Essay on When China Ruled the Seas

Before the arrival of western powers, China was very stable, agricultural, and ethnocentric. They had many factories that produced silk, cotton, and porcelain with their natural resources: salt, tin, silver, and iron mines. They had no interest of trade or interaction with foreigners. From the early eighteenth century, European and American Imperialism spread throughout China with a goal to extend their nation’s power. China was one of many territories that undertook the changes of New Imperialism. By 1912, the country was governed by outside nations: Great Britain (mostly), Russia, Germany, France, and Japan. Their influence on China resulted malignantly on the country’s economy, political ties, and lifestyle; in spite of the few

Emperor Yongle intended to awe the rulers of Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean into sending tribute to China (Dreyer, p. 27). Zheng He and his fleets needed to establish Chinese presence and influences in those countries in order to enforce the tributary system. Although China had no interest in imperial expansion through oceanic exploration like the Europeans did, navy power was traditionally associated with the strength of a nation. Therefore, the gigantic treasure ships, the significant scale of Zheng He’s crew as well as the Chinese goods he brought to the foreign countries all served the political needs to display wealth and power of the Middle Kingdom.

to a superior but as a “letter” to an equal, the letter was in Chinese

there have been many changes in commerce. One change in commerce over the years was who dominated Trade in The Indian Ocean. Over the course of this time period the Indian ocean trade was dominated by the Indians, the Chinese the Arabs and even the distant European powers. Their were also changes in what goods were traded. Some trade goods like the exotic animals taken from Africa to China that weren’t traded for longer then a few decades. The reason Ming China had imported animals was because they were in an age of exploration at the time and wanted to have some animals for their exotic royal zoo. Also sending great explorers like Zheng He showed their ability to travel to distant lands and take what they please. Another change was how things were traded. Over the course of the 1,100 years described many changes occurred in the world of sailing. China had many of these inventions with in it’s walls before this time period. China was so Ethnocentric .that they did not spread their inventions till generations after they were made, and even then it was often by accident The compass were great improvements on how sailors navigated to their destinations. The ships them selves also changed throughout this period. The Chinese Junks were incredible ships, vastly larger then the ones Columbus used, They were equipped with cannons to defend them selves from pirates and were, in their time the most impressive ships on the water. There are changes in commerce in the Indian

“First to track down his nephew, the emperor he had deposed, who was rumored to have escaped. Second, the emperor was outward looking and wanted to “show the flag,” impressing all of the foreign countries in that part of the world.” “And finally, the emperor wanted to encourage overseas trade (42).”

During the 15th and 16th century, exploration became the new norm of society. Each individual country had their own motives, reasons and goals regarding voyages across land and sea. For instance, Christopher Columbus, in the name of Spain, voyaged out to find an alternative route to Asia. The Portuguese, tried to increase their knowledge about trading. Moreover, while some traveled to increase their powers, Zheng He, of China, traveled to discover raw resources and generate more capital into China’s economy. If we compare the maritime policies of the kingdom of Spain and Portugal on the one hand and the Ming Empire on the other the differences in motives clearly outweigh the similarities between these two societies. For example, the Kingdoms of Spain and Portugal traveled to spread Christianity, to gain land, to rule over new subjects and to spread their power throughout the different continents, while as the Ming Dynasty was only interested in capital and new/raw resources.

People living the the 15th century had multiple reasons for venturing beyond its confinement of land. Scientific curiosity of the world played a major part in the advancement of naval travel, but it was not the main cause of exploration in these times. The Age of Exploration was sparked by Europeans wanting to find sea routes to East Asia, which they called the Indies. Merchants and crusaders were bringing goods to Europe from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. These trade routes were controlled by the Muslims and the Italians. However, flaws

Before Qin became emperor, the government system was not fair. He improved it by ranking officials according to their achievements and abilities. Instead of having status because of family, soldiers would be promoted

The illustration from When China Ruled of Christopher Columbus’s Santa Maria, and Zheng He’s treasure ship on Document B show you just how ridiculous and overzealous his ships were. According the chart under the illustration on Document B, Zheng He had 255 ships, and a crew consisting of 27,500 people. Too fully comprehend how ridiculous this was, compare it to Christopher Columbus’s 3, 85 feet long ships and 90 person crew. Zheng He’s ships were 440 feet long, and 180 feet wide according to Document C’s illustration by Edward L. Dreyer. Apparently these massive ships could not sail in water more shallow than roughly 20 feet, because the port elevation was 20 feet itself so optimally, the water would have to be 30 feet deep. To understand how large the crew was; the doctor to patient ratio in the United States is

The Chinese were greatly influenced because of trade. Marco Polo was a political influence because of trade. He left Venice, and crossed Persia and Central Asia to reach China. He then spent seventeen years in the emperor's service. Finally Marco Polo returned home and wrote an account of the splendor and wealth of China, which would not become popular until the printing press invention.

5. How did the tribute system in practice differ from the ideal Chinese understanding of its operation?

China was a very advanced civilization during the 16th Century and rose to power. They had large libraries, conducted trade by using a series of canals. They also had large cities and used paper money for trade. The Chinese invented the gunpowder and the magnetic compass. They had a very large navy with over 2,000 vessels in all sizes and they conducted overseas expeditions. After the last Chinese expedition, there was an imperial edict that banned the construction of ships with more than two masts. Warships were put away and not maintained. The navy was too costly and the Chinese wanted to spend their money defending their Northern frontiers from the Mongols. This did not require a large navy. Paul Kennedy stated “that in this Restoration atmosphere, the all important officialdom was concerned to preserve and recapture the past, not to create a brighter

Zhu Di’s idea behind the creation of this fleet was to convince foreign rulers who may have been harboring Zhu Yunwen that he was the rightful ruler. It was also said that the imperial treasury was in need of replenishment by foreign trade.

As of today, China has expanded and built over seven artificial islands in the South China Sea since 2014. The South China Sea has recently come to be a major problem in Asia as issues have risen over who has rights of passage and claims in this area. The Chinese of recent have been making territorial claims in the South China Sea that are in areas of free passage for many other Asian countries and the United States. In October 2015, a U.S. guided missile destroyer encountered one of the artificial islands and China’s response was that it would “take any measure” to maintain its security in “their territory”. The Chinese have been questioned in the Permanent Court of Arbitration by the Philippines after claiming rights to historical locations in the South China Sea, which violates sovereign rights of the Philippines, yet China responded to this outcome with refusal and has continued to advance itself in the territory causing huge disputes with its neighboring countries as freedom of navigation has been compromised through China’s actions.. In order to guarantee resolution and maintain the freedom of navigation aspect of international law there needs to be a foreign policy put in place that puts more United States military in the South China Sea with support from disputing countries like Japan and the Philippines as a way to make the issue multilateral and law abiding.

The naval power of the west was able to combat China’s use of large ships due to the lack in numbers. The innovation of China 's ships, however, due to lack of timber did not cease. They stuck to short water routes to reach midway points. As this happened, the Europeans developed trade patterns and established naval power. This power was used by Christopher Columbus in the discovery of the Americas, despite the fact he failed to find his original goal. He wanted to sail west, and though he failed many times to get sufficient funding, he was able to get Queen Isabel to finance his voyage. His calculations were off and there were doubts as to whether or not the trip would be successful, but despite all this, he managed to reach the New World out of luck. Warehouses allowed larger products to be stored for long periods of time at ports. As immigrants came to the Americas, warehouses provided stability for farmers by allowing housing for goods to trade. The Chinese Government provided incentives for migration, which encouraged many people moved to new Chinese