A Ming Naval Expedition
About the Document
Zheng He's daring adventures to explore the outside world came nearly ninety years
earlier than Christopher Columbus's journey westward. Although the voyages did not
last long, they proved to the Chinese, as well as the world, that China was able to carry
out long-distance travel on the high sea.
Reading this stone tablet text commemorating the expeditions, it is not difficult to
understand the pride of the Chinese in demonstrating their maritime power. One
wonders what kind of naval power China would have become if the Ming emperor had
not called off such voyages in 1433, and China had not lost its technological edge to
the Europeans.
The Document
The Imperial Ming dynasty in unifying seas and continents . . . even goes beyond the
Han and the Hang . . . the countries beyond the horizon and from the ends of the earth
have all become subjects . . . Thus the barbarians from beyond the seas have come to
audience bearing precious objects. . . . The Emperor has ordered us, Zheng He . . . to
make manifest the transforming power of the Imperial virtue and to treat distant people
with kindness. . . .We have seven times received the commission and ambassadors [and
have visited] altogether more than thirty countries, large and small. We have traversed
immense water spaces and have beheld huge waves like mountains rising sky high, and
we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light
vapors, while our sails loftily unfolded like clouds day and night controlled their
course, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare. .
.We have received the high favor of a gracious commission of our Sacred Lord, to
carry to the distant barbarians the benefits of his auspicious example. . . .Therefore we
have recorded the years and months of the voyages. [Here follows a detailed record of
places visited and things done on each of the seven voyages.] We have anchored in this
port awaiting a north wind to take the sea, and have thus recorded an inscription in
stone . . . erected by the principal envoys, the Grand Eunuchs Cheng Ho and Wang
Ching-hung and the assistant envoys.
Source: Rhoads Murphey, East Asia: A New History, 2d ed. (New York: Longman
Publishing, 2001), p. 127.
Analysis Questions
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How did the Chinese view their overseas expeditions?
What is the point of the description of the weather and waves on the high sea?
What might be the major contributions of these Chinese voyages to the world?
What role was played by the imperial power in China’s overseas expeditions?
What was China’s view of itself and the world?