Zheng He: He Led Huge Fleets Across the Ocean… Decades Before Columbus

Almost ninety years before Columbus crossed the Atlantic, a Chinese admiral sailed across the Indian Ocean with hundreds of ships.

His fleet brought home an animal that no one in China had ever seen.

People thought it was magic.

This is the story of Zheng He.

Welcome to brightlivesenglish.com, where we teach real English using real-life stories.

Admiral. An admiral is the most senior officer in a navy, in command of many ships.

The emperor made him the admiral of a great fleet.

Fleet. A fleet is a large group of ships that sail together.

His first fleet had more than 250 ships.

Vast. Vast means extremely large.

They sailed across the vast Indian Ocean.

Treasure. Treasure means very valuable things, like gold, silver, silk and jewels.

The ships carried treasure such as silk and porcelain.

Diplomacy. Diplomacy is the work of building friendly relations between countries.

His voyages were mostly about diplomacy, not war.

Now, one pattern: such a, adjective and noun, that.

We use it to show a strong result.

The fleet was very big. People stared.

It was such a vast fleet that people stared.

Ready? Let's begin.

Zheng He was born around 1371 in Yunnan, in the far south-west of China, into a Muslim family.

His father and grandfather had travelled all the way to Mecca.

When he was about ten, the Ming army conquered Yunnan, and the boy was taken to serve a prince.

He grew up tall and strong and became a brave soldier and a trusted officer.

When the prince became the Yongle Emperor, he gave his loyal officer a new name: Zheng He.

Then he gave him an enormous task.

In 1405, the emperor made him the admiral of a great fleet.

His first fleet had more than 250 ships and about 28,000 people.

It was such a vast fleet that people stared.

The biggest treasure ships were giants.

Old books say they were over 120 metres long.

Many historians think they were smaller.

But they were such enormous ships that Columbus's Santa María would have looked tiny beside them.

Between 1405 and 1433, he led seven voyages.

They sailed across the vast Indian Ocean, to Java, Sri Lanka, India, Arabia and East Africa.

The ships carried treasure such as silk and porcelain, as gifts for kings.

His voyages were mostly about diplomacy, not war.

In Sri Lanka, his men set up a stone with a message in three languages, Chinese, Tamil and Persian, thanking three different gods.

Kings sent envoys back to China with gifts of their own.

In 1414, one gift caused such a sensation that the whole court came to see it.

What could it be?

It had a very long neck, soft horns and gentle eyes.

It was a giraffe, which had probably come from Malindi, in East Africa.

Officials believed it was a qilin, a magical creature that appears only when a wise ruler is on the throne.

The emperor stayed modest.

He said that even without a qilin, he could rule well.

But he asked his best court painter to paint the giraffe.

A copy of that painting still exists today.

Zheng He probably died in 1433, near the end of his seventh voyage.

After him, China stopped the great voyages, and many records were lost.

Decades later, Columbus and da Gama set sail.

Zheng He had sailed these seas long before da Gama.

Let's review. The emperor made him the admiral of a great fleet.

His first fleet had more than 250 ships.

They sailed across the vast Indian Ocean.

The ships carried treasure such as silk and porcelain.

His voyages were mostly about diplomacy, not war.

And remember: it was such a vast fleet that people stared.

Zheng He's story teaches us: true strength can mean reaching out to the world with gifts, not weapons.

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