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Huang Zhong’s 1536 Hai yu is a short text about foreign countries and products connected to the sea. To compile his book, the author mainly used information based on what seafarers told him in his native place Nanhai, Guangdong, making the text a unique source for Chinese maritime history during the early sixteenth century. In the Ming dynasty, at least three different versions were circulating, all of which are now lost. Luckily, all three editions were preserved in congshu of the late Ming and Qing dynasties. The Hai yu was read and quoted by later scholars, especially those from the Jiangnan area, who valued the book for its expertise on products and animals.Through the analysis of two full text databases of Chinese texts and gazetteers, this article examines the history of reading of Huang Zhong’s book, as well as the circulation of knowledge and the changes and adaptions Huang Zhong’s knowledge went through.

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Zheng He’s fleet fought several battles during his seven voyages to the Indian Ocean. The ships thus had to be equipped with powerful weapons. Unfortunately, the sources directly related to Zheng He’s voyages do not mention in detail the armament of Zheng He’s ships. More general information on the armament of Ming ships is, however, abundant. By examining military writings such as Qi Jiguang’s Jixiao xinshu and Mao Yuanyi’s Wubeizhi, as well as archaeological data in the form of weapons excavated from shipwrecks, this article aims to trace the development of the equipment on ships during the Ming dynasty. The article shows that ships carried a patchwork of gunpowder and non-gunpowder weapons composed of old technology alongside new technology. The use of non-gunpowder weapons also developed during the mid-Ming, with weapons specialized for naval warfare appearing and javelins replacing bows as the primary non-gunpowder weapons for long-range attacks. The article also reviews the few sources available about the weapons used on Zheng He’s fleet.