Prequel to 1492 WHAP/Napp
“For most of the last several thousand years, it would have seemed far likelier that Chinese or Indians, not Europeans, would dominate the world by the year 2000, and that America and Australia would be settled by Chinese rather than by the inhabitants of a backward island called Britain. The reversal of fortunes of East and West strikes me as the biggest news story of the millennium, and one of its most unexpected as well.
As a resident of Asia for most of the past 13 years, I've been searching for an explanation. It has always seemed to me that the turning point came in the early 1400’s, when Admiral Zheng He sailed from China to conquer the world. Zheng He was an improbable commander of a great Chinese fleet, in that he was a Muslim from a rebel family and had been seized by the Chinese Army when he was still a boy. Like many other prisoners of the time, he was castrated -- his sexual organs completely hacked off, a process that killed many of those who suffered it. But he was a brilliant and tenacious boy who grew up to be physically imposing. A natural leader, he had the good fortune to be assigned, as a houseboy, to the household of a great prince, Zhu Di.
In time, the prince and Zheng He grew close, and they conspired to overthrow the prince’s nephew, the Emperor of China. With Zheng He as one of the prince’s military commanders, the revolt succeeded and the prince became China’s Yongle Emperor. One of the emperor’s first acts (after torturing to death those who had opposed him) was to reward Zheng He with the command of a great fleet that was to sail off and assert China’s pre-eminence in the world.
Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven major expeditions, commanding the largest armada the world would see for the next five centuries. Not until World War I did the Westmount anything comparable. Zheng He’s fleet included 28,000 sailors on 300 ships, the longest of which were 400 feet. By comparison, Columbus in 1492 had 90 sailors on three ships, the biggest of which was 85 feet long. Zheng He’s ships also had advanced design elements that would not be introduced in Europe for another 350 years, including balanced rudders and watertight bulwark compartments.”
~ Nicholas D. Kristof, 1492: The Prequel
1. Ming Emperor Yongle, having inherited a country well on its way to economic recovery, took advantage of this increase in prosperity to launch China’s first and last great ______under the command of his childhood friend and imperial eunuch, Zheng He, from 1405 to 1433.(A) land armies
(B) religious campaigns
(C) naval expeditions
(D) Silk Road missionaries / 2. Which of the following is a similarity between the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Zheng He?
(A) Both had fleets that included 28,000 sailors and 300 ships.
(B) Both sought to spread Catholicism to the peoples they encountered.
(C) Both sought to establish trade and diplomatic contacts for their respective governments.
(D) Both were eunuchs and imperial servants for the emperors of their respective nations.
Key Words/
Questions / I. Overview of Nicholas Kristof’s article entitled 1492: The Prequel
A. The Chinese experienced an “Age of Exploration” before the Europeans
B. What led to the reversal of fortunes then for East and West?
II. Zheng He
A. Muslim seized by Chinese Army when a boy; served in Imperial Court
B. Rewarded by Emperor Yongle with command of a great fleet
C. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven major expeditions
D. Zheng He’s ships: advanced design elements such as balanced rudders
And watertight bulwark compartment
E. A half-century before Columbus, Zheng He had reached East Africa
F. Chinese could have easily continued around Cape of Good Hope,
established direct trade with Europe but saw little of value in Europe
III. Kristof’s Findings
A. Zheng He lived in Nanjing where there is his tomb on hillside outside city
but nothing buried in tomb, since believed to have died on his last voyage
and buried at sea
B. And it is important to remember that his achievements were renounced
C. In Indonesia, voyages led directly to wave of Chinese immigration
D. But he was viewed with deep suspicion by China’s Confucian scholars
E. Yet Zheng He’s armada was far grander than anything that came before
F. Grandest vessels were “treasure ships,” 400 feet long and 160 feet wide
G. His armada included supply ships to carry horses, troop transports,
warships, patrol boats and as many as 20 tankers to carry fresh water
H. After the Yongle Emperor died in 1424, China endured a series of brutal
power struggles and eventually scholars emerged triumphant
1. Scholars ended voyages and halted constructionof new ships
2. To prevent any backsliding: destroyed Zheng He’s sailing records
I. Still, there were other factors
1. Asia was simply not greedy enough
2. Dominant social ethos in ancient China was Confucianism and in India
was caste: elites in both nations looked down at commerce
3. Confucius declared that it was wrong for a man to make a distant
voyage while parents were alive, and condemned profit as concern of
“a littleman”
4. Zheng He’s ships were built on grand scale/carried lavish gifts to
foreign leaders thus voyages were not huge money makers
5. In contrast, Portugal led the age of discovery in the 15th century
largely because it wanted spices, a precious commodity
6. Magellan’s crew sold 26 tons of cloves for 10,000 times thecost
7. Also, China and India shared a tendency to look inward, a devotion to
past ideals, a respect for authority and suspicion of new ideas
8. Chinese elites regarded their country as the “Middle Kingdom” and
believed they had nothing to learn from barbarians abroad
9. When Confucian scholars ended voyages, their policy condemned all of
China but in contrast, European was fragmented
1. The map above shows what significant economic developments?
(A) Trade connections that linked the Hellenistic and Maurya empires to African cities from 300 through 150 B.C.E.
(B) Trading networks that promoted the growth of new cities from 600 C.E. through 1450 C.E.
(C) Chinese dominance of Indian Ocean trading networks because of the voyages of Zheng He in the 1400s C.E.
(D) Changes in Indian Ocean trading networks that resulted from technological innovations from 1450 C.E. through 1750 C.E.
2. A major reason for Zheng He’s voyages during the 15th century was to
(1) promote trade and collect tribute
(2) establish colonies in Africa and India
(3) seal off China’s borders from foreign
influence
(4) prove the world was round
3. Although the Ming emperor Yongle
encouraged maritime exploration, later
emperors discontinued that practice because
(A) Portuguese adventurers defeated the
Chinese navy.
(B) New Mongol invasions turned China’s attention to the north.
(C) Confucian scholar gentry feared that new ideas would lead to political instability.
(D) All of the above. / 4. What Chinese state was associated briefly with the establishment of state-sponsored international commerce?
(A) Han
(B) T’ang
(C) Ming
(D) Song
(E) Qin
5. Confucian education tended to support
(A) Widespread literacy and popular fiction.
(B) An open mind to different religions and traditions.
(C) Conservative values such as filial piety and submission to authority.
(D) Independent thinking and resistance to authority.
(E) None of the above.
6. Why did the Ming government suddenly stop the exploration of the Indian Ocean basin?
(A) Not enough riches were found there.
(B) Most of the cultures they encountered were hostile and violent.
(C) Yongle’s successors viewed expansion as a waste of time and resources.
(D) Frequent stormy weather destroyed much of the Ming fleet.
7. What was the main reason that Emperor Yongle sent Zheng He on his voyages?
(A) To spread Chinese culture to distant lands
(B) To establish Chinese settlements throughout the Indian Ocean
(C) To conquer new territories
(D) To draw distant lands into the Chinese tribute system of trade
8. After Emperor Yongle’s death
(A) Admiral Zheng He became the new Ming emperor.
(B) The Ming banned overseas travel and stopped building large ships.
“A Chinese Muslim admiral named Zheng He led seven voyages. His expeditions were remarkable for their size. Everything about them was large – distances traveled, fleet size, and ship measurements. The voyages ranged from Southeast Asia to eastern Africa. From 40 to 300 ships sailed in each expedition. Among them were fighting ships, storage vessels, and huge ‘treasure’ ships measuring more than 400 feet long. The fleet’s crews numbered over 27,000 on some voyages. They included sailors, soldiers, carpenters, interpreters, accountants, doctors, and religious leaders. Like a huge floating city, the fleet sailed from port to port along the Indian Ocean. Everywhere Zheng He went, he distributed gifts including silver and silk to show Chinese superiority. As a result, more than 16 countries sent tribute to the Ming court. Even so, Chinese scholar-officials complained that the voyages wasted valuable resources that could be used to defend against barbarians’ attacks on the northern frontier. After the seventh voyage, in 1433, China withdrew into isolation
China’s official trade policies in the 1500s reflected its isolation. To keep the influence of outsiders to a minimum, only the government was to conduct foreign trade, and only through three coastal ports, Canton, Macao, and Ningbo. In reality, trade flourished up and down the coast. Profit-minded merchants smuggled cargoes of silk, porcelain, and other valuable goods out of the country into the eager hands of European merchants. Usually, Europeans paid for purchases with silver, much of it from mines in the Americas. Demand for Chinese goods had a ripple effect on the economy. Industries such as silk-making and ceramics grew rapidly. Manufacturing and commerce increased. But China did not become highly industrialized for two main reasons. First, the idea of commerce offended China’s Confucian beliefs. Merchants, it was said, made their money ‘supporting foreigners and robbery.’ Second, Chinese economic policies traditionally favored agriculture. Taxes on agriculture stayed low. Taxes on manufacturing and trade skyrocketed.
Christian missionaries accompanied European traders into China. They brought Christianity and knowledge of European science and technology, such as the clock. The first missionary to have an impact was an Italian Jesuit named Matteo Ricci. Hegained special favor at the Ming court through his intelligenceand fluency in Chinese. Still, many educated Chineseopposed the European and Christian presence.”
~ An Age of Explorations and Isolation
Critical Thinking Questions:
1- Why were the voyages of Zheng He abruptly ended? ______
2- How did China’s official trade policies and tax policies reflect its isolation and its values? ______
3- How did Christian missionaries influence China and not influence China? ______
4- Why was Matteo Ricci significant? ______