We have
traversed more than one hundred thousand li of immense water
spaces
and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising
sky-high,
and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away
hidden
in a
blue transparency of light vapors,
while our sails loftily unfurled like clouds day and
night.
- Ma
San Bao (1371–1433). Born as a Muslim
and a descendant of a Persian King, Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din
Omar, he was taken in as a slave. He then became a
court eunuch, and became a playmate to the Emperor’s son, and later
became his most trusted adviser and led expeditions throughout much
of the world to suppress pirates and maintain peace to the waters
and foreign lands where his footprints were -
spreading China’s supremacy and global knowledge with over 300
large fleets and 28,000 men – the most powerful fleets in
15th century. Historical evidence showed that he had
discovered America in 1421 - 72 years earlier than Christopher
Columbus. However, his last days were heart broken and thrown into
relative obscurity when China stopped all expeditions and shut
herself to the rest of the world.
He is better known
as郑和, the greatest
Chinese admiral.
