Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Zheng He

Another name for Zheng He is Ma Sanbao.
And yet another is Haji Mahmud Shamsuddin.
Was born in 1371 and died at sea in 1433.
A Navy Admiral like of whom the world would never see.
Contemporary of Christopher Columbus.
Made much more daring voyages than he more well known contemporary.
Why Chinese porcelain wash on to the shores of Africa?
Because it must have been lying of the sea bad from the days of Zheng He!
Born into the lineage of a Persian man he was caught in the middle of imperial fight and neutered at the age of eleven!
Strange are the ways of Lord.
He (not the English pronoun) commanded  fleets that sometimes consisted of three hundred ships.
Some of the ships might be carrying 500 people.
Once the total fleet had 28000 men.
Facts that send your brain into tizzy even now.
He (not the English pronoun) made seven significant  sea voyages and perished in the last one. He was burried in the sea. Decimated pirates. Delivered gifts to distant kings on behalf of his Emperor and extracted tribute for him.
And during the period of last journey his Emperor too left this world and the successor to the Emperor dismantled Chinese Navy. And even made all efforts to destroy any evidence of the past naval adventures.
One wonders why but then strange are the ways of our Lord Most High.
A two meter tall sailor whose ships made Columbus ships look like toys was gift to Muslim Ummah from Lord Most high

Sources : Wikipedia, UCLA, China Culture, China Page, NOVA, National Geographic, Time, Asia Wind,
 China Dot Org, Saudi Aramco