뉴스레터

"The sea is a space for not only exchange of people and goods but also connection of information, knowledge, and religion. It is said that those who conquer the sea will conquer the world. The seas around Korea are traffic routes to China and Japan in the neighborhood and as far as to the world."

The Ming (明) Dynasty of China undertook seven expeditions overseas over a stretch of twenty-eight years from 1405 to 1433 (Yongle (永樂) Year 3 to Xuande (宣德) Year 8) which reached many countries in Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, and as far as the coast of East Africa. And these expeditions of the West were spearheaded by eunuch (太監) Zheng He (鄭和). He was born in 1371 (Hongwu Year 4) in a poor family in Kun Yang country (昆陽縣) of Yunnan (雲南) province. His family had the name Ma (馬) and had been Muslim for generations.

Zheng He was smart and talented from his childhood. He was familiar with military tactics as well as the philosophies of Confucius and Mencius, and had combat capability. He was well-built, six-feet tall and one meter around waist.

This may explain why Emperor Yongle (in reign from 1402 to 1424) appointed Zheng He, who was not even a military officer but a trivial eunuch, as head of the expeditions. Of many supposed reasons why Emperor Yongle sent Zheng He on expeditions to the West. an important one was to showcase the greatness of the Ming Dynasty overseas and expand its political influence.

The verses of a poem written by Ma Huan (馬歡), who accompanied Zheng He's expeditions as a translator and interpreter, vividly describe the plight of Zheng He's fleet determined to sail though the surging waves and deliver Emperor Yongle's edicts to the unknown world.

Since voyages at that time made use of seasonal winds, it was after October when the northeast wind started to blow that Zheng He left China. About 27,000 troops under his command were aboard sixty large ships made with the world's best shipbuilding technology, and had a command of advanced navigation techniques that used the compass and the navigator's chart. The vessel Zheng He was on was a big warship measuring 150 meters in length and 2 meters in width, with a load for 1,000 tons (or 2,500 tons as some claim). The fleet of Christopher Columbus, who would discover the New World eighty years after Zheng He, consisted of three vessels. The flagship Santa Maria was no longer than 35 meters and weighed no heavier than 130 tons. This shows that China was far advanced than the West in shipbuilding technology.

Using his troops, Zheng He was also actively involved in resolving conflicts in many countries. For instance, Malacca couldn't maintain the 'state (國)' system because they didn't a have king. The Ming Dynasty granted a silver seal to the leader of Malacca and had them call themselves a 'state,' thereby incorporating Malacca into its own imperial order. At that time, Malacca was under pressure from Siam to the north and from Jawa to the south. When Malacca asked Ming for protection against the invasion of Siam, Zhen He stepped in and resolved the conflict between the two countries. Once Siam's rule was lifted, Malacca rapidly increased its strength and eventually developed into a power that occupied the majority of Peninsular Malaysia and the part of the eastern coast of Sumatra.

Thanks to Zheng He's expeditions, the exotic animal giraffe first appeared in Beijing. This giraffe had been brought from Somalia. When they encountered the auspicious giraffe, Ming Dynasty officials wrote the Emperor congratulations because it had been believed in China since ancient times that a giraffe would appear when the Emperor's enlightenment reached its peak. The Emperor and officials who actually saw the imaginary animal were astounded by its fascinating feature.

Immediately before Zheng He's return from Palembang, Emperor Yongle died on his way back from an expedition to Mongolia. Emperor Yongle was succeeded to by Emperor Hongxi (洪熙)(in reign for one year from 1425), who issued an edict ordering to "put a stop to all the "treasure ships (寶船)" that went to Western countries and also to all the ships under repair or construction across China." As a result, overseas expeditions were suspended. Zheng He took charge of repairing the Nanjing palace with the troops who had been on an expedition to the South Sea (南海). Afterwards, during the reign of Emperor Xuande, the seventh and final expedition was undertaken. By the time he returned from the successful expedition, he was already over sixty years of age. He died two years later, and was buried in Mt. Niushou (牛首山) south of Nanjing.

Drawing on the case of Zheng He, the subsequent emperors of China also attempted to send troops to the West. Some eunuch officials recalled the old memories of Zheng He, blaming themselves for the now empty warehouses that used to be full of gold and rare and precious jewels taken from expeditions to the West. During the reign of Emperor Shenghua (in reign from 1465 to 1487), there was an attempt to find Zheng He's path on the sea. However, Liu Daxia (劉大夏), a supervisory official at the ministry of defense, concealed expedition-related records saying that "Sanbao(三保. the original name of Zheng He)'s voyages to the West not only wasted money in hundreds of thousands of leung but also cost the lives of up to ten thousand soldiers and civilians. Even if they brought back rare treasures, what good do they do to the country?" As a result of this narrow-minded and foolish judgment, the great accomplishments of Zheng He the pioneer of the Age of Exploration were forgotten.

Perhaps some aspects of Zheng He's expeditions were perceived as draining the public coffers and taking the lives of soldiers. But, from a different perspective, Zheng He's expeditions stimulated trade and brought goods that filled the public coffers and the streets during the Ming Dynasty. They also opened the public's eyes wide to the new world. From the perspective of the world history of voyage, his expeditions were eight-three years ahead of Diaz's discovery of the Cape of Good Hope and as many as eighty-seven years ahead of Columbus's discovery of the New World.

Recently, Gavin Menzies, a British retired submarine lieutenant-commander, claimed that during Zheng He's sixth expedition, a detachment had sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and reached North America and another detachment heading south had reached Australia and as far as the South Pole. His theory is that the voyages of Columbus or Magellan that led to the discovery of the New World were possible because they were based on the navigation charts left by Zheng He's fleet. Whether this claim is valid or not, the sea route to the Indian Ocean was officially shut down when the Ming Dynasty shut itself off from the sea with the haijin policy (海禁政策: a ban on maritime activities).

Since the Chinese fleet disappeared from the sea routes travelled by Zheng He, the Western powers rushed in, beginning in around the sixteenth the century. With the beginning of the so-called Age of Exploration, Portugal and other Western powers occupied the sea routes of Southeast Asia beyond the Indian Ocean, and, at the same time, monopolized the people living on those waters, and their cultures and products. Having failed to go with the flow of history, China suffered painful defeats in the Opium Wars with the West. Perhaps this is due to China having overlooked the importance of the sea.

The sea is a space for not only exchange of people and goods but also connection of information, knowledge, and religion. It is said that those who conquer the sea will conquer the world. The seas around Korea are traffic routes to China and Japan in the neighborhood and as far as to the world. Let us dream of seeing many Koreans like Zheng He, who pioneered the Age of Exploration, launch their voyages and sail out to the world.