Zheng He Analysis

Zheng He is a name of which many don’t hear a lot around, much less know who he is. Zheng He is, however, one of the greatest ocean explorers in the 15th century, and can be named side to side with Ferdinand Magellan and Christopher Columbus. Zheng He’s 7 voyages to the Indian Ocean strengthened trade between the Ming Dynasty and its neighbouring countries in the Middle East and India, and brought back exotic souvenirs and gifts to the Yongle Emperor, which were tributes from the neighbouring countries. Zheng He’s name is just not heard often because he did not find a new continent, nor did he become a first in some navigation attainment, but he made significant contributions to the trade within the Indian Ocean countries, and corrected
Zheng He was one of the Yongle Emperor’s favourite protégées. In fact, Yongle trusted Zheng He so much that he left the task of fabricating the tributary system to Zheng He. The tributary system is where the neighbouring countries present tributes of precious and luxurious gifts to the Ming Dynasty to show their respect and reverence. Zheng He’s objective for his expeditions included collecting and enforcing the tributary system, but it was only a secondary factor behind the true reason. He needed to flaunt and display their’s prestigious amount of power to the other countries. He needed to awe the ‘barbaric states of the ocean’ and make the bow down in fascination. This was in order to remind the countries that the Ming was the center of the world, and remind them why they needed to pay tribute to the almighty Ming Dynasty. That was Zheng He’s primary and most salient objective when he went overseas. Getting to the countries, however, was not easy, as the sailing charts from the Song Dynasty were often inaccurate. Being placed in media res in the middle of the ocean and trying to sail to the