Zheng He was born in 1371 and at the age of 11 had the extraordinary misfortune to have participated in a rebellion against the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Army had never heard of anything like the Geneva Convention; they made Zheng He a eunuch.
Zheng He managed to show great intelligence and capability as a courtier in the Imperial Court, and over the years won the trust of the Emperor. Beginning in 1405 Zheng He was tasked to carry out a series of trading missions, in what the Ming called the Western Ocean, and what we call today the Indian Ocean. Columbus made his first voyage with three ships (108 tons and 40 crew), the Pinta (60-70 and 26 crew), and the Nina (50-60 tons and 24 crew). One of my home town’s riverfront features is a life size reproduction of Columbus’ flagship. It has a length of 72 feet, a beam of 19 feet, and a draft of 9 feet. On a U.S. aircraft carrier, I have seen bigger lifeboats.
Zheng He set sail with 317 ships and 28,000 men (that’s almost 2 1/2 times the number of ships in the Spanish Armada a century and a half later). Some ships carried horses, some were water tankers and the treasure ships are reported to have had 9 masts, 4 decks and were 416 feet long and 170 wide (the waterline width of an American Nimitz class aircraft carrier is 134 feet). Zheng He’s treasure ships could not fit through the modern day Panama Canal. Many scholars calculate that the Chinese treasure ships were 2800 tons (more than 10 times the displacement of Columbus’ three ships combined), and could carry between 500 and 1000 passengers.
Columbus’ route from Cadiz, Spain to San Salvatore in the Bahamas measures 3800 miles. The first leg of Zheng He’s voyages from Canton to Singapore were 1600 miles and extended clear to Mombasa in modern day sub-equatorial Kenya, a distance of 4400 miles as the crow flies. Zheng He’s objective was primarily commercial and diplomatic. He was tasked with impressing upon the rulers of all nations on the north shore of the Indian Ocean with the astounding wealth and resources of the Ming Dynasty Empire.
Zheng He died in 1433 on one of his 7 missions. He has an elaborate in Nanking, but it is empty, he was buried at sea. Shortly after his death, the Ming suffered a serious defeat at the hands of tribes from north of the Great Wall, and the imperial authorities decided to shift their resources from further ocean going expeditions to strengthening their defenses against a northern invasion. Zheng He accomplished some amazing feats of diplomacy as well as seamanship; had the Chinese Empire continued his program of exploration, I might have grown up in the City of Zheng He, Ohio.
– Kent Mitchell