Talk:Zheng He/Archive 1
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family business
i am looking for information on zheng he's family, and the trade empire they created and maintained during the ming-qing transition, and the role they played in governing taiwan before it was brought back under mainland rule by the qing. if anyone knows of a book or article about this topic, please post it below! thanks!
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Sindbad
Isn't Zheng He too late for Sindbad? Ulysses and the Arab sailors are the sources of Sindbad.
Someone added the following:
- "Zheng He's feats may have inspired the fictional literary stories of Sindbad in later times, and some conjectures have noted the similarity between the name Sindbad and Sanbao."
This cannot be accurate. Sinbad adventures were known to exist about the 10th century, and Zeng He is 4 or more centuries after that. So this cannot be the case. -- KB 21:34, 2004 Jun 11 (UTC)
Need discussion
The big problem with this paragraph is that it completely ignores the fact that the ban on maritime commerce was temporary and largely lifted by the end of the Ming dynasty.
Also the late sentence is very controversial. It *was* the conventional wisdom in the 1950's and 1960's, but there are a number of authors (namely Kenneth Pommeranz "The Great Divergence" and "The World That Trade Created" and Joanna Wayley-Cohen "The Sextants of Beijing") who would argue that it is total nonsense, and I think that general Western opinion tends more toward that last statement being false than true. Certainly the "of course" is unwarranted.
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- Although private networks of Chinese traders continued to be active in Southeast Asia the governmental ban on ocean going shipping had an incredibly large impact on the future development of China. The most immediate effect was to move all such trading underground, and effectively make all those engaged in such activity into smugglers. From there many smugglers morphed into piracy. Although many of these so-called Waku (wokou) pirates were Japanese, one of the most notorious of the Waku named Wang Chih was from Anhuei province in China. Directly demonstrating the link between banned trade, smuggling and piracy Wang Chih was also one of the largest traders in East Asia, moving goods between Japan, China and Siam. By the middle of the 16th century pirate raids on coastal cities were so widespread that the Ming passed an edict moving millions of people off the coast to inland regions depopulating the coast line from Shandong to Guangdong to a depth of 60 miles. Even that did not deter the pirates who then raided further inland. In the 1550's, the pirate raids were particularly severe culminating in the 1555 raid on Nanjing more than 200 miles inland on the Yangzi river. The Ming having disbanded the navy were simply powerless to stop the attacks. Not until the end of the 16th century was the military reorganized in a fashion sufficient to reduce the frequency of attacks to a manageable level. The long run reaction by both the Ming and later the Qing to these events was to further control and limit the spread of trade and contact with foreigners, which of course was to directly lead to the economic and political crises of the 19th century.
Roadrunner 07:41, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Further problem?
There appears to be some controversy about the true identity and status of Hang Li Po. Her surname certainly does not seem conducive to the theory that she was a daughter of the Emperor, and she apparently does not appear in any Chinese chronicle of the period. On the other hand, almost every detail of Zheng He's missions was diligently erased from the Chinese records by the anti-eunuch faction that followed this period. Anyone know anything about this issue? Adhib 16:57, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Jack:Did he ever go to america?
Princess Hang Li Po and Servants
As recorded in Malaysia history, during one of Zheng He's voyages to Malacca, he brought along Princess Hang Li po to be married to the sultan. It was also recorded that during that particular period, there were four very brave and famous Warriors namely, Hang Tuah, Hang Jebat, Hang Kasturi (I can only remember 3). Were there any relation with the Princess or were they sent together to protect the princess? The historical facts did not mentioned where they originated from. Like Zheng He, it was very much believed that they were muslims.
I believe that Zheng He should be described in more detail Albert Einsteins Pipe
Hang Li Po is actually a Malay Tale with no real evidence to support it... Official Archives found no princess with the name Hang Li Po or even Li Po... It was said that Zheng He actually helped founded Malacca and placed a puppet king... The port of Malacca was built by him to control the Malacca Straits... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Khchin (talk • contribs) 08:25, 27 November 2005
- According to page Hang Li Po, she was the great grandaughter of the Chinese Emperor Yung Lo of the Ming Dynasty. Are you sure there is no evidence? What kind of "official archives" are you referring to? __earth 15:06, 27 November 2005 (UTC)
Malacca was founded by Parameswara in early 1400 and Zheng He came to Malacca in 1456. How can Zheng He help founding Malacca... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.51.93.243 (talk) 14:14, 8 November 2006
Do we have the technology to build Sailing ships as big as Zheng He's in 2005?
According to the Guinness Book of World Record, the largest sailing ship ever built was France II, in 1911.
It measured 415 feet [146m] long and 56 feet [17m] wide. It had 5 masts, and it was of steel.
The question is: Do we possess the technology to build a 9 masts wooden ship that measures 400 feet by 160 feet?
Can we today manufacture such a wooden ship and make it seaworthy? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.35.35.34 (talk) 09:11, 21 July 2005
- Actually, one of those ships has been rebuilt or is in the process of being rebuilt. There is a great web page with lots of Flash if I remember right, but I forgot the URL. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.151.153.187 (talk) 18:02, 15 September 2005
Actually, Zheng He's larger treasure ships were up to 600 feet, longer than the France 2. -- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.16.18.76 (talk) 20:11, 20 August 2006
Much irrelevant material
There is much irrelevant material about the theories of the decline of maritime commerce (and whether it even happened) on this page. This really has little to do with Zheng He.
- In a way it is true, but the thing is - the decline in maritime commerce and the supposed imperial decree against it was one of the reasons why the dynasty ended his explorationsKennethtennyson 03:28, 16 September 2005 (UTC)
The Treasure ship actual measurement was not known. The measurements found in the history book are not confirmed —Preceding unsigned comment added by 202.156.6.54 (talk) 12:05, 5 November 2005
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Go to this PBS's Nova http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sultan/explorers2.html
and http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/china.htm
Takima 17:57, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
"Treasure ships" real measurements has not confirmed!
- "Treasure ships", used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies (nine-masted, about 120 meters (400 ft) long and 50 m (160 ft) wide).
The above informations cannot be taken for real. Sometimes back, I watched a solid documentary by the Chinese experts. They said that the actual measurements of the "Treasure Ships" does not have a confirmation length todate. Please edit this article. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by CommonHeroes (talk • contribs) 02:04, 24 November 2005

