UCLA International Institute
Zheng He's Voyages of Discovery
Noted oceanic scientist Jin Wu discusses the 15th century expeditions of
the Chinese mariner Zheng He & the celebration of the 600th anniversary of
his first voyage
By _Richard Gunde_
(http://www.international.ucla.edu/author.asp?Author_ID=42)
Published: Tuesday, April 20, 2004
What Zheng He accomplished, Jin Wu declared, must be considered an
achievement for all of mankind, not just a Chinese achievement.
On April 12 Jin Wu, distinguished oceanic scientist and former Minister of
Education of the Republic of China (on Taiwan), discussed Zheng He's
voyages of discovery and the upcoming celebrations of the 600th anniversary of
his first voyage.
In his talk, Professor Wu emphasized that, especially since the documentary
record surrounding Zheng He (sometimes written Cheng Ho; 1371-1435) and
his voyages is so thin, oceanic scientists and engineers and other physical
scientists can provide important insights to supplement the work of
historians.
Historical Background
Professor Wu began by briefly retracing the history of Zheng He's voyages.
Upon the orders of the emperor Yongle and his successor, Xuande, Zheng He
commanded seven expeditions, the first in the year 1405 and the last in
1430, which sailed from China to the west, reaching as far as the Cape of Good
Hope. The object of the voyages was to display the glory and might of the
Chinese Ming dynasty and to collect tribute from the "barbarians from beyond
the seas." Merchants also accompanied Zheng's voyages, Wu explained,
bringing with them silks and porcelain to trade for foreign luxuries such as
spices and jewels and tropical woods.
These voyages, Professor Wu noted, came a few decades before most of the
famous European voyages of discovery known to all Western school children:
Christopher Columbus, in 1492; Vasco da Gama, in 1498; and Ferdinand
Magellan, in 1521. However, Zheng He's fleets were incomparable larger.
According
to figures presented by Professor Wu:
Navigator
Number of Ships
Number of Crew
Zheng He (1405 - 1433)
48 to 317
28,000
Columbus (1492)
3
90
Da Gama (1498)
4
ca. 160
Magellan (1521)
5
265
Moreover, Zheng He's ships, Professor Wu explained, were impressive
examples of naval engineering. His so-called treasure ships (which brought
back to
China such things a giraffes from Africa) were 400 feet long. Columbus's
flagship the St. Maria, in contrast, was but 85 feet in length. Zheng He's
treasure ships, Professor Wu mentioned, displaced no less than 10,000 tons
and had an aspect ratio (width:length) of 0.254; in other words, they were
wide and bulky—"the supertankers of their day." Aside from the treasure
ships, Zheng He's fleet also contained a variety of other, specialized
vessels:
"equine ships" (for carrying horses), warships, supply ships, and water
tankers.
(http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sultan/media/expl_01q.html)
Professor Wu invited the audience to imagine the scene of Zheng He's
300-vessel fleet on the sea, spread out over many square miles. ("Sailing
ships," Wu pointed out, "require room to maneuver" and thus the fleet would
have
blanketed a wide swath of the ocean.) If an object of the voyages was to
display the glory and might of China, then there can be no question but that
this magnificent fleet would have awed all who witnessed it. It is ironic,
then, that today little is known of Zheng He's voyages. This is, Wu pointed
out, mainly the doing of the Confucianists in the imperial court, who saw
to it that Zheng's ships were burned after his last voyage and who made
every effort to "systematically destroy all official records of the voyages."
Their motives were purely political. During much of the Ming dynasty (1368 –
1644), the eunuchs exercised great power in the imperial court, at the
expense of the Confucian civil bureaucracy. The expeditions of Zheng He, who
was himself a eunuch, were strongly supported by eunuchs in the court and
bitterly opposed by the Confucian scholar bureaucrats.
The Research Agenda
Although the Chinese documentary record of Zheng He's voyages is thus
woefully incomplete, Professor Wu hopes that relevant documents may exist in
the
places Zheng He visited. He encourages historians in these places to comb
through archives and other sources in search of such records.
Archaeology also, Professor Wu stated, is likely to uncover valuable
evidence. For instance, the shipyard in Nanjing where Zheng He's vessels were
constructed still exists; or rather, the channels in which the ships were
built still exist. The shipyard evidently had five channels during Zheng He's
time, but two of the five have been filled in. When Wu visited the disused
shipyard in 2002, he was told the remaining three channels were to be filled
in. He quickly lobbied the relevant government officials and had the
channels saved. Indeed, the channels will now become part of a naval museum.
It
is likely, Wu pointed out, that important artifacts are preserved the
oxygen-starved mud of the channels.
Wu stated that "many scientific and technological aspects of the
expeditions are worthy of multidisciplinary studies, which may in turn
stimulate
further historical studies." In other words, "engineers and scientists should
work together with historians."
Professor Wu himself is organizing three projects:
1. shipbuilding technology in ancient China,
2. navigation technology in ancient China, and
3. management science in ancient China.
Regarding shipbuilding technology, Wu pointed out among other things that
a ship traversing the ocean sustains many forces: it is "not just like a
matchbox in a swimming pool." It is still not known how it was possible for
Chinese shipwrights to build a framework, without any iron, that could
sustain a 400-foot long vessel. Instead of looking for the answer just in the
documentary record, Wu proposes that "naval architects join in with
historians to discover whether it was possible, or how the ships were built."
About navigation technology, among the topics Wu discussed was how
scientists today, using oceanic microwave remote sensing executed via
instruments
on satellites, can ascertain the "distribution of waves, of currents, of
winds, of water temperature, of water depth" on a weekly basis. "Ocean-going
sailing ships sailed mainly by wind and ocean currents. With the combined
effort of historians, navigators, and oceanographers, Zheng He's expedition
routes can be more convincingly verified." Using computer simulation, "we
can put a ship somewhere and see where it goes."
Wu stated that in China (and in Taiwan), it is always assumed that
"management science is an import from the West." However, in Wu's view, Zheng
He's
expeditions involved highly sophisticated techniques of organization and
planning; in other words, management science. For instance, Wu mentioned that
transferring supplies to ships on the high seas is still difficult, yet
somehow Zheng He's fleet was able to transfer water from the water tankers to
the other ships. This is, Wu observed, "really amazing."
Zheng He's expeditions involved, among others:
* Building ships
* Recruiting and training of crew members and soldiers
* Acquisition of domestic goods for exchange
* Command and logistics on the high seas
Sailing a large fleet sailing into largely unknown waters "required
advanced management skills and systems and certainly deserves our intensive
study." There was no margin for error. "What was achieved was comparable to
what
we did in our day to go to the moon."
Celebration of the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's First Voyage
What Zheng He accomplished, Jin Wu declared, must be considered an
achievement for all of mankind, not just a Chinese achievement. Moreover, it
presents an opportunity, Wu continued, "for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to
work together."
Professor Wu went on to list his many activities in promoting the study of
Zheng He and his voyages, including delivering the keynote speech (on Zheng
He) at the annual meeting of the Conference on Asian Seas, in March 2001;
organizing the First International Conference on Zheng He, held in Taipei,
in September 2001; the establishment of Zheng He study clubs in several
cities in the United States; and others, including plans to build a replica of
Zheng He's treasure ship. The first iteration will be only 180 feet in
length because "we don't have confidence we can build a 400-foot ship -- and
we don't have that much money! Furthermore, there is quite a debate about
what kind of ships Zheng He really had: the shape, etc." This first ship will
thus not be a replica, but will incorporate features of Zheng He's ships
about which there is reasonable certainty. As knowledge expands, more ships
will be built, each iteration being closer to the ships that Zheng He
sailed.
Comments of Richard von Glahn
At the conclusion of Jin Wu's talk, Richard von Glahn (UCLA Professor of
History, and a specialist in Chinese history) offered some comments. First,
von Glahn mentioned that he teaches world history, and that all world
history texts mention Zheng He. The problem with these texts, von Glahn
continued, is with the presentation. The tendency is to offer counterfactual
arguments; in other words, to emphasize "China's missed opportunity." The
"narrative emphasizes the failure" and pays insufficient attention to what was
accomplished.
In a word, von Glahn continued, "Zheng He reshaped Asia." Maritime history
in the fifteenth century is essentially the Zheng He story and the effects
of Zheng He's voyages. For instance, Malacca, on the Malayan peninsula, and
Zheng He's most important port after those in China, in the fifteenth
century became the great port and hub of a trading network that extended
across
Southeast Asia and up to China.
Von Glahn emphasized that Zheng He's influence lasted beyond his age. Zheng
He, von Glahn suggested, may be seen as the tip of an iceberg: He was
prominent, but there is much, much more to story of maritime trade and other
relationships in Asia in the fifteenth century and beyond. The conferences
that Professor Jin Wu is planning in conjunction with the 600th anniversary
of Zheng He's first voyage will, von Glahn stated, show this.
____________________________________
Jin Wu (Ph.D. in Mechanics and Hydraulics, University of Iowa), an
internationally renowned researcher in oceanic science, was the Minister of
Education in the Republic of China on Taiwan from 1996 to 1998. He is a member
of
both the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and the Academia Sinica. He
is currently Distinguished Professor of Hydraulic and Ocean Engineering,
National Cheng Kung University (in Tainan, Taiwan), and concurrently Director
of the Water Resources Research Center, and Director of the Research
Institute for Public Affairs, both at Cheng Kung University. Dr. Wu was for
many
years a professor of marine studies at the University of Delaware, one of
the world’s foremost centers for marine and oceanic studies. He is now H.
Fletcher Brown Professor Emeritus of Marine Studies and Civil Engineering,
University of Delaware.
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