Zheng He

• Born: 1371
• Died: 1433
• Voyages: 1405-1433
• Chinese: 鄭和 (Zheng He)

Zheng He was a Muslim eunuch in the service of the Ming Dynasty, and an admiral who led a famous fleet of so-called treasure ships on a series of voyages across the Indian Ocean region from 1405-1433.

Zheng He was one of a great many prisoners of war, mainly from non-Chinese ethnic origins, who were castrated while young (Zheng He himself is believed to have been castrated at age 10 or 11), making them eligible for palace service as eunuchs. The palace eunuchs played a significant role in the coup that put the Yongle Emperor on the throne in 1402, and as a result he expanded the power and position of the eunuchs within the palace, important steps towards the much more considerable presence and influence eunuchs would wield in the later Qing Dynasty; it was in conjunction with this same set of developments that Zheng He was appointed admiral of Yongle's treasure fleet.

Treasure Ships

Zheng He headed a fleet of over three hundred ships, the largest of which were 120 meters long and 48 meters wide, by far the largest wooden sailing ships known to have ever sailed the seas. The largest caravels or galleons of the height of the European "Age of Sail" were a fraction of the size of these largest of the Ming treasure ships. The treasure ships, further, are said to have been equipped with incredible luxuries, including compartments filled with water so the crews could keep, raise, and enjoy fresh fish during their journey.

The fleet included as many as 28,000 men.

Voyages

On these missions, he reached lands including parts of east Africa (e.g. modern-day Kenya or Tanzania), India, and the Persian Gulf region. Unlike the European transoceanic voyages of exploration which were to come less than a century later, Zheng He's voyages were not missions of conquest or colonization. Rather, these were missions seeking nominal ritual expressions of submission, and payment of tribute. According to the concept of the Sinocentric world order which underlay the tribute system, it was believed that the Chinese Emperor was the universal monarch, the source from which all civilization and virtue emanated, and that it was his responsibility to extend that civilization and virtue as far as he could, in order to bring civilization and virtue to the barbarians. Moreover, it was believed that the barbarians were meant to recognize the emperor as the source of virtue, to acknowledge their submission, and to pay tribute; this was an important part of the natural order of things, and was essential to the continued harmonious workings of the universe.

That said, there were political and economic reasons for the Yongle Emperor to dispatch these missions as well. Having killed his nephew and usurped the throne, he very much needed to make efforts to boost attitudes of his legitimacy and power at home, within the Chinese Court. Missions such as these, providing the emperor with exotic luxuries from distant lands, and oaths of submission from foreign leaders, helped to serve that purpose. Among these luxuries, furthermore, were exotic animals such as giraffes, which the emperor dubbed qilin (J: kirin), in an attempt to claim himself to be a Sage King, like the greatest emperors of old; legends told that during the reign of the most virtuous of the Sage Kings, legendary creatures such as the qilin would appear, along with other signs.

Some scholars have suggested additional possible motives for these missions. They were not economically profitable in a gross/net profit sense - the treasure ships, despite their size, were not bringing back tons and tons of rice, precious metals, or other commodities. But, some scholars have suggested, the missions may have been undertaken in part because of the need for luxury goods to furnish the soon-to-be-rebuilt Beijing. Some scholars have also suggested that Yongle may have been seeking his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor, who may have escaped the attack on the palace which brought Yongle to the throne; this theory stipulates that Yongle may have sent Zheng He, in part, to find and kill Jianwen in order to secure Yongle's claims to the throne.

Zheng He died in 1433, and on account of the incredible expense, the Court put an end to any such voyages.

References

• Valerie Hansen, The Open Empire, New York: W.W. Norton & Company (2000), 378-379.