Many decades before Columbus first set sail to the New World, the Ming Dynasty Emperor Yongle (永乐皇帝) appointed his trusted admiral Zheng He (郑和, 1371 – 1433) to command a large fleet of ships to carry out diplomatic missions to countries around the Western Oceans (西洋)—today’s Western Pacific and Indian Oceans. Zheng He’s first voyage in 1405 included 28,000 sailors in 317 ships, the largest of which were over 140 meters long, 57 meters wide (450’ x 185’), and had nine masts. In comparison, the Santa Maria, the largest ship in Columbus’s first voyage to the New World in 1492, was only 26 meters long. Zheng He’s crew included soldiers, diplomats, interpreters for Arabic and other languages, astronomers to study the stars, doctors to treat crew members and collect medicinal plants, shipwrights, and craftsmen. In the feature image, this fleet is depicted on a 2005 Chinese postage stamp commemorating the 600 year anniversary of Zheng He’s first voyage. This Ming Dynasty fleet ranked the largest in history until the First World War.

This first voyage visited many countries in today’s Southeast Asia, India, Arabia, and Africa’s east coast all the way to the Horn of Africa. Seeing this fleet of 300 plus ships at sea, spreading beyond the horizon, must have been awe-inspiring to the locals. To his hosts, Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain, and silk. Returning in 1407, he brought back gifts of spices, ivory, and novelty animals such as ostriches, zebras, and giraffe, from these countries.

While the scale of this fleet and the size of the ships were unprecedented, Zheng He’s sea routes followed long-established and well-mapped trade routes that had been used for centuries. Zheng He did not shy away from displaying military might when his fleet was challenged by pirates, but he did not engage in conquest and colonization. These facts have led some historians to believe that the voyages might have been motivated to project China’s power, to subject countries along the sea routes to be China’s tributary states, and to expand inter-regional trade.

Nanjing (南京), the Ming capital at the time and a port situated at the lower reaches of the Yangtze River just inland from the delta, was the birthplace of Zheng He’s ships. In Nanjing locations, archeologists have unearthed hundreds of shipbuilding tools in remains of ancient shipyards that built vessels for Zheng He. Historical records show that in 1407 alone, Nanjing shipyards refurbished 249 ships for diplomatic missions to countries in the Indian Ocean. These Nanjing shipyards were able to build ships larger and technologically more advanced than China’s maritime competitors such as Indians or Arabs. A ship’s rudder plate made of mahogany was unearthed at a shipyard site. Judging from its weight and height, experts believe that it belonged to a ship weighing at least 1000 tons. Also notably, the construction of watertight compartments was common in Chinese ships of that era.

Between 1408 and 1433, Zheng He made six more voyages, each including dozens of ships. The seven voyages deeply impressed the local regimes, many of which sent their diplomats, merchants, and even heads of state to join the returning voyages to pay tribute to the Ming court. The fifth voyage (1417 – 1419) returned seventeen heads of state from South Asia, and the sixth voyage (1421 – 1422) returned nineteen ambassadors back to their respective states, for example.

An enormous quantity of records on the sea routes, societies, and cultures along the coastlines of Southeast Asia, Indian subcontinent, Arabia Peninsula, and East Africa was collected. In the spring of 1433, while on his seventh voyage, Zheng He died off the coast of south west India. Toward the end of Emperor Yongle’s reign, domestic unrests had devastated the country’s economy. Following Zheng He’s death, Yongle’s successor Emperor Xuande (宣德皇帝), banned all further expeditions and the fleet never set sail again. The ships were destroyed along with most of the records of the voyages. Nevertheless, the knowledge related to the geography, people, and cultures of these voyages was not entirely lost. Several surviving records—the Survey of the Ocean Shores (流涯胜览) by Ma Huan (马欢, a translator in the fleet), the Description of the Starry Raft (星搓胜览) by Fei Xin (费信, a soldier), and the Records of Western Foreign Land (西洋番国志) by Gong Zhen (巩珍, a soldier)—provide details of the voyages, places the fleet visited, and the nautical technologies used by the fleet.  

Zheng He’s voyages were a remarkable chapter in Chinese history and played a pivotal role in expanding the Maritime Silk road. Moreover, he succeed in extending the Ming court’s influence, with far-reaching economic, political, and cultural legacies that influenced trade, diplomacy, and cultural exchange around the Indian Ocean. Although the Ming court ended official expeditions, international trade continued to flourish along Zheng He’s sea routes.

Zheng He’s voyages helped spread Chinese culture and technology, such as porcelain, paper, and gunpowder, to the regions he visited. In reverse, the voyages introduced diverse cultures, goods, and religions into China. Zhang He himself was Muslim, and his voyages contributed to increased contact between China and the Muslim world. Moreover, these voyages raised Chinese people’s awareness of the world beyond their country, leading to cultural exchanges in arts, sciences, and technology. Some Chinese, intrigued by stories of distant lands, later emigrated to places visited by the fleet.

However, the geopolitical influence of Zheng He’s voyages were short-lived. The Ming court’s decision to end the expeditions ushered China into an isolationist phase. No record suggests the establishment of permanent embassies in the regions the fleet visited. By 1500, the Ming government had made it an offense to build a boat with more than two masts and ordered the destruction of all oceangoing ships. Even though Zheng He’s voyages initiated the age of geographical discovery, China’s isolationist position began just when the Portuguese and Spanish began to venture out into the world oceans to continue the geographical discovery, putting China at a great disadvantage in the world stage for centuries.