A new view, put forward by a British amateur historian Gavin Menzies, saying that Chinese admiral Zheng He had discovered most parts of the world by the mid-15th century and reached America 72 years earlier than Columbus, has drawn attention from Chinese researchers.
A former submarine commander and an amateur historian, Mr. Menzies believes that Zheng He's fleet carried out the biggest navigation diplomacy in Chinese history. The fleet not only reached the coast of the Indian Ocean, but also navigated across Cape of Good Hope of the African continent. Then it sailed across the Atlantic, reached South America and crossed the Straits of Magellan. Later it reached the western coast of Central America, then to Australia through the Pacific Ocean, and finally returned to China from the western coast of Australia, thus completing a voyage around the globe in two years and discovering America at least 70 years earlier than Europeans.
Scholars have been divided on "where Zheng He had arrived at" and "who, Chinese or Europeans, firstly discovered America". But by now few Western scholars admit that Zheng He arrived in America ahead of Columbus. Since beginning his studies on Zheng He in 1998, Menzies has found many important proofs and published his book 1421: The Chinese Discovered the World this August.
Not limited by historical records and archeological discoveries, Menzies based his arguments on the navigation records and world maps by many European navigators, remains of Chinese vessels in coastal villages of America, language habits, illness characters and DNA tests as well as analyses on Chinese porcelain, jade and stone pieces scattered worldwide and American animals and plants.
Zheng He's great navigation was understated in many Chinese historical documents due to his low position as a eunuch, said Wan Ming, an expert in the history of Ming Dynasty. Although there are lots of evidence from the West, there is no mainstream Western scholar engaging in the studies of Zheng He and rewriting this section of world navigation history. Mr Menzies becomes the first Western scholar who voices support for the history of the Zheng He voyage.
(People?s Daily December 26, 2002)
