Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 (review)

Chinese Ceramic Exchange in the Maldives and the Indian Ocean, AD 900-1900

“…Seven expeditions were made from AD 1405-1433 (Dreyer and Stearns 2005). Zheng He's fleets officially paid business visits to the Maldives between AD 1413 and 1422 (Dreyer and Stearns 2005).…”

“…Seven expeditions were made from AD 1405-1433 (Dreyer and Stearns 2005). Zheng He's fleets officially paid business visits to the Maldives between AD 1413 and 1422 (Dreyer and Stearns 2005). Consequently, the Male' government sent tribute to China in AD 1416, 1421, and 1423 (Ptak 1987: 680-681).…”

The World of the Ancient Silk Road

“…In China from early Ming times, during the late 14 th to the early 15 th centuries, goods in Chinese foreign trade, such as pepper, sapanwood and other luxuries, were under imperial monopoly, closely guarded to ensure that all the profits went to the Ming court (T'ien, 1981: 188). In terms of the official maritime trade, Emperor Yongle ( 永乐 ) (1360-1424 CE) sponsored maritime expeditions led by Zheng He (郑和) with the aim of projecting Ming Chinese power as far afield as Java, Sri Lanka and the East African coast (Dreyer andStearns, 2005, Chao, 2012). This was a new and significant period of increased Indian Ocean trade, when the two far ends of Asia, the Hormuz Kingdom and Ming China, linked together and reached new limits of discovering each other in terms of culture, commerce and communication.…”

“…Zheng He's voyages involved several hundreds of large vessels sailed from China that four times they travelled as far as the Persian Gulf and East Africa (Lin and Zhang, 2015, Park, 2012, Kauz and Ptak, 2001. Zheng He's Expeditions consisted of 27,400 men and 62 fleets of treasure ships supported by 190 smaller ships (Kauz and Ptak, 2001, Dreyer and Stearns, 2005: 122-24, Park, 2012.…”

The Sino-African Higher Education and Cultural Exchange before 1911: A Historical Review

“…The background and motivation behind the Muslim admiral Zhenghe expeditions are still debatable between being peaceful voyages of showing goodwill (Aggarwal & Newland, 2014, p. 60;Hoon, 2012, p. 68;Kerski, 2016, p. 360;Mahfud, 2012aMahfud, , 2012bPo, 2018, p. 74;Suryadinata, 2005, p. 52;Takács & Cline, 2015, p. 552), power projection, and show of strength to shock and awe other nations (Callahan, 2009, p. 20;Fagan, 2012, p. 158;Geoff Wade, 2020;Reddick, 2014) in order to bring them within the ambit of the Ming tributary system (Dreyer & Stearns, 2007;Graff & Dreyer, 2007) or even a colonialist and expansion intentions (Tan Ta Sen, 2005;Wade, 2005). Nevertheless, these expeditions, known in the Chinese literature as "Zheng He Xia xiyang," without a doubt, have opened a new phase of the Chinese interaction with the outside world, including Africa.…”