name	Yongle Emperor
temple name	Míng Chéngzǔ 明成祖
succession	Emperor of China
reign	17 July 1402 - 12 August 1424 ()
predecessor	Jianwen Emperor
successor	Hongxi Emperor
spouse	Empress Ren Xiao Wen
spouses	Noble Consort Zhao XianNoble Consort Zhao YiConsort Gong Xian XianConsort Zhong Jing Zhao Shun XianConsort Kang Mu Yi Gong HuiConsort Gong Shun Rong Mu LiConsort Kang Jing Zhuang He HuiConsort Duan Jing Gong Hui ShuConsort Gong He Rong Shun XianConsort Zhao Su Jing Hui XianConsort Zhao Hui Gong Yi ShunConsort Hui Mu Zhao Jing ShunConsort Kang Hui Zhuang Shu LiConsort An Shun HuiConsort Gong Yi HuiConsort Zhao Shun DeConsort Kang Yi ShunConsort Hui Mu ShunConsort Zhen Jing ShunConsort ShunLee ''Zhaoyi''Ryeo ''Jieyu''Beauty Lady ChoiBeauty Lady Gong RongBeauty Lady Jing HuiBeauty Lady Zhuang Hui
spouses-type	Concubine
issue	Zhu Gaochi, Hongxi EmperorPrincess Yong'anPrincess YongpingZhu Gaoxu, Prince of HanZhu Gaosui, Prince Jian of ZhaoPrincess AnchengPrincess XianningPrincess ChangningZhu Gaoxi
full name	Family name: Zhu (朱)Given name: Di (棣)
posthumous name	Emperor Qitian Hongdao Gaoming Zhaoyun Shengwu Shengong Chunren Zhixiao Wen 啓天弘道高明肇運聖武神功純仁至孝文皇帝
era name	Yǒnglè (永樂)
era dates	23 January 1403 – 19 January 1425
house	House of Zhu
father	Hongwu Emperor
mother	Empress Xiao Ci Gao
birth date	May 02, 1360
birth place	Yingtian, Yuan Empire
death date	August 12, 1424
death place	Yumuchuan, Inner Mongolia
date of burial	19 December 1424
place of burial	Changling Mausoleum, Ming Dynasty Tombs, Beijing }}

The Yongle Emperor (Traditional Chinese: 永樂帝; Simplified Chinese: 永乐帝; pinyin: Yǒnglèdì; Wade-Giles: Yung-lo Ti; ) (2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), born Zhu Di (朱棣), was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty of China from 1402 to 1424. His Chinese era name ''Yongle'' means "Perpetual Happiness".

He was the Prince of Yan (燕王), possessing a heavy military base in Beiping. He became known as Chengzu of Ming Dynasty (明成祖 also written ''Cheng Zu'', or ''Ch'eng Tsu'' (''Cheng Tsu'') in Wade-Giles) after becoming emperor (self title). He became emperor by conspiring to usurp the throne which was against Hongwu Emperor's wishes.

He moved the capital from Nanjing to Beijing where it was located in the following generations, and constructed the Forbidden City there. After its dilapidation and disuse during the Yuan Dynasty and Hongwu's reign, the Yongle Emperor had the Grand Canal of China repaired and reopened in order to supply the new capital of Beijing in the north with a steady flow of goods and southern food supplies. He commissioned most of the exploratory sea voyages of Zheng He. During his reign the monumental ''Yongle Encyclopedia'' was completed. Although his father Zhu Yuanzhang was reluctant to do so when he was emperor, Yongle upheld the civil service examinations for drafting educated government officials instead of using simple recommendation and appointment.

The Yongle Emperor is buried in the Changling (長陵, "Long Mausoleum") tomb, the central and largest mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty Tombs.

Early years[link]

The Yongle Emperor was born Zhu Di on 2 May 1360, the fourth son of the new leader of the central Red Turbans, Zhu Yuanzhang, who would later rise to become the Hongwu Emperor, the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Although Zhu Di would always claim that his mother was the Empress Ma (Zhu Yuanzhang's primary wife), his real birth mother is speculated by some to have been a secondary queen consort of either Korean or Mongolian origin. Zhu Di grew up as a prince in a loving, caring environment. His father supplied nothing but the best education for his sons and eventually gave them their own princedoms. Zhu Di was entitled as the Prince of Yan, the area around Beijing.

When Zhu Di moved to Beijing, he found a city that had been devastated by famine and disease and that was under threat of invasion from Mongols from the north. The Mongols had ruled over Beijing, or Dadu, as it was then called, under the Yuan Dynasty　from 1271 to 1368 but had been expelled from the city by Zhu Di's father, Zhu Yuangzhang with the help of General Xu Da. Xu Da also helped Zhu Di, who was his son-in law, to secure the northern borders.

Zhu Di had been very successful against the Mongols and impressed his father with his energy, risk-taking ability and leadership. Even Zhu Di's troops praised his effectiveness, especially when Emperor Hongwu rewarded them for their service. But Zhu Di was not the oldest brother, forcing his father to name Zhu Biao, the Prince of Jin, as the crown prince. When the Prince of Jin died of illness in 1392, worries of imperial succession ensued.

Journey to power[link]

The Hongwu Emperor died on June 24, 1398. His grandson Zhu Yunwen, the son of the late Zhu Biao, was crowned as the Jianwen Emperor. Zhu Di and Jianwen began a deadly feud. When Zhu Di traveled with his guards to pay tribute to his father, Jianwen took his actions as a threat and sent troops to repel him. Zhu Di was forced to leave in humiliation. Jianwen persisted in refusing to let Zhu Di see his father's tomb; Zhu Di challenged the emperor's judgment. Zhu Di quickly became the biggest threat to the imperial court. Jianwen tried to avoid direct contact with Zhu Di as much as possible. To achieve this, he abolished the lesser princedoms to undermine Zhu Di's power and create room in which to plant his own loyal generals. Zhu Di was soon surrounded by Jianwen's generals, and cautiously reacted to the political gridlock in which he found himself. His rebellion slowly began to take shape.

Zhu Di's leading rebellion slogan was self defense known as the Jingnan Campaign (靖難之役). This was enough to earn him strong support from the populace and many supporting generals. He was a great military commander and studied Sun Tzu's ''Art of War'' extensively. He used surprise, deception, and caution and even tactics such as enlisting several Mongolian regiments to aid him in fighting Jianwen. He defeated Li Jinglong, a loyalist general, several times, deceiving him and overwhelming him in many decisive battles. On January 15, 1402 Zhu Di made the bold decision to march his army straight to Nanjing, encountering stiff resistance. But his decision proved successful, forcing an imperial retreat to protect the defenseless residence of Jianwen. When Zhu Di reached the capital city, the frustrated and disgraced General Li Jinglong opened the doors and permitted Zhu Di's army to freely enter. In the widespread panic caused by the sudden entry, the emperor's palace caught fire. Jianwen and his wife disappeared, most likely falling victim to the fire.

Having ended Jianwen's reign, Zhu Di and his administration spent the latter part of 1402 brutally purging China of Jianwen's supporters. Such an action was believed to be required to pacify China and maintain his rule. He ordered all records of the four-year-reign of Jianwen Emperor to be dated as year 32 through year 35 of the Hongwu Emperor, in order to establish himself as the legitimate successor of the Hongwu Emperor.

On July 17, 1402, after a brief visit to his father's tomb, Zhu Di was crowned Emperor Yongle at the age of 42. He would spend most of his early years suppressing rumors, stopping bandits, and healing the wounds of the land scarred by rebellion.

Extermination of the ten agnates[link]

Zhu Di is known for ordering perhaps the only case of "extermination of the ten agnates" (誅十族) in the history of China. For nearly 1500 years of feudal China, the Nine exterminations (誅九族) is considered one of the most severe punishments found in traditional Chinese law enforced until the end of Qing. The practice of exterminating the kin had been established since the Qin when Emperor Qin Shi Huang (reigned 247 BC–221 BC) declared "Those who criticize the present with that of the past: ''Zu''" (以古非今者族). ''Zu'' (族) referred to the "extermination of three agnates" (三族): father, son and grandson. The extermination was to ensure the elimination of challenges to the throne and political enemies. Emperor Yang (reigned 604–617) extended it to the nine agnates. The nine agnates are the four senior generations to the great-great-grandfather and four junior generations to the great-great-grandson. The definition also included siblings and cousins related to each of the nine agnates.

Just before the accession of Emperor Yongle, prominent historian Fang Xiaoru (方孝孺) elicited the offense worthy of the "extermination of nine agnates" for refusing to write the inaugural address and for insulting the Emperor. He was recorded as saying in defiance to the would-be Emperor: "莫說九族，十族何妨！" ("Nevermind nine agnates, go ahead with ten!"). Thus he was granted his wish with perhaps the only and infamous case of "extermination of ten agnates" in the history of China. In addition to the blood relations from his nine-agnates family hierarchy, his students and peers were added to be the 10th group.

Reign[link]

Yongle followed traditional rituals closely and remained superstitious. He did not overindulge in the luxuries of palace life, but still used Buddhism and Buddhist festivals to overcome some of the backwardness of the Chinese frontier and to help calm civil unrest. He stopped the warring between the various Chinese tribes and reorganized the provinces to best provide peace within China. Yongle was said to be an "ardent Buddhist" by Ernst Faber.

Due to the stress and overwhelming amount of thinking involved in running a post-rebellion empire, Yongle searched for scholars to join his staff. He had many of the best scholars chosen as candidates and took great care in choosing them, even creating terms by which he hired people. He was also concerned about the degeneration of Buddhism in China.

Yongle and Tibet[link]

In 1403, Yongle sent messages, gifts, and envoys to Tibet inviting Deshin Shekpa, the fifth Gyalwa Karmapa of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, to visit China — apparently after having a vision of Avalokitesvara. After a long journey, Deshin Shekpa arrived in Nanjing on April 10, 1407 riding on an elephant towards the imperial palace, where tens of thousands of monks greeted him.

He convinced the emperor that there were different religions for different people, which does not mean that one is better than the other. The Karmapa was very well received in China and a number of miraculous occurrences were reported. He also performed ceremonies for the emperor's family. The emperor presented him with 700 measures of silver objects and bestowed the title of 'Precious Religious King, Great Loving One of the West, Mighty Buddha of Peace'.

Aside from the religious matters, the Emperor wished to establish an alliance with the Karmapa similar to the one the Yuan (1277–1367) rulers had established with the Sakyapa. He apparently offered to send armies to unify Tibet under the Karmapa but Deshin Shekpa refused this offer.

Deshin left Nanjing on 17 May 1408. In 1410 he returned to Tsurphu where he had his monastery rebuilt which had been severely damaged by an earthquake.

Choosing the heir[link]

When it was time for him to choose an heir, Yongle very much wanted to choose his second son, Gaoxu. Gaoxu was an athletic warrior type that contrasted sharply with his older brother's intellectual and humanitarian nature. Despite much counsel from his advisors, Yongle chose his older son, Gaochi (the future Hongxi Emperor), as his heir apparent mainly due to advice from Xie Jin. As a result, Gaoxu became infuriated and refused to give up jockeying for his father's favor and refusing to move to Yunnan province (of which he was prince). He even went so far as to undermine Xie Jin's counsel and eventually killed him.

National economy and construction projects[link]

After Yongle's overthrow of Jianwen, China's countryside was devastated. The fragile new economy had to deal with low production and depopulation. Yongle laid out a long and extensive plan to strengthen and stabilize the new economy, but first he had to silence dissension. He created an elaborate system of censors to remove corrupt officials from office that spread such rumors. Yongle dispatched some of his most trusted officers to reveal or destroy secret societies, Jianwen loyalists, and even bandits. To strengthen the economy, he was forced to fight population decline by reclaiming land, utilizing the most he could from the Chinese people, and maximizing textile and agricultural production.

Yongle also worked to reclaim production rich regions such as the Lower Yangtze Delta and called for a massive reconstruction of the Grand Canal of China. During his reign, the Grand Canal was almost completely rebuilt and was eventually moving imported goods from all over the world. Yongle's short-term goal was to revitalize northern urban centers, especially his new capital at Beijing. Before the Grand Canal was rebuilt, grain was transferred to Beijing in two ways; one route was simply via the East China Sea, from the port of Liujiagang (near Suzhou); the other was a far more laborious process of transferring the grain from large to small shallow barges (after passing the Huai River and having to cross southwestern Shandong), then transferred back to large river barges on the Yellow River before finally reaching Beijing. With the necessary tribute grain shipments of 4 million ''shi'' (one ''shi'' equal to 107 liters) to the north each year, both processes became incredibly inefficient. It was a magistrate of Jining, Shandong who sent a memorandum to Yongle protesting the current method of grain shipment, a wise request that Yongle ultimately granted.

Yongle ambitiously planned to move China's capital to Beijing. According to a popular legend, the capital was moved when the emperor's advisers brought the emperor to the hills surrounding Nanjing and pointed out the emperor's palace showing the vulnerability of the palace to artillery attack. He planned to build a massive network of structures in Beijing in which government offices, officials, and the imperial family itself resided. After a painfully long construction time, the Forbidden City was finally completed and became the political capital of China for the next 500 years.

Yongle finalized the architectural ensemble of his father's Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum in Nanjing be erecting a monumental "Square Pavilion" (Sifangcheng) with an 8-meter-tall tortoise-borne stele, extolling the merits and virtues of the Hongwu Emperor. In fact, Yongle's original idea for the memorial was to erect an unprecedented stele 73 m tall. However, due to the impossibility of moving or erecting the giant parts of that monuments, they have been left unfinished in Yangshan Quarry, where they remain to this day.

Even though the Hongwu Emperor may have meant for his descendants to be buried near his own Xiaoling Mausoleum (this is how Hongwu's heir apparent, Zhu Biao was buried), Yongle's relocation of the capital to Beijing necessitated the creation of a new imperial burial ground. On advice of feng shui experts, the Yongle Emperor chose a site north of Beijing, where he and his successors were to be buried. Over the next two centuries, thirteen emperors in total were laid to rest in these Ming Dynasty Tombs.

Religion and philosophy[link]

Yongle sponsored and created many cultural traditions in China. He promoted Confucianism and kept traditional ritual ceremonies with a rich cultural theme. His respect for Chinese culture was apparent. He commissioned his Grand Secretary, Xie Jin, to write a compilation of every subject and every known book of the Chinese. The massive project's goal was to preserve Chinese culture and literature in writing. The initial copy took 17 months to transcribe and another copy was transcribed in 1557. The book, named the ''Yongle Encyclopedia'', is still considered one of the most marvelous human achievements in history, despite it being gradually lost by time.

Yongle's tolerance of Chinese ideas that did not agree with his own philosophies was well-known. He treated Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism equally (though he favored Confucianism). Strict Confucianists considered him hypocritical, but his even handed approach helped him win the support of the people and unify China. His love for Chinese culture sparked a sincere hatred for Mongolian culture. He considered it rotten and forbade the use of popular Mongolian names, habits, language, and clothing. Great lengths were taken by Yongle to eradicate Mongolian culture from China.

Yongle called for the construction and repair of Islamic mosques during his reign. Two mosques were built by him, one in Nanjing and the other in Xi'an and they still stand today. Repairs were encouraged and the mosques were not allowed to be converted to any other use.

Military accomplishments[link]

Mongol invaders were still causing many problems for the Ming Dynasty. Yongle prepared to change this tradition. He mounted five military expeditions into Mongolia and crushed the remnants of the Yuan Dynasty that had fled north after being defeated by Emperor Hongwu. He repaired the northern defenses and forged buffer alliances to keep the Mongols at bay in order to build an army. His strategy was to force the Mongols into economic dependence on the Chinese and to launch periodic initiatives into Mongolia to cripple their offensive power. He attempted to compel Mongolia to become a Chinese tributary, with all the tribes submitting and proclaiming themselves vassals of the Ming, and wanted to contain and isolate the Mongols. Through fighting, Yongle learned to appreciate the importance of cavalry in battle and eventually began spending much of his resources to keep horses in good supply. Yongle spent his entire life fighting the Mongols. Failures and successes came and went, but it should be noted that after Yongle's second personal campaign against the Mongols, the Ming Dynasty was at peace for over seven years.

Vietnam was a significant source of difficulties during Yongle's reign. In 1406, The Yongle Emperor responded to several formal petitions from members of the (now deposed) Trần Dynasty, however on arrival to Vietnam, both the Tran prince and the accompanying Chinese ambassador were ambushed and killed. In response to this insult the Yongle Emperor sent a huge army of 500,000 south to conquer Vietnam. As the royal family were all executed by the Ho monarchs Vietnam was integrated as a province of China, just as it had been up until 939. With the Ho monarch defeated in 1407 the Chinese began a serious and sustained effort to Sinicize the population. Unfortunately for the Chinese, their efforts to make Vietnam into a ''normal'' province met with a significant resistance from the local population. Several revolts started against the Chinese rulers. In early 1418 a major revolt was begun by Lê Lợi, the future founder of the Lê Dynasty. By the time the Yongle Emperor died in 1424 the Vietnamese rebels under Lê Lợi's leadership had captured nearly the entire province. By 1427 the Xuande Emperor gave up the effort started by his grandfather and formally acknowledged Vietnam's independence on condition they accept vassal status.

Diplomatic missions and exploration of the world[link]

thumb|right|200px|An African giraffe being presented to Yongle by the Bengal ruler in 1414, and taken to be an auspicious ''qilin''. As part of his desire to expand Chinese influence throughout the known world, Emperor Yongle sponsored the massive and long term Zheng He expeditions. While Chinese boats continued traveling to Japan, Ryukyu, and many location in South-East Asia both before and after the Yongle era, Zheng He's expeditions were China's only major sea-going explorations of the world (although the Chinese may have been sailing to Arabia, East Africa, and Egypt since the Tang Dynasty, from AD 618-907 or earlier). The first expedition was launched in 1405 (18 years before Henry the Navigator began Portugal's voyages of discovery). The expeditions were under the command of eunuch Zheng He and his associates (Wang Jinghong, Hong Bao, etc.). Seven expeditions were launched between 1405 and 1433, reaching major trade centers of Asia (as far as Tenavarai (Dondra Head), Hormuz and Aden) and north-eastern Africa (Malindi). Some of the boats used were apparently the largest sail-powered wooden boats in human history (''National Geographic'', May 2004).

The Chinese expeditions were a remarkable technical and logistical achievement. Zhu Di's successors, the Hongxi Emperor and the Xuande Emperor, felt that the costly expeditions were harmful to the Chinese state. The Hongxi Emperor ended further expeditions and the descendants of the Xuande Emperor suppressed much of the information about the Zheng He voyages.

In 1411, a smaller fleet, built in Jilin and commanded by another eunuch Yishiha, who was a Jurchen, sailed down the Sungari and Amur Rivers. The expedition established a Nurgan Regional Military Commission in the region, headquartered at the place the Chinese called Telin (特林) (now the village of Tyr, Russia). The local Nivkh or Tungusic chiefs were granted ranks in the imperial administration. Yishiha's expeditions returned to the lower Amur several more times during the reigns of Yongle and Xuande, the last one visiting the region in the 1430s.

After the death of Timur, who intended to invade China, the relations between the Yongle Emperor's China and Shakhrukh's state in Persia and Transoxania state considerably improved, and the countries exchanged large official delegations on a number of occasions. Both the Chinese envoy to Samarkand and Herat, Chen Cheng, and his opposite party, Ghiyasu'd-Din Naqqah left detailed accounts of their visits to each other's country.

One of his wives was a Jurchen princess, which resulted in many of the eunuchs serving him being of Jurchen origin, notably Yishiha.

Death[link]

On April 1, 1424, Yongle launched a large campaign into the Gobi Desert to chase a nuisance army of fleeting Tatars. Yongle became frustrated at his inability to catch up with his swift opponents and fell into a deep depression and then into illness (suffered a series of minor strokes) . On August 12, 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. He was entombed in Chang-Ling (長陵), a location northwest of Beijing.

Legacy[link]

Many have seen Yongle as in a life-long pursuit of power, prestige, and glory. He respected and worked hard to preserve Chinese culture by designing monuments such as the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, while undermining and cleansing Chinese society of foreign cultures. He deeply admired and wished to save his father's accomplishments and spent a lot of time proving his claim to the throne. His military accomplishments and leadership are rivaled by only a handful of people in world history. His reign was a mixed blessing for the Chinese populace. Yongle's economic, educational, and military reforms provided unprecedented benefits for the people, but his despotic style of government set up a spy agency. Despite these negatives, he is considered an architect and keeper of Chinese culture, history, and statecraft and an influential ruler in Chinese history.

He may have suffered from undisclosed impotence in his later life. He is remembered very much for his cruelty, just like his father. He killed most of the Jian Wen palace servants, tortured many Jianwen Emperor loyalists to death, killed or by other means badly treated their relatives. His successor emperor freed most of them alive. In 1420, he ordered 2,800 ladies-in-waiting to a slow slicing death, and watched, because he thought one of his favourite Joseon concubine had been poisoned. However, unlike his father, he did not kill most of his generals, and he entrusted power to eunuchs like Zheng He, with serious consequences for subsequent Ming emperors. He showed some regrets over his cruelty, built the Yongle bell, but still had about thirty beautiful women hanged to be buried with him after he died.

Personal information[link]

Father

*Hongwu Emperor

Mother

*Empress Xiao Ci Gao

Consorts[link]

1362Yuan Empire ||Hongxi EmperorChinese surnameChinese surnameKorean surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameKorean surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameChinese surnameKorean surnameKorean surnameKorean surnameKorean surnameChinese surnameChinese surname unknown

Formal Title !! Maiden Name !! Born !! Died !! Father !! Mother !! Issue !! Notes
Empress Xu	Empress Ren Xiao Wen仁孝文皇后	Chinese surname	Nanjing, Ming Dynasty>Ming Empire	Xu Da徐達	Lady Xie謝氏	Zhu Gaochi, Hongxi EmperorZhu Gaoxu, Prince of HanZhu Gaosui, Prince Jian of ZhaoPrincess AnchengPrincess Xianning ||
Noble Consort Zhao Xian昭獻貴妃	Family name: Wang (王) ||	Suzhou, Jiangsu>Jiangsu Province	1420	-	-	none	Entered the imperial court in 1409
Noble Consort Zhao Yi昭懿貴妃	Family name: Zhang (張) ||	-	-	Zhang Yu張玉	-	none
Consort Gong Xian Xian恭獻賢妃	Family name: Gwon (權) ||	Joseon Dynasty>Joseon	1410	Gwon Yeong-gyun權永均 or 우익은	-	none	Joseon Dynasty>Korean
Consort Zhong Jing Zhao Shun Xian忠敬昭順賢妃	Family name: Yu (喻)||	-	-	-	1421	none
Consort Kang Mu Yi Gong Hui康穆懿恭惠妃	Family name: Wu (吳) ||	-	-	-	-	Zhu Gaoxi
Consort Gong Shun Rong Mu Li恭順榮穆麗妃	Family name: Chen (陳) ||	-	-	Chen Mao, Marquess of Ningyang寧陽侯陳懋	-	none
Consort Kang Jing Zhuang He Hui康靖莊和惠妃	Family name: Cui (崔) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Duan Jing Gong Hui Shu端靜恭惠淑妃	Family name: Yang (楊) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Gong He Rong Shun Xian恭和榮順賢妃	Family name: Wang (王) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Zhao Su Jing Hui Xian昭肅靖惠賢妃	Family name: Wang (王) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Zhao Hui Gong Yi Shun昭惠恭懿順妃	Family name: Wang (王) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Hui Mu Zhao Jing Shun惠穆昭敬順妃	Family name: Qian (錢) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Kang Hui Zhuang Shu Li康惠莊淑麗妃	Family name: Han (韓) ||	Joseon Dynasty>Joseon	-	Han Yeong-jeong韓永矴 or 한영정	-	none	Was one of the 30 beautiful women who were buried with the Yongle Emperor after his death
Consort An Shun Hui安順惠妃	Family name: Long (龍) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Gong Yi Hui恭懿惠妃	Family name: Zhao (趙) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Zhao Shun De昭順德妃	Family name: Liu (劉) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Kang Yi Shun康懿順妃	Family name: Li (李) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Hui Mu Shun惠穆順妃	Family name Guo (郭) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Zhen Jing Shun貞靜順妃	Family name: Zhang (張) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Consort Shun順妃	Family name: Im (任) ||	Joseon Dynasty>Joseon	-	-	-	none	Korean people>Korean
Lee ''Zhaoyi''昭儀李氏	Family name: Lee (李) ||	Joseon Dynasty>Joseon	-	-	-	none	Korean people>Korean
Ryeo ''Jieyu''婕妤呂氏	Family name: Ryeo (呂) ||	Joseon Dynasty>Joseon	-	-	-	none	Korean people>Korean
Beauty Lady Choi美人崔氏	Family name: Choi (崔) ||	Joseon Dynasty>Joseon	-	-	-	none	Korean people>Korean
Beauty Lady Gong Rong恭榮美人	Family name: Wang (王) ||	-	-	-	-	none
Beauty Lady Jing Hui景惠美人	Family name: Lu (盧) ||	-	-	-	-	none	Initially Beauty Lady Gong Hui (恭惠美人)
Beauty Lady Zhuang Hui莊惠美人	|	-	-	-	-	none

Sons[link]

The Hongxi Emperor Zhu Gaoxu朱高煦 Zhu Gaosui朱高燧 Zhu Gaoxi朱高爔

Number !! Name !! Formal Title !! Born !! Died !! Mother !! Spouse !! Issue !! Notes
1	Zhu Gaochi朱高熾	|	16 August 1378	29 May 1425	Empress Xu>Empress Ren Xiao Wen	Empress Cheng Xiao Zhao>Lady Zhang, Empress Cheng Xiao Zhao11 concubines	Xuande Emperor>Zhu Zhanji, Xuande EmperorZhu Zhanxun, Prince Jing of ZhengZhu Zhanyong, Prince Jing of YueZhu Zhanyin, Prince Xian of QiZhu Zhanshan, Prince Xian of XiangZhu Zhangang, Prince Xian of JingZhu Zhanyu, Prince Jing of HuaiZhu Zhankai, Prince Huai of TengZhu Zhanji, Prince Zhuang of LiangZhu Zhanyan, Prince Gong of WeiPrincess JiaxingZhu Yuantong, Princess QingdouPrincess QinghePrincess De'anPrincess YanpingPrincess DeqingPrincess Zhending
2	|	Prince of Han漢王	30 December 1380	6 October 1426	Empress Xu>Empress Ren Xiao Wen	Consort Wei韋妃	Zhu Zhanhe, Heir Apparent Yi ZhuangZhu Zhanqi, Heir ApparentZhu Zhanci, Prince of JiyangZhu Zhanyu, Prince of LinziZhu Zhanyi, Prince ZichuanZhu Zhanxing, Prince of ChangleZhu Zhanping, Prince of QidongZhu Zhandao, Prince of RenchengZhu Zhanchang, Prince of HaifengZhu Zhanbang, Prince of Xintai
3	|	Prince Jian of Zhao趙簡王	19 January 1383	5 October 1431	Empress Xu>Empress Ren Xiao Wen	Lady Xu(daughter of Xu Zhang (徐章))Lady Mu(daughter of Mu Cheng (沐晟))	Zhu Zhanba, Heir Apparent Daoxi of ZhaoZhu Zhanque, Prince Hui of Zhaoa son	Created Prince of Zhao on 12 May 1404
4	|	-	18 January 1392	February 1392	Consort Kang Mu Yi Gong Hui	none	none	Died one month after his birth

Daughters[link]

- Princess Yongping永平公主 Princess Ancheng安成公主 Princess Xianning咸寧公主 Princess Changning常寧公主

Number !! Title !! Born !! Died !! Date Married !! Spouse !! Issue !! Mother !! Notes
1	Princess Yong'an永安公主	|	1417	1395	Yuan Rong, Marquess of Guangping廣平侯袁容	Yuan Bei袁貝	Empress Xu>Empress Ren Xiao Wen
2	|	1379	22 April 1444	1395	Li Rang, Marquess of Fuyang富陽侯李讓(son of Li Shen (李申))	Li Maofang李茂芳	Empress Xu>Empress Ren Xiao Wen
3	|	1384	16 September 1443	1402	Song Hu宋琥(second son of Song Cheng, Marquess of Xining)	-	Empress Xu>Empress Ren Xiao Wen
4	|	1385	27 July 1440	1403	Song Ying宋瑛(third son of Song Cheng, Marquess of Xining)	-	Empress Xu>Empress Ren Xiao Wen
5	|	1386	5 April 1409	20 June 1403	沐昕(son of Mu Ying>Mu Ying, Marquess of Xiping)	-	-

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

Brook, Timothy. (1998). ''The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China''. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-22154-0

Brown, Mick. (2004). ''The Dance of 17 Lives: The Incredible True Story of Tibet's 17th Karmapa'', p. 34. Bloomsbury Publishing, New York and London. ISBN 1-58234-177-X.

Sperling, Elliot. "The 5th Karma-pa and some aspects of the relationship between Tibet and the early Ming." In: ''Tibetan Studies in Honour of Hugh Richardson''. Edited by Michael Aris and Aung San Suu Kyi, pp. 283–284. (1979). Vikas Publishing house, New Delhi.

Further reading[link]

Tsai, Shih-Shan Henry, ''Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle'', University of Washington Press, 2002. ISBN 0-295-98124-5. Partial text on Google Books.

Louise Levathes, ''When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433'', Oxford University Press, 1997, trade paperback, ISBN 0-19-511207-5

Category:1360 births Category:1424 deaths Category:Ming Dynasty emperors Category:15th-century Chinese monarchs Category:Ming Dynasty generals Category:Encyclopedists

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occupation	Asian explorer
title	Admiral of the Ocean Sea
birth date	1371
birth place	Yunnan, China
death date	1433
other names
religion	Islam
signature	}}

|t=|p=Zhèng Hé|mi=|myr=Jèng Hé|w=Cheng Ho|j=Zeng6 Wo4|y=Jehng Wòh|ci=|poj=-hô|tp=Jhèng Hé|gr=Jenq Her|s2=马三宝|t2=馬三寶|p2=Mǎ Sānbǎo|myr2=Mǎ Sānbǎu|w2=Ma San-pao|j2=Maa5 Saam1 bou2|y2=Maáh Sáam bóu|ci2=|poj2=Bé-sam-pó|tp2=Mǎ Sānbǎo|gr2=Maa Sanbao|lang1=Arabic|lang1_content=حاجي محمود شمس الدين}}

Zheng He (1371–1433; ), also known as Ma Sanbao () and Hajji Mahmud Shamsuddin () was a Hui-Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, East Africa, and the Horn of Africa collectively referred to as the ''Voyages of Zheng He'' or ''Voyages of Cheng Ho'' from 1405 to 1433.

Life[link]

Zheng, born as Ma He (馬和 / 马和), was the second son of a Muslim family which also had four daughters, from Kunyang, present day Jinning, just south of Kunming near the southwest corner of Lake Dian in Yunnan.

He was the great great great grandson of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, a Persian who served in the administration of the Mongolian Empire and was appointed governor of Yunnan during the early Yuan Dynasty. Both his grandfather and great-grandfather carried the title of Hajji, which indicates they had made the pilgrimage to Mecca. His great-grandfather was named Bayan and may have been a member of a Mongol garrison in Yunnan.) meaning 'Three Jewels.' The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser of the Prince of Yan, and assisted the prince in his insurrection against his nephew the Jianwen Emperor. For his valor in this war, the eunuch received the name Zheng He from his master. Once Zhu Di deposed Jianwen and became crowned as Yongle Emperor (r. 1403-1424), Zheng He continued serving in his court as a Eunuch Grand Director (太監, ''taijian''). It was during the Yongle era that Zheng He, with the rank of Chief Envoy (正使, ''zheng shi'') carried his first of six overseas missions.

In 1425 Yongle's successor the Hongxi Emperor appointed Zheng He to be Defender of Nanjing. In 1428 the Xuande Emperor ordered him to complete the construction of the magnificent Buddhist nine-storied Da Baoen Temple in Nanjing, and in 1430 appointed him to lead the seventh and final expedition to the "Western Ocean". It is commonly believed that Zheng He died during the treasure fleet's last voyage, on the returning trip after the fleet reached Hormuz in 1433.

Expeditions[link]

Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored seven naval expeditions. The Yongle emperor designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin and extend the empire's tributary system. It has also been claimed, on the basis of later texts, that the voyages also presented an opportunity to seek out Zhu Yunwen (the previous emperor whom the Yongle emperor had usurped and who was rumored to have fled into exile) – possibly the "largest scale manhunt on water in the history of China".

Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Wang Jinghong was appointed his second in command. Zheng He's first voyage, which departed July 11, 1405, from Suzhou, consisted of a fleet of 317 ships (other sources say 200 ships) holding almost 28,000 crewmen (each ship housing up to 500 men).

Zheng He's fleets visited Arabia, Brunei, the Horn of Africa, India, Southeast Asia and Thailand, dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk; in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, ivory and a giraffe from the Swahili.

While Zheng He's fleet was unprecedented (compared to previous voyages from China to the east Indian Ocean), the routes were not. Zheng He's fleet was following long-established, well-mapped routes. Sea-based trade links had existed between China and the Arabian peninsula since the Han Dynasty (there being trade with the Roman Empire at that time.) During the Three Kingdoms, the king of Wu sent a diplomatic mission along the coast of Asia, reaching as far as the Eastern Roman Empire. During the Song Dynasty, there was large scale maritime trade from China reaching as far as the Arabian peninsula and East Africa.

Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. But a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates who had long plagued Chinese and southeast Asian waters. For example, he would defeat Chen Zuyi, one of the most feared and respected pirate captains, and return him back to China for execution. He also waged a land war against the Kingdom of Kotte in Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from thirty states who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.

In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (reigned 1424–1425), decided to stop the voyages during his short reign. Zheng He made one more voyage during the reign of Hongxi's son Xuande Emperor (reigned 1426–1435), but after that the voyages of the Chinese treasure ship fleets were ended. Xuande believed his father's decision to halt the voyages meritorious, and thus "there would be no need to make a detailed description of his grandfather’s sending Zheng He to the Western Oceans." This, and the fact that the voyages "were contrary to the rules stipulated in the Huangming zuxun, Ancestral Injunctions of the August Ming," the royal founding documents laid down by the Hongwu Emperor, account for the Ming "neglect" of Zheng He in official accounts and the scant records of the voyages available for later historians.

Zheng He died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty: he was, like many great admirals, buried at sea.

Voyages[link]

{|class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! width=20%% | Order ! width=20%% | Time ! width=40 %% | Regions along the way |- | 1st Voyage || 1405–1407 || Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Aru (id:Aru), Samudera, Lambri, Ceylon, Kollam, Cochin, Calicut |- | 2nd Voyage || 1407–1409 || Champa, Java, Siam, Cochin, Ceylon |- | 3rd Voyage || 1409–1411 || Champa, Java, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Quilon, Cochin, Calicut, Siam, Lambri, Kayal, Coimbatore, Puttanpur |- | 4th Voyage || 1413–1415 || Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Cochin, Calicut, Kayal, Pahang, Kelantan, Aru, Lambri, Hormuz, Maldives, Mogadishu, Barawa, Malindi, Aden, Muscat, Dhofar |- | 5th Voyage || 1416–1419 || Champa, Pahang, Java, Malacca, Samudera, Lambri, Ceylon, Sharwayn, Cochin, Calicut, Hormuz, Maldives, Mogadishu, Barawa, Malindi, Aden |- | 6th Voyage || 1421–1422 || Hormuz, East Africa, countries of the Arabian Peninsula |- | 7th Voyage || 1430–1433 || Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Sumatra, Ceylon, Calicut, Fengtu ... (18 states in total) |}

Zheng He led seven expeditions to what the Chinese called "the Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms – including King Vira Alakeshwara of Ceylon, who came to China as a captive to apologize to the Emperor.

There are speculations that some of Zheng's ships may have traveled beyond the Cape of Good Hope. In particular, the Venetian monk and cartographer Fra Mauro describes in his 1459 Fra Mauro map the travels of a huge "junk from India" 2,000 miles into the Atlantic Ocean in 1420. What Fra Mauro meant by 'India' is not known and some scholars believe he meant an Arab ship. However, Professor Su Ming-Yang thinks "the ship is European, as it is fitted with a crow’s nest, or lookout post, at the masthead, and has sails fitted to the yards, unlike the batten sails of Chinese ships."

Zheng himself wrote of his travels:

We have traversed more than 100,000 li (50,000 kilometers or 30,000 miles) of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare… — Tablet erected by Zheng He, Changle, Fujian, 1432. Louise Levathes

Sailing charts[link]

Zheng He's sailing charts were published in a book entitled ''Wubei Zhi'' (Treatise on Armament Technology) written in 1621 and published in 1628 but traced back to Zheng He's and earlier voyages. It was originally a strip map 20.5 cm by 560 cm that could be rolled up, but was divided into 40 pages which vary in scale from 7 miles/inch in the Nanjing area to 215 miles/inch in parts of the African coast.

There is little attempt to provide an accurate 2-D representation; instead the sailing instructions are given using a 24 point compass system with a Chinese symbol for each point, together with a sailing time/distance, which takes account of the local currents and winds. Sometimes depth soundings are also provided. It also shows bays, estuaries, capes and islands, ports and mountains along the coast, important landmarks (pagodas, temples) and shoal rocks. Of 300 named places outside China, more than 80% can be confidently located. There are also fifty observations of stellar altitude.

Size of the ships [link]

Traditional and popular accounts of Zheng He's voyages have described a great fleet of gigantic ships, far larger than any other wooden ships in history. Some modern scholars consider these descriptions to be exaggerated.

Chinese records assert that Zheng He's fleet sailed as far as East Africa. According to medieval Chinese sources, Zheng He commanded seven expeditions. The 1405 expedition consisted of 27,800 men and a fleet of 62 treasure ships supported by approximately 190 smaller ships. The fleet included:

''Treasure ships'' (Chinese:宝船), used by the commander of the fleet and his deputies (nine-masted, about 126.73 metres (416 ft) long and 51.84 metres (170 ft) wide), according to later writers . This is more or less the size and shape of a football field. Equine ships (Chinese:馬船), carrying horses and tribute goods and repair material for the fleet (eight-masted, about 103 m (339 ft) long and 42 m (138 ft) wide). Supply ships (Chinese:粮船), containing staple for the crew (seven-masted, about 78 m (257 ft) long and 35 m (115 ft) wide). Troop transports (Chinese:兵船), six-masted, about 67 m (220 ft) long and 25 m (83 ft) wide. Fuchuan warships (Chinese:福船), five-masted, about 50 m (165 ft) long. Patrol boats (Chinese:坐船), eight-oared, about 37 m (120 ft) long. Water tankers (Chinese:水船), with 1 month's supply of fresh water.

Six more expeditions took place, from 1407 to 1433, with fleets of comparable size.

If the accounts can be taken as factual, Zheng He's treasure ships were mammoth ships with nine masts, four decks, and were capable of accommodating more than 500 passengers, as well as a massive amount of cargo. Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta both described multi-masted ships carrying 500 to 1000 passengers in their translated accounts. Niccolò Da Conti, a contemporary of Zheng He, was also an eyewitness of ships in Southeast Asia, claiming to have seen 5 masted junks weighing about 2000 tons. There are even some sources that claim some of the treasure ships might have been as long as 600 feet. On the ships were navigators, explorers, sailors, doctors, workers, and soldiers along with the translator and diarist Gong Zhen.

The largest ships in the fleet, the treasure ships described in Chinese chronicles, would have been several times larger than any wooden ship ever recorded in history, surpassing ''l'Orient'' ( long) which was built in the late 18th century. The first ships to attain long were 19th century steamers with iron hulls. Some scholars argue that it is highly unlikely that Zheng He's ship was in length, some estimating that they were long and wide instead while others put them as small as in length, which would make them smaller than the equine, supply, and troop ships in the fleet.

One explanation for the seemingly inefficient size of these colossal ships was that the largest 44 Zhang treasure ships were merely used by the Emperor and imperial bureaucrats to travel along the Yangtze for court business, including reviewing Zheng He's expedition fleet. The Yangtze river, with its calmer waters, may have been navigable by these treasure ships. Zheng He, a court eunuch, would not have had the privilege in rank to command the largest of these ships, seaworthy or not. The main ships of Zheng He's fleet were instead 6 masted 2000-liao ships.

South and Southeast Asia[link]

In his book 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores' (Chinese: 瀛涯勝覽) written in 1416, Ma Huan, one of Zheng He's chroniclers and interpreters, gave very detailed accounts of his observations of the peoples' customs and lives in ports they visited.

The Galle Trilingual Inscription stone tablet, erected by Zheng He around 1410 in Sri Lanka, records details about contributions of gold, silver, and silk that Zheng He made on behalf of the emperor at a Buddhist mountain temple. Also, a commemorative pillar at the temple of the Taoist goddess Tian Fei, the Celestial Spouse, in Fujian province records details about his voyages. It has the inscription:

:''We have traversed more than 100,000 li (50,000 kilometers) of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare…'' :—Erected by Zheng He, Changle, Fujian, 1432. Louise Levathes

In Malacca[link]

At the time when his fleet first arrived in Malacca, Chinese people were already living there. Ma Huan refers to them as ''tángrén'' (Chinese: 唐人). Ming China found Malacca to be a useful transit centre for replenishment of fleet supplies, and received valuable gifts from Zheng He's fleet. The sultan and sultana of Malacca at the time visited China at the head of over 540 of their subjects and ample tribute. Sultan Mansur Shah (ruled 1459–1477) later dispatched Tun Perpatih Putih as his envoy to China, carrying a letter from the sultan to the Ming emperor. The letter requested the hand of an imperial daughter in marriage. In the year 1459, a princess (Hang Li Po or Hang Liu), was sent by the Ming emperor to marry the sultan. The princess came with 500 sons of ministers and a few hundred handmaidens as her entourage. They eventually settled in Bukit Cina, Malacca. It is believed that a significant number of them married into the local populace. The descendants of these mixed marriages are locally known today as Peranakan and still use the honorifics Baba (male title) and Nyonya (female title).

In Malaysia today, many people believe that Admiral Zheng He (who died in 1433) sent princess Hang Li Po to Malacca in the year 1459. However there is no record of Hang Li Po (or Hang Liu) in Ming history. She is mentioned only within Malaccan folklore and in the ''Sejarah Melayu'' or ''Malay Annals''.

Islam[link]

Accounts contemporary to Zheng He's era suggest he may have been a Muslim; these include the writings of the Muslim Ma Huan.

Indonesian religious leader and Islamic scholar Hamka (1908–1981) wrote in 1961: ''"The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaya is intimately related to a Chinese Muslim, Admiral Zheng He."'' In Malacca he built granaries, warehouses and a stockade. Indonesian scholar Slamet Muljana writes: "Zheng He built Chinese Muslim communities first in Palembang, then in San Fa (West Kalimantan), subsequently he founded similar communities along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines. They preached Islam according to the Hanafi school of thought and in Chinese language."

Li Tong Cai, in his book 'Indonesia – Legends and Facts', writes: "in 1430, Zheng He had already successfully established the foundations of the Hui religion Islam. After his death in 1434, Hajji Yan Ying Yu became the force behind the Chinese Muslim community, and he delegated a few local Chinese as leaders, such as trader Sun Long from Semarang, Peng Rui He and Hajji Peng De Qin. Sun Long and Peng Rui He actively urged the Chinese community to 'Javanise'. They encouraged the younger Chinese generation to assimilate with the Javanese society, to take on Javanese names and their way of life. Sun Long's adopted son Chen Wen, also known as Radin Pada (Raden Patah), is the son of King Majapahit and his Chinese wife."

The Hanafi Islam that some from the fleet may have propagated lost almost all contact with its parent in China, and gradually was totally absorbed by the local Shafi’i school of thought. Long before 600 years had elapsed, the presence of ethnic Chinese Muslims had declined to almost nil.

Connection to the history of Late Imperial China [link]

In the 1950s, historians such as John Fairbank and Joseph Needham popularized the idea that after Zheng He's voyages China turned away from the seas due to the ''Hai jin'' edict and was isolated from European technological advancements. Modern historians point out that Chinese maritime commerce did not totally stop after Zheng He, that Chinese ships continued to dominate Southeast Asian commerce until the 19th century and that active Chinese trading with India and East Africa continued long after the time of Zheng. The travels of the Chinese ''Junk Keying'' to the United States and England between 1846 and 1848 testify to the power of Chinese shipping until the 19th century. Moreover revisionist historians such as Jack Goldstone argue that the Zheng He voyages ended for practical reasons that did not reflect the technological level of China.

Although the Ming Dynasty did ban shipping with the ''Hai jin'' edict, they eventually lifted this ban. By banning oceangoing shipping, the Ming (and later Qing) dynasties had forced countless numbers of people into black market smuggling. This reduced government tax revenue and increased piracy. The lack of an oceangoing navy then left China highly vulnerable to the Wokou pirates that ravaged China in the 16th century.

Richard von Glahn (University of California, Los Angeles Professor of History and a specialist in Chinese history) commented that a majority of school history texts present Zheng He wrongly; they "''offer counterfactual arguments''", and "''emphasize China's missed opportunity.''" The "''narrative emphasizes the failure''" instead of Zheng He's accomplishments. He goes on to claim that "''Zheng He reshaped Asia.''" According to him, maritime history in the fifteenth century is essentially the Zheng He story and the effects of Zheng He's voyages.

Von Glahn claims that Zheng He's influence lasted beyond his age, may be seen as the tip of an iceberg, and there is much more to the story of maritime trade and other relationships in Asia in the fifteenth century and beyond.

State-sponsored Ming naval efforts declined dramatically after Zheng's voyages. Starting in the early 15th century, China experienced increasing pressure from resurgent Mongolian tribes from the north. In recognition of this threat and possibly to move closer to his family's historical geographic power base, in 1421 the emperor Yongle moved the capital north from Nanjing to present-day Beijing. From the new capital he could apply greater imperial supervision to the effort to defend the northern borders. At considerable expense, China launched annual military expeditions from Beijing to weaken the Mongolians. The expenditures necessary for these land campaigns directly competed with the funds necessary to continue naval expeditions.

In 1449 Mongolian cavalry ambushed a land expedition personally led by the emperor Zhengtong less than a day's march from the walls of the capital. In the Battle of Tumu Fortress the Mongolians wiped out the Chinese army and captured the emperor. This battle had two salient effects. First, it demonstrated the clear threat posed by the northern nomads. Second, the Mongols caused a political crisis in China when they released Zhengtong after his half-brother had proclaimed himself the new Jingtai emperor. Not until 1457 did political stability return when Zhengtong recovered the throne. Upon his return to power China abandoned the strategy of annual land expeditions and instead embarked upon a massive and expensive expansion of the Great Wall of China. In this environment, funding for naval expeditions simply did not happen.

Cultural Influence[link]

In the decades after the last voyage, Imperial officials sought to eliminate memories of the voyages. However, the adventures of the fleet captured the imagination of the Chinese, and novelizations of the voyages flourished. An author from far inland Shaanxi would in 1597 write the grandest of the epics, Romance of the Three-Jeweled Eunuch, the distance from the coast and time gap since the last voyage attest to continued cultural power.

In modern times, he is the continued subject of interest and a cultural reference. In Vernor Vinge's science fiction novel ''A Deepness in the Sky'' published in 1999, Qeng Ho, named after Zheng He, are the commercial traders in human space. The expeditions of Zheng He were featured in the 2005 novel "The Map Thief" by Heather Terrell. In 2009, China's CCTV released ''Zheng He Xia Xiyang'', a television series specially produced in 2005 to mark the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's voyages. Gallen Lo starred as Zheng He.

Relics[link]

;Nanjing Tianfeigong (南京天妃宫) Zheng He built Tianfeigong (天妃宫, Tianfei palace) in Nanjing after the fleet returned from its first western voyage in 1407.

;Stele of Tongfan Deed (通番事跡碑) The stele of Tongfan Deed (通番事跡, deed of foreign connection and exchange) is located in the Tianfeigong in Taicang, where they started their journey. It was submerged and disappeared, but has been rebuilt.

;Stele of Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power (天妃靈應之記碑) In order to thank Tianfei for her blessings, Zheng He and his colleagues rebuilt Tianfeigong in Nanshan, Changle County, Fujian province before their seventh western voyage. They also raised a stele with the inscription Tian Fei Ling Ying Zhi Ji (天妃靈應之記, Record of Tianfei Showing Her Presence and Power), which tells about their voyages.

;Zheng He Stele in Sri Lanka The Galle Trilingual Inscription in Sri Lanka was discovered in the city of Galle in 1911 and is preserved in the National Museum of Colombo. Three languages were used for the inscription: Chinese, Tamil and Persian. The inscription gives praise to Buddha and describes the fleet's donations to a Buddhist temple, the famous Tenavarai Nayanar temple of Tondeswaram.

Commemoration[link]

Tomb and museum[link]

Zheng He's tomb in Nanjing has been repaired and a small museum has been built next to it, although his body is missing as he was buried at sea off the Malabar Coast near Calicut in Western India. However, his sword and other personal possessions were interred in the typical Muslim tomb inscribed with Arabic characters.

Zheng He's assistant Hong Bao's tomb was unearthed recently in Nanjing.

Maritime Day[link]

In the People's Republic of China, 11 July is Maritime Day (中国航海日) and is devoted to the memory of Zheng He's first voyage.

Gallery[link]

See also [link]

Ming Dynasty

Chinese exploration

Hui people

Ma Huan

Fei Xin

Chang Yuchun

Hong Bao

Ming Shi-lu

Zhou Man

Galle Trilingual Inscription

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

Deng, Gang (2005). ''Chinese Maritime Activities and Socioeconomic Development, c. 2100 BC - 1900 AD''. Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-29212-4.

Dreyer, Edward L. (2006). ''Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming, 1405–1433 (Library of World Biography Series)''. Longman. ISBN 0-321-08443-8.

Levathes, Louise (1997). ''When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405–1433.'' Oxford University Press, trade paperback. ISBN 0-19-511207-5.

Mills, J. V. G. (1970). ''Ying-yai Sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores (1433), translated from the Chinese text edited by Feng Ch'eng Chun with introduction, notes and appendices by J. V. G. Mills.'' White Lotus Press. Reprinted 1970, 1997. ISBN 974-8496-78-3.

Ming-Yang, Dr Su. 2004 Seven Epic Voyages of Zheng He in Ming China (1405–1433)

Viviano, Frank (2005). "China's Great Armada." ''National Geographic'', 208(1):28–53, July.

Joseph Kahn: ''China Has an Ancient Mariner to Tell You About''. In The New York Times of 2005-7-20.

Newsletter, in Chinese, on academic research on the Zheng He voyages

Cummins, Joseph (2006). ''History's Great Untold Stories''. Murdoch Books. ISBN 1-74045-808-7.

''Shipping News: Zheng He's Sexcentenary'' - China Heritage Newsletter, June 2005, ISSN 1833-8461. Published by the ''China Heritage Project'' of ''The Australian National University''.

External links [link]

Zheng He - The Chinese Muslim Admiral

Zheng He Journey to Arabia

Zheng He 600th Anniversary

BBC radio programme "Swimming Dragons".

TIME magazine special feature on Zheng He (August 2001)

Virtual exhibition from elibraryhub.com

''Ship imitates ancient vessel navigated by Zheng He'' at peopledaily.com (25 September 2006)

Category:Articles with inconsistent citation formats Category:1371 births Category:1433 deaths Category:People from Yunnan Category:Hui people Category:Chinese Muslims Category:Chinese explorers Category:Explorers of China Category:Explorers of Asia Category:Explorers of Africa Category:Chinese admirals Category:History of Kerala Category:Chinese geographers Category:Ancient geographers Category:Medieval Islamic travel writers Category:Ming Dynasty eunuchs Category:Naval history of China Category:Chinese diplomats Category:Burials at sea

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The following is a list of characters from Jin Yong's novel ''Sword Stained with Royal Blood''. Some of these characters also appear in the novel ''The Deer and the Cauldron''.

Main characters[link]

Yuan Chengzhi (袁承志) is the protagonist of the novel. He was tutored in martial arts by Mu Renqing and later by chance inherits the skills of Xia Xueyi. One of the most powerful martial artists of his age and a fine young hero, he strives to uphold justice and defend his native land from foreign invasion. At the end of the novel he leaves China for good and sails to a distant land with his companions.

Yuan Chonghuan (袁崇煥) is Yuan Chengzhi's father. He was a military commander commissioned by the Ming government to defend the northern border from Manchu invaders. He is wrongly accused of treason and put to death by the Chongzhen Emperor.

Xia Xueyi (夏雪宜), nicknamed "Golden Serpent Gentleman" (金蛇郎君), is a powerful swordsman with extraordinary skills. He possesses charming good looks and a sense of chivalry, which makes him appear attractive to women. He becomes involved in two separate romantic relationships with He Hongyao and Wen Yi. He is only mentioned by name in the novel because he is already long dead before the events of the novel take place.

Xia Qingqing (夏青青), also known as Wen Qingqing (溫青青), is the daughter of Xia Xueyi and Wen Yi. She is first introduced as a member of the Wen family, a clan of brigands. After having a conflict with the Wen elders, she has no option but to leave and follow Yuan Chengzhi in pursuit of a new life.

A'jiu (阿九) is actually Princess Changping (長平公主), a daughter of the Chongzhen Emperor. She is introduced as a young lady who frequently associates herself with ''jianghu'' pugilists. She meets Yuan Chengzhi and they develop a romantic relationship. When Li Zicheng's rebels overrun the Forbidden City, her confused and agitated father attacks her with a sword and hacks off her arm. Fortunately, Yuan Chengzhi appears in time and saves her and she survives. At the end of the novel she says she has become disillusioned with the world and wants to become a nun. She renames herself "Jiunan" (九難).

He Tieshou (何鐵手) is the leader of the Five Poisons Cult. She has a hook for her right hand, as implied by her name "Tieshou", which means "metal hand". She is recruited by Prince Hui to assist him in usurping the throne. During this time she meets Yuan Chengzhi and his friends, and plays many evil pranks on them to hinder their missions. She has a crush on Qingqing, who is disguised as a young male scholar, and decides to betray her cult and break ties with Prince Hui. Yuan Chengzhi succeeds in reforming her and she becomes his student. He renames her to "He Tishou" (何惕守).

Yuan Chengzhi's allies[link]

Jiao Wan'er (焦婉兒) is Jiao Gongli's daughter. She seeks vengeance on Min Zihua after thinking that he murdered her father. With Yuan Chengzhi's help, she discovers that the Taibai Sanying are actually the ones responsible and she kills them in revenge. She marries Luo Liru.

Luo Liru (羅立如) is one of Jiao Gongli's disciples. His right arm is sliced off by Sun Zhongjun in a disagreement. Yuan Chengzhi helps him overcome his disability by teaching him a set of left-handed saber movements.

Hong Shenghai (洪勝海) is a member of the Bohai Sect (渤海派). He has a misunderstanding with Gui Xinshu and his wife, and they seek to kill him. He meets Yuan Chengzhi and decides to follow him for protection. Yuan helps him resolve the conflict with the Gui couple.

Cheng Qingzhu (程青竹) is the chief of the Green Bamboo Gang (青竹幫) and the martial arts teacher of A'jiu.

Sha Tianguang (沙天廣) is the leader of a group of bandits who attempted to rob Yuan Chengzhi and his friends of their treasure. They are ambushed by Ming soldiers while scuffling for the treasure. Yuan is not angry with the robbers, and instead he helps them fight the soldiers and drive them away. Sha is so impressed with Yuan's heroism that he pledges allegiance to the latter.

Hu Guinan (胡桂南), nicknamed "Divine Thief" (聖手神偷), is a pugilist highly skilled in the art of thieving.

Yisheng (義生) is a monk nicknamed "Iron Arhat" (鐵羅漢).

Shui Jian (水鑒) is a military officer in charge of escorting some prisoners. He and his men are attacked and defeated by Yuan Chengzhi and his followers. He is captured and decides to pledge allegiance to Yuan, who spares his life. He helps Yuan organise his followers to form an army and train them.

Rebels[link]

Li Zicheng (李自成), nicknamed "Dashing King" (闖王), is the leader of the rebel forces that overthrew the corrupt Ming government. After his victory, he gradually loses popularity and he not only fails to deliver his promises to restore peace and stability, but also condones his followers' brutality towards the common people. The short-lived Shun Dynasty he established is eventually conquered by the Manchus.

Li Yan (李岩) is a trusted advisor of Li Zicheng and a general of the rebel army. He befriends Yuan Chengzhi. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng believes slanderous rumours that Li Yan is plotting against him and has Li Yan killed.

The Red Maiden (紅娘子) is Li Yan's wife who is famous for her bravery and selfless acts. She commits suicide with her husband.

An Daniang (安大娘) is An Jianqing's wife. She takes care of Yuan Chengzhi for a brief period of time when he was still a child. She serves the rebel army as a spy and messenger.

An Xiaohui (安小彗) is An Jianqing and An Daniang's daughter and a childhood friend of Yuan Chengzhi. Like her mother, she works as a spy for the rebel army. Yuan Chengzhi helps her recover the lost gold from the Wen family. She marries Cui Ximin.

Shanzong (山宗) is an organisation formed by Yuan Chonghuan's former followers. They take care of Yuan Chengzhi after his father's death and send him to the Mount Hua Sect. They initially insisted on writing a petition to the Chongzhen Emperor to seek redress for Yuan Chonghuan but decide to join Li Zicheng's rebel army after seeing that the Ming government is too corrupt. Its members include:

* Ying Song (應松)

* Luo Daqian (羅大千)

* Zhu Anguo (朱安國)

* Sun Zhongshou (孫仲壽)

* Tian Jianxiu (田見秀)

* Cui Qiushan (崔秋山)

Mount Hua Sect (華山派) and associates[link]

Mu Renqing (穆人清), nicknamed "Divine Sword, Immortal Ape" (神劍仙猿), is the leader of the Mount Hua Sect. His prowess in martial arts and swordplay is legendary.

Huang Zhen (黃真), nicknamed "Copper Brush and Iron Abacus" (銅筆鐵算盤), is Mu Renqing's eldest disciple.

Huang Zhen's disciples:

* Feng Nandi (馮難敵)

* Cui Ximin (崔希敏)

Gui Xinshu (歸辛樹), nicknamed "Invincible Divine Fists" (神拳無敵), is Mu Renqing's second disciple.

Gui Erniang (歸二娘) is Gui Xinshu's wife. She is extremely protective of their son, a sickly infant. The couple roam the ''jianghu'' in search of a cure for their son.

Gui Xinshu's disciples:

* Mei Jianhe (梅劍和)

* Liu Peisheng (劉培生)

* Sun Zhongjun (孫仲君)

Taoist Musang (木桑道長) is the leader of the Iron Sword Sect (鐵劍門) and a close friend of Mu Renqing. He also instructed Yuan Chengzhi in martial arts before. He is obsessed with weiqi and willing to spend an entire day playing with someone.

Yuzhenzi (玉真子) is Musang's junior. He is tempted by wealth and fame, and decides to betray his sect and serve the Manchus. He aids them in sabotaging the Ming government. Yuan Chengzhi runs into trouble with him on several different occasions. He is eventually slain by the combined efforts of Yuan, A'jiu, Sun Zhongjun and He Tishou.

Manchu forces[link]

Nurhaci (努爾哈赤) was the ruler of Manchuria. He led his forces to attack the declining Ming Empire. During the Battle of Ningyuan against a Ming army commanded by Yuan Chonghuan, he was severely injured and died from his wounds.

Hong Taiji (皇太極) is Nurhaci's successor as ruler of Manchuria. An expert militarist and tactician, he used a scheme to trick the Chongzhen Emperor into believing that Yuan Chonghuan was a traitor, causing the emperor to have Yuan executed. Yuan Chengzhi once attempted to assassinate him in Mukden but failed.

Dorgon (多爾袞) is a younger half-brother of Hong Taiji.

Ming forces[link]

The Chongzhen Emperor (崇禎帝) is the last ruler of the Ming Dynasty. He suspected Yuan Chonghuan of treason and had the latter put to death. When the Forbidden City is overrun by Li Zicheng's rebels, he sinks into an agitated and confused state and starts attacking people with a sword. Assisted by a eunuch, he eventually commits suicide by hanging himself from a tree.

An Jianqing (安劍清) is An Daniang's husband and An Xiaohui's father. Tempted by wealth and greed, he decides to serve the Ming government and becomes a Jinyi Wei commander. His wife leaves him in anger and joins the rebel army. They have remained on opposing sides before reconciling eventually.

Prince Hui (惠王) is a noble who attempts to usurp the throne as Li Zicheng's rebel army closes in on the capital. He hires various pugilists to help him overthrow the Chongzhen Emperor.

Wu Sangui (吳三桂) is a Ming general in charge of guarding the crucial Shanhai Pass on the northeastern border. His concubine Chen Yuanyuan is seized by Li Zicheng when the rebels occupied the capital. In anger, Wu defects to the Manchu side and opens Shanhai Pass for them to enter the Ming domain and help him defeat Li Zicheng.

Chen Yuanyuan (陳圓圓) is Wu Sangui's concubine.

The "Taibai Sanying" (太白三英) are three treacherous swordsmen who serve as spies for the Manchus. They murder Jiao Gongli and attempt to push the blame to Min Zihua. They are eventually slain by Jiao Gongli's daughter Jiao Wan'er after she uncovers the truth with Yuan Chengzhi's help. The three are:

* Shi Bingguang (史秉光)

* Shi Bingwen (史秉文)

* Li Gang (黎剛)

Five Poisons Cult (五毒教)[link]

He Hongyao (何紅藥) is He Tieshou's aunt and one of the cult's elders. She has a past romantic affair with Xia Xueyi and seeks vengeance on him after he betrays her love. She vents her anger on Qingqing when she learns that the latter is Xia Xueyi's daughter. She is killed in an explosion in the cave where Xia Xueyi was buried.

Qi Yun'ao (齊雲璈) is an elder of the cult who specialises in the use of snake poison. He often disguises himself as a beggar. He is killed by He Hongyao during the cult's internal conflict.

Wen family and associates[link]

The Five Wen Elders (溫家五佬) are the five patriarchs of the Wen family. They are martial arts experts and command a group of brigands. Their battle formation, known as the Five Elements Formation (五行陣), proves a challenge to Yuan Chengzhi. The five are:

* Wen Fangda (溫方達)

* Wen Fangyi (溫方義)

* Wen Fangshan (溫方山)

* Wen Fangshi (溫方施)

* Wen Fangwu (溫方悟)

Wen Yi (溫儀) is Wen Fangshan's daughter and Qingqing's mother. She falls in love with Xia Xueyi despite the latter having bad blood with her family. Her family treats her and her daughter coldly after Xia Xueyi's disappearance.

Zhang Chunjiu (張春九) was a pugilist who sought the whereabouts of Xia Xueyi. He was killed by Xia after finding the ''Golden Serpent Manual'' on Mount Hua.

Miscellaneous characters[link]

Min Zihua (閔子華) is a member of the Xiandu Sect (仙都派). He was misled into believing that Jiao Gongli killed his brother so he rallies a group of pugilists to help him confront Jiao. Yuan Chengzhi helps to diffuse the conflict and clear Jiao's name. As part of an earlier agreement, Min hands over his villa to Yuan and promises never to bother Jiao again.

Jiao Gongli (焦公禮) is the chief of the Golden Dragon Gang (金龍幫). He is murdered by the Taibai Sanying, who attempt to push the blame to his former rival Min Zihua.

Meng Bofei (孟伯飛) is a reputable elderly pugilist who was nominated to lead a group of ''jianghu'' pugilists gathered on Mount Tai. He loses the position to Yuan Chengzhi.

Zhang Chaotang (張朝唐), Yang Pengju (杨鹏举) and Zhang Kang (張康) are three officials from the Bruneian Empire who visit China.

Raymond (雷蒙), Peter (彼得) and Rooklyn (若克琳) are three foreigners who oversee the trading of a battery of cannons to the Ming imperial army. They present Yuan Chengzhi with a map of the Far East after losing to him in a duel.

See also[link]

List of organisations in Wuxia fiction

Category:Jin Yong characters Category:Wuxia novel characters Category:Sword Stained with Royal Blood