Admiral Zheng He and Southeast Asia

7. Notes Relating to Admiral Cheng Ho's Expeditions

Chapter฀7 NOTES฀RELATING฀TO฀ADMIRAL฀ CHENG฀HO’S฀EXPEDITIONS Hsu฀Yun-Ts’iao There were two extra-ordinary events in the history of early contacts between China and the Southeast Asian countries: i) the expedition of Chu Ing (朱應) and K’ang T’ai (康泰) to Southeast Asia, sent by General Lu Tai (呂岱), Governor-General of Canton and Chiaochou (now Vietnam), in the early part of the third century, and ii) the well-known expeditions of Admiral Cheng Ho (鄭和) to the “West Ocean” in the early 15th century. The first event has long been forgotten. Chu Ing and K’ang T’ai each wrote a book on the countries they visited, but they were completely lost in the 11th century. Chu Ing’s book entitled “Fu Nan Yi Wuh Chih” (扶南異物志) or “The Description of Banam Prodigies” is now untraceable, while K’ang T’ai’s book, “Accounts of Foreign Countries in Wu Period” (Wu Shih Wai Kuo Chuan 吳 時外國傳), was also lost, but a number of its fragmentary citations still remain in ancient Chinese literature. The present writer has painstakingly collected and published them in one volume in order to piece together the episodes in a connected series. 124 Reprinted from Hsu Yun-Ts’iao, “Notes to Admiral Cheng Ho’s Expeditions”, Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 49, no. 1 (August 1976): 134–40, by permission of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Notes฀Relating฀to฀Admiral฀Cheng฀Ho’s฀Expedition฀ 125 The second event is quite well-known as there are many reference books dealing with the subject. Some of his followers such as Ma Huan (馬歡) wrote a book entitled “Yin Ya Shen Lan” (瀛涯勝覽), Fei Hsin (費信) wrote another book, the “Sing Cha Shen Lan” (星槎勝覽), but Kung Tseng’s (鞏珍) book entitled “Hsi Yang Fan Kuo Chih” (西洋番國志) was plagiarised from Ma Huan with the exception of three rescripts of the Ming Emperor and the preface of the book. References relating to Cheng Ho and his expeditions may be found here and there in some ancient accounts of the Ming Dynasty for example from the “Ming Shih Luh” (明 實錄), Hwang Hsin-Tseng’s (黃省曾), Hsi Yang Ch’ao Kung Tian Luh” (西洋朝貢典錄), Tchuh Yun-Ming’s “Ch’ian Wen Chi” (祝 允明前聞記), Yen Ts’ung-Chian’s “Shu Yueh Chou Ts Luh” (嚴從 簡殊域周咨錄), Chang Hsih’s “Tung Hsi Yang K’ao” (張燮東西洋 考), Mao Yuan Yi’s “Wu Pei Tchih” (茅元儀武備志) and so forth. So many modern scholars today have made studies on Cheng Ho and his deeds as well as on those materials mentioned above, yet there are still some doubtful problems left unsolved, which the present writer is going to discuss below:– 1.฀ WHAT฀IS฀THE฀MEANING฀OF฀฀ HIS฀ALIAS฀“SAN฀PAO?” Cheng Ho was born in a Muslim family under the surname of Ma in the Yunnan Province. Cheng Ho was not therefore his original name. In his boyhood about 1381 A.D., he was captured and sent to Peking to be a slave-boy by the Ming troops. Subsequently he was castrated and sent into the palace as a small eunuch of ten years old to serve Prince Yen (燕王) who later became the Emperor Cheng Tsu (明成祖) with the title of Yung Leh (永樂1403–1424 A.D.). Until 1403 A.D., Cheng Ho was a chief eunuch and was then sent by the Emperor to the “West Ocean” as an envoy, and was also known as “San Pao T’ai Chian” (三寶太監) meaning literally 126฀ Hsu฀Yun-Ts’iao “The Three Precious Eunuchs.” But since the end of the Ming Dynasty, the real meaning of San Pao is unknown. Yen Ch’ungChian , an official in the Missionary Bureau, mentioned in his book “Shu Yueh Chou Ts Luh”, “The origin of the alias ‘San Pao’ is unknown, whether it was Cheng Ho’s old name, or whether it was an honour given by the natives in Western Ocean to Cheng Ho, (鄭和), Wang Ching-Hung (王景弘) and Hou Hsian (侯顯) together is not clear. Lang Ying (朗瑛) of Ming Dynasty also mentioned in his book entitled, “Chih Shiu Lui Yao” (七修類藥), — “In the year of Ting Hai (丁亥) in the reign of Yung Leh (1407 A.D.), there was an imperial command to the effect that Cheng Ho, Wang ChingHung and Hou Hsian should go on a mission to Southeast Asian countries to bestow gifts and to proclaim the imperial rescripts: they were known as the Three Precious Eunuchs setting forth on a journey to the West Ocean...