CHENG HO
Eunuch admiral Cheng Ho was a tall, imposing figure, and so was his fleet. In his own words, he "commanded several tens of thousand government soldiers and more than a hundred oceangoing vessels" in a series of seven voyages "to the barbarians".
Even when subdivided into smaller flotillas to reach separate destinations, his big "treasure ships" made an impressive entrance. A contemporary history of the Rasulid Sultanate in Yemen records one such visit:
"Arrival of Dragon-ships in the protected harbour city [of Aden] and with them messengers of the ruler of China with brilliant gifts for his Majesty, the Sultan al-Mik al-Nasir in the month of l'Hijja in the year 821 [January 1419]."
The sense of awe created by Chinese military might was an important part of these missions, underpinning its economic objective. The Emperor of China sought a monopoly over international trade. He wanted a direct exchange of valuable goods between rulers, at controlled prices, known as the tribute system.
ESTABLISHING ECONOMIC HEGEMONY
The Yemeni source reports three arrivals of "Dragon-ships" to Aden, in 1419, 1423, and 1432, corresponding with Cheng Ho's 5th, 6th, and 7th expeditions. Another significant destination for the Chinese "treasure ships" was the island of Hormuz, at the other end of the Arabian peninsular in the Persian Gulf. Hormuz was visited by the fleet four times between 1413 and 1433 (4th, 5th, 6th, 7th voyages).
These events were summarised by an historian of that dynasty in unmistakably commercial terms:
"During [Saif ad-Din's] reign, many ships from China with Chinese products and many silken fabrics came [to Hormuz] on several occasions. [Saif ad-Din] sold countless [ordinary] pearls and royal pearls to them, and he received many riches in return ― gold, silver, silks and ceramics ― filling the treasuries [with them]."
The key word in this account is "sold". When stripped of diplomatic hyperbole, the exchange of "tribute" between China and "countries" like Aden and Hormuz was essentially a transaction. Cheng Ho may have described his commission as "carry[ing] to the distant barbarians the benefits of respect and good faith", of "confer[ring] presents on them to make manifest the transformative power of the [Imperial] virtue and treat[ing] distant people with kindness". The bottom line however, was that he was expected to return the the Emperor's Court with "treasure" equal to and exceeding the value of the "presents" he had dispersed.
The correct response by barbarian nations to the Emperor's "kindness" is declared in Cheng Ho's observations of his 5th and 6th voyages:
"They all vied in presenting the marvellous objects preserved in the mountains or hidden in the seas and the beautiful treasures buried in the sand or deposited on the shores...The kings of all these countries prepared even more tribute ['presented local products even more abundantly'] than previously."
This is not to downplay the fleet's military message. Cheng Ho's customary language of courtesy and benevolence did not disguise the threat posed by his great naval force:
"On arriving in the outlying countries, those among the barbarian kings who were obstructing the 'transforming influence' [of Chinese culture] and were disrespectful, we captured alive, and brigands who gave themselves over to violence and plunder we exterminated."
The admiral admits three instances of political suppression:
- On his first voyage (1405-1407), "the pirate Ch'en Tsu-yi had gathered his followers in the country of San-fo-ch'i [Palembang, south-central Sumatra] where they plundered the native merchants. When he also advanced to resist our fleet, supernatural soldiers secretly came to the rescue so that after one beating of the drum he was annihilated."
- On his third voyage (1409-1411), "we...took our route by the country of Hsi-lan-shan [Ceylon, Sri Lanka]. Its king Ya-lieh-jo-nai-erh was guilty of a gross lack of respect and plotted against the fleet. Owing to the manifest answer to prayer of the goddess of the divine power [the plot] was discovered and thereupon that king was captured alive."
- On his fourth voyage (1414-1415), in the country of Su-men-ta-la [Samudra, north-east Sumatra] there was a false king Su-kan-la who was marauding and invading his country. Its [true] king Tsai-nu-li-a-pi-ting had sent an envoy to the Palace Gate in order to lodge a complaint [and to request assistance]. Approaching with the official troops under our command we have exterminated some and arrested [the other rebels], and owing to the silent aid of the goddess we captured the false king alive."
The real purpose of this practice is hinted at in Cheng Ho's comments on the 6th voyage. "In the nineteenth year of Yung-lo [1421], commanding the fleet, we conducted the ambassadors from Hu-lu-mo-ssu [Hormuz] and the other countries, who had been in attendance at the capital [Nanjing] for a long time, back to their countries." These people were in fact hostages, providing a personal guarantee of 'good behaviour' by lesser rulers to their Imperial overlord.
Imposed conditions like reciprocal tribute, political respectfulness, and hostage-taking, were obviously 'negotiated' from a position of strength on China's side. The Xia-fan Guan-jin, or Foreign Expeditionary Armada, was designed, and manned, on a massive scale. Cheng Ho's fleet was a grand display of military menace, and it worked.
CONSTRUCTING THE FLEET
The official inscriptions left by Cheng Ho in the temples of T'ien-fei [goddess "Celestial Spouse"] at Liu-chia-chiang and Chang-le do not provide details of the ships built for the fleet. Neither do the surviving first-hand accounts written by Ma Huan [1433], Fei Hsin [1436], or Kung Chen [1434], who travelled on some of the voyages as interpreters. The earliest indication of the ships' actual size is given by an illustration from a book published in 1420.
This picture represents some of the fleet as they are sent out by the Emperor to deliver his envoys to the foreign ports of the Western Ocean. It clearly shows vessels with 6 masts but only 3 of these have their bamboo-mat sails unfurled. The other masts are not in use.
A recent Chinese-language study (2011) on the dimensions of Cheng Ho's "large oceangoing ships" has argued that this image, along with similar ones "from the Ming era", shows that "the largest ships had 3 to 4 main masts and 2 to 3 auxiliary masts".
This tells a very different story to that of popular imagination's nine or twelve masted monsters. The "treasure ships" were big, but did not exceed the bounds of what was possible with timber-only construction.
An alternative indicator of size is tonnage, the measure of capacity for carrying cargo and crew. A "stele fragment" found in the Jinghai Temple in Nanking says that Cheng Ho commanded "ocean-going ships" (hai-chuan) that were 2,000 liao in 1405 and 1,500 liao in 1409. Conversion of liao to tons means these ships were 500 and 375 tons respectively, or approximately 800 and 600 tons when fully laden. The remaining legible characters also mention smaller eight-oared vessels which were probably more manoeuvrable "escort ships" that supported the larger vessels.
A further clue lies in the Ming Taizong Shilu, or Veritable Records of the Ming. Entries in this imperial history refer to specific orders to various shipyards for new and converted "treasure ships" to join the fleet between 1403 and 1419. Called bao chuan, literally 'gem ship', there were at least 5 built in 1404, 48 in 1408, and 41 built in 1419. In addition there were 249 ocean-going grain-transport ships (haiyun chuan) that were "converted" to treasure ships. These 343 ships are the ones explicitly stated in the Shilu to be "in preparation for sending embassies to the...Western Ocean".
Constructing vessels for the fleet involved considerable shipyard time and resources. The practical possibility of grain-transport conversion suggests that these craft were not all that dissimilar from new-built treasure ships in terms of hull size and carrying capacity. Grain ships travelled by sea from south China to the Emperor's new capital at Beijing, but were ultimately phased out as repairs to the inland Grand Canal were completed. Their original load capacity was about 1,000 liao or 250 tons burden. This brings them within the general range of the "oceangoing ships" described in the stone inscriptions at Jinghai Temple
The distinction between Cheng Ho's great treasure ships and the rest of each fleet remains valid. These were special ships, attended by numerous smaller ones. The fleet ratio can be estimated from the translator's notes to Ma Huan's recollections from three of the voyages, Ying-ya-sheng-lan, or 'Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores'.
The numbers are not complete but soldiers and sailors transported on each trip seem constant, with 27,870 men on voyage 1, 30,000 voyage 3, 28,560 voyage 4, and 27,550 men on voyage in 7. The total numbers of ships sailed is not always available either, although 317 set out in voyage 1 and 249 in voyage 2. More commonly, just the number of large ships is given, with 62 treasure ships on voyage 1, 48 on voyage 3, 63 on voyage 5, and 41 treasure on voyage 6.
These figures are enough to show a regular pattern. If the fleets were roughly the same size then about 1 in 5 were "large oceangoing ships", or bao chuan. There were always sufficient numbers of these special vessels to make an impressive entrance into barbarian harbours.
THE PRIMACY OF THE GODDESS
Cheng Ho's name in modern pinyin is Zheng He, the spelling by which he is usually known today. His fame is also a relatively recent phenomenon, because 'overseas adventurism' went out of favour after the Early Ming, and most related documents were destroyed. Fortunately, he took the trouble to inscribe two stone tablets before his seventh and final voyage (1431-1433).
His aim in leaving these memorials was to "record the years and months of our voyages both going and returning in order to make these known forever." Judging from the text on both steles, it was equally important for the admiral and his fellow envoys to recognise their gratitude to the goddess who aided seamen, T'ien-fei, or the "Celestial Spouse".
"Commanding the multitudes on the fleet and [being responsible for] a quantity of money and valuables in the face of the violence of the winds and the nights, our one fear is not being able to succeed...How would it be possible not to realise what is the source of the tranquillity of the fleet and the salvation on the voyage both going and returning? Therefore we have made manifest the virtue of the goddess on stone...in order to leave [the memory] for ever."
Worth noting here are the two major concerns for the mariners in charge. There was, of course, the weather, the physical danger of going to sea. But also the danger of mutiny on board, in a time when Chinese armies were made up of conscripts and criminals serving out their sentence. The goddess is responsible for safe passage ("salvation on the voyage") and crew discipline ("tranquillity on the fleet").
The sites where Cheng Ho erected his stone inscriptions were closely connected to the sailing routine of the fleet. Before each voyage the participating ships were brought together at Nanking on the banks of the Dragon River. When fully assembled they set off for an anchorage on the Fujien Coast. There they waited for the beginning of the the northeast monsoon. Once the wind was blowing from the right quarter, not before, they would depart southwest to the first non-Chinese port, usually Champa (Central Vietnam).
Weeks and months at a time were spent waiting at these points. Cheng Ho employed his men as builders and renovators during these intervals.
At Liu-chia-chiang near the capital ― "we have moored our ships at the foot of the shrine and the soldiers of the government army have added new improvements to the buildings of the goddess...we have added new improvements to the buildings of the goddess...we have rebuilt the shrine of the 'Younger Sister of the Chu'u Mountain'...and have replaced the statue of the goddess in the principal hall with a beautiful new statue."
At Chang-le to the south ― "On each visit repairs were made" to "a pagoda of very great antiquity" and "after the lapse of several years the principal halls and meditation chambers now greatly surpass the former standard. This year in the spring having started once more for the barbarian countries I have moored the ships in this port and having again repaired the halls of the Buddhas and the palaces of the gods...I furthermore resolved to spend funds for the building of a Precious Hall...the buildings, grand and beautiful, will be completed before long..."
Cheng Ho's motives involved his fear of the Deep, a dread that was undoubtedly shared by his soldiers and sailors. Haughty envoys and ordinary people who worked the fleet were all eager to believe in divine intervention, and sincere in their devotions. As the inscription at Liu-chia-chiang reads, "When once it happened that we were in danger, as soon as we had pronounced the name of the goddess, the answer [to prayer] followed [swiftly] like an echo: suddenly there was a magic lantern in the mast and as soon as the miraculous light appeared the danger was becalmed."
The admiral refers here to 'St Elmo's Fire', a discharge of electricity from a ship's high point at the end of a storm. At sea, after experiencing typhoon-like conditions, it is unlikely that anyone on board mocked his supernatural conclusion. They were part of the largest armada that the world have ever seen and sailed on the strongest ships afloat, but "Save by trusting in the divine power, how could we have found a tranquil crossing?"
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REFERENCES:
JJL Duyvendak, 1939, 'The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expeditions in the Early Fifteenth Century', T'oung Pao, Second Series, 34.5, 341-413. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/4527170> Includes transcripts of two stone inscriptions by Cheng Ho (1431) at Liu-chia-chuang and Chang-le.
Sally K Church, 2005, 'Zheng He: An Investigation Into The Plausibility of 450-ft Treasure Ships, MONUMENTA SERICA Journal of Oriental Studies, Vol LIII, 1-43.
Sally K Church, 2008, 'Two Ming Dynasty shipyards in Nanking and their infrastructure', in Jun Kimura (ed), Shipwreck Asia: Thematic Studies in East Asian Maritime Archaeology, Maritime Archaeology Program, Flinders University, pp 32-49
JVG Mills (trans), 1970, Ma Huan: Ying-yai Sheng-lan: The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores, Hakluyt Society, Cambridge University Press,
<archive.org/items/ying-yai-sheng-lan-1433> Introductory Notes on Expeditions and Author
<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese-treasure-ship>
<en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming-treasure-voyages>
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