Zheng he voyages primary sources
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These two woodblock prints are part of a map printed in a seventeenth-century military treatise, and thought to be based on the maps used by Zheng He in his voyages. The map is therefore usually known as “Zheng He Map.” It depicts the coastline from China to the central eastern coast of Africa arranged as a long strip. The first of these prints shows Africa at the bottom and Ceylon at the upper right. (The Indian Ocean is not proportional in size to these, and the map has varying scale and orientation.) The second print is one of four stellar diagrams that were included along with the navigational charts, which shows the guiding stars en route from Hormuz to Calicut, the voyage described by Ma Huan here. At the top is the constellation known in the U.S. as the Big Dipper, long recognized as pointing toward the North Star. Navigators used the height of stellar constellations to determine latitude and help ensure correct navigation. In the middle of this stellar chart is an illustrati
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Primary sources from the Ming in English translation.
For a variety of sources:
- Wm. Theodore de Bary, Sources of Chinese Tradition, 2nd ed., vol 1., pp. , ,
- Patricia Buckley Ebrey, Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook has some Ming things.
- Check past issues of Renditions, a journal of translation
Check the on-line Ming History English Translation Project for translations from the official Ming History published in , and for miscellaneous other things.
Family instructions
“Letter to my sons” by matriarch and poet Gu Ruopu, in Mann & Cheng, Under Confucian Eyes
“Family Teachings” translated in Sidney Gamble, North China Villages , pp.
Preface to a genealogy, Dennis, Writing, Publishing, and Reading Local Gazetteers, Other bits and pieces.
Informal and miscellaneous writings, including travel:
- Yang Ye, translator, Vignettes from the Late Ming
- Learning from Mount H
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Zheng He and the Chinese Treasure Fleets
Indonesian Stamp honoring Zheng He
Historical Biography
On July 11, , the Ming dynasty fleet under Admiral Zheng He began the first of seven voyages from China across the Indian Ocean as far west as Africa.
The last voyage was in
Throughout these voyages Zheng He set new precedents for kinesisk exploration and maritime travel.
His fleet and their voyages were impressive feats both in their time and today.
Before the Chinese ceased naval construction and utforskning, Zheng He helped to greatly utöka their knowledge of the world around them and what it had to offer.
For background, see Chinese Admiral in the Indian Ocean from Kahn Academy
A statue of Zheng He at the Sam Poo Kong Temple in Java, Indonesia.
Image Credit: Alex Santosa, Flickr
Pronounce the name Zheng He