Each Saturday I tutor a high school student from China. Recently we were talking about how in the Middle Ages people in Europe thought the earth was flat. Tony, my student, told me that in old China, too, people thought that the earth was flat and if you traveled far enough you would come to where the sky and earth meet.
Then I brought up Magellan, and how in 1522 he circumnavigated the globe. Then my student told me about Zheng He. He was a Chinese mariner, diplomat and explorer during the Ming Dynasty. A century before Magellan, he led seven expeditions ranging from the South China Sea to East Africa.
What was remarkable about Zheng He’s voyages were the number and nature of the ships in his fleet, as many as 300. Besides war and cargo ships, these included huge “treasure” ships 400 feet long, loaded with silver, silk and spices for the countries he visited. The crew, up to 27,000 on the larger expeditions, included people from all aspects of society: military, religious, builders, doctors, accountants and interpreters.
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Like a floating city, these armadas anchored in ports throughout the South China Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. As admiral and ambassador, Zheng He established diplomatic and economic ties, as well as military dominance of the Ming empire.
What surprised me most about Zheng He, however, is that I had never heard of him. Of course I knew about Columbus and Magellan, but Zheng He? How could I, a professor, be so ignorant about such an amazing figure in world history? I realized that although I have a pretty good grasp on the history of Europe and the Americas, I am woefully ignorant about Asia. In short, I have grown up in a Euro-centric world.
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It occurred to me that, in a way, we in the Western World still think the earth is flat. We think the earth is flat whenever we exclude from our learning the lives and history of others. We act like the earth is flat whenever we fail to stand up for the human and civil rights of those from countries we know little of. Or when we fail to welcome newcomers and immigrants.
As has often happened in my career as a professor, and now as a tutor of a bright young man from China, the teacher was learning from the student. That’s one of the joys of my profession. My pupil’s introduction of Zheng He into our conversation spurred me to learn more. I don’t know about you, but I like when that happens.
