 In the year 1497 , a Portuguese navigator , Vasco da Gama headed a fleet of four ships to enter the Indian Ocean round the Cape of Good Hope and arrived in Guli in the south of India,rousing cheers.But the people there told Vasco da Gama that " a strong and powerful fleet of ocean - going ships had arrived there 90 years before,and each time there were 20 to 30 large well-equipped ships in all." That was Zheng He's fleet of the Ming Dynasty from China.The modern American scholar,RuizLivasus concludedthe " Zheng He's fleet was incompara-ble both in China and in the world , and there was not a rival until the beginning of the First World War."
Zheng He was born in 1371 in Kunming,Yunnan.Starting from July 11th,1405, Zheng He headed the fleet on an unprecedented scale to sail west seven times,and this ocean-going fleet started off China ' s coast southwards and westwards and sailed on the seas with mountainous - high waves crossing thousands upon thousands of miles spreading briliant ancient Chinese civilization along the course.
It is recorded that Zheng He's first sailing fleet consisted of 27800 persons, the second sailing fleet 27000, the foruth sailing fleet 27670 and the seventh sailing fleet 27550 in all . The number of person could be said beyond comparison if compared with the number of 100 to 300 person on the fleets headed by the later navigators, such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama , and Ferdinand Magellan . Each time Zheng He organized a fleet consisting of 100 to 200 ships small or large to sail west with the first sailing in the biggest in number of 208 ships , of which 62 were seven-gem ships in large and medium sizes. The ship, which was called seven-gem ship, and was loaded with gold , silver and some other jewels, was the commanding ship. On the ship there were four-deck splendid palace buildings with nine masts and twelve sails poking into the sky,which formed a glorious sight on the boundless seas and could be called "a city of ships".
Zheng He's first sailing west , which was eighty-seven years earlier than the one made by Columbus , ninety-three years earlier than the one made by Vasco da Gama, and one hundred and foruteen years earlier than the one made by Magellan , was the first ocean-going voyage in the history of mankind . Zheng He sailed west seven times going through the unfrequented Indian Ocean with huge waves , which switched on the charm of the design structure of wooden yachts in ancient China with the first - rate navigating performance, which was also the miniature of science and technology as well as comprehensive national strength of China at that time , and which symbolized the Chinese civilization . Zheng He's sailing west seven times lasted for twenty-eight years covering more than thirty countries , and had never occupied even an inch of land belonging to other countries ; at the same time the sailing gave an impules to the economic development in Asia , and Africa, especially in the southeastern Asian countries. People in Asia, Africa and Southeastern Asian countries regarded and worshipped Zheng He as God of Wealth or God of Three Treasures , and people have never stopped burning incenses for six hundred yeasr. Many wells,pavilians, hills,temples and cities were named after Three Treasures praising Zheng He " Carrying on the great task left over by Zang Qian and Lu Ban and becoming a forerunner of Columbus and Magellan".
Zheng He was the world's earliest navigator,whose sailing west seven times made three world's records : the longest-distance voyage; the most advanced ship-building technology;and the most advanced navigating technology. Zheng He's sailing west seven times showed that the sea power of China in ancient times was ranked first among the world's navigating countries.
The modern Chinese historian He Fangchuan a ppraised Zheng He's sailing west as follows: " There has been communication between civilizations since the appearance of human civilization. In the whole history of communication and joining in human civilization , the Chinese civilization represented by Zheng He in his ocean-going sailing was the most civilized because it was the most peaceful."
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