Zheng He, one of China’s greatest fleet admiral and diplomat of the early 1400s, was probably not an ambassador because he did not carry out the roles of an ambassador- stays in a country for a relatively long time and suggests and convinces the country’s government to do something that is good for the ambassador’s home country. Instead, Zheng He constantly voyaged to many places with a huge fleet. Thus, he was not a trade ambassador but an emissary who displayed the power of China.
Zheng He’s fleet included over 300 ships, each hundreds of feet long and over
150 feet wide with several decks
(Gronwald). Along with huge fleets and tens of thousands of sailors, Zheng He was successfully able to lead seven voyages, each of which led Zheng He’s navy further up to the African coast
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By taking large ships, maybe He was trying to intimidate other empires.
Zheng he could have tried to intimidate other empires to elevate China’s status and put other empires under them. By doing that, the empires that traded with China could have felt threatened, which would be good for the Chinese empire because they would become globally known as a strong empire and no one would dare to attack them. If we look at the aftermath of Zheng He’s trade voyages, many countries, especially the North and Southeast Asian countries, started paying tribute to China (Beck).
This means that if this was the purpose of his trade voyages, then Zheng He succeeded in his mission.
However, as mentioned previously, this took a lot of resources and in result, China turned to isolation in the year of 1433 (Beck).
Commerce is linked to the building of the Chinese empire because Zheng He, a Chinese
Muslim, went out to share gifts to show Chinese superiority. The Chinese also had the capability to build roads and wells for other countries. When other empires saw China’s wealth and power, more than 16 countries gave tribute to the Ming court (Beck). Chinese scholar-officials complained
Lastly, the Xiongnu would keep invading China, so over the years the Han would give them more and more silk as the tribute. In document C I can see that every couple of years the Xiongnu would come back for more silk. The Han were the only ones that produced silk, so everyone wanted it. This tribute did work as long as the Han kept giving the Xiongnu more silk. The Great Wall was some protection against the Xiongnu if the Han paid tributes and stayed
He and his crews of thousands sailed from Africa, the Middle East, and India, to get the west impressed with China and for people to discern them as the leading manufacturer in the world. Once Zheng He died, the voyages stopped because more important issues had started to populate in the country, such as nomadic invasions. Because the excursions were
In document 4 Ralph Fitch, a British merchant, is trying to join in on the trade and for the British government to join to be able to obtain more money. They see how the Portuguese is making money and the trade and profits being made between them and China and believe they should join the trade to earn some of the profit. A similar situation goes on in document 7 He Qiaoyuan, a Ming dynasty court official, he try's to convince the emperor to repeal the on foreign trade. He tells the emperor how Chinese merchants are trading there goods for profit and that they could be the ones making the profit instead of others. But in document 8 there was a conflict going, Charles D' Avenant, an English scholar, tells about the restricting Indian textiles.
Upon reflection, historians now acknowledge his expedition to Africa of particular distinction. Historians and scholars commonly agree that continuing around the Cape of Good Hope would have presumably led to discovering a direct trade route to Europe seventy-five years earlier than Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. Notwithstanding Zheng He’s preeminence over this era, inadvertent discoveries occasionally eclipsed intentional design nonetheless, drawing parallels to other famous explorers no different than Christopher Columbus’ unplanned discovery of America. On balance, world history indicates Zheng He’s achievements as nothing less than
We should celebrate the voyages of Zheng He because he overcame great odds in childhood, castrated by the Ming Dynasty, he traveled over 100,000 miles with very little technology, he managed a total of 37,500 men, managed a four hundred feet boat, he was a great leader to his soldiers, and created cultural diffusion in China. Zheng He overcame great odds in childhood was by in 1381, a ten year old boy named Ma He from Yunan Province in southern China watched his father died at the hands of the Ming Dynasty, and he was also taken into prisoner to serve the Emperor’s son, Prince Zhu Di. However before serving the emperor’s son was by being castrated and to join (forced) the thousands of eunuchs. Zheng He served the prince well and rose in the ranks of the
He had specific jobs for a certain number of people. He also had to supervise the construction of the fleet which shows leadership and tells people he isn't just doing this for himself he is doing it for China and to show how powerful they are. “Before Zheng He could embark on his first epic voyage, he had to supervise the construction of the fleet, which required gathering massive supplies of wood and other materials from throughout the empire and conscripting tens of thousands of craftsmen and common laborers to build the ships.” The amount of time it took for the ships to be built had to be an absurd amount of time. In the 15th century they didn't have any machines so for Zheng He to supervise his people building those ships makes him very determined and trustworthy for example when you have a group leader and you are building a ship and all your leader does is not help or supervise you and then you mess up then your leader blames it on you because you did something wrong even though you did all the work and you leader didn't even bother checking in on
Roads and canals were used by the Yuan for trade and benefitted their economy greatly. Also the military technology invented by the Yuan benefitted their military domination greatly. For example the gunpowder bomb was a weapon of war used that could efficiently kill enemies. While also the Yuan created things for self pleasure and entertainment, like playing cards and dominoes. Though the Yuan dynasty is not known for its innovations during this period.
The textbook “World History, Patterns of Interaction” talks about the Ming dynasty’s relations with foreign countries. “China’s official trade policies in the 1500s reflected its isolation. To keep the influence of outsiders to a minimum, only the government was to conduct foreign trade, and only through coastal ports” (Document 4). Trading between two empires or more was against China’s Confucian beliefs, which made China avoid trading with other empires. China did not want the influence of other empires to enter China, so they controlled trade with the West.
The Chinese development of technological advances, allowed the era of the Tang, and the Song dynasty to bring about a social, political, and urban change. The Chinese found new techniques in Agriculture and farming rice. This allowed for more growth and spreading of population in the regions. As the population grew, people were interest in new jobs and careers in the markets. So, they sought out jobs such as shop sellers, blacksmiths, metallurgy, fishing, and government work.
Agriculture was a major part of most Chinese people’s daily life and they were satisfied with their lives. Many people did not want to be influenced by industrialization and the western ways of Europeans. This did not matter to the Europeans however, as they wanted the silk, tea and porcelain that was only coming from China. According to Tao He’s article, British Imperialism in China,
All empires in history had a high in their history but they all eventually came to their demise. The Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty both had ways they gained, consolidated and maintained their power while they were at their highest point. They had significant leaders that lead to these successful points. The Ottoman Empire covered parts of Asia, Europe and Africa controlled by their leader named Suleiman.
However, outside nations colonized and took parts away from the Qing Dynasty. Another way European nations display a terrible impact
Despite leading some of the largest voyages in size and length, Zheng He’s voyages are not universally well known. Zheng He’s voyages shouldn’t be celebrated due to the fact that he didn’t discover new places, he wasted Chinese resources, and his voyages lead to the enslavement and oppression of foreign people. Although Zheng He travel a total of 105,300 miles during his seven voyages, he made no new discoveries, making his voyages useless to the history of exploration and undeserving of celebration. Christopher Columbus discovered the “new world” for Spain on his first voyage in 1492 and used Chinese maritime technology whereas in seven voyages Zheng He didn’t discover any new lands for China, where some of this technology had been created. A vital part in the discovery of new land is when it is named.
This division produced political maturity within the regions of East Asia. In 589, the Sui dynasty was established; this dynasty's goal was to reunite China with the other regions. As a result, the Chinese were then able to trade with other regions which made them become a successful model later on. After achieving a long history of success, China’s cultural methods greatly influenced Japan, Korea, and also acted as a good example for many other countries in the world. China influenced Japan and Korea through religion, art, government, architecture, and much more.
Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo are both known for being the world’s greatest long distance travelers, however, because of their different backgrounds it had influenced the way in which each traveler wrote about their experiences in China. This contrast is dominantly believed to have been influenced by their different religious backgrounds, and how each had viewed the world. This was ultimately is influenced by ones cultural and religious background. In this essay I will examine the different experiences that both Ibn Battuta and Marco Polo had experienced during their visits in China. Ibn Battuta, a well-educated Islamic scholar born and raised by a wealthy family in Tangier, Morocco, he had begun his journey at the age of 21.