History

East Meets West[1]

For thousands of years, China has maintained close relations with the nation states on its periphery. These border states often served as intermediaries between China and other major civilizations in India and the Middle East. As far back as the Han dynasty (206 B.C. - A.D. 221), China was exporting silk, porcelain, and other trade goods to the Roman Empire. During the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), China's Mongolian rulers, especially Kublai Khan, brought a significant number of Persians, Turks, and other peoples from Central Asia to work in the Mongolian administration. The great Italian traveler, Marco Polo, visited China during this time and worked for the Mongolians as the Superintendent of Trade in Lanzhou.

Zheng He (1371-1435)( right), or Cheng Ho, is arguably China's most famous navigator. Starting from the beginning of the 15th Century, he traveled to the West seven times. For

28 years, he traveled more than 50,000km and visited over 30 countries, including Singapore. Zheng He died in the tenth year of the reign of the Ming emperor Xuande (1435) and was buried in the southern outskirts of Bull's Head Hill (Niushou) in Nanjing.

In 1985, during the 580th anniversary of Zheng He's voyage, his tomb was restored. The new tomb was built on the site of the original tomb and reconstructed according to the customs of Islamic teachings, as Zheng He was a Muslim.

At the entrance to the tomb is a Ming-style structure, which houses the memorial hall. Inside are paintings of the man himself and his navigation maps. To get to the tomb, there are newly laid stone platforms and steps. The stairway consists of 28 stone steps divided into four sections with each section having seven steps. This represents Zheng He's seven journeys to the West. The Arabic words "Allah (God) is great" are inscribed on top of the tomb.

Early in the 15th century, an ambitious Ming monarch, Cheng (commonly referred to as the Yung Lo Emperor), showed an intense interest in overseas exploration. He equipped scores of seafaring ships, manned by tens of thousands of sailors, and placed them under the command of one of his closest advisors, the eunuch Cheng He. In the years between 1406 and 1433, Cheng He made seven voyages through the South China Sea, past the Malaysian Peninsula, into the Indian Ocean, and on to the east coast of Africa. His travels to more than 50 countries constituted the greatest overseas venture in Chinese history.

Two main sea routes linking the East and West were discovered during the Ming dynasty, and by the early 16th century, Portugal, Spain, Holland, and England were sending powerful fleets to Asian waters. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach China by sea. With the permission of Ming officials, the Portuguese set up an entrepot in Macau in 1535. In the years that followed, many Christian missionaries came to China on Portuguese ships. In 1601, the Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci was granted an imperial stipend to reside in Beijing. Other missionaries soon followed in his footsteps. Julius Aleni, Johannes Terrens, Didacus de Pentoja, Johannes Adam Schall von Bell, and Ferdiandus Verbiest brought not only their religion, but also new concepts and ideas with respect to the arts, medical science, water conservancy, mathematics, geography, and astronomy, including the Gregorian calendar. As in the Yuan dynasty, some of these intrepid Christians even served as officials in the imperial bureaucracy.

source
[1] :http://www.gio.gov.tw
[2]http://members.tripod.com/khleo/chengho.htm