The Chinese Columbus?
Zheng He ran one of the greatest fleets of all time. Did he discover the New World?
Zheng's castration had historical reverberations. As a eunuch, he was taken as a servant into the household of his enemy, Zhu Di, the emperor's fourth son. Though robbed of a family, he was well cared for and educated--in fact, given advantages that he probably never would have received otherwise.
Eunuch power. Though the custom of castration seems bizarre today, eunuchs were actually a powerful force in the society of imperial China. Part of their power came from their intimate access to powerful women and their children. Child eunuchs often grew up with future princes and emperors. Indeed, eunuchs garnered so much wealth and political influence from their close contact with royal families that commoners sometimes had their sons castrated in the hopes of improving the family lot.
Zheng He grew up strong and intelligent, apparently impressing his young master, Zhu Di. In short order he went from houseboy to right-hand man, plotting strategies with the prince and riding next to him in battle. He later assisted Zhu Di in a brilliant and bloody coup to usurp the throne. When Zhu Di became the third Ming emperor of China in 1402, he soon named his loyal eunuch and friend admiral and commander in chief of the huge treasure fleet.
The admiral's ships sailed to many lands in Southeast Asia, where the admiral not only collected cultural observations but also used his influence and military strength to manipulate regimes. Although China was a lone superpower at the time, with the military force to crush almost any opposition, the foreign policy of 15th-century China was oddly modern. Unlike other warlike invaders and colonizers, the Chinese preferred trade sanctions. Trade-friendly regimes were rewarded, while fractious states were undermined--not through direct confrontation but through aid to enemy states. Siam and Sumatra, for example, which were growing powerful, were subdued when China decided to recognize Malacca, an upstart city-state in Siamese (modern Thai) territory. Standing between Siam and Sumatra, Malacca became the precursor to present-day Malaysia.
"The Chinese had no desire to establish colonies," says Louise Levathes, author of When China Ruled the Seas. "Their focus was trade--acquiring things the empire needed, such as medicinal herbs and incense, hardwoods, pepper, precious stones, African ivory, Arabian horses for the imperial cavalry," she says. "They clearly knew about Europe from Arab traders but thought that the wool and wine, all they heard Europe had to offer, were not very interesting."
Zheng's fleet made seven voyages in all, and the commander probably died near Calicut, in present-day India, at about age 62. Upon returning to China, Zheng's crew found that the expeditions, rather than being celebrated as heroic, were slandered by the Confucian court officials as indulgent adventures that wasted the country's resources. Zheng He's trip logs were "lost" by officials seeking to suppress further overseas travels.
In many respects, Zheng He stood at a pivotal point in world history, according to many scholars of the colonial period. Had his magnificent fleets been maintained and had China not turned inward and willingly lost its vast scientific and military advantage, Europeans most likely could not have taken over the spice trade and subjugated the Asian and African continents. And had China had the interest, it could have colonized Australia and the Americas before the Europeans.
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