Zheng He Achievements

Zheng He was one of the greatest explorers in the Age of Exploration however, his fame is not widely celebrated today. Zheng He was the powerful and wealthy adviser for Emperor Yongle of the Ming Dynasty. The Emperor sent Zheng He on a mission to travel to foreign lands ranging from the tip of India to the eastern parts of Africa to give them gifts to show China’s power and dominance. He started these voyages in 1405 and eventually captained seven of them before retiring. The Chinese felt that the cost of the expeditions outweighed the benefits.

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.

The first reason for celebration of Zheng He's voyages is his distance and destination. In 7 voyages he traveled over 105,300 miles. Examples of some places and distance he traveled was

China was the most powerful maritime force for almost three decades during the 14th century. The world recognized the Chinese for their fine artisan skills, which included creating stunning porcelains and silks. They also had great marine navigation skills, vast knowledge in astronomy and advanced firepower technology. Before the Ming Dynasty, the Yi citizens of China involuntarily stopped working on the land, hence had to seek for alternatives in the sea for survival. A century before Columbus plus his allied Europeans started their entry into the Modern World, seven voyages of massive castoffs commanded by the eunuch Zheng He ventured through the China Seas to East Africa, throughout Korea and Japan. This occurred between 1405 and 1433, during the reign of Zhu Di. Using their skills, they conquered the forces around the Indian Ocean, making China the naval ruler. In the book When China Ruled the Seas, Louise Levathes explores the historic timeline of China’s dynamic transformation until her rise and dominance as a marine power. Discussed below is China’s overall

Asia was the center of trade, business and craft. Many countries tried to find a direct route to Asia, in order to increase trade. Whereas, China decided to uphold isolationism. Its population was one hundred million people in four million miles of square land. China did not want more land, nor more subjects to govern. In fact, China had more people than it can govern. Yongle Emperor sent Zheng He to purchase various spices, goods and conduct trade. Zheng He was a Muslim Chinese eunuch trusted by the

Should Zheng He be recognized for his travels to the east coast of Africa and the southern parts of Asia? Culture, country-to-country relationships, and trade seemed very important to Emperor Yongle, who decided that Zheng He was to explore the world for China. In document A, a map is shown, displaying his travels to east Africa and southern Asia. His furthest travels include India, Iran, Kenya, and Somalia. Along the way, he traded with these countries, including local products and animals.

Zheng He, a Chinese explorer, was born in 1371 in the Yunan Province of southwestern China (background essay). When Zheng He was ten years old, his father was killed right in front of him by the Ming Dynasty’s army (background essay). He was then taken prisoner, castrated, and forced to become part of the eunuchs (background essay). As he grew older, Emperor Yongle began to trust him more and more (background essay). The Emperor trusted him to travel by ship and lead a crew down the coast of China and across the ocean to eventually land in India in 1405 (background essay). This was one of the seven voyages he would take (background essay). When asked if Zheng He’s voyages should be celebrated, three factors must be taken into account: skill, scale and significance. Skill is the measure of one’s ability to do something. Scale is the measure of actions taken to preform something. Significance is the meaning of an event. The voyages of Zheng He should not be celebrated because there was no new land discovered, the cost of the trips were expensive and wasteful, and the reasons for the voyages mainly purposed Zheng He himself and Emperor Yongle.

The Qianlong Emperor is one of the most notable emperors in Chinese history due to the complexity of his reign. Qianlong was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty from 1735 to 1796. This is one of the longest in Chinese History. The first 40 years were some of his greatest achievements, however the last 20 years were met with fraud, corruption, and a declining popularity. In this essay, I will argue that despite having a major blemish to his reign, the Qianlong Emperor was a successful emperor. I am defining and measuring successfulness based on 1) the ability to grow the empire 2) whether or not they have good intentions for empire and 3) control and security over the empire. The Qianlong Emperor’s greatest successes shine through his militaristic campaigns, foreign relations, and his protection and his advocating for art. However, it is also stained by corruption and bad management.

The chart under the map on Document A shows that after every stop, they sailed all the way back to Nanjing, China. According to Document A, the two longest explorations consisted of 19,000 miles roundtrip. I feel that these incredibly long voyages were a waste of time and money; they should have just continued to sail through to the next city. Zheng He sailed to a city, gathered whatever he wanted to, and then sailed back only to pass the city he left. This is incredibly ineffective, and illogical in my opinion because this wasted time and money. Referring back to my thesis, Zheng He was definitely not utilizing the maximum potential of his opportunity.

The first reason the voyages of Zheng He do deserve to be celebrated is because of his over the top ships. From an illustration of what his treasure ship might of looked like “it shows it at least being 400 feet” (Doc C). In Zheng He’s comparison chart to other navigators it shows how he had “255 ships when everyone else only had less than 5 ships” (Doc B). Clearly, one can observe that Zheng He only wanted to be the best at everything he did. And with his huge sailing technology he had managed to finally state that about himself. Therefore, Zheng He’s many advanced vessels are worth being celebrated.

Magellan went way farther than Zheng He did and he only went one time while Zheng He went multiple times. Magellan went farther than Zheng He with far fewer ships and fewer men. Zheng He was very good at getting where he was going because of a number of times he went, but Magellan had great navigational skills when going around the world. In Document G, it shows a map with the route of Magellan’s journey and the exact path he took in his attempt to make it all the way around the world. How far he went shows how much skill he had and shows how much he had prepared and planned for the voyage. Not only did he have amazing navigational skills, but he was great in predicting the length of bodies of land. Document I states, “Magellan's extraordinary skill as a good strategist proved to be the decisive factor in negotiating the entire length of the Dragon’s

One extremely prosperous time of the trade in China was in the Ming Dynasty under the reign of Yonglo. This was because during this period, the explorer, Zheng He, was promoting the trade with China and showing off the Chinese culture through goods like silk or ceramic art. He went on seven voyages to places like Southeast Asia, the Indian Coast, the Arabian Peninsula, and East Africa (document 2). One effect of his voyages was the making of a port city called Canton where the Portuguese, Dutch, and English merchants all traded with China. Unfortunately, after the death of Zheng He, the explorations ended due to it being too costly and then came the end of external trade after limiting contact with other places.

Humans have made huge accomplishments throughout history. Many of these accomplishments have changed the world. Some of these accomplishments have come from dynasties and empires that wanted to expand their knowledge and ideas. Some of these things have affected other civilizations after them and some didn’t have that much of an impact. A lot of these achievements and accomplishments are basic things in our everyday lives that these civilizations have took time and effort to come up with. Ancient China has been one of the numerous places that have made accomplishments. Many ancient Chinese dynasties have accomplished many things that have affected the world. The Tang dynasty’s accomplishments in art, farming, gunpowder, and literature have

People argue that Zheng He didn't accomplish anything, but in Document B it states, ¨Voyages; 7; (1405-1433).¨ This tells us he was traveling for twenty-eight years out of his whole life, so at least he tried. Also not everything you try gets accomplished, it was just his luck he couldn't explore anything new. From information that I have gathered from Document A, it clarifies that in total, he traveled one hundred five thousand, three hundred miles in total! He was also very intelligent by going back to Nanjing each voyage for new crew, and repairments.. For his great intelligence, that gives one good reason for recognition

Emperor Qin’s many accomplishments start with the building of the Great Wall. He ordered scholars who followed Confucianism to switch to legalism and ordered them to build the wall to protect the northern borders of China from invaders like the Mongols.