Ming China's treasure fleet undertook maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1433. The Yongle Emperor ordered the construction of the fleet in 1403. The grand project resulted in seven far-reaching ocean voyages to the coastal territories and islands of the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. Admiral Zheng He was commissioned to command the fleet for the expeditions. Six of the voyages occurred during the Yongle Emperor's reign (r. 1402–1424) and the seventh voyage occurred during the Xuande Emperor's reign (r. 1425–1435). The first three voyages reached up to Calicut on India's Malabar Coast, while the fourth voyage went as far as Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. In the last three voyages, the fleet traveled up to the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.
The Chinese expeditionary fleet was heavily militarized and carried great amounts of treasures, which served to project Chinese power and wealth to the known world. They brought back many foreign ambassadors whose kings and rulers were willing to declare themselves tributaries of China. During the course of the voyages, they destroyed Chen Zuyi's pirate fleet at Palembang, captured the Sinhalese Kotte kingdom of King Alakeshvara, and defeated the forces of the Semudera pretender Sekandar in northern Sumatra. The Chinese maritime exploits brought many countries into China's tributary system and sphere of influence through both military and political supremacy, thus incorporating the states into the greater Chinese world order under Ming suzerainty. Moreover, the Chinese restructured and established control over an expansive maritime network in which the region became integrated and its countries became interconnected on an economic and political level.
The Ming treasure voyages were commanded and overseen by the eunuch establishment whose political influence was heavily dependent on imperial favor. Within Ming China's imperial state system, the civil officials were the primary political opponents of the eunuchs and the opposing faction against the expeditions. Near the end of the maritime voyages, the civil government gained the upper hand within the state bureaucracy, while the eunuchs gradually fell out of favor after the death of the Yongle Emperor and lost the authority to conduct these large-scale endeavors. Furthermore, local authorities and elites had economic interests antagonistic to the central state control of commerce, since the state-sponsored maritime enterprise had been key to counterbalancing localized private trade.
Over the course of these maritime voyages, Ming China became the pre-eminent naval power by projecting its sea power further to the south and west. There is still much debate regarding issues such as the actual purpose of the voyages, the size of the ships, the magnitude of the fleet, the routes taken, the nautical charts employed, the countries visited, and the cargo carried.
Background
Creation of the fleet
On 17 July 1402, in Ming China, Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan, ascended the throne as the Yongle Emperor. He inherited a powerful navy from his father, the Hongwu Emperor, and further developed it as an instrument for an expansive overseas policy. The Taizong Shilu contains 24 short entries for the imperial orders for shipbuilding, with figures pointing to at least 2,868 ships, from 1403 to 1419. Over the course of 1403, Fujian, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Huguang's provincial governments as well as Nanjing, Suzhou, and other cities' military garrisons were ordered to begin constructing ships.
Under the reign of the Yongle Emperor, Ming China underwent militaristic expansionism with ventures such as the treasure voyages. In 1403, he issued an imperial order to start the immense construction project of the treasure fleet. The fleet was known as the Xiafan Guanjun (下番官軍; 'foreign expeditionary armada'), its original designation, in Chinese sources. It came to comprise many trading ships, warships, and support vessels. The Longjiang shipyard was the construction site for many of the fleet's ships, including all of the treasure ships. It was located on the Qinhuai River near Nanjing, where it flows into the Yangtze River. Many trees were cut along the Min River and upper reaches of the Yangtze River to supply the necessary resources for the fleet's construction. Existing ships were also converted to serve in the fleet for the voyages, but this can only be said with certainty for 249 ships ordered in 1407.
The fleet's high-ranking officers, such as Admiral Zheng He, were from the eunuch establishment. Zheng served as the Grand Director in the Directorate of Palace Servants, a eunuch-dominated department, before his command of the expeditions. The emperor placed great trust in Zheng and appointed him to command the fleet. He even gave him blank scrolls stamped with his seal to issue imperial orders at sea. The other principal officers, such as Wang Jinghong, Hou Xian, Li Xing, Zhu Liang, Zhou Man, Hong Bao, Yang Zhen, Zhang Da, and Wu Zhong, were court eunuchs employed in the civil service. The rest of the crew was predominantly from the Ming military and mostly recruited from Fujian.
Regions
During the onset of the Ming treasure voyages, the Chinese treasure fleet embarked from the Longjiang shipyard and sailed down the Yangtze River to Liujiagang, where Zheng He organized his fleet and made sacrifices to the goddess Tianfei. Over the course of the following four to eight weeks, the fleet gradually proceeded to Taiping anchorage in Changle, where they waited for the favorable northeast winter monsoon before leaving the Fujian coast. The monsoon winds generally affected how the fleet sailed through the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. They reached the sea through the Wuhumen ('five tiger passage') of the Min River in Fujian. The port of Qui Nhon in Champa was always the first foreign destination that the fleet visited.
The voyages sent the fleet to the Western Ocean (西洋), which was the maritime region encompassing today's South China Sea and Indian Ocean during the Ming dynasty. More specifically, contemporary sources such as the Yingya Shenglan place the dividing line between the Eastern Ocean and Western Ocean at Brunei.
During the first three voyages from 1405 to 1411, the fleet followed the same basic maritime route: from Fujian to the first call in Champa, across the South China Sea to Java and Sumatra, up the Strait of Malacca to northern Sumatra for assembly of the fleet, across the Indian Ocean to Ceylon, then along the Malabar Coast to Calicut. At the time, the fleet sailed no further than Calicut. During the fourth voyage, the route was extended to Hormuz. During the fifth, sixth, and seventh voyages, the fleet traveled further to destinations in the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. For the sixth voyage, the fleet sailed up to Calicut, where several detached squadrons proceeded to further destinations at the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa. For the seventh voyage, the fleet followed the route up to Hormuz, while detached squadrons traveled to other places at the Arabian Peninsula and East Africa.
Course
First voyage
In the third lunar month (30 March to 28 April) of 1405, a preliminary order was issued to Admiral Zheng He and others to lead 27,000 troops to the Western Ocean. An imperial edict, dated 11 July 1405, was issued containing the order for the expedition. It was addressed to Zheng He, Wang Jinghong, and others.
The Yongle Emperor held a banquet for the crew on the evening before the treasure fleet's maiden voyage. Gifts were presented to the officers and the common crew according to their rank. Sacrifices and prayers were offered to Tianfei, the patron goddess of sailors and seafarers, in the hopes of ensuring a successful journey and safe passage during the voyage. In the autumn of 1405, the fleet had assembled at Nanjing and was ready to depart from the city. According to the Taizong Shilu's entry for 11 July 1405 about the dispatch of the fleet, Zheng and "others" left on the first expedition "bearing imperial letters to the countries of the Western Ocean and with gifts to their kings of gold brocade, patterned silks, and colored silk gauze, according to their status". The fleet made a stop at Liujiagang. There, the fleet was organized in squadrons while the fleet's crew honored Tianfei with prayers and sacrifices. Then, the fleet sailed down the coast to Taiping anchorage in Changle near the Min River, where it awaited the northeast monsoon. The crew offered more prayers and sacrifices to Tianfei during their wait. Afterwards, the fleet departed via the Wuhumen.
The fleet sailed to Champa, Java, Malacca, Aru, Semudera, Lambri, Ceylon, Quilon, and Calicut. From Lambri, the fleet sailed straight through the Indian Ocean instead of following the Bay of Bengal coastline to Ceylon. Three days after their departure from Lambri, a ship split off and went to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Six days after the separation, the fleet saw the mountains of Ceylon and arrived at Ceylon's western coast two days later. They left this region as they were met with hostility from the local ruler, Alakeshvara. Dreyer (2007) states that it is possible that Zheng made port at Quilon—although there is no account confirming this—because the King of Quilon traveled with the fleet to China in 1407. Mills (1970) states that the fleet may have stayed four months at Calicut from December to April 1407. Around Cape Comorin on the southern tip of the Indian subcontinent, the fleet changed direction and began its return journey to China. During the return, the fleet stopped at Malacca again.
During the return trip in 1407, Zheng and his associates engaged Chen Zuyi and his pirate fleet in battle at Palembang. Chen had seized Palembang and dominated the maritime route along the Malaccan Strait. The battle concluded with the defeat of Chen's pirate fleet by the Chinese treasure fleet. Chen and his lieutenants were executed on 2 October 1407 when the Chinese fleet returned to Nanjing. The Ming court appointed Shi Jinqing as the Pacification Superintendent of Palembang, which established an ally there and secured access to its port.
The fleet returned to Nanjing on 2 October 1407. After accompanying the fleet during the return journey, the foreign envoys (from Calicut, Quilon, Semudera, Aru, Malacca, and other unspecified nations) visited the Ming court to pay homage and present tribute with their local products. The Yongle Emperor ordered the Ministry of Rites, whose duties included the protocol concerning foreign ambassadors, to prepare gifts for the foreign kings who had sent envoys to the court.
Second voyage
The imperial order for the second voyage was issued in October 1407. The edict was addressed to Zheng He, Wang Jinghong, and Hou Xian (侯顯). Lang Ying's Qixiuleigao (七修類稿) records that Zheng, Wang, and Hou were dispatched in 1407. The Taizong Shilu records that Zheng and others went as envoys to the countries of Calicut, Malacca, Semudera, Aru, Jiayile, Java, Siam, Champa, Cochin, Abobadan, Quilon, Lambri, and Ganbali.
On 30 October 1407, a grand director was dispatched with a squadron to Champa before Zheng followed with the main body of the treasure fleet. The fleet departed in the fifth year of the Yongle reign (late 1407 or possibly early 1408). The fleet traveled from Nanjing to Liujiagang to Changle. Then it sailed to Champa; Siam; Java; Malacca; Semudera, Aru, and Lambri on Sumatra; Jiayile, Abobadan, Ganbali, Quilon, Cochin, and Calicut in India. Dreyer (2007) states that it is possible that Siam and Java were visited by the fleet or by detached squadrons before regrouping at Malacca. During this voyage, the fleet did not land on Ceylon. The fleet was tasked to carry out the formal investiture of Mana Vikraan as the King of Calicut. A tablet was placed in Calicut to commemorate the relationship between China and India.
In this voyage, the Chinese forcibly settled the enmity between Ming China and Java. In a civil war on Java between 1401 and 1406, the King of West Java killed 170 members of a Chinese embassy who had come ashore in his rival's territory at East Java. The entry dated to 23 October 1407 in the Ming Shilu states that the Western King of Java had sent an envoy to the Ming court to admit his guilt for mistakenly killing 170 Ming troops who had gone ashore to trade. It further states that the Ming court responded by demanding 60,000 liang of gold for compensation and atonement, warning that they would dispatch an army to punish the Javanese ruler for his crime if he failed to comply and stating that the situation in Annam (referring to Ming China's successful invasion of Vietnam) could serve as an example. The Chinese accepted the payment and apology, and restored diplomatic relations. Yan Congjian's Shuyu Zhouzilu notes that the emperor later forgave 50,000 liang of gold that was still owed from this as long as the western ruler was remorseful for his crime. Tan (2005) remarks that Zheng had submitted the case of the killings to the emperor for a decision, rather than undertake a military invasion in revenge, as the killings were not willful. The Chinese would use further voyages to keep surveillance over Java.
During the journey, as recorded by Fei Xin, the fleet visited the Pulau Sembilan in the Strait of Malacca in the seventh year of the Yongle reign (1409). Dreyer (2007) concludes that the stop was made during the return journey of the second voyage as the fleet did not leave the Chinese coast for the third voyage until early 1410. Fei wrote that "In the seventh year of Yongle, Zheng He and his associates sent government troops onto the island to cut incense. They obtained six logs, each eight or nine chi in diameter and six or seven zhang in length, whose aroma was pure and far-ranging. The pattern [of the wood] was black, with fine lines. The people of the island opened their eyes wide and stuck out their tongues in astonishment, and were told that 'We are the soldiers of the Heavenly Court, and our awe-inspiring power is like that of the gods.'" The fleet returned to Nanjing in the summer of 1409.