Fig. 1 Prof. Lin Meicun of Peking University's School of Archaeology and Museology with a large Ming Yongle-period blue-and-white plate in Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul.
In mid September 2005, on its News Channel China Central Television (CCTV) screened a live-to-air broadcast over six consecutive afternoons of the excavation by marine archaeologists of a Qing dynasty trading vessel that went down in waters off Pingtan county in Fujian province approximately 300 years ago. The program, titled Wanjiao yihao (Porcelain Reef Number One), represented a major advance on previous archaeological documentary production in China. Authoritative scholars, such as Prof. Qi Dongfang of Peking University's School of Archaeology and Museology, provided lively studio commentary while cameramen went underwater to record the excavation activities below the surface. The vessel, which failed to clear the entrance of Fuzhou harbour before it capsized, was a Fujian ship (Fuchuan), one of the four main types of Qing-dynasty ocean-going vessel, the other three being shachuan, guangchuan and wuchuan.
Fig. 1 Prof. Lin Meicun of Peking University's School of Archaeology and Museology with a large Ming Yongle-period blue-and-white plate in Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul.
Chen Huasha, a researcher of ceramics at the Palace Museum, provided a spirited introduction to the recovered porcelain as she was interviewed on the deck of the salvage vessel. The boat was carrying a cargo of Jingdezhen export porcelain produced in civilian kilns and probably ultimately destined for the European market, when it capsized. The examples she introduced make it clear that the quality and design of civilian kiln pieces are in no way inferior to imperial kiln wares. Although Chen was not forthcoming with market prices for the exquisite salvaged examples of blue-and-white and other types of porcelain for the persistent interviewer, she made the point well that a figure could not be set on the value of such pieces and that auction prices were a fickle indicator of the genuine value of an antique.
This new-found interest in marine archaeology in China, and in Zheng He in particular, is related clearly to the celebrations of the 600th anniversary of the first of Zheng He's seven ocean voyages (see below). Although the Chinese government declared 6 July, the actual day of the sexcentennial, to be China Maritime Day, most activities have been muted and thoughtful. Scholars of Zheng He and of Chinese marine history in general have won a new and attentive audience. Typical is a Guangming Daily story of 13 September: An elderly aficionado of ancient boats from Ninghai, Zhejiang province, recently paid RMB 600,000 yuan for a timber anchor, salvaged by a fisherman from Jinhu county, Jiangsu province, which is believed by scholars to date to the early Ming dynasty. Xi Longfei, an authority on ancient ships from Wuhan Physical Engineering University, points out that the hardwood anchor, measuring 7.45m in length and weighing approximately 500kg, is the largest ancient Chinese anchor ever found and that it would have been of sufficient size for use on the massive treasure ships of Zheng He's fleet.
CCTV also recently produced and screened an eight-part documentary on the travels of the ancient navigator himself. CCTV cameramen travelled to more than 17 countries to shoot footage for the series, uncovering much interesting material in the course of production. Among the more surprising titbits revealed was that Abdurrahman Wahid, the former president of Indonesia, is an offspring of a sailor who travelled with Zheng He; that hardwood ship debris found in Australia may be evidence of a visit by a boat in one of Zheng He's fleets; and that a village in Kenya includes descendants of seamen who travelled to east Africa with Zheng He's fleets. The latter discovery has been questioned by some Chinese scholars, but it is undeniable that blue-and-white porcelain from China is prominently displayed on the facades of many tombs on the Kenyan coast. Prof. Qin Dashu, an archaeologist from Peking University's School of Archaeology and Museology, is in Kenya examining this ceramic material at the time of writing. Prof. Lin Meicun (Fig. 1), another archaeologist from Peking University, acted as a consultant for the TV series. In an article in Forbidden City, a bimonthly journal published by the Palace Museum, Lin wrote that involvement in the project gave him a greater sense of the geographic sweep of Zheng He's achievements. He also describes how he came to appreciate the precision of the term Xiyang, meaning "Western Ocean", in relation to Zheng He's voyages, after conducting research for the series. In the early Ming dynasty, when Zheng He sailed, the term Xiyang was used specifically to refer the ocean routes west of Lambri Island off Aceh, and it is with this specific usage that the term was employed in contemporary maps and texts. In the Qing dynasty, the term Xiyang was less precise in meaning, and referred to all seas and oceans west of the South China Sea.
FFig. 2 The theatre stage of Changyin Pavilion in the Palace Museum complex in Beijing where the drama Feng Tianming Sanbao xia Xiyang was performed.
The appearance of Zheng He in classical literary works has also attracted recent interest. The Ming voyager is the protagonist in a popular Ming dynasty novel, Luo Maodeng Sanbao Taijian Xiyang ji tongsu yanyi and a drama of the period titled Feng Tianming Sanbao xia Xiyang. The drama was written for royal command performance in the theatre of the Imperial Place in Beijing, and its text is now held in the archive of the Palace Museum. (Fig. 2) Although the 20th-century literary scholar Zheng Zhenduo, who served as the director of the Palace Museum in the 1950s, argued that the novel was "livelier" than the play, recent scholarship indicates that the novel was adapted from the play. It has even been mooted that the ancient play should be adapted for the small screen.
A spate of publications on Zheng He has appeared in China, and a list of some of these recently published works is appended to this article, to supplement the list of references provided at the end of "Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary", which appeared in our second issue of China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005. Broader issues related to Zheng He's voyages and China's position in the world, such as those raised in Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik's work The World that Trade Created, have been discussed in Chinese newspapers and journals. Further conferences on the Maritime Silk Road will be held later this year, but the sexcentennial celebrations in China have been low-key and marked by much less fanfare than that raised in Southeast Asia.
In July, a new Chinese temple dedicated to Zheng He was unveiled in Semarang on the Indonesian island of Java. The original temple there is believed by many to have been a mosque, underscoring the fact that Zheng He was a Muslim. Indonesian historians, including Gan Kok Hwie and Slamet Muljana, have commented on the significance of Zheng He's voyages within the context of Indonesian history. Muljana, in his The Javan Hindu Kingdom and the Emergence of Islamic Kingdoms across the Archipelago argues that when the Hindu Majapahit Kingdom in central Java suffered from setbacks, the Chinese Muslim community under Zheng's guidance contributed to local efforts to establish an Islamic kingdom across the archipelago. Members of Indonesia's Chinese community have organised most events, with the blessing of the Indonesian and Chinese governments.
Lim Neo Chian, chief executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, has overseen a number of high profile events in Singapore. These include the recreation of Longyamen, also known as Dragon's Teeth Gate, at Labrador Park on the southern coast of the island. This is a symbolic reconstruction of two granite outcrops, believed to have once flanked the western entrance of Keppel Harbour Straits through which Zheng He might have sailed on one of his seven voyages between 1405 and 1433. The original Longyamen, together with the surrounding outcrops, was blasted by the British in 1848 to widen the channel for larger vessels. A new musical, The Admiral's Odyssey, was also staged in Singapore as part of the celebrations, and in July a festival village, with pavilions showcasing the architecture, cuisine, handicrafts and entertainments in countries visited by Zheng He, was set up on Marina Promenade. The island republic also issued commemorative stamps and coins. Furthermore, an exhibition titled "Zheng He and Maritime Asia" was launched at the Singapore National Library in August. Covering an area of 700 sq m, the exhibition comprised five parts: The Early Maritime Asia, The Rightful Ruler, The Imperial Fleet, The Voyages Gallery and Zheng He's Legacy. Compared with celebrations in Singapore, those in China, when viewed in retrospect were relatively low-key, but this is possibly because Gavin Menzies was not invited to China, where his academically unsound work (see table below compiled by Dr Geoffrey Wade, National University of Singapore) is now given short shrift. His colourful claims were, however, accorded prominence in the exhibition in the Singapore National Library. [BGD]
| Claims by Mr. Menzies | Facts |
|---|---|
| 1. Four eunuch admirals—Hong Bao, Zhou Man, Zhou Wen and Yang Qing –led fleets to the Americas, Australia, Greenland and the Antarctic during voyages between 1421 and 1423. | There are no Chinese or other texts which suggest in any way that these four eunuchs, or any other Ming commanders, travelled anywhere at all beyond Asia, the Middle East and the east coast of Africa. All other voyages derive solely from Mr. Menzies' imagination. Further, the currents, winds and dates Menzies cites in support would not have carried the ships anywhere near where he claims. In short, there is no archaeological, textual or archival material to support the Menzies thesis as set down in 1421. In this book Menzies intentionally distorts known materials and deliberately alters known facts in order to support his thesis. |
| 2. Sailors and concubines from these fleets settled in the Americas, Australia, New Zealand and islands across the Pacific. In evidence, he cites studies of "recent" inflow of "Chinese genes" and "East Asian DNA" into the Americas. | There is no evidence of Ming settlement sites in, or even Ming knowledge, of these places until the arrival of the Jesuits in China in the 16tth century. The genetic evidence on which Menzies relies is provided by a company whose genetic tests have been labelled a "scam" by Stephen O'Brien, the US National Cancer Institute's laboratory chief. |
| 3. There exists a range of wrecks of the ships from these voyages spread around the world, and these are proof of the voyages claimed by Menzies. | Not one wreck which can be linked with the eunuch voyages in the first 30 years of the 15th century (or indeed any Chinese wreck) has been identified outside of the Asian region. |
| 4. The Ming voyagers built celestial observation platforms at 24 places across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Menzies names and provides coordinates for these platforms. (1421, pp.416-17, 457) | There is no textual or archaeological evidence to even begin to suggest that the Ming voyagers built observation platforms anywhere in the world. Again, their existence derives only from the fertile imagination of Mr. Menzies. |
| 5. The Ming armadas left a range of other built structures around the world, particularly in Australasia and the Americas, including the Newport Round Tower, the Gympie pyramid and other structures and mines. They also left a ship's slipway made of stones on the Bimini islands in the Caribbean. | Not one of the structures Mr. Menzies cites has been shown to have any links with China. The Bimini "slipway", which is in any case parallel to the shore, has been shown to be a completely natural formation. |
| 6. The Chinese "were aware that the earth was a globe and had divided it into 365 and a quarter degrees (the number of days in the year) of latitude and longitude." (1421, p.449) | There is no evidence that during the early Ming, the Chinese had any knowledge of the earth as a globe and certainly none that they were aware of latitude and longitude. |
| 7. The Ming voyagers surveyed South America, Antarctica, North America and the Atlantic as well as Australasia. "The whole world was accurately charted by 1428." (1421 p.411) | There is no text or other evidence which suggests that the Ming voyagers went anywhere near these places and no Chinese maps which indicate any surveying of these places. Further, there are no contemporary Ming artefacts found in any of these regions. |
| 8. A range of European maps show anomalies which can only be explained by accepting the Chinese voyages proposed by Mr. Menzies as having taken place | The cartographic anomalies which Mr. Menzies points to, real or imagined, can be explained through many avenues, the most likely being that Arab navigators, who had been travelling these waters for 600 years before the Chinese, had produced maps of areas they travelled to. |
| 9. Mr. Menzies noted that the Venetian Niccolò da Conti was the crucial and only link between Chinese and European cartographers. Menzies claims that he participated in the voyages over several years and carried Chinese maps back to Europe. He notes that Da Conti "had spent years aboard a junk of the treasure fleet" and that "Chinese maps passed from Da Conti to Fra Mauro, and from him to Dom Pedro of Portugal and Prince Henry the Navigator" (1421, pp.369, 84-87, 92-93) | Da Conti, who left us detailed accounts of his travels, recounts neither meeting any Ming envoy in Calicut, nor travelling on any Chinese ship for even a day, nor seeing or receiving any Chinese maps showing a new world. The utter and complete contempt for truth with which Menzies depicts these events is disheartening. |
| 10. Mr. Menzies claims that a number of mylodons (a type of giant sloth) had been taken from South America to New Zealand and China by the Ming ships. | All available evidence suggests that the Mylodon has been extinct for several thousand years, which militates somewhat against the likely veracity of Mr. Menzies claims in this respect. But such sloppy research is found throughout the volume. He notes, for example, rubber trees in Malacca 450 years before they had been introduced from South America by the British, etc. etc., ad nauseum. |
Geoff Wade adds that the Discovery TV programme on 1421 also investigates in detail ten major errors made in the volume.
Chen Wei, "Zheng He 'Tianfei lingying zhi ji' bei" (Zheng He's stele recording the miracle of Tian Fei), Fujian wenbo (Fujian artefacts), 2005:2, pp.18-20.
Chen Ziyu, "Anxi Deng Hui sui Zheng He xia xiyang kao" (A study of Deng Hui of Anxi's participation in Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean), Fujian wenbo, 2005:2, pp.21-22.
Chi Jingjia, "Shibian Changle Xianyinggong xunhai dashen qunsu zhong zhi fanke" (A tentative study of the foreign figure among the figurines of the deities patrolling the ocean in the Xianying Gong in Changle), Fujian wenbo, 2005:2, p.35.
Chi Jingjia and Huang Shulan, "Yao Guangxiao zeng sui Zheng He xia Xiyang" (Yao Guangxiao did accompany Zheng He on his voyages to the Western Ocean), Fujian wenbo, 2005:2, pp.10-13.
Chi Pin, "Shuo Sanbao Taijian" (A discussion of the "Three Treasure Eunuch), Fujian wenbo, 2005:2, pp.14-17.
Feng Hanyong, "Xiyang ji yuan yu xiju" (The novel Xiyang ji was adapted from the theatre), Wenshi zazhi (History and literature), 2005:4, pp.48-52.
Ha Enzhong, "Zheng He: Zou xiang weilanse de diyiren" (Zheng He: The first man to sail the oceans blue), Zijincheng (Forbidden City), 2005:4, pp.22-29.
Hua Guorong et al., "Zheng He chuanchang kaogu xin faxian" (New archaeological discoveries at the Zheng He shipyards), Huaxia renwen dili (Cultural geography), 2005:7, pp.18-19.
Lei Congyun, "Zheng He suxiang ji qita" (The sculptural figures of Zheng He and other matters), Fujian wenbo, 2005:2, pp.1-2.
Li Qun and Lu Zenglan, "Zheng He xia Xiyang yeji ji qi qianyin houguo shixi: Jian yu Zheng Peikai jiaoshou, Zhai Ruofu xiansheng shangque" (A tentative analysis of the reasons for and results of Zheng He's ocean expeditions to the Western oceans, and a debate with Prof Zheng Peikai and Zhai Ruofu), Nanjing shehui kexue (Nanjing social sciences), 2005:8, pp.56-59.
Lin Meicun, "Zheng He haiwai yiji diaocha" (Survey of the international traces of Zheng He), Zijincheng, 2005:4, pp.12-21.
Lu Ren, "Shilun Zheng He xia Xiyang de shangmao huodong" (A tentative discussion of the commercial and trading activities of Zheng He's expeditions), Haijiao shi yanjiu (Maritime History Studies), 2005:1, pp.22-30.
Luo Zongzhen, "Shi ping Mengxisi 1421: Zhongguo faxian meiguo" (A tentative critique of Menzies' 1421), Haijiao shi yanjiu (Maritime History Studies), 2005:1, pp.1-17.
Mu Sa, Ma Jianwen, "Zheng He xia Xiyang yu wenming duihua guoji yantaohui zongshu" (General discussion of the international colloquium on Zheng He's voyages and dialogue between civilizations), Huizu yanjiu (Studies of the Hui), 2005:3, pp.31-35.
Shi Ping, "Zheng He xia Xiyang weihe xuanze Taicang chugang?" (Why did Zheng He choose to set sail on his voyages to the Western Seas from Taicang port?), Zhonghua yichan (Chinese Heritage), 2005:4, pp.20-27.
Song Xian, "Zheng He hanghai yu Musilin wenhua" (Zheng He's navigation and Muslim culture), Huizu yanjiu, 2005:3, pp.5-10.
Tan Tan, "Zheng He xia Xiyang dongyin xin tan" (A new study of the motivation for Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas), Shijie zongjiao yanjiu (Studies in world religions), 2005:2, pp.95-103.
Wan Ming, "Feng tianming Sanbao xia Xiyang: Ming gong xitai shang nongsuo de lishi" (Zheng He sails the Western Seas: Microcosmic history on the Ming palace stage), Zijincheng, 2005:4, pp.30-35.
Wan Ming, "Zheng He wei shenme xia Xiyang? Cong Feng tianming Sanbao xia Xiyang zaju tanqi" (Why did Zheng He undertake his voyages? A discussion prompted by an ancient drama on the voyages), Wenshi zhishi (Knowledge of literature and history), 2005:7, pp 11-18.
Wan Ming, "Zheng He xia Xiyang yanjiu baibian huimou" (A look back over a century of research on Zheng He's voyages to the West), Zhongguo shi yanjiu dongtai (Trends in recent research on Chinese history), 2005:8, pp.9-14.
Wang Fang, "Zheng He zai Taicang yiliu xia shenme?" (What remains did Zheng He leave in Taicang?), Zhonghua yichan, 2005:4, pp.28-33.
Wang Guanzhuo, "Jujian zhi mi: Zheng He yihao baochuan kao" (The mystery of the massive vessels: Research on the 'number one' treasure ship of Zheng He), Huaxia renwen dili (Cultural geography), 2005:7, pp.84-90.
Wang Jianhua, "Yong-Xuan qinghua 'xia Xiyang' " (Yongle and Xuande period blue-and-white porcelain "sails the Western Seas"), Zijincheng, 2005:4, pp.36-44.
Wang Tianyou and Zhang Han, "Zheng He xia Xiyang yanjiu zhong de jige wenti" (Several issues in research on Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean), Part 1: Wenshi zhishi (Knowledge of literature and history), 2005:7, pp.4-10; Part 2: Wenshi zhishi, 2005:8, pp.57-61.
Wang Tianyou, Xu Kai and Wan Ming eds., Zheng He yuanhang yu shijie wenming: Jinian Zheng He xia Xiyang 600 zhounian lunwen ji (Zheng He's epic voyages and world civilisation: Papers commemorating the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas), Peking University Press, July 2005, 663pp.
Wang Yonghong, Hao Yinxiang and Wang Lin, "Zhigua yunfan ji canghai: Zheng He hanghai yiji xunzong", Zhongguo wenhua yichan (Chinese cultural heritage), 2005:3, pp.34-45.
Wang Zhenyong, "Zheng He tongzhong" (Zheng He's bronze bell), Fujian wenbo, 2005:2, p.17.
Wu Yuming, "Zheng He hanghai gei Taicang dailaile shenme?" (What did Zheng He's voyages bring to Taicang?), Zhonghua yichan (Chinese Heritage), 2005:4, pp.34-37.
Xi Longfei and He Guowei, "Ma Huan Yingya shenglan Mingdai Dansheng-tang chaoben xunfang ji" (The discovery of Ma Huan's Yingya shenglan in the Dansheng-tang handwritten folio edition dating from the Ming dynasty), Haijiao shi yanjiu (Maritime History Studies), 2005:1, pp.18-21.
Yang Enlin, "Zheng He yu Sun Ran" Zheng He and Sun Ran), Fujian wenbo, 2005:2, pp.6-9.
Yu Xixian, Sun Can and Huang Jianjun, "Zheng He: Chuanbo dongfang wenming de yuanhangshizhe---Jinian Zheng He xia Xiyang 600 zhounian" (Zheng He: The long distance emissary proclaiming Oriental civilization----Commemorating the 600th anniversary of Zheng he's voyages to the Western Seas), Yunnan Minzu Daxue xuebao: Zhexue shehui kexue ban (Journal of Yunnan Ethnic Minorities University: Philosophy & Social Sciences), 2005:7, pp.86-91.
Zhang Ping, "Jinian Zheng He xia Xiyang 600 zhounian de xianshi yiyi" (The practical significance of commemorating the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages), Wenshi zazhi, 2005:4, pp 48-52.
Zhao Dexing et al., "Heping cujin guoji wenming jiaoliu de wenhua shizhe: Zheng He yu 15 shiji chu Zhongwai wenhua jiaoliu" (Envoy promoting peaceful international cultural exchange: Zheng He and Sino-foreign culture exchange in the early-15th century), Nanjing shehui kexue (Nanjing Social Sciences), 2005:8, pp.60-64.