HIS391 Asian Studies: Reasons And Significance Of Zheng Hes Expedition

Xinyu Dai
Kristin Stapleton
As 391
2017/11/19
Reasons and Significance of Zheng He’s Expeditions
Introduction
Zheng He, a Chinese imperial eunuch, goes to history as one of the Chinese historians that presented unmatched achievements in world history. He led seven ocean expeditions between the years 1405 to the year 1435 for his master Yong Le. Zheng made astonishing mission which was not all surprising their distance but also their value. First, he traveled to South East Asia all the way from China; he then moved to India proceeding to the major trading sites on the south-west coast of India (Wade ,Pg 45). The fourth voyage he took to the Persian gulf however the remaining three voyages Zheng surprised people to move all the way far from India in the eastern coast of Africa. However impressive, it was not new since several Chinese merchants have traveled this far before. One unique thing about the last three voyages is that he was accompanied by seven hundreds of huge ships and thousands of sailors with numerous passengers. No one had ever seen the kind of ships not until the world war I that seen such a number assemble again.
Zheng He was born to the Mahe of the Muslim family that lives in the today’s Yunnan province in the southwestern part of China. The story is told that he was sent there by the first empire with the intention of subduing the south when he was only ten years (Lim ,Pg. 68). The ethnicity, he was trained various military ways and grew up to be imposing and bully man. Zheng was equally talented ways and was very intelligent. He was given literary and military training and that assisted him to be a military leader with a lot of ease. The exhibition voyages that Zheng made were both intentionally and directed for a certain importance.
Reasons for Starting the Zheng’s Expedition
Many reasons might have prompted Yong Le to delegate Zheng He to start the expedition. Fist Yong lee had harbored time ravenous appetite for imperial control of the foreign trade with China. However, people may think in one way, or the voyages remain to have a militaristic diplomatic and commercial nature. The main aim that prompted their establishment was the need to control the maritime trade. This is to mean the naval trade was to be brought into the famous tributary stem and this would mean forcing other countries to comply as long as they fall within the tributary system. The Yong Le’s empire would then create a dominant hegemony over other countries.
Similarly, there was an intention by Yong Le to bring other people within his dynasty to the outside world civilization, to impart in them maximum formal submission. The main people targeted with this were the barbarian section of the citizen who seemed to be lacking the necessary civilization to submit to the authorities. As a result, most of the world emperors had to pay homage to China to seek their blessing in trade and other important international dealings giving China cultural and moral superiority (Duchesne, Pg. 69).
Other theories, however, less popular they are have been coined to explain the real intention of the voyages claiming that the main aim of their initiation was a well-calculated adventure to disclose the location of d...