Zheng He
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Zheng He was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during the early Ming dynasty often regarded as the greatest admiral in Chinese history. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor. Commissioned by the Yongle Emperor and later the Xuande Emperor, Zheng commanded seven expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.
Ma Hajji, a Yuan Dynasty official in Yunnan (a descendant of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar), and his young son Ma He, the future Admiral Zheng He, as imagined by a modern Kunyang sculptor.
Artist's illustration of Zheng He's fleet
Galle Trilingual Inscription, left by Zheng He in Sri Lanka in 1409
History of the Ming dynasty
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The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, founded by the peasant rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang, known as the Hongwu Emperor, was an imperial dynasty of China. It was the successor to the Yuan dynasty and the predecessor of the short-lived Shun dynasty, which was in turn succeeded by the Qing dynasty. At its height, the Ming dynasty had a population of 160 million people, while some assert the population could actually have been as large as 200 million.
A Ming porcelain jar with a scene of cavalrymen fighting, from the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (1522–1566), Guimet Museum, Paris.
A cannon from the Huolongjing, compiled by Jiao Yu and Liu Bowen before the latter's death in 1375.
Portrait of the Hongwu Emperor (r. 1368–1398)
The old south gate of Dali, Yunnan, which was established as a Chinese-style city in 1382 shortly after the Ming conquest of the region.