Did Chinese Discover America?

I do not read as much as I used to, and that’s a shame. In fact, I believe I read more, but something else replaced the books I would “eat” every day of the “golden epoch”. Now it’s the pile of newspapers, the flux of information from various websites… Tons of releases, declarations, messages, letters. So I rarely read a “regular” book. And almost never fiction. 

One of the latest books I ran across is “1421, The Year China Discovered America”, by Gavin Menzies.

We are mostly locked into what we were taught – that America was discovered by Columbus. Common knowledge… His origins were discussed again and again, Italy, Spain and Portugal claiming his descent. But that was not enough. The discovery of the New World has been the subject of many sensational studies. The similarities between various elements of the American culture and those from other parts of the world have been the milch cow of so many. Was it Siberian nomads who crossed the Bering Straits, Leif Ericsson’s Vikings, some spiritually evolved Aryans, the Ottoman Admiral Pirri Reis, the Florentine Amerigo Vespucci or some other bold navigators in quest for a new world?

Now, this book I am going to talk about claims it was a Chinese who blinked upon the new land…

It was a time when China was, perhaps, the most powerful state on Earth. Not many decades before, the Mongolian dynasty had been overthrown and the power had came into the hands of a peasant, Zhu Yuanzang, who had established the Ming dynasty. By the end of the 14^th century, Emperor Zhu had extended his empire and had driven away the Mongols.

His successor, Zhu Di, diligently continued his father’s work: largely increased the fleet, moved the Capital to Beijing, which soon turned it into a larger and most important city, linking it to the sea by a gigantic canal. He built what we now call the Forbidden City and restored the Great Wall. But Zhu Di saw farther than the walls of the Forbidden City. He turned China into the largest trading empire, trading with all the nations in the region – Japan, Korea, Siam -, but also with Arabia and the coasts of Africa. He did not bother too much about the Europeans, “the berries-in the nose peasants”. All trade with Europe would go through Asian and Arab merchants.

On 2 February 1421, the highest personalities from the states with whom the Middle Kingdom traded attended the formal inauguration of the new Capital and its Forbidden City. After the celebration, lightning set the Palace on fire and destroyed the Forbidden City, which was considered to be an omen and a warning that Zhu Di’s plans were not to Gods’ liking. To the end of his life, Zhu Di had to deal with the opposition of the narrow-minded mandarins, who would always put obstacles in his way.

Menzies tells us that on 8 March 1421 – more than seven decades before the generally accepted 1492 – the Chinese assembled their fleet and set forth to drop off the participants in the grandiose ceremonies. But the powerful armada of huge vessels built from the finest teak sailed off with another mission: to go the remotest parts of the world and collect tribute from the barbarians. Because, anyone can tell you that, it is always the others that are barbarians… 

Of course, one can put it in other words, a splendid example of Oriental hypocrisy: “a master plan to discover and chart the entire world, and bring it into Confucian harmony through trade and foreign policy”. Confucian harmony… Or, in plain English, let’s kick some barbarian ass…

Admiral Zheng He divided his fleet into four.

The first group of vessels rounded the Cape of Good Hope, across the Atlantic, touched Antarctica, Patagonia and what we know today as the straits of Magellan, and even found Australia. Sorry, Captain Cook, you only deserve the silver medal…

The second group seems to have been more active: they touched the coasts of South and North Americas, traded with the Mayas, taught them the art of lacquer, then went on to Australia and New Zealand, and seemingly established copper mines. As the ugly Aborigines had practically nothing worth trading, this continent was also left for Captain Cook…

The third fleet reached the Carribean Sea and even founded a colony in today’s Rhode Island. The old “Tower”, in Menzies’ opinion, is a lighthouse erected by the Chinese. He even ventures into saying that the mysterious lines of stone off of Bimini, attributed by others to legendary Atlantis or as being of extraterrestrial origin, are in fact remnants of an old Chinese shipyard…

The fourth fleet’s assignment was to explore a region better known by the Chinese – the Indian Ocean.

All these explorations led to accurate measurements and the almond-shaped eyes missed nothing that could be mapped. I remember some rumors a few years ago about a map that was to be sold on an auction. Apparently it was one of those Zheng He maps. But the year seems to have been… 1418, three years before the famous expedition… Damn Chinese, they draw first and then sail…

    

Now, speaking about those maps, where could they be? At least someone could have used it later…

The story goes that the emperor died in 1423 and, although the new emperor was Zhu Di’s son, he was only a puppet in the hands of the humiliated mandarins that had loathed his father so much. No more ships, no more trade, no more research, studies etc. And the records of the Zheng He journeys? Destroyed… Instead of sharing the advanced Chinese culture and science to the pink-coloured Europeans, it was the others who colonized the Empire.

And America? That’s another story. A story we know too well… The evolution of a Chinese America would have certainly changed the history. Just imagine a huge empire spreading on two continents. And they would no longer be jammed like sardines in Hong Kong now. Or is it only just one of those nice stories concocted to arouse our curiosity? Now they tell me there’s another book, written by a Frenchman, who claims that the Mikmaqs of Canada are descendants of Chinese sailors. So what? Don’t expect me to read that book too.

Or should I?…  

~ by Sam Murray on 21 November, 2007.