How big was Zheng He s treasure ship and how far was Zheng He s fleet?

According to the records of "History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of Zheng He" and "Yingya Shenglan" (written by Ma Huan), Zheng He had a total of 62 seafaring treasure ships, the largest of which was 148 meters long and 60 meters wide, making it the largest wooden sailing ship in the world at that time. The ship has four layers, the nine masts on the ship can hang twelve sails, the anchor weighs several thousand catties, and it takes two or three hundred people to set sail. Zheng He's treasure ship is a large sea ship with a large scale.

Regarding the scale of Zheng He's treasure ship, it is recorded very clearly in the "History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of Zheng He": "To build a big ship, build forty-four and sixty-two". In the Ming Dynasty's compilation of the "National Treasure", it is said that "there are 62 treasure ships, the big one is 44 zhang long and 18 zhang wide".

In the late Ming Dynasty, Luo Maodeng's "Western Records" recorded in detail the scale of various ship types in Zheng He's fleet, among them, the treasure ship "is 44 zhang long and 18 zhang wide." ”

Few Chinese educated after the 1980s were unaware of Zheng He's huge treasure ship in the Western Ocean.

According to the History of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He's treasure ship was forty-four zhang long and eighteen zhang wide, converted into modern units, with a length of more than 130 meters, a width of more than 50 meters, and a displacement of more than 10,000 tons. In contrast, Columbus discovered that the American ship was as small as a lifeboat.

But it is doubtful that the wooden sailing ships of the early 15th century were so large that they were not surpassed by Western steamers until the late 19th century. Beginning in 1947, when Guan Jincheng questioned the records of the History of the Ming Dynasty, the fierce debate over the size of the treasure ship lasted for more than half a century, and is still common in major forums.

Joseph Needham, an old friend of the Chinese, wrote in his History of Science and Technology in China: The size of Zheng He's flagship in Ming Dynasty documents may seem hard to believe at first glance, but in fact it is not a strange talk at all.

Unreliable documentary evidence.

The sheer size of the treasure ship is true from Ming Dynasty historical documents, but according to modern research, these accounts are not reliable.

The most popular record of the size of the treasure ship is the "History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of Zheng He" by the Qing Dynasty official, which says that when Zheng He went to the Western Ocean for the first time in June of the third year of Yongle, there were as many as 62 treasure ships in the fleet that "repaired 44 zhang and 18 zhang wide".

But the History of the Ming Dynasty is not the source of this account. In earlier documents, Ma Huan's Yingya Shenglan (finalized in 1451), Gu Qiyuan's Guest Sayings (written in 1617), and Tan Qian's Guoyu (written in 1653) all left the same text: "Sixty-three treasure ships: . .

The large one is forty-four feet long and fourteen feet wide. The middle one is thirty-seven zhang long and fifteen zhang wide. This is where the size of the treasure ship in the History of the Ming Dynasty comes from.

<> Zheng He's treasure ship is 44 zhang long and 18 zhang wide (that is, meter length and meter width). Zheng He's treasure ship is the largest sea ship in Zheng He's fleet, the main body of Zheng He's fleet, and the flagship of the maritime task force led by Zheng He, and its status in Zheng He's fleet is equivalent to the flagship and capital ship in the modern navy. According to the "History of the Ming Dynasty: The Biography of Zheng He" and "Yingya Shenglan" (by Ma Huan), Zheng He had a total of 62 sailing treasure ships, the largest of which was 148 meters long and 60 meters wide, which was the largest wooden sailing ship in the world at that time.

The ship has four layers of orange and jujube sheds, and the nine masts on the ship can hang twelve sails, and the anchor weight is several thousand catties, and it takes two or three hundred people to set sail.

Zheng He went to the West.

It is a sea voyage activity in the Yongle and Xuande years of the Ming Dynasty, the first voyage began in the third year of Yongle (1405), and the last voyage ended in the eighth year of Xuande (1433), a total of seven times.

Since Zheng He was the main envoy of the mission, and the fleet sailed to Borneo.

It is named after the Western Ocean (that is, the so-called "Western Ocean" in the Ming Dynasty).

In seven voyages, the Three Treasures Eunuch.

Zheng He led the fleet from Nanjing to Taicang, Jiangsu.

Liujiagang gathered in Qingchao, and stationed at Changle Taiping Port in Fuzhou, Fujian Province to wait for the wind and open the ocean, sailed to the western Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, and visited more than 30 countries and regions, including Java.

Sumata Hira, Sulu, Pahang, Chenla, Guli, Siam.

Punggara, Adan, Tianfang, Zofar, Kurumus, Mugudushu and other places, known as as far as East Africa and the Red Sea.

Zheng He's voyage to the West was the largest sea voyage in ancient China, with the largest number of ships and seafarers, and the longest sea voyage, and it was also the largest series of sea expeditions in the history of the world before the voyage of the great geographical discoveries of Europe at the end of the 15th century. However, there is still controversy about the historical facts such as the purpose and scope of Zheng He's voyage, as well as the evaluation of the seven voyages.

Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, starting from Nanjing, gathering at Liujiagang in Taicang, Jiangsu, going south along the coast, anchoring at Taiping Port in Changle, Fujian, waiting for the Pacific Northwest monsoon, from November to December, the monsoon came, it passed through the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, the first stop arrived at Champong, and then to Southeast Asian countries, and entered the Indian Ocean. The first three were mainly east of India and as far as Guri. It was an important port on the sea between the East and the West in ancient times.

The fourth began to reach West Asia and East Africa. Some scholars have conducted a careful study of the routes, and believe that Zheng He has 56 important routes, with a total length of 15,000 miles.

For example, it has opened up the hemp woodland from Guri to Tashan to Mogadishu (Mukudushu) in East Africa, Somalia, and Kenya. and sailed south to Bira (Mozambique port) and Sunra (present-day Sofala port).The detachment entered the South African storm zone near the port of Derayunyou Janggoa, far exceeding the requirements for monsoon navigation.

From the perspective of the history of navigation, Zheng He's route to the West was relatively mature and had innovative breakthroughs, which laid a solid foundation for future navigation.

The first pant period lasted from June 3 to September of the 5th year of Yongle, starting from Liujiagang in Suzhou and passing through Java, Sumatra, Ceylon, Cochin on the west coast of India, and Guli (now Kozhikode). The second time from November of the 5th year of Yongle to July of the 7th year of Yongle, along the same path to Guli. The third time, from September of the 7th year of Yongle to June of the 9th year of Yongle, with the eastern Indian Ocean as the center, from Java and Sumatra to Ceylon, and then north to the east coast of India, to the Bay of Bengal, and then turned back to the Strait of Malacca, and returned to China after building a fortress in Malacca.

The fourth time was from October of the 11th year of Yongle to July of the 13th year of Yongle, and then turned to the Persian Gulf through the coast of East India and reached Hormuz. It is also believed that the voyage reached the coast of East Africa. The fifth voyage from the autumn of the 15th year of Yongle to the seventh month of the 17th year of Yongle was the same as the previous one, reaching the Persian Gulf, and another fleet sailed to Mogadishu, Burawa, Malindi and other places on the coast of East Africa via the south coast of Arabia.

The sixth time, from the spring of the 19th year of Yongle to the August of the 20th year of Yongle, in addition to sailing into the Persian Gulf, another detachment sailed around the ports along the coast of East Africa. The seventh voyage from the first month of the sixth year of Xuande to the seventh month of the eighth year of Xuande was carried out through the west coast of India into the Persian Gulf. This time, Zheng He's men arrived in Mecca, Arabia.

From the Culture & Arts Sesame Troupe Recommended on 2017-10-15

1. Zheng He's treasure ship is the largest sea ship in Zheng He's fleet, the main body of Zheng He's fleet, and the flagship of the maritime task force led by Zheng He. Another theory is that Zheng He's treasure ship is the general name of the sea ships in Zheng He's Western fleet, and Zheng He's fleet is composed of a variety of sea ships of different types, different scales, and different purposes, which are collectively called Zheng He's treasure ships.

In Zheng He's fleet to the Western Ocean, there were five types of ships. The first type is called "treasure ships". The largest treasure ship is 44 zhang 4 feet long, 18 zhang wide, and has a carrying capacity of 800 tons.

With a capacity of more than a thousand people, it was the largest ship in the world at the time. Its asana is majestic and unrivaled. It takes two or three hundred men to move its iron rudder.

The second type is called "horse boats". The length of the horse is thirty-seven zhang and the width is fifteen zhang. The third type is called "grain ships".

It is twenty-eight zhang long and twelve zhang wide. The fourth type is called "sitting on a boat", which is 24 zhang long and 9 zhang 4 feet wide. The fifth type is called "war ship", which is 18 zhang long and 6 zhang 8 feet wide.

It can be seen that some of the ships of the fleet led by Zheng He were used for carrying cargo, some for transporting grain, some for warfare, and some for residence. The division of labor is meticulous and there are many types. We can say that Zheng He's fleet was a large-scale fleet with treasure ships as the main body and assistance ships.