Chapter 1 The Historical Background for Zheng He’s Voyages to Africa

1.1 The Social Background for Zheng He’s Seven Voyages to the Western Ocean

1.1.1 The Prosperity of the Early Ming Dynasty

A panoramic view of the rise and fall of Chinese feudal dynasties shows that each dynasty experiences its heyday during the early days of its dynastic period. As an important dynasty in late feudal China, the Ming dynasty was prosperous in its early years. In the first lunar month of 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang, the leader of the peasant uprising army, ascended the throne in Yingtian (present Nanjing), proclaiming the establishment of the Ming dynasty. Unfortunately, the new country that Zhu Yuanzhang took from the Mongolian aristocrats faced misery and suffering. In the last years of the Yuan dynasty, the economy collapsed due to the corrupt feudal government and famine in successive years. Vast rural areas became barren, and urban and rural industries had withered, with hundreds of thousands, even millions of displaced people wandering, and the corpses of those dead of starvation filling the road. When Zhu Yuanzhang was in power after a war lasting for about 20 years, the vast rural areas were even more desolate. Therefore, recovery of the collapsed economy meant life or death for the newly established Ming dynasty. To consolidate its power, the Ming court, led by Zhu Yuanzhang, the first Ming emperor, adopted a series of measures to help recover and develop agriculture, to support industry and commerce, so as to facilitate economic recovery.

After the peasant war at the end of the Yuan dynasty, the trend of land annexation eased. The Ming court ordered that servants and slaves be liberated, restricting the number of slaves, and encouraged refugees to return to the countryside. Thus the number of peasants increased enormously, which helped to bring about agricultural recovering. In addition, corvee was reduced, so that peasants could focus on agricultural production. Those who did not contribute to production or secretly hid in other places to escape agricultural production, were exiled to distant places as punishment. Driven by these policies, the population engaged in agricultural production increased rapidly, resulting in insufficient arable land. To solve this problem, Zhu Yuanzhang positively implemented policies for land reclamation. Wasteland was reclaimed and people settled down. It was stipulated that the land rights of all wasteland were not recognized and the wasteland, once turned into farmland, belonged to the planter. The more wasteland people reclaimed, the more farmland they got, and vice versa. During land reclamation, further restrictions were placed on land annexation and the wasteland-turned farmland was exempt from tax. Motivated by those measures, farmers made great efforts in wasteland reclamation. In the first year of the Hongwu reign (1368), more than 1.8 million qing (a unit of area, 1 qing equaling about 6.67 hectares) of land were reclaimed, surging to more than 8.5 million qing by the twenty-sixth year of the Hongwu reign (1393). The thriving scene with “no wasteland anywhere” appeared in the vast countryside.

Water conservancy is the lifeblood of agriculture. To develop agriculture, Zhu Yuanzhang attached great importance to the construction of conservancy projects, repeatedly stating that all local officials must immediately report proposals on water conservancy. In the twenty-seventh year of the Hongwu reign (1394), personnel from the Imperial College and technical experts of water conservancy were dispatched to supervise the construction of water conservancy projects. According to local reports, in the twenty-eighth year of the Hongwu reign (1395), a total of 40,987 new weirs, 40,162 new canals, 4,162 rivers, and 5,048 embankments were constructed. Water conservancy projects of various sizes in the early Ming dynasty were built all over the country, covering both developed areas and underdeveloped regions inhabited by ethnic minorities such as Guangxi and Ningxia. These great efforts in the construction of water conservancy facilities during the early Ming dynasty remarkably promoted the development of the agricultural economy.

While advocating wasteland reclamation and water conservancy construction for increasing food production, the early Ming rulers also strongly supported soil improvement and innovation in tools, actively developed agricultural sidelines and promoted the cultivation of cash crops. As early as the first two years before the Hongwu reign, farmers who had five to ten mu (a unit of area, with 1 mu equaling about 0.067 hectare) of farmland were required to plant half a mu of mulberry, hemp, and kapok; for those having more than ten mu of farmland, the cultivation area of mulberry, hemp, and kapok was doubled. Peasants who didn’t plant mulberry were fined a piece of silk, and those who didn’t plant cotton and hemp were fined cotton and linen cloth. In the first year of the Hongwu reign (1368), this policy was implemented throughout the country. In the twenty-fourth year of the Hongwu reign (1391), all soldiers stationed in wei and suo units (important military systems in the Ming dynasty) were required to plant 100 mulberry trees and jujube trees per person, and could also plant persimmon trees, chestnut trees, and walnut trees, based on the local environment. The following year, farmers in Fengyang, Chuzhou, Luzhou, and other areas were asked to plant 200 mulberry trees, 200 date trees, and 200 persimmons trees per household. Two years later, people were ordered to plant mulberry trees, hemp, and kapok on idle land, and the products of these plantings would be tax-free. Influenced by these policies, silk and cotton spinning became main sideline industries for farmers in areas rich in mulberry and cotton, producing a large number of silk and cotton products for domestic and foreign use each year. During the Hongwu reign, hundreds of thousands of cotton cloth fabrics, and cotton jackets were annually awarded to those serving in local garrisons, reflecting the flourishing of contemporary cotton production and the cotton industry.

The handicraft industry also played an important role in the economic development of the early Ming dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang once encouraged people from all walks of life to develop “the arts and crafts industry”, allowing the craftsmen to engage in the commodity production freely, apart from their assigned work, which stimulated their enthusiasm for handicraft production and encouraged them to give full play to their wisdom and creativity, so as to improve the crafts and continually produce new products. With the increasing variety and quality of handicraft products, the market gradually expanded, attracting more and more people to get involved in the handicraft industry. It was estimated that there were 232,089 craftsmen during the Hongwu reign, which laid a technical foundation for scale production in each division in the early Ming dynasty. Thanks to the efforts of the Ming court, the industrial sectors influenced by the early seeds of capitalism, including mining and metallurgy, textile, ceramics, shipbuilding, papermaking, and printing, also made progress at that time. The government set up smelters in regions abundant in iron and copper to carry out mass production. At the same time, private mining and smelting were supported, with only about six percent tax levied. Small private plants for smelting steel, copper, and other metals sprung up all over the country. With sufficient raw materials, many large cities, particularly cities and towns in the more developed areas of southeast China, built numerous silk mills, recruited workers widely, and adopted the jacquard for production.

In the early Ming dynasty, five textile bureaus, including Suzhou, Songjiang, Hanghzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou, were asked to complete a required quota of production. In order to meet the requirements, the traditional family textile mode whereby men plough and women weave gradually developed into a textile factory. At that time, it was common for wealthy factory owners in Hangzhou to have four or five looms and hire ten or more people. The ceramic industry developed particularly rapidly, forming a large-scale manual workshop and making Jingdezhen a world famous porcelain production center. With over 3,000 official kilns and private kilns, huge amounts of fine porcelain ware of various kinds were produced in Jingdezhen each year. In addition, the shipbuilding industry was at the world’s leading level. Shipyards were built in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Guangxi, Guangzhou provinces, and even in northeast cities in Jilin and Heilongjiang, among which the Longjiang Shipyard in Longwan, Nanjing, was the largest. The Longjiang Shipyard could produce huge good-performance ocean-going vessels with a capacity of more than one thousand tons.

The early Ming dynasty attached great importance to commerce and a series of protective measures were implemented. To prevent the maladministration of the Yuan dynasty, in the thirteenth year of the Hongwu reign (1380), 354 national tax bureaus were abolished and tax was directly levied by related local agencies. Additionally, the tax rate was lowered, with only about three percent tax imposed. Farming tools, items for military use or civilian marriages or funerals, textiles, boats, and carriages, as well as silk cloth were all tax-free. At that time, the rapid development of agriculture and handicraft industries provided a sufficient supply of commodities, which boosted the commercial economy. During the early Ming dynasty, commerce and trade thrived in large cities, even in small and medium-sized cities and towns, countless merchants gathered, and trade and commerce boomed.

During the Hongwu reign, as agriculture, industry, and commerce developed rapidly, the economy in the early Ming dynasty prospered and a flourishing Ming dynasty was rising in the East. The excessive enfeoffment by Zhu Yuanzhang intensified conflicts between the central and the local government, which finally triggered the Jingnan Battle (a battle between Emperor Jianwen, the second emperor of the Ming dynasty, and Emperor Yongle, the third emperor of the Ming dynasty), when Emperor Jianwen was in power. After the Jingnan Battle, Zhu Di seized power, further consolidated and developed the great cause founded by Zhu Yuanzhang (the first emperor of the Ming dynasty).

Like Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Di (the third emperor of the Ming dynasty) regarded economic revitalization and family happiness as fundamental for governing the country. Zhu Di once said with great feeling, “If people around the world are adequately fed and clothed, I would be still happy even if there were no hearty meals or music to enjoy”. As what Zhu Yuanzhang did to establish a strong and prosperous country through repairing the trauma caused by the peasant uprising at the end of the Yuan dynasty, what Emperor Zhu Di needed to do was to develop economic undertakings and facilitate social and economic recovery and prosperity after the catastrophe caused by Jingnan Battle.

The Jingnan Battle lasting for three to four years caused serious damage to the prosperity of the economy, especially in the military zone, aggravating the burden of the people. To recover the economy and console citizens, after Zhu Di came to power, he continued to carry out the “safe and secure” policies implemented in the Hongwu reign, but much more attention was paid to moderating the measures.

Some imperial relatives and officials arbitrarily aggravated the burden on people regardless of the court’s regulations. To improve this situation, Zhu Di tried to lead by example. When promulgating policies, Zhu Di repeatedly emphasized that the civil and military ministers should consolidate the cause passed down by Zhu Yuanzhang and carry forward “safe and secure” policies.

Certain historical cases proved that Zhu Di practiced what he preached. When he first occupied Nanjing, Zhu Di did not build new palaces although most of the palaces had been burned down and destroyed by the former emperor. Later, when Zhen, King of Chu, asked him for funding to construct his private residence, Zhu Di refused, saying that Zhen could ask the guards to repair the damaged residence. If need be, new palaces could be built with the help of soldiers and civilians in a bumper harvest year. Zhu Di also admonished Zhen that it was unwise to waste manpower and money at the very beginning of a new reign. Later, hearing that Gui, Prince of Dai, built largely without authorization, he immediately had it stopped. Afterwards, he decreed that without authorization of the central government, no officials were allowed to employ any soldiers or civilians or raise money; otherwise, they would be punished. In addition, Zhu Di repeatedly ordered the local officials not to accumulate money by unfair means or launch a battle at will. He often sent officials to inspect people’s living conditions, to examine the magistrates, and to punish officials who arbitrarily increased the people’s burden. Meanwhile, war-stricken regions were exempt from tax. Moreover, effective measures of the Hongwu reign, including famine relief, land reclamation, and tax cuts were implemented by Zhu Di.

Zhu Yuanzhang once implemented the Tuntian system (a system requiring farmers and soldiers to reclaim uncultivated land), greatly improving agricultural production; the Tuntian system was further developed during the Yongle reign. Apart from reclamation via resettlement and recruitment, prisoners were also arranged for land reclamation in the Yongle reign. Zhu Di paid great attention to reclamation by using soldiers. Soldiers in the wei and suo garrisons were ordered to cultivate land as they had done before as soon as the war ended. At the end of the year, soldiers were rewarded or punished based on the amount of grain they handed in. In the Yongle reign’s early years, the system of reward and punishment was further improved with a red board put up, on which regulations were enumerated so as to urge the soldiers. The system for reward and punishment varied based on local conditions. The tax rate, positively correlated with land fertility, was reasonably designed, motivating soldiers to actively engage in agricultural production.

In order to increase the number of soldiers, the soldiers who had been put into other positions or had been exiled, were called back to the post they had been originally assigned. To strengthen the management of the cultivation by employing soldiers, Zhu Di constantly dispatched officials to see to the proper resettlement of the soldiers, arrange production businesses, optimize the operating model, and adjust the land area assigned to each soldier. With these efforts, the Tuntian system featuring soldiers in the Yongle reign was increasingly improved, advancing the development of land reclamation via soldiers. At that time, the wasteland-turned land covered every corner of the country from border areas to coastal garrisons, bringing enormous economic benefits. During the Yongle reign, the earnings from Tuntian characterized by military farming not only saved large amounts of military expenditure, but also reduced the people’s burden. Furthermore, tax revenue from this became an important source for the Ming court’s fiscal income.

Great progress was made in water conservancy projects during the Yongle reign. The construction of water conservancy projects in the Hongwu reign greatly contributed to the development of agricultural production. Therefore, to quickly recover and develop the rural economy, Zhu Di focused on construction of water conservancy projects and constructed some key projects. The Wusong River may serve as an example. In the first year of the Yongle reign (1403), a severe flood occurred in the western part of Zhejiang Province. Zhu Di, who had just ascended the throne, was deeply worried about the flood, so he appointed Xia Yuanji, minister of the financial institution, to govern it. Xia Yuanji worked day and night to dredge the lower reaches of the Wusong River, connected the Wusong River to Lake Taihu, and built floodgates to regulate water volume as required. Thanks to these measures, people in Suzhou and Wusong had stable yields despite drought and flood and benefited a great deal. In addition, some local officials also built a number of water conservancy projects by taking full advantage of geographical conditions, benefiting local people greatly. Agricultural production in the early Ming dynasty was further developed during the Yongle reign, which could not be achieved without developing water conservancy projects.

Industry and commerce in the Yongle reign also developed rapidly. During the Hongwu reign, the industry of mining, metallurgy, textiles, ceramics and pottery, shipbuilding, and papermaking experienced a stable development. Driven by Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Ocean and diplomatic activities, the scale of operation expanded and numerous workshops were set up for those industries. The development of commerce was strongly supported by Zhu Di with the light tax policy initiated by Emperor Hongwu. After the Jingnan Battle, people living in regions that had seriously suffered from the war were exempt from business tax for two years to facilitate economic recovery. After the capital of the Ming dynasty was moved to Beijing, shops were built around the four gates of the Forbidden City, and the Bell and Drum tower. The shops, called bungalows then, were used to attract investment and encourage merchants across the country to do business in Beijing. In addition, in order to transport grain from the south to the north, the Huitong River was reopened for water transportation from Jining to Linqing, and water from the Wen and Si Rivers were introduced into the Grand Canal, greatly facilitating trade between north and south. Such convenience promoted commercial development of regions along the Grand Canal. At that time, merchants assembled and transaction volume of commodities around the country grew exponentially. Due to the revitalization of industry and commerce, small and medium-sized cities and towns were transformed into big cities. Moreover, thirty-three large cities were gradually established as national commercial hubs during the Yongle reign and commercial trade across the country became increasingly prosperous.

As Zhu Di carried forward policies advocated by Zhu Yuanzhang to vigorously develop agriculture, industry, and commerce, the wounds caused by the war were quickly healed and the prosperous social economy formed in the Hongwu reign reached its zenith during the Yongle reign. “At that time, the country was affluent with large amounts of revenue. Except for millions of dan (a unit of weight, 1 dan equaling 53 kg ) of grains transported to the imperial court, people in the local provinces had so much grain stored that it ended up becoming too stale to be eaten”.[1] During the Yongle reign, the population and taxes levied on grain, silk, cotton, and other items reached the highest record in the 300 years of the Ming dynasty. In China’s feudal society, the “Rule of Emperors Wen and Jing” in the Han dynasty was the heyday of the early feudal society; the “Rule of Zhenguan” in the Tang dynasty was known as the heyday in mid-feudal society; during the 22 years of Zhu Di’s reign, the social economy had greatly prospered and remarkable achievements were made in domestic and foreign affairs, making Zhu Di’s reign the prime period of the Ming dynasty and the heyday in the late feudal society.

After Emperor Zhu Di’s succession to the throne, he made unremitting efforts to unify the country and consolidate the frontier at all times. In the south, he dispatched General Mu Zheng and Zhang Fu to fight against the invasion of Annan (present Vietnam), and set up the Cochin Administrative Commission (in today’s Guangdong Province) to restore regional peace. He also ordered General Gu Cheng to quell the rebellion in Guizhou and set up the Guizhou Administrative Commission. In the west, Zhu Di granted titles on the monks in western regions, such as Master of Buddhism, Master of the Nation, and Master Buddhist from the West, in order to contain Tibet. He also sent envoys to announce his edict, pacifying the countries in those regions. In the coastal area, the commander-in-chief, Liu Jiang, was ordered to eliminate Japanese pirates and reinforce the country’s coastline fortifications. In regions east of the Liao River in Liaoning Province, Zhu Di established Chu Wei of Jianzhou, chief of court guards, a military department in Haixi (in Qinghai Province) to control the Jurchen tribes. Besides, he established Nu’ergan Dusi (a military division in Heilongjiang Province), and added wei and suo (military divisions) to strengthen the border defense of the northeast region. In the north, from the eighth year to twenty-second year of the Yongle reign (1410-1424), Zhu Di led an army in person to suppress subdivided troops of Mongols and Tartars, and forced them to retreat to the northwest. Consequently, the northern region quieted. Zhu Di’s achievements far outweighed those of his father, Zhu Yuanzhang, in such aspects as national reunification, land cultivation, and frontier consolidation. In terms of culture and education, Zhu Di spared no effort to promote the development of education and traditional culture through running schools, symbolized by compilation of the Yongle Canon. In sum, these demonstrate that Zhu Di was a wise, outstanding emperor in Chinese history. He was the right person to succeed the throne of Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty. Based on a solid foundation laid in the Hongwu reign, Zhu Di looked far ahead and aimed high, eager to enjoy a good reputation throughout the world. Accordingly, throughout his reign, China enjoyed an unprecedentedly peaceful and prosperous period, with other nations coming to pay tribute to the Ming court.

1.1.2 The Need for National Unity

On the sixth day of the fourth lunar month, 1416, the 14th year of the Yongle reign, to commemorate Zheng He’s return from his fourth voyage to the Western Ocean, Emperor Zhu Di wrote an inscription on the newly built Tianfei Palace Monument in Nanjing, making clear his ambition to develop relations with countries across the world. The inscription read, “Zhu Yuanzhang, the first emperor of the Ming dynasty expanded the territory to an unprecedented scale. During his reign, the Conciliation Policy was implemented to settle problems at home and abroad with everything going well, bringing about a harmonious society. As his successor, I inherited the great cause he left and was deeply inspired by his aspirations. Therefore, I work diligently to pacify citizens and other countries to prevent rebellions. In the long run, envoys will be continuously sent to foreign countries to spread the essence of Chinese culture and customs, which will drive forward the development of their civilizations.”[2]

In the early 15th century, ancient China developed very fast with advanced culture and led the world in technology. The flourishing Yongle period pushed forward the material and spiritual civilization of ancient China to a new level and made it a key center of world civilization. At that time, a mature and developed etiquette system symbolized highly developed Chinese civilization. Small countries in the world lagged behind, especially small countries far from Eurasia. Their civilizations were underdeveloped and many places were still in uncivilized stages like those of primitive tribes where no etiquette existed at all. According to the traditional Chinese notion, etiquette was a boundary between civilization and barbarism, which was widely covered in literature about “rites” or “etiquette” in ancient China. For example, “Little Rites” (a part of the Book of Rites), states, “Although the parrot and orangutan can speak, they cannot be treated as human beings because they have no etiquette. Naturally, people who can speak but who has no rites are the same as animals in essence. Since animals are not cultivated by etiquette, a female animal is shared by her husband and son. To avoid shameful behaviors, the sage formulates rules to cultivate people, making them polite and know that they are different from animals.”[3] According to “Guan Yi” (part of the Book of Rites), “etiquette is what makes human beings.”[4] Here, the dividing line between human and the beasts is actually the division between civilization and barbarism. China, as an advanced country, had advanced spiritual and material civilizations. As the emperor of the Yongle period in the Ming dynasty, Zhu Di was far-sighted and realized that he should bear the responsibility of educating people in backward overseas countries. He expected to educate these people with rites and etiquette, so that they would discard their barbaric behaviors. He also believed that these people should share the blessings of peace with Chinese people and benefit from China. In ancient China, among accomplished feudal emperors such as the First Emperor of Qin, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang and Emperor Shizu of the Yuan dynasty, Zhu Di was the only emperor who firmly realized that Chinese people should educate people from backward countries to elevate them out of barbarism and promote progress of their society. This was not not by chance but directly linked to the historical situation at that time.

When Emperor Chengzu of the Ming dynasty rose to power at the beginning of the 15th century, capitalism began to emerge, with Chinese feudal society having developed for nearly two thousand years. At that time, the world history was transitioning from a feudal society to a capitalist society, which required people to gradually break through national and geographic boundaries, and become increasingly global in material and spiritual life. It was in line with the requirements of the times that Zhu Di was committed to strengthening and expanding ties with the countries of the world. Unlike later Western colonists, Zhu Di strengthened the ties between China and overseas countries, rather than pursuing the colonial practice of looting, aiming to transmit the civilization and carry forward the excellent traditions of the Chinese people who loved peace and had always been willing to make friendly exchanges with the outside world. In addition, it adopted good-neighborly and friendly policies to overseas countries. China, as an ancient civilization, was a state of etiquette. It began its heyday in the late feudal society in the Yongle period of the Ming dynasty. At that time, China opened to the outside world. Previous achievements China had made with overseas countries in political, economic and cultural exchanges, the highly advanced technology of shipbuilding and navigation as well as the long history of navigation laid the foundation for Zheng He’s voyages to foreign countries. In an effort to seek further long-term development, Zhu Di formulated the ambitious commission appointing Zheng He to set sail and become a pioneer in that era of maritime exploration. Zheng He, “entrusted with the great mission, with the grand fleet and a large amount of wealth at his disposal, and highly respected by leaders of remote foreign countries, worked industriously day and night for fear of not living up to the emperor’s expectations,” and was “dedicated to state affairs.”[5] With outstanding abilities and heroic dedication, Zheng He led seven voyages to the Western Ocean. Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Ocean preceded the European seafarers by many years. These voyages not only marked the peak of the world’s contemporary maritime industry, but also greatly contributed to the development of friendly relations between China and Asian and African countries in politics, the economy and culture. Zheng He faithfully carried out the mission entrusted by Zhu Di. Briefly, Zheng He’s voyages to the Western Ocean wrote a glorious chapter in the history of human civilization in the early 15th century.

Since the beginning of a class society, Chinese emperors emphasized border defense in order to resist foreign invasion. Even the world-renowned Great Wall was constructed to defend against the Huns. Before the Ming dynasty, nearly all massive foreign invasion came from the northwestern and northeastern borders. China boasted long coastlines and the area within the coast was extremely broad, with the central plains surrounded by protective oceans in the east and south. Coastal countries around China fell behind with poorer overall national power prior to the Ming dynasty and thus were unable to conduct large, long-lasting maritime aggression against China due to limited shipbuilding skills and navigational technology. The ocean was regarded as a natural protection barrier. As a result, not much in the way of maritime defenses was built before the Ming dynasty, which led to the “more emphasis on land, less attention to sea” thought of ancient rulers. They ignored the possibility that these countries would pose threat to the feudal regime. Furthermore, only few coastal countries were off China’s coast, including Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. Separated by the South China Sea, Southeast Asian countries and China were far from each other. During the prosperous period of Chinese feudal dynasties, some emperors were keen to expand China’s territory, but they were mostly committed to action in the interior; they believed that it was not worthwhile to spend money and manpower on conquering and governing the coastal neighbors. From this perspective, except overseas trade, the emperors thought of the ocean unworthy of their attention.

The peaceful maritime situation in China began to change during the Yuan dynasty. Japanese pirates and warriors, who lived on ocean piracy, constantly harassed China’s coastal areas. Pirates had robbed China’s coasts previously and by the Yuan dynasty, the situation developed into a national conflict between the two countries with looting by pirates as a major problem all along the coast. This was related to fighting against Japan in the early Yuan dynasty. During the governance of Kublai Khan of the Yuan dynasty, he had sent envoys to Japan six times to force Japan to be “obedient” and pay “tribute” according to his edict, but they all failed. Kublai Khan refused to stop. He respectively mounted military expeditions to Japan in the 11th (1274) and 18th (1281) year of the Zhiyuan reign. However, it turned out that the majority of the Yuan troops sank to at sea due to Japanese resistance and storms. Most of the army was buried at sea. The failure of the two eastward expeditions compelled Kublai to abandon the strategy of conquering Japan by force. Instead, he banned Japanese merchants from trading in China and increased the import tax as punishments. This containment policy naturally caused dissatisfaction among Japanese merchants, thus they constantly clashed with Yuan dynasty officials that inevitably resulted in the suffering of common people. In 1307 and 1309, Japanese merchants clashed with local officials twice in Ningbo, causing a series of violent incidents, including the burning of government offices and residential buildings. Once the Japanese merchants took revenge on Yuan officials, they were out of control and gradually began to ceaselessly plunder Chinese coastal areas. What they did in the Yuan dynasty was not as hazardous as what they did in the Ming dynasty, but they disturbed the peace of coastal areas in China, developing into the beginning of the piracy issue in the Ming dynasty.

During the Yuan dynasty, despite the occasional intrusion of Japanese merchants in sa few coastal areas, these places were relatively peaceful without serious events that shocked the court. However, the maritime situation changed dramatically during the early Ming dynasty. In the Hongwu, Jianwen and Yongle periods, coastal areas in China encountered such unprecedented trouble that China suffered tense relations with neighboring overseas countries. On the southwestern coast, the Li family in Annam (North Vietnam) unscrupulously invaded Champa and the southwestern frontiers of China and killed people, causing severe tensions on the Indochina Peninsula and the coastal areas of southwest China. Since the Song dynasty, Annam had been a vassal state of China under the rule of the King Chen family. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty, in the sixth lunar month, second year of Hongwu (1369), Chen Rikui, the ruler of Annam sent ministers to pay tribute and pleaded for a conference of titles. Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang then conferred the title of King of Annam on Chen Rikui and asked him to be loyal to stabilize the Chen regime. In the twelfth lunar month of 1369, Zhu Yuanzhang praised Annam for being the first of the overseas countries to pay tribute in the first three years after the establishment of the Ming dynasty. The kings of the Chen family observed the ancestral principles and got on well with China until the end of the Hongwu reign, and the southwestern coast was in peace.

Of course, it was unlikely for China to have no conflicts with Annam for decades. The Ming court, reluctant to aggravate the situation and propose punishments, just issued a written warning not to accept the tribute when Annam invaded the southwestern border of China. In the sixth lunar month of the 14th year of the Hongwu reign (1381), Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang refused to accept tribute from Annam on the grounds that it had attacked Yongping village in Siming Prefecture, Guangxi, and issued an edict to King Chen Wei to condemn the invasion. At the same time, the Guangxi Chief Secretary was instructed to reject tribute from Annam. The stance of the Ming court forced the Annam king to constrain himself, and the situation quieted. Annam was at war with neighboring Champa throughout the Hongwu period. The Ming court strictly adopted a stance of neutrality without offering military assistance to either side, and persuaded them to reach a truce. Consequently, the two countries refrained from intensifying the conflict, thus preventing the conflicts from developing into to large-scale wars.

The relative peace along the southwestern border during the Hongwu reign was destroyed during the Jianwen reign. In the second year of the Jianwen reign (1400), Prime Minister Li Jili and his son usurped the regime and changed the name of the state into Da Yu. They started a period of cruel reign and collected high taxes internally, embracing a foreign policy of aggressive invasion and expansion. They intended to capture Champa, slaughtering its people to destroy the country. Furthermore, China was their target of invasion and they successively occupied the Lu State, the Xiping State, and Yongping Village in Siming Prefecture in Guangxi, and seven villages including Mengman in Ningyuan state, Yunnan Province. Until the early years in Yongle, the Annam King unscrupulously conducted invasion into other countries, causing severe tensions in the Indochina Peninsula and the coastal areas of southwest China, destroying the peace of the South China Sea. Various anti-Ming activities infested the southeast coast and the islands of the South China Sea. Since the first year of the Hongwu reign (1368), Zhejiang’s Changguo County had witnessed the rise of anti-Ming insurgents in Lanxiu Hill. They attacked Xiangshan County, captured the county magistrate, and looted local residents. Having failed in rebellion, the rest of the insurgents fled to Korea and other countries, becoming the biggest challenge of the new Ming regime. Moreover, other anti-Ming groups, including remnants of Fang Guozhen and Zhang Shicheng’s factions had close connection with tyrannical local landlords. This force was not large in number, but had great power. Based in the coastal islands, they frequently ravaged cities and harassed the coastal areas; or colluded with other anti-Ming gangs by contacting overseas governments for backing to oppose the Ming court.

Zhu Yuanzhang took some measures to address various maritime threats. In the third year of the Hongwu reign (1370), at Zhu Yuanzhang’s order, the Ministry of Punishments extradited and executed rebels at Lanxiu Hill, including Chen Junxiang from Korea who had fled after rebelling against the Ming court, which stroke a heavy blow at the overseas anti-Ming forces. On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the fourth year of the Hongwu reign (1371), Zhu Yuanzhang ordered that the prior forces of Fang Guozhen and landless boatmen at Lanxiu Hill, altogether 111,730 people be conscripted to strengthen the navy power of the Ming. Meanwhile, coastal residents were prohibited from going to sea. On the eighteenth day of the tenth lunar month, in the 14th year of the Hongwu reign (1301), in order to prevent costal smugglers from contacting pirates, Zhu Yuanzhang forbade coastal residents in towns that pirates were likely to attack, to communicate with each other. In addition, garrisons were built to strengthen defenses. A maritime embargo was enforced, with even ocean fishing forbidden. Since the Tang-Song era, coastal residents in Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and some local defenders had all been relying on maritime business to make a living, some of whom became wealthy by making exorbitant profits. Merchants from overseas countries also benefited considerably from trading with them. During the chaos of the late Yuan dynasty, coastal merchants and residents were free from official restrictions, thus earning more generous profits. After the founding of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang feared that pirates would refuge in “foreign countries” by sea and collaborating with overseas countries to endanger the foundation of the Ming court. Hence, he implemented a maritime embargo and imposed various restrictions on maritime trade between China and foreign countries so that coastal residents found it hard to make a living and merchants lost the opportunity of being prosperous, which aroused strong anti-Ming sentiments among these people. Due to the geographical advantage of being located along the southeast coast with access to overseas countries, the residents of Lanxiu Hill on the Zhou Shan Islands, Zhejiang Province, who gained great profits from maritime business, found it even harder to put up with the Ming’s ban. After multiple rebellions failed, and despite severe suppression and countless warnings from the Ming court, residents continued to go to sea, and the ban was extremely difficult to enforce.

The Ming court then had no choice but to implement the Clearance policy. In the twentieth year of the Hongwu reign (1387), Changguo County on the Zhou Shan Islands was abolished and all the residents were required to move inland. The policy of migration not only targeted the Zhou Shan Islands, but was also adopted for the inhabited islands of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong provinces on the southeast coast. With no prior precedent to learn from and the policy being important for national security, local officials, who dared not disobey Zhu Yuanzhang, were very severe in implementing the policy, causing adverse consequences. Such events were recorded in The Annals of Qianlong compiled in the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. In the middle of the Hongwu reign, the Fujian commander. Li Yi avidly took bribes, which caused great resentment among locals. Lin Yang from Fuqing, who would not submit to power, led people to revolt. Li Yi was in a rage. Knowing that the emperor worried that coastal residents would collude with overseas countries and take islands as their stronghold, he concealed the truth that “coastal residents were making troubles”, mapped the location of the local islands and reported to the throne, saying deliberately, “Haitan Hill has always been an isolated island. From there it takes only one day and one night to reach Okinawa, but three days and nights to reach the nearest inland town of Dongcheng.” The emperor was frightened upon hearing this. Looking more carefully at the map, the emperor was even more terrified, so he decreed, “As the islands in different provinces are taken advantage of by villains and are useless to common people, the island residents can move to the towns close to mountains and they are allowed to cultivate on official fields granted by local governments.” The moving of residents would have been appropriate with proper, government arrangements. However, the government was too harsh in implementing the policy, which resulted in disaster for the islanders. Receiving the imperial edict of migration, the provincial governors of Fujian and Guangdong provinces immediately ordered residents living on the coastal islands and even the residents of 36 Penghu Islands to move to inland within three days, and decreed that those who were late would be executed. Families had to cross the sea in three days with no ferry provided by the government, so those who failed to find a ferry in time were very scared. In order to survive, they tore down beams, door panels to make rafts. However, such shoddy vessels were unable to withstand the waves and countless residents were swallowed up by the sea. The practice of migration in Zhejiang was also harsh. In the early Ming dynasty, towns located on islands of Zhejiang, Ningbo, Taizhou and Wenzhou were half the size of inland cities, some of which were equivalent to three tenths of mainland cities. Many privileged families lived in these towns. At that time, Tang Xinguo inspected coastal areas at the emperor’s order, commanding residents to move to inland immediately for fear that the islands would attract pirates. The residents could retain their identities if they moved before midday, but if they missed the deadline, they were to be conscripted by the army. The purpose of the migration policy was to defend against pirates. There would have been no rebellion if residents had been properly resettled. However, local officials took such drastic actions that the residents were extremely discontented with the court. Some preferred taking the risk of colluding with overseas countries, especially pirates, to jointly conduct armed smuggling, or plundering, which troubled coastal areas like Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong and disturbed the traditional communication between China and its foreign neighbors.

In the early years of the Ming dynasty, some of outlaws fled overseas to make trouble, seriously damaging the overseas interests of the Ming court and causing challenges to the Ming court. With pirates running rampant on the southeast coast, Minister Hu Weiyong rebelled against the court in the 13th year of the Hongwu reign (1380). In order to seize power, Hu Weiyong and his party not only colluded with the Mongolian survivors, but also attempted to resort to pirates to launch a coup. This significant event between internal and external forces, aimed at subverting the Ming court, greatly impacted overseas countries, with Southeast Asia affected in particular because of its relations with Japan. At that time, influenced by the rebellion of Hu Weiyong, the Samboja Kingdom (on today’s Indonesian island of Sumatra with its capital city in Palembang, Sumatra) deceived Ming messengers and sent vicious blackmail. The emperor was furious, but he did not punish them since he did not intend to expand overseas with the Ming’s limited maritime forces. As a result, the Ming court’s prestige further declined abroad, causing estranged relationships between China and overseas countries. Facing this, the emperor never resorted to diplomacy to strengthen the ties between China and overseas countries. By the end of the Hongwu reign, business and travel between China and the countries along the coast of South and Southeast Asia were blocked, causing paralysis of commerce and diplomatic relations.

Since the founding of the Ming dynasty, overseas relations continued to worsen and maritime challenges increased until the rule of Zhu Di. In the fourth year of the Jianwen reign (1402), when Zhu Di had enthroned for only three months, the envoy returning from the southeastern coastal countries reported that most of the overseas countries were located on islands separated from each other, and some Chinese soldiers had become outright pirates by colluding foreign residents. Meanwhile, rumor spread that the Jianwen emperor had fled overseas. Therefore, Zhu Di feared that Jianwen would contact his followers via these pirates and further expand to overseas area under his influence. Prior to the founding of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang’s enemies, Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen, had laid a financial foundation based on maritime business with overseas countries. After the establishment of the Ming dynasty, followers of Zhang and Fang as well as other anti-Ming gangs continued to battle with the Ming court by establishing a stronghold overseas. Therefore, if the Jianwen emperor established a base overseas by contacting forces hostile to Zhu Di and garnered financial support from maritime businessmen like Zhang and Fang, he was able to stage a comeback. Early in Zhu Di’s reign, the pressure from overseas was unprecedentedly high, which forced him to turn his attention to the sea. In order to seize imperial power, he had to prevent his enemies from gaining a foothold and considerable economic interests overseas. Meanwhile, he had to elevate the reputation of the Ming court abroad. It was proven that his father’s negative maritime policies were of no use, so he had to come up with other effective policies. The only feasible method, similar to what he had done domestically, was to establish his prestige and influence overseas in the fields of politics, economy, diplomacy, culture and military forces.

Zhu Di were determined to achieve great peace and prosperity at home and abroad. Guided by this strategy, Zheng He made the voyages at the emperor’s order, which was in accordance with an integration of ocean and land development strategies. So guided, Zheng He seized the promising opportunity during a 30-year-long ocean-going mission and made great efforts to meet various maritime challenges. He conducted activities politically, economically and diplomatically in the countries along the coast of Asia and Africa. Three major battles were undertaken. In addition, he worked hard on maritime exploration, eliminating the maritime threats for the Ming dynasty with great achievement. Generally speaking, in terms of politics, he mainly established peaceful and friendly relations with Asian and African countries and built China’s prestige overseas; economically, international trade with Asian and African countries was conducted, ushering in the most flourishing period of the Maritime Silk Road. For diplomatic affairs, relations between China and foreign countries had developed tremendously, adding a glorious chapter to China’s history. Military victory smoothed maritime communication and thus people from all ethnic groups lived and worked in peace. Culturally, Asian and African countries got to know more about Chinese values, and advanced production and medical technologies were also spread, which in turn promoted the Chinese people’s understanding of Asian and African countries. All these factors made contributed to the reunification of China while hugely improving China’s international prestige. Facing challenges bravely, Zheng He made seven voyages across the Western Ocean (i.e., the Indian Ocean), making unprecedented achievements not only in Chinese history, but also in world history.