruptly as they began.

In 1497, only sixty-four years after Zheng He's last expedition, Vasco da Gama reached India, thus inaugurating the era of European imperialism in Asia and reversing the direction of exploration. If the Chinese had continued Zheng He's efforts establishing permanent bases, maintaining their sea power, and founding a vast empire it is possible that the course of world history would have been altered profoundly. China might have “discovered” Europe. Instead, Europeans “discovered” China, Ming sea power declined, and Portugal created vast maritime empires. China remained landlocked, and its failure to develop seafaring capabilities eventually invited European imperialism.

Zheng He's expeditions were important in their own right, as they established patterns of Chinese diplomacy and trade as far as the coasts of Arabia and Africa and momentarily stimulated China's commerce. In the final analysis, however, the voyages remain a Chinese historical aberration, a trip down a blind alley, because the Chinese did not continue their explorations. Still, historians will continue to wonder how world history might have been different if Zheng He, the Chinese Columbus, had been succeeded by an equally adventurous voyager.

Bibliography

Antony, Robert J. Like Froth Floating on the Sea: The World of Pirates and Seafarers in Late Imperial South China. China Research Monographs 56. Berkeley, Calif.: Institute of East Asian Studies, 2003. An examination of the pirates in South China (encountered by Zheng He) during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Levathes, Louise. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Describes the life and activities of Zheng He as well as conditions in the Ming Dynasty during his lifetime. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, and index.

Menzies, Gavin. 1421: The Year China Discovered the Americas. New York: William Morrow, 2003. A somewhat controversial treatment of Zheng He’s travels that suggest that his ships reached the Americas. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, and index.

Ptak, Roderich. China and the Asian Seas: Trade, Travel, and Visions of the Others (1400-1750). Brookfield, Vt.: Ashgate, 1998. An examination of the explorations of Zheng He and the trade in which the Chinese engaged. Bibliography and index.

Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996. A study of how the eunuchs were used during the Ming Dynasty. One chapter focuses on Ming maritime activities. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, and index.

Tsai, Shih-shan Henry. Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001. A study of the reign of Yonglo, Zheng He’s supporter, and its place within the Ming Dynasty.