An afternoon with Zheng He

On the 30th of January,the institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore organized "an afternoon of events relating to the Chinese eunuch admiral Zheng He (鄭和) and the ways in which his image and the Ming sources which portray him are used and abused in history and popular writing".

For more information, click HERE 

Power grew out of Zheng He's gunboats

An interview with Geoffey Wade from the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in the Asia Times online from January 26, 2012
Admiral Zheng He's armadas sailed from Nanjing to as far as East Africa over eight voyages between 1405-1433. Most Chinese lionize the Muslim eunuch as a peace loving ambassador of peace and friendship. But Australian historian Geoffrey Wade tells Victor Fic the admiral was a Ming military commander pursuing gunboat diplomacy, and indicts the commodore for war crimes. A senior research fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, based in Singapore, Wade's interests include Sino-Southeast Asian historical interactions and related issues such as Chinese expansions and early Islam in Southeast Asia. Wade's work includes an online database [1] that provides English translations of over 3,000 references to Southeast Asia extracted from the Ming imperial annals. In 2009, Wade's China and Southeast Asia was published, a six-volume survey of seminal works on Southeast Asia-China interactions. 

Victor Fic: Geoff, how did you become fascinated with Zheng He?
Geoffrey Wade: I have long been interested in how China and Southeast Asia interacted and did my PhD on Southeast Asia as represented in the Ming reign annals. A key element was the Ming maritime missions to Southeast Asia. China's commemorations of Zheng He in 2005 further piqued my interest.

VF: Summarize the orthodox Chinese claim that he was a peaceful seafarer.
GW: Within Chinese societies, one finds "popular" perceptions of Zheng He. One tribute translates as:
From the age of Zheng He until the new period of socialist construction, the achievements of Zheng He during his voyages to the Western Ocean have been excellent materials for conducting patriotic education for the Chinese nation.

This is taken from Huang Hui-zhen and Xue Jin-du's book Eighty Years of Researching Zheng He. These two PRC [People's Republic of China] academics surveyed most of the studies of Zheng He to the present. A second translates as:

These were thus friendly diplomatic activities. During the overall course of the seven voyages to the Western Ocean, Zheng He did not occupy a single piece of land, establish any fortress or seize any wealth from other countries. In the commercial and trade activities, he adopted the practice of giving more than he received, and thus he was welcomed and lauded by the people of the various countries along his routes.

The speaker here is Xu Zu-yuan, then PRC vice minister of communications, in July 2004. This official was responsible for the Zheng He 600th anniversary celebrations in 2005.

VF: Did you initially believe these glowing tributes?
GW: No, I first came to Zheng He through a critical reading of the Ming annals and thereby was cognizant of his role in Ming China's military exploits.

VF: You amass evidence that Zheng He was "proto-colonialistic" and his treasure fleet was a gunboat armada. Where is the proof?
GW: The primary source material for Zheng He is in the Ming imperial annals. That text plus those written by persons like Ma Huan, a Muslim interpreter who accompanied him, provides all the evidence to validate the accusation.

VF: You focus on the admiral's massive fleet and crew - why are the numbers indicative?
GW: The various missions comprised between 50 and 250 ships, huge armadas, abroad for several years. The sources differ on the number of personnel, but figures between 27,000 and 30,000 are cited for the largest missions. A typical mission comprised, in the senior ranks, almost 100 envoys of various grades, 93 military captains, 104 lieutenants, 103 sub-lieutenants plus associated medical and astrological staff members. In one example, 26,800 out of 27,400 on board were the rank and file, the irregular and crack troops, plus sailors and clerks. Each mission likely carried over 20,000 military men. In a Ming annals reference of 1427, it notes "10,000 crack troops formerly sent to the Western Ocean," also suggesting a large force of military men.

VF: You also note the armada was heavily armed.
GW: Like the Ming forces sent to Yunnan in South China and Dai Viet or today's Vietnam, they carried the most advanced firearms available in the world such as cannons, rockets and firelances. I underline they were military missions with strategic aims because much current scholarship, both Chinese and non-Chinese, stresses they were "voyages of friendship".

VF: You note that Zheng He engaged in violence in Sumatra. What were his ends and means?
GW: Clearly, this force's major threatening role - "to shock and awe" - encouraged foreign rulers to come to the Ming court to "pay tribute". Also, sometimes Zheng He's voyages brimmed with violence to implement the Ming emperor's demands. The cardinal engagements included his attack on the Old Port at Palembang in Sumatra in 1407 during his first major mission abroad. He returned with a "pirate" named Chen Zu-yi captured for reportedly having "feigned surrender but secretly plotting to attack the Imperial army".

VF: What were the casualties?
GW: The Ming fleet reported 5,000 persons killed, 10 ships burnt and 7 captured. Later that year, the Ming recognized the polity of Old Port. But because of the ex-military Guangdong and Fujian Chinese who lived there, the Ming deemed it not a separate country, but a "pacification superintendency", a common term for polities ruled by non-Chinese on the Chinese borders. The appointed superintendent, Shi Jin-qing, was recognized by Zheng He as the local ruler. References to this polity end in 1430, implying its fortunes were tied to the Ming presence in Southeast Asia and that the rulers were indeed Ming state agents.

VF: You advance evidence that also at Sumatra, the admiral stepped into a civil war. GW: In 1415, Su-gan-la, the reported leader of the Samuderan "bandits", as the Ming annals called them, was captured and taken to China from Sumatra by Zheng He. Contradictory sources obscure the events of 1414 and 1415, and some of Ma Huan's account is obviously drawn from local folkore. But Zheng He appears to have intervened in a civil war in northern Sumatra and supported the side not hostile to the Ming. Again, the expedition was mainly a military force imposing a "pax Ming" on what became Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.

VF: Why do you insist that this violent pattern continued at Java?
GW: Zheng He's troops went ashore in Java in 1407. Javanese deaths totaled 170 in an altercation with locals under Majapahit, the Ming's chief competitor for regional hegemony in maritime Southeast Asia, or against Javanese forces opposed to Majapahit. The Chinese records suggest that they "went ashore to trade...where the Eastern king had ruled," indicating Chinese involvement - intentional or not - in a Javanese civil war.

VF: But the Javanese beat the Chinese. How did the latter react?
GW: The Ming demanded an indemnity from the Western king of Java: "Immediately pay 60,000 liang of gold in compensation for their lives and to atone for your crime ... Fail to comply and there will be no option but to dispatch an army to punish your crime. What happened in Annam can serve as an example." A liang is about a Chinese ounce.

VF: Now China is cultivating Myanmar, but you find that once upon a time, the latter was aggressive. GW: As his reign started, [Emperor] Yong-le especially vied for influence over the polity of Mu-bang, the Chinese name for Hsenwei, part of Shan State today. The Mu-bang envoy came to the Ming court in 1409 reportedly complaining about the Burmese ruler named Na-luo-ta. Yong-le's response included the following: "Na-luo-ta, with his petty piece of land, is double-hearted and wrong. I have long known this. I have not sent troops there because I am concerned that good people will be hurt. I have already sent people with instructions requiring him to change his ways and start anew. If he does not reform, I will then order the generals to dispatch the army. The troops will attack from the ocean route and you can arrange to have your native cavalry attack overland. The despicable fellow will not be equal to that."

VF: The order went to Zheng He?
GW: This reference to a maritime force was to Zheng He's Western Ocean ships. The Ming emperor's threat shows the voyages' militaristic role.

VF: As for Sri Lanka, you note that the Chinese invaded it.
GW: Zheng He invaded Sri Lanka's royal city, destroyed its military and carried the king and his family members back to the Ming court at Nanjing.

VF: Advance the proof for your assertion that he established garrisons or guanchang in Melaka [Malacca, Malaysia].
GW: Ma Huan attests to the garrisons at Melaka and Samudera atop the Straits of Melaka in a work entitled Ying-yai sheng-lan, meaning A Supreme View of the Ocean's Shores. Maps made during these voyages also support this.

VF: Why do you compare Zheng He to the Portuguese who came later?
GW: The Ming engaged in maritime proto-colonialism, an early form of maritime colonialism where a dominant sea power controlled through force or threats the main port polities along the major East-West ocean trade network, plus the waters between for economic and political benefits. The goal of the Portuguese was also to control the port cities and thereby dominate the commerce that flowed along the trade routes between them.

VF:What was the overriding aim of the Ming missions?
GW: Their end was regional dominance, a "pax Ming" and also control of ports and shipping lanes. They did not seek domination of territory - as did later later European colonialism. Rather, they wanted political and economic command across space - of economic lifelines, nodal points and networks. By holding ports and trade routes, one controlled trade, essential for the missions' treasure-collecting tasks. The armies aboard ensured this.

VF: Your detractors insist that you force the benign Chinese case into the insidious framework of Western imperialism ... please respond.
GW: Many Asians believe that the use of force in international relations started with European colonialism in the 15th century. No. Violence occurred in world history from its beginnings - everywhere. Every year in Chinese history, there was fighting on the borders. During the early Ming, Yong-le waged campaigns against the Tai polities of Yunnan, occupied the Vietnamese polity, making it a new province, and sent a third prong, this time sea-borne forces, led by Zheng He and other eunuch skippers.

VF: Others accuse you of eliding how Southeast Asian paid "tribute" to the Mings in exchange for protection ...
GW: The official Chinese texts record the arrival of state-sponsored traders as "tribute missions". The Southeast Asian historical texts do not record that idea of subservience at all.

VF: How about the notion that he advanced cultural exchange and understanding?
GW: His gunships promoted such so-called cultural exchange. European colonialism also facilitated "cultural exchange and understanding" but in a context of political domination.

VF: How is Zheng He remembered in areas of his proto-colonialism? His defenders claim that in Southeast Asia, people deified him.
GW: Some Southeast Asian Chinese worship him precisely for protective force. We have many examples of local warriors in Chinese history being deified as defenders of Chinese in "barbarian" lands. Non-Chinese people in Southeast Asia lack memory of Zheng He and have only recently began to use him as a tool for linking with China and for extolling Islam as a universal religion - Zheng He was a Muslim.

VF: Could the truth be a mixture of the laudatory and negative views?
GW: History-writing requires one to provide an account based on the sources one has at one's disposal. The historical records do show Zheng He was an agent of Ming Chinese state power using massive violence to dominate regional polities and oceans. The representations of Zheng He as an ambassador of peace and friendship are modern inventions intended to serve People Republic of China's diplomacy.

VF: As a historian, do you see history repeating itself, meaning that China is again attempting to dominate the southern seas?
GW: The South China Sea region and Southeast Asia more generally are certainly becoming areas of contention between US-led forces and a burgeoning China. This is partly because of China's attempts to develop a blue-water navy which it will need if it is to become a super-power.

VF: Geoff, it is unlikely that Beijing will invite you to any big "friendship" banquets...how are your ideas received there?
GW: Fortunately, a younger generation of Chinese scholars is beginning to question the state-sponsored interpretations of Zheng He. They examine the voyages as military expeditions. But given the Beijing's desire to publicly contrast the idea of China's historic and future peaceful internationalism versus violent European colonialism, this is a hugely sensitive issue within China. The party may not invite me, but others can reach me at u4892384@anu.edu.au.

 Notes 1. See HERE.
 Wade's study of Zheng He is available HERE.

Chinas Erben - Handelskrieg auf hoher See

Watch Chinas Erben - Handelskrieg auf hoher See in Educational & How-To  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Chinas Erben
Handelskrieg auf hoher See
Eine Dokumentation von Robert Wortmann

Prächtige Blau-Weisse Porzellan Teller neben einer Flasche aus Porzellan. Die Teller stehen noch immer, wie sie ursprünglich zum Transport gepackt waren; nur der Sand ist entfernt worden. (Quelle: PHOENIX/ ZDF/ Franck Goddio)


Fast 100 Jahre vor Kolumbus und Magellan entsandte der chinesische Kaiser Zhou-Di eine Armada über die Meere, die größer und mächtiger war als alle Flotten Europas zusammen. Die Dokumentation rekonstruiert die letzten Fahrten dreier asiatischer Handelsschiffe.

Mit bis zu 130 Meter langen Dschunken segelten chinesische Seefahrer bis an die Küsten Afrikas. An Bord führten sie Kostbarkeiten wie Porzellan, Seide und Tee mit sich. Durch die Handelsbeziehungen zu China entstanden neue Siedlungen entlang der Küsten wie etwa Manila auf den Philippinen und Jakarta in Indonesien. Doch mit dem Tod Zhou-Dis fand die erfolgreiche Seemacht China ein jähes Ende.

Sea hunt for ancient Chinese ship off African coast

Workers clean a model of a Chinese ship sailed by Chinese explorer Zheng He. He led seven seven voyages in which he sailed from China to more than 30 countries and regions throughout the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf from 1405 to 1433.


LAMU, Kenya — Did the Chinese come to East Africa before the Europeans?
Globalpost.com Erin Conway-Smith June 8, 2011

Sea hunt for ancient Chinese ship off African coast
Chinese and Kenyan archeologists probe waters near Lamu Island for sunken ships from the 1400s.

China says yes, as do a growing number of Western historians. To prove the theory, Chinese and Kenyan archeologists are now searching the African coast for the fabled wreck of a Ming dynasty junk — an ancient Chinese sailing vessel — from the fleet of legendary 15th-century explorer Zheng He.
A new report, obtained by GlobalPost, reveals that the researchers have identified several shipwrecks of interest off the Kenyan coast near the World Heritage site of Lamu.
Despite years of excitable hype by China’s state media, the underwater archaeologists involved in the search are warning that the newly discovered wrecks could be from any era or country — and even if a sunken Chinese ship is found, it may no longer be intact or even identifiable.
Some reports in the Chinese and Kenyan media have implied that the wreck of a ship from Zheng He’s fleet has already been found — and by extension, irrefutable historical proof that Chinese explorers visited Kenya before the Europeans. Evidence that China had friendly trading relations with Africa before the colonialists arrived would add luster to the Asian giant’s rapidly expanding presence on the continent.
According to this historical perspective, 600 years ago, Chinese sailors swam ashore after their vessel was shipwrecked off the coast of Pate Island, near Lamu. The Chinese sailors married the local people, and their descendants can still be identified by their almond-shaped eyes and light skin.
But the problem is that so far, there is no concrete proof that this tale is true. While archeologists have found Chinese coins and ceramics in Kenya, these could be explained by ancient trade routes that took Chinese goods through the Malacca Strait, and into India and the Arab world.
China state media claims that DNA tests have proven Chinese ancestry for some of the residents of Pate Island, but results have not been released. The light skin of these residents could just as well be explained by longstanding trade between the area and India, and migration from the Arab peninsula to the Swahili coast.
The first phase of a $3 million, three-year project to try to find conclusive evidence of Zheng He's journey occurred between late December and January.
A draft of the archaeology team’s first progress report, obtained by GlobalPost, lowers expectations that this missing ship will be found, warning that “we are not searching for the Zheng He or the Chinese shipwrecks alone,” but rather looking for “underwater archaeological heritage” from any era.
The report does tout the success of researchers in locating several potential shipwreck sites, found through interviews with local fishermen, seabed imaging, literature reviews and probe diving.
In the Lamu archipelago, three underwater sites were identified to have features likely to be shipwrecks: the area just off Mwamba Hassan — a large rock off Pate Island that the Chinese ship is said to have hit — as well as areas off Manda Toto island and Shela village on the island of Lamu. Five other shipwrecks were discovered, one believed to be from the 14th century, near the coastal city of Malindi.
“The discovery of these sites in Lamu, where Zheng He’s ship is believed to have sunk, was a major success and step towards discovery of this shipwreck,” says the report.
The second phase of the project, scheduled to begin in November, will further study the shipwreck sites by using diver surveys and analysis of artifacts.
“Since we know how Chinese junks were built and their likely cargo of that time, they are easy to identify,” the report says. “However this depends on whether the ship is well preserved under the sea."

When GlobalPost visited one of the project’s research sites in January, a team of Kenyan and Chinese scientists were working together just a hundred yards off Shela beach, a posh holiday area on Lamu Island frequented by Hollywood celebrities and European royals.
“Zheng He visited Malindi two or three times. During one of his visits, one of the boats in his fleet capsized, but we do not have physical evidence,” said Philip Wanyama, a Mombasa-based assistant site scientist for coastal archaeological research, and one of the divers searching off Lamu Island.
“What we are seeking is material clues to confirm that written information,” he said.
But as in the report, the team of Kenyan and Chinese archaeologists in Lamu also tried to play down the focus on finding Zheng He’s storied lost ship.
“We are not looking for the ship alone, but doing a comprehensive survey,” Wanyama said.
“Because this is the first time that we have come to Kenya, there are bumps to work out," said Li Jianan, team leader in Lamu and director of the archeology institute at the provincial museum in Fujian, China
The progress report notes that the Kenyan coast has been visited by waves of foreigners for centuries, including Arabs, the Portuguese and the British.
“There is therefore likely to be more underwater cultural heritage in our waters than we can imagine,” it said. “For this reason we are looking for all shipwrecks, no matter their nationality.”
If a ship is found intact, it can be identified by the researchers, and in that case “we will with certainty say, 'yes, this is a Chinese junk,'” the report said. “But if it has succumbed to the elements of nature including bacteria, it is only the available artifacts such as the cargo and any wood remains which will give us clues about this Zheng He shipwreck.”

China and Kenya joint excavation project on islands

To play video, click Video: KENYAN ISLAND SECRETS CCTV News - CNTV English

The latest information about the search in Kenya for artefacts and descendants from the time of Zhang He.

Archeologists from both China and Kenya are joining forces in a large scale excavation project on islands off the coast of Kenya. Recently a team of Chinese experts were dispatched to the area, signaling the beginning of a 3-year research commitment.
The largest three islands of the Lamu Archipelago are namely the Pate Island, Manda Island and the Lamu Island. Archeologists first paid a visit to the town of Pate, which was founded by refugees from Oman in the 8th century. Buildings and houses built with coral reef are seen everywhere. The locals say the principal parts of many of the constructions were created in the 13th century.
With the guidance of the local Pate Museum staff, Chinese archeologists came to the beach nearby, where they've discovered debris of blue and white Chinese porcelains.
In the town of Siyu, an ancient mausoleum captured the attention of Chinese archeologists.
Unfortunately written materials detailing the tomb owner's social status and activities are hard to find.
The local people proclaim they are Chinese descendants. Is this claim true and where did all the porcelain wares in her tomb come from? Chinese archeologists and their Kenyan peers have pledged to reveal the truth.

Bubonic plague, the Silk Road and Zheng He

The bubonic plague originated in China more than 2,600 years ago. It then spread towards Western Europe along the Silk Road, starting more than 600 years ago, and then to Africa, probably by an expedition led by Chinese seafarer Zhang He in the 15th century

The first outbreak of plague occurred in China more than 2,600 years ago before reaching Europe via Central Asia's "Silk Road" trade route, according to a study of the disease's DNA signature.
The findings flesh out long-held suspicions about the Chinese origins of the plague, which killed an estimated third of Europe's population in the Middle Ages.
An international team of scientists sequenced 17 strains of Y. pestis, building a genetic "family tree" of pathogens that mutated from a common ancestor.
"The results indicate that plague appeared in China more than 2,600 years ago," France's Museum of Natural History, which took part in the research, said.
It then spread towards Western Europe along the Silk Road, starting more than 600 years ago, and then to Africa, probably by an expedition led by Chinese seafarer Zhang He in the 15th century, it said.
Plague came to the United States from China via Hawaii in the late 19th century, according to the molecular evidence.
It arrived in California through the ports of San Francisco and Los Angeles before heading inland.
"The work highlights specific mutations in the bacterium showing how the germ evolved within given geographical regions," the museum said in a press release. "But it demonstrates in particular that successive epidemic waves originated as a whole in Central Asia and China."
The investigation could be useful for tracing the origins of other feared bacteria, including anthrax and tuberculosis, it added.

The study, published online on Sunday by the journal Nature Genetics, was led by Mark Achtman of University College Cork in Ireland. Scientists from Britain, China, France, Germany, Madagascar and the United States also took part.
The natural reservoir for Y. pestis is species of rodents, including rats. The bacterium is transmitted via fleas who take a blood meal from an infected animal and pass it on when they bite a human.
The resulting infection of the lymph glands is called bubonic plague.
A more virulent but less common form of the disease is pneumonic plague. It occurs from humans to humans, when someone initially infected with bubonic plague transmits the bacteria through airborne droplets in coughs.

Source: Discovery News

Chinese Archaeological Experts due in Kenya for Excavation

The Lamu Archipelago, in the upper right quadrant, is located in the Indian Ocean close to the northern coast of Kenya, to which it belongs. The islands lie between the towns of Lame and Kiunga, close to the border with Somalia.
The largest of the islands are Pate Island, Manda Island and Lamu Island. Smaller islands include Kiwayu, which lies in the Kiunga Marine National Reserve, and Manda Toto.


Chinese archaeological experts will arrive Kenya on Saturday to commence the 2.5 million U.S. dollars terrestrial excavation aimed at retrieving treasures on board a ship which sank off Pate Island some 600 years ago.

The move is a solid gesture of the partnership that has existed between Kenya and China over the years and seeks to ravel the deep standing relationship between the two states, with the team expected to complete its work within six to eight weeks after the process commences.

The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) Director General, Farah Idle said the equipment to be used in the excavation exercise, are expected to be cleared at the port of Mombasa, before they are ferried to Lamu ahead of the exercise.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Lamu Cultural Festivals on Friday, Farah said the diving equipment including oxygen tanks, masks, suits among others, will arrive by Dec. 10-12 and the procedure commences. "The team has already done initial pilot diving, and has established how deep the waters are, general locality of the wreckage near Shanga village and other few logistical issues," Farah said.

He told Xinhua that the findings and any treasure found within the wreckage will be used for analysis while others may have to be taken back to China for further tests.

The official also revealed that the exercise, which is a Sino- Kenya joint archaeological project in Lamu Archipelago, signed between Chinese and Kenyan governments on April 24, 2007, will involve three experts from China, and two sea experts from Kenya, including one analyst. "The issue now at hand is if we shall be able to recover anything from the wreckage, but what remains a fact is that the Kenyan government will, at the end of it, have developed its capacity for Kenyans to carry out under water archaeology, which is the first ever," Farah said.

He added that Kenyans, will be able to be undertaking their own under water archaeology even when ships sink or when there is a maritime issue to be dealt with.

He however said the whole idea was to check the inside of the wreckage, float it if possible and conduct the research.

Already, the terrestrial excavation that was being undertaken at Mambrui in Malindi was complete, with the findings over the early settlers and some of the treasures expected to be handed over soon.

Sorce: Xinhua, November 27, 2010

More news about the Zheng He expedition in Kenya

It is not much to look at - a small pitted brass coin with a square hole in the centre - but this relatively innocuous piece of metal is revolutionising our understanding of early East African history, and recasting China's more contemporary role in the region.
A joint team of Kenyan and Chinese archaeologists found the 15th Century Chinese coin in Mambrui - a tiny, nondescript village just north of Malindi on Kenya's north coast.
In barely distinguishable relief, the team leader Professor Qin Dashu from Peking University's archaeology department, read out the inscription: "Yongle Tongbao" - the name of the reign that minted the coin some time between 1403 and 1424.
"These coins were carried only by envoys of the emperor, Chengzu," Prof Qin said.
"We know that smugglers would often take them and melt them down to make other brass implements, but it is more likely that this came here with someone who gave it as a gift from the emperor."
And that poses the question that has excited both historians and politicians: How did a coin from the early 1400s get to East Africa, almost 100 years before the first Europeans reached the region?

When China ruled the seas
The answer seems to be with Zheng He, also known as Cheng Ho - a legendary Chinese admiral who, the stories say, led a vast fleet of between 200 and 300 ships across the Indian Ocean in 1418.
It is now believed that China's Zheng He reached East Africa long before any European explorer
Until recently, there have only been folk tales and insubstantial hints at how far Zheng He might have sailed.
Then, a few years ago, fishermen off the northern Kenyan port town of Lamu hauled up 15th Century Chinese vases in their nets, and the Chinese authorities ran DNA tests on a number of villagers who claimed Chinese ancestry.
The tests seemed to confirm what the villagers have always believed - that a ship from Zheng He's fleet sank in a storm and the surviving crew married locals, meaning some people in the area still have subtly Chinese features.



Searching for clues
It was then that Peking University organized its expedition to try to find conclusive evidence. The university is spending $3 million (£2 million) on the three-year project.
Prof Qin's team chose to dig in Mambrui for two reasons.
First, ancient texts told of Zheng He's visit to the Sultan of Malindi - the most powerful coastal ruler of the time. But they also mentioned that Malindi was by a river mouth; something that the present town of Malindi doesn't have, but that Mambrui does.
The old cemetery in Mambrui also has a famous circular tomb-stone embedded with 400-year-old Chinese porcelain bowls hinting at the region's long-standing relationship with the East.
In the broad L-shaped trench that the team dug on the edge of the cemetery, they began finding what they were looking for.
First, they uncovered the remains of an iron smelter and iron slag.
Then, Mohamed Mchuria, a coastal archaeologist from the National Museums of Kenya, unearthed a stunning fragment of porcelain that Prof Qin believes came from a famous kiln called Long Quan that made porcelain exclusively for the royal family in the early Ming Dynasty.
The jade-green shard appears to be from the base of a much larger bowl, with two small fish in relief, swimming just below the surface of the glaze. "This is a wonderful and very important piece, and that is why we believe it could have come with an imperial envoy like Zheng He," Prof Qin said.



Re-writing history?
While the evidence is still not conclusive, it undermines Portuguese explorer Vasco Da Gama's claim to have been the first international trader to open up East Africa.
He arrived in 1499 on an expedition to find a sea route to Asia, and launched more than 450 years of colonial domination by European maritime powers.
"We're discovering that the Chinese had a very different approach from the Europeans to East Africa," said Herman Kiriama, the lead archaeologist from the National Museums of Kenya.
"Because they came with gifts from the emperor, it shows they saw us as equals. It shows that Kenya was already a dynamic trading power with strong links to the outside world long before the Portuguese arrived," he said.
And that is profoundly influencing the way Kenya is thinking about its current ties to the East.
It implies that China has a much older trade relationship with the region than Europe, and that Beijing's very modern drive to open up trade with Africa may in fact be part of a far deeper tradition than anyone suspected.
In 2008 China's trade with the continent was worth $107bn (£67bn) - more even than the United States, and 10 times what it was in 2000.
"A long time ago, the East African coast looked East and not West," said Mr Kiriama.
"And maybe that's why it also gives politicians a reason to say: 'Let's look East' because we've been looking that way throughout the ages."

Source: BBC News

African quest for sunken ship of mighty armada of Zheng He

Chinese archaeologists' African quest for sunken ship of Ming admiral.
Search for remains of armada which came to grief on a pioneering voyage to Kenya 600 years ago

It's another chapter in the now familiar story of China's economic embrace of Africa. Except that this one begins nearly 600 years ago.

A team of 11 Chinese archaeologists will arrive in Kenya tomorrow to begin the search for an ancient shipwreck and other evidence of commerce with China dating back to the early 15th century. The three-year, £2m joint project will centre around the tourist towns of Lamu and Malindi and should shed light on a largely unknown part of both countries' histories.

The sunken ship is believed to have been part of a mighty armada commanded by Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He, who reached Malindi in 1418. According to Kenyan lore, reportedly backed by recent DNA testing, a handful of survivors swum ashore. After killing a python that had been plaguing a village, they were allowed to stay and marry local women, creating a community of African-Chinese whose descendants still live in the area.

A likely shipwreck site has been identified near Lamu island, according to Idle Farah, director general of the National Museums of Kenya, which is working on the archaeology project with its Chinese equivalent and Peking University.

"The voyages of the Portuguese and the Arabs to our coasts have long been documented," Farah told the Guardian. "Now, by examining this shipwreck, we hope to clarify with clear evidence the first contact between China and east Africa."

The project forms part of a recent effort by the Chinese government to celebrate the achievements of Zheng, a Muslim whose ships sailed the Indian and Pacific Oceans many decades before the exploits of more celebrated European explorers such as Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama. Starting in 1405, Zheng made seven journeys, taking in south-east Asia, India, the Middle East and Africa, in fleets of up to 300 huge ships with nearly 30,000 sailors in total, according to Chinese records.

On his voyages, Zheng dished out gifts from the Chinese emperor, including gold, porcelain and silk. In return, he brought home ivory, myrrh, zebras and camels. But it was a giraffe that caused the biggest stir. The animal is known to have been a gift from the Sultan of Malindi, on Kenya's northern coast, but theories vary as to how exactly it got to China. One account suggests that the giraffe was taken from the ruler of Bengal — who himself had received it as a gift from the Sultan — and that it inspired Zheng to visit Kenya a few years later.

Herman Kiriama, Kenya's head of coastal archeology, said the joint archeological team will this week try to locate the Sultan's original village, which is though to be around Mambrui village, outside Malindi, where Ming porcelain has been discovered. In late August, the project will move underwater, with the arrival of specialist maritime archeologists from China.

"Though we have not located the shipwreck yet, we have good indications of where it might have gone down," said Kiriama.

The team's confidence in finding the sunken ship is bolstered by work done in the run-up to the 600th anniversary of Zheng's first voyage. As part of the 2005 celebration, in which the Beijing government sought to present Zheng as a sort of maritime goodwill ambassador – a portrayal disputed by some scholars who point to his use of military force – China sent a team of scholars to Lamu.

In Siyu village they conducted DNA tests on a Swahili family whose oral history and hints of Chinese facial features led them to believe they were descendants of Zheng's shipwrecked sailors. The tests reportedly showed evidence of Chinese ancestry and a 19-year-old woman called Mwamaka Shirafu was given a full scholarship to study traditional medicine in China, where she remains.

Source Guardian.co.uk

Admiral Zheng He's tomb is empty

Admiral Zheng He's tomb is empty

An unconfirmed story, so far...
A recently excavated tomb in Nanjing, China has been confirmed to be the grave of Zheng He, a eunuch from the early Ming Dynasty who led historic voyages to Southeast Asia and eastern Africa.

The tomb was discovered accidentally on June 18, by workers at a construction site near Zutang Mountain that also holds the tombs of many other Ming Dynasty eunuchs, the Yangtse Evening News reported.

The tomb, which is 8.5-metre long and 4-metre wide, was built with blue bricks that archaeologists said were only used in structures belonging to dignitaries during the time of Zheng He.

However, Zheng He's remains were not found in the tomb.

Experts believed the remains were not placed there because of the long distance between Nanjing and India, where he died during a visit in 1433. It was also believed that Zheng He was "buried" in the sea during his last voyage.

Born in 1371, Admiral Zheng He - whose name is also spelled Cheng Ho - was from the Hui ethnic group that are Muslims.

He was an excellent navigator and diplomat in the Ming Dynasty who had led the royal fleet to southeast Asia including Malacca during the Malay Sultanate in the 14th century.

Legend has that Admiral Zheng He also led the voyage to send a Ming princess, Hang Li Po, to marry Sultan Manshur Shah as a mark of friendship between China and Malacca.

The princess's entourage of 500 sons of ministers and a few hundred handmaidens eventually settled down and married the locals. Their descendants are known today as Baba (male) and Nyonya (female).

Source: CRIENGLISH.com





Before this news from June 26, 2010, his grave was restored/ recostructed in 1985.

Zheng He (1371-1435), or Cheng Ho, is arguably China's most famous navigator. Starting from the beginning of the 15th Century, he traveled to the West seven times. For 28 years, he traveled more than 50,000km and visited over 30 countries, including Singapore. Zheng He died in the tenth year of the reign of the Ming emperor Xuande (1435) and was buried in the southern outskirts of Bull's Head Hill (Niushou) in Nanjing.

In 1985, during the 580th anniversary of Zheng He's voyage, his tomb was restored. The new tomb was built on the site of the original tomb in Nanjing and reconstructed according to the customs of Islamic teachings, as Zheng He was a Muslim.

At the entrance to the tomb is a Ming-style structure, which houses the memorial hall. Inside are paintings of the man himself and his navigation maps. To get to the tomb, there are newly laid stone platforms and steps. The stairway consists of 28 stone steps divided into four sections with each section having seven steps. This represents Zheng He's seven journeys to the West. The Arabic words "Allah (God) is great" are inscribed on top of the tomb.

Zhenghe constructed many wooden ships, some of which are the largest in the history, in Nanjing. Three of the shipyards still exist today.

China explores ancient sailors' legacy

The national museums of China and Kenya are joining hands for an archeological dig on and around the Lamu Islands in Kenya.
Tantalizing clues exist as to the connection between the UNESCO World Heritage Site and China since long ago.

The national museums of China and Kenya are joining hands for an archeological dig on and around the Lamu Islands in Kenya.
The goal of the three-year project is to excavate the sites where Chinese navigator Zheng He arrived in Kenya some 600 years ago.
Archaeologists from China National Museum will go to Kenya and work with their Kenyan counterparts for two months every year. They will investigate sites both on land and underwater, and examine the many examples of Chinese porcelain that have been unearthed.The Lamu Islands, lying to the north of Kenya, are rich in history. In the hub of the Indian Ocean, the islands were one of the key points Zheng He's fleet passed on the way to Africa.
China has dispatched teams of experts since 2005 to the Islands. With local assistance, they have already confirmed the exact location of a legendary capsized Chinese ship which has been lying deep on the sea floor since 1415.
Chinese archaeologists believe the project will shed new light on China's trading history.

Source: CCTV.COM

Treasure Fleet: The Adventures of Zheng He

Between 1405 and 1433, Mongolian & Muslim Admiral Zheng He of China led seven epic voyages to more than 30 countries, including Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Kenya and Tanzania. The admiral and his crew gathered knowledge and wealth from Indochina to Africa for China's Ming empire. These voyages were the biggest naval expeditions mounted at the time. Zheng He was bigger than life and could have changed the course of history. But after the seven voyages, he and his Treasure Fleet were forgotten by China, and the world, for six hundred years. National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita sets sail to discover why.

To celebrate the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's maiden exploration voyage, Michael Yamashita traveled over 10,000 miles from Yunnan in China to Africa's Swahili coast taking over 40,000 pictures for the feature story on this great explorer, published in the July 2005 edition of National Geographic.

On DVD a documentary was published by National Geographic which can be viewed on YouTube.com as well:
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