Information on Zheng He's voyages to the West

Zheng He's Sailing to the West: Cosmopolitanism in Eastern Civilization (1)

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0 1, February 2005 13:56 online version of ship knowledge.

Zheng He's family witnessed and experienced the final ups and downs of the Silk Road on land and at sea. 10 generations died and died, from Bukhara to Guri, like an epic of the great migration of the world. Zheng He's voyage to the West combined the maritime tradition of the Arab world, the spirit of trade and the political martial arts of the Chinese Empire, which was an incisive summary of the maritime adventures of the entire oriental nation.

In the third year of Xining in northern Song Shenzong (1070), King Puhuali or Imam Sufuor of Bukhara in Central Asia led more than 5,000 people and more than 5,000 camels to pay tribute to China and applied for surrender. Zongshen named him Hou of Yining. The fifth Sun Saidian Chishan Siding caught up with Wei.

Kublai Khan was named King of Xianyang and lived in southern Yunnan. He gave his son a semi-Muslim and semi-Mongolian name: Ma, which represents Muhammad, is the same as the Mongolian general who captured Lin 'an, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. Ma Bo Yan's son went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and was called Maha only. Ha is just a respectful name for pilgrims in Mecca in Islam. 1482, Emperor Hongwu sent troops to pacify King Liang. In this battle, the venerable Bukhara pilgrim suffered greatly, and his 1 1 year-old son became one of many children kidnapped by the Ming army. Twenty years later, when we saw the child again, he had become an outstanding eunuch in the palace of Emperor Yongle, named Zheng He. The name was given to him by the emperor, which included suffering and glory.

Sophie of Bukhara is the tenth ancestor of Zheng He. His family changed from a foreigner to a semu in China, and then to a native in China. 1405, when the ambitious Yongle emperor flashed the idea of sending envoys abroad, Zheng He was the first person he thought of. He is a close friend around him and his family is cosmopolitan. It seems that only the descendants of Shu Fan can wander around in a country that has moved to another place and respected agriculture and suppressed commerce. They pursue the interests of the world, the yellow sand in the wind and the waves on the sea. They are descendants of Simboda, from the Silk Road on land to the Silk Road on the sea, and from Bukhara to Guri.

Bukhara on land, like Guri on the sea, is a gathering place for thousands of businessmen on the Silk Road. From Sophie's camel ride from Bukhara to Zheng He's death in Guri, the birth and death of Zheng He's family in 65,438+00 generations is like an epic of world migration. In Sophie's time, Central Asia was the gateway to Eurasia, and many commercial routes crossed between deserts and oases, mountains and grasslands. Samarkand and Bukhara are both prosperous big cities, which bring together the goods of various businessmen. 1220, Genghis Khan conquered the hualamozi empire, and the bustling Samarkand and Bukhara became ruins. During the Mongolian rule, these commercial cities were rapidly revived, and Kyle? When Poirot passed by Bukhara, he found that it was "the most beautiful city in all Persia". With the decline of the Mongol Empire, the Chagatai Khanate was just a bandit den, wars were frequent in Central Asia, and rulers were constantly changing. timur was a talented and cruel bandit.

He knew that settlers needed peace and nomads needed war, so he pursued peace at home and waged war abroad. He conquered the vast area from the Mediterranean Sea to Lake Balkhash, and the ancient overland Silk Road flourished for the last time. Samarkand has become the capital of the world. Bukhara has merchants from Persia, India, Russia and China, and the largest caravan has 1000 camels. However, this is the final glory. After the infection, political division and religious division cut off this ancient commercial road again and never recovered its glory. The world pattern has changed, and east-west traffic has shifted to the sea. Nanhai Road Silk Road developed rapidly during Chinese mainland War, and intercontinental trade extended from the rebuilt Alexandria to Quanzhou, China. The beginning of Zheng He's voyage to the Western Ocean was not the beginning of the trade peak of Nanhai Road and Silk Road, but the end of the peak. Because another maritime trade road, the Cape of Good Hope Road, replaced it shortly after Zheng He. In the world of 10, Zheng He's family witnessed and experienced the final ups and downs of the Silk Road on land and at sea.

Zheng He's race, family, traditions and beliefs all make it easier for him to communicate with foreign countries. He may believe in Buddhism and accept the precepts of Taoist Bodhisattva, and he has a large number of offerings in Bifeng Temple and Ceylon Mountain Temple in Niushou Mountain in Nanjing. He may also believe in Islam. He is the son of a maharaja and seems to have an Islamic name. He also believes in Mazu and worships Princess Tiangong. Of course, he still believes in the son of heaven the most. This is a tradition in China. There can be many religions in the world, but there can only be one politics.

Zheng He probably knows Arabic, and his family has many connections with navigation. /kloc-More than 0/00 years ago, Kublai Khan made an expedition to Japan and Java. Maybe one of his ancestors or the brother of Saidian Chissanstein was a great crew member of the Mongolian Empire? Quanzhou Port is an international metropolis. For more than 400 years, it has been a place where merchants gather and let the world go abroad. In the Southern Song Dynasty, Pu Shougeng, a big grain merchant, was promoted to Quanzhou Ship Administration for 30 years, where Zheng He might find his relatives or genealogy. 1965, an Arabic tombstone was found in Quanzhou. The name of the deceased was Saidian Chidu 'ansha, a descendant of Saidian Chishan Siding, the king of Xianyang. This "unfortunate being hit by death" is probably the brother or cousin of Zheng He's great-grandfather. To sail west, you have to build ships in Quanzhou, recruit sailors, worship the Forbidden City, pray in mosques, and install ceramics from Jingdezhen and Dehua ... Quanzhou is the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea. At least 800 years ago, in the era of Abasi, big food merchants began to travel to and from Guangzhou, Quanzhou, Zhancheng, Malaga and other places on Adan boats driven by seamen from Ceylon Mountain. Zheng He met China businessmen and Muslim sailors whether he built ships in Quanzhou or landed in ports along the way.

Sailing, moored in a strange harbor, from Chinese civilization to Hindu civilization and Islamic civilization, Zheng He's cosmopolitan life experience may make him feel the difference of exotic scenery. Most of the related records say that these distant countries and regions share the same wind with China. What kind of cosmopolitan vision is this, seeing the similarities of such great differences among the three civilizations? There can be many faiths in the world, but there can only be one kind of politics.

China society in the early Ming Dynasty still retains some cosmopolitan colors left over from the Yuan Dynasty. Zheng He is not the only person with foreign ancestry in the fleet. The second person in the fleet is eunuch Wang Jinghong, who is also a Muslim Hui. He grew up in southern Fujian, perhaps more proficient in navigation than Zheng He, who died in Guri and brought his huge fleet back to China. His nautical diary & gt is said to be a secret book for future travel abroad. Zheng He's voyages to the West are exotic. There are many Muslims in the fleet. Li Xing, the eunuch who visited Adan with the fleet at an annual rate of 1423, is known as Islam in Yemeni historical materials. Before Zheng He went to the Western Ocean for the fourth time, he went to the Qing Palace in Shi Yang, Xi, and asked Islam to teach Hassan's colleagues to translate back into Chinese. Describe the ambassador's experience in detail & gt The author of this book, Ma Huan, is also a Muslim-speaking Hui. He was born in Huiji (Shaoxing), Zhejiang Province, and his ancestors may have been Semu who followed Bo Yan's army into the city. From middle-earth China to western countries, the descendants of these Semu people may not feel strange in a foreign land. "Both the East and the West belong to Allah; No matter which direction you turn, there is God's guidance. "

Guri is a good place, surrounded by blue waves, bustling docks, towering Muslim churches in the city and magnificent Hindu temples. The land where all ethnic groups meet is the real hometown. On his deathbed, Zheng He may not feel the desolation of dying in a foreign country. Fei Ying of seabirds in the morning and the burning stars at night can take away his soul at any time.

Zheng He came from an international family. In Zheng He's fleet, there may be nobles from the western regions, merchants who ate a lot of food, ship owners who occupied the city, and thousands of Mongolian families holding flags. The miracle created by such a world-wide fleet is also the miracle of the entire oriental nation. Huaxia civilization provided it with imperial political mission, military equipment and material foundation, and Islamic civilization prepared navigation technology and trade spirit for it. For this 28-year voyage, Zheng He's family prepared 10 generation, while the whole oriental nation prepared at least 1000 year.

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