Ming Treasure Voyages of Zheng He (1405–1433)

Creation of the fleet

On 17 July 1402, in Ming China, Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, ascended the throne as the Yongle Emperor. He inherited a powerful navy from his father, the Hongwu Emperor, and further developed it as an instrument for an expansive overseas policy. The Taizong Shilu contains 24 short entries for the imperial orders for shipbuilding, with figures pointing to at least 2,868 ships, from 1403 to 1419. Over the course of 1403, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Huguang's provincial governments as well as Nanjing, Suzhou, and other cities' military garrisons were ordered to begin constructing ships.

Under the reign of the Yongle Emperor, Ming China underwent militaristic expansionism with ventures such as the treasure voyages. In 1403, he issued an imperial order to start the immense construction project of the treasure fleet. The fleet was known as the Xiafan Guanjun (下番官軍; 'foreign expeditionary armada'), its original designation, in Chinese sources. It came to comprise many trading ships, warships, and support vessels. The Longjiang shipyard was the construction site for many of the fleet's ships, including all of the treasure ships. It was located on the Qinhuai River near Nanjing, where it flows into the Yangtze River. Many trees were cut along the Min River and upper reaches of the Yangtze River to supply the necessary resources for the fleet's construction.

Regions

During the onset of the Ming treasure voyages, the Chinese treasure fleet embarked from the Longjiang shipyard and sailed down the Yangtze River to Liujiagang, where Zheng He organized his fleet and made sacrifices to the goddess Tianfei. Over the course of the following four to eight weeks, the fleet gradually proceeded to Taiping anchorage in Changle, where they waited for the favorable northeast winter monsoon before leaving the Fujian coast. The monsoon winds generally affected how the fleet sailed through the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. They reached the sea through the Wuhumen ('five tiger passage') of the Min River in Fujian. The port of Qui Nhon in Champa was always the first foreign destination that the fleet visited.

The voyages sent the fleet to the Western Ocean (西洋), which was the maritime region encompassing today's South China Sea and Indian Ocean during the Ming dynasty. More specifically, contemporary sources such as the Yingya Shenglan place the dividing line between the Eastern Ocean and Western Ocean at Brunei.

During the first three voyages from 1405 to 1411, the fleet followed the same basic maritime route: from Fujian to the first call in Champa, across the South China Sea to Java and Sumatra, up the Strait of Malacca to northern Sumatra for assembly of the fleet, across the Indian Ocean to Ceylon, then along the Malabar Coast to Calicut. At the time, the fleet sailed no further than Calicut.

Course

In the third lunar month (30 March to 28 April) of 1405, a preliminary order was issued to Admiral Zheng He and others to lead 27,000 troops to the Western Ocean.

The imperial order for the second voyage was issued in October 1407. The edict was addressed to Zheng He, Wang Jinghong, and Hou Xian (侯顯). Lang Ying's Qixiuleigao (七修類稿) records that Zheng, Wang, and Hou were dispatched in 1407.

The imperial order for the third voyage was issued in the first month of the seventh year of the Yongle reign (16 January to 14 February 1409). It was addressed to Zheng He, Wang Jinghong, and Hou Xian.

Zheng embarked on the voyage in 1409.

On 18 December 1412, the Yongle Emperor issued the order for the fourth voyage. Zheng He and others were commanded to lead it.

On 14 November 1416, the Yongle Emperor returned to Nanjing. On 19 November, a grand ceremony was held where he bestowed gifts to princes, civil officials, military officers, and the ambassadors of 18 countries.

The Taizong Shilu's 3 March 1421 entry notes that the envoys of sixteen countries (Hormuz and other countries) were given gifts of paper money, coin money, ceremonial robes, and linings before the Chinese treasure fleet escorted them back to their countries.

On 14 May 1421, the Yongle Emperor ordered the temporary suspension of the treasure voyages. At the expense of the voyages, imperial attention and funding was diverted to the emperor's military campaigns against the Mongols.

Gong Zhen records that an imperial order was issued on 25 May 1430 for the arrangement of necessary provisions for the dispatch of Zheng He, Wang Jinghong, Li Xing, Zhu Liang, Yang Zhen, Hong Bao, and others on official business to the countries of the Western Ocean.

Situation near the end

During the course of the treasure voyages, Ming China had become the pre-eminent naval power of the early 15th century. The Yongle Emperor had extended imperial control over foreign lands during the span of the voyages. However, in 1433, the voyages ceased and Ming China turned away from the seas. Admiral Zheng He himself died in 1433 or 1435.

The trade still flourished long after the voyages had ceased. Chinese ships continued to control the Eastern Asian maritime trade. They also kept on trading with India and East Africa. However, the imperial tributary system over the foreign regions and state monopoly over the foreign trade gradually eroded, while private trade supplanted the centralized tributary trade. The voyages were a means to establish direct links between the Ming court and foreign tribute states, which effectively bypassed both private trade channels and local civil officials who often undermined the prohibitions on overseas exchange. The end of the voyages led to the shift of foreign commerce to the domain of local authorities, which further weakened the authority of the central government.

The nobility and military were an important part of the ruling elite during the Hongwu and Yongle reigns, but the political power had gradually shifted to the civil government. As a consequence, the eunuch faction was unable to gather enough support to initiate projects opposed by civil officials.

Causes of cessation

It is not exactly known why the Ming treasure voyages completely ended in 1433. Duyvendak (1939) suggests that the heavy costs partly contributed to the ending of the expeditions, but Ray (1987), Finlay (1992), and Dreyer (2007) note that the costs had not overburdened the Ming treasury. Ray (1987) adds that the voyages were a profitable enterprise and rejects the notion that the voyages were terminated because they were wasteful, costly, or uneconomic. Siu (2023) remarks that pressure on the government and the economy by increasing expenditure should not be attributed to the voyages, since the voyages created positive revenue for the state.

Even though civil officials had ill feelings toward eunuchs for their overbearing nature and interference in state affairs, much of the hostility that came to characterize the relationship between the officials and eunuchs manifested long after the voyages ended, when eunuchs wielded their power to enrich themselves through extortion and to persecute their critics. According to Lo (1958) and Ray (1987), the hostility between these factions cannot explain the cessation of the voyages. Lo (1958) also notes that Zheng He was on friendly terms with many high officials and was respected by them, while Ray (1987) mentions that eunuchs such as Zheng He and Hou Xian were held in high esteem by the court.

Impact

Before the Ming treasure voyages, there was turmoil around the seas near the Chinese coast and distant Southeast Asian maritime regions, characterized by piracy, banditry, slave trade, and other illicit activities.

The Chinese treasure fleet sailed the equatorial and subtropical waters of the South China Sea and Indian Ocean, where they were dependent on the circumstances of the annual cycle of monsoon winds.

During the Ming treasure voyages, the Chinese treasure fleet acquired and collected a large amount of navigational data. These were specifically recorded by the astrological officer and his four astrologers.

The faith of the Chinese treasure fleet's crew was centered around Tianfei, the "Heavenly Princess" who was the goddess of sailors and seafarers. The Liujiagang and Changle inscriptions honored and commemorated this goddess.

There are several extant contemporary accounts, such as Ma Huan's Yingya Shenglan [瀛涯勝覽], Fei Xin's Xingcha Shenglan [星槎勝覽], and Gong Zhen's Xiyang Fanguo Zhi [西洋番國志].

In 1499, shortly before Vasco da Gama's return from India to Portugal, Girolamo Sernigi reported on the Portuguese accounts from da Gama's expedition that "certain vessels of white Christians" had made port at Calicut on the Malabar coast generations before their arrival.