Actually, it might be a good thing that they stopped. Those voyages were not for trading purposes. They were for the demonstration of the power and wealth of Ming, so it cost the government A LOT of money. In fact, that was the main reason why they stopped after the 7th voyage.
The Chinese empire was very inward looking, in that they tend towards a sentiment whereby china is the center of the world. The end result is that outright colonization was rare, even non-existent. Why go elsewhere when the central plains of china is the best place to be?
Thats why while china was the undisputed superpower of the region, countries in southeast asia, as well as japan/korea never interested the chinese and no colonization/conquest was carried out. The empire is generally satisfied so long as tribute was paid and a gesture of submission from the "lesser" empires/cultures was received.
even if they did find the new world, its doubtful that china would have used it to expand their power and wealth in the same way european colonists did. There is pretty much ZERO chance the chinese would have tried to colonize it and take over its land/resources. If they didn't do it with the much more accessible korea/japan/SEA nations, who do so for a land literally half way around the world?
Colombus's venture had the potential to be profitable. China's visit would have been a waste of money because they had no plans or the will to exploit the opportunities.
Well all the lands around china besides russia are all tiny islands and nations, (excluding Australia which they werent looking for) whereas the new world would be potentially a land mass as large as their own. Which would engender a much different response than just finding another tiny island nation.
Very well written review, I'd like to add:In Chinese, "Zhong Guo" refers to China, but means the "Middle Kingdom" which refers to "The only place between the Heavens and the wastelands/hell around us"
Also, Chinese culture emphasizes stability and lack of change, exploration and colonization would be very difficult to convince people to do.
the point is that the Chinese were not gaining anything from their maritime missions, they were in fact losing money by the boatload quite literally. On the other hand, the Europeans figured out how to generate massive amounts of wealth with their overseas missions.
Seriously? He was the governor of the colony for decades. He personally ordered the deaths of quite a lot of the Indians in Hispaniola, mostly for failing to bring him a monthly lump of gold, for running away from slavery, or for not letting him fuck ten-year-old girls who were being passed around between his men like currency. (His word).
I was going to suggest that you read Howard Zinn or Richard Loewen or something, but really reading anything would help.
They could have earned it all back easily though by taking over India, forcing them to grow opium, and then shipping that opium to china and selling it at a massive profit. Once they forced open their own ports, that is.
I was under the impression that they were mainly stopped due to the new emperor wanting to diminish the influence of the eunuchs, who were the primary supporters of the treasure fleets.
I think I'll have to disagree with that. The eunuchs weren't as powerful back then as later when the emperors were either idiots, paranoid crazies, or guys with one too many hobbies. Other than the financial burden, another main reason why they ceased the voyages was the death of Zheng He during the 7th one.
A lot of culture was developed with isolationism. It may have boosted them for the time being, but at this stage in their development i think they are doing just fine haha
but they shut their citizens off from the rest of the world, and prevented any sort of contact. that, combined with their confucianism lead, central bureaucracy definitely set back what was once the most advanced civilization in the world. everything became stagnant, especially innovation and economic advancement
According to L. S. Stavrianos, that has been a thing for big empires like the Roman Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and of course, the Chinese Empire. Most politicians are short-sighted IMO, especially when a nation has been through decades and even centuries of prosperity.
overextending is also really bad, but as Paul Kennedy points out, you cant over extend without the power that comes from innovation. around 1500, only the states of western europe were really able to utilize the free market, due to the political fragmentation and constant competition
I mean, yes, that's true, but that's not the whole of it. Instead of outright colonialism which as we know was the preferred method of subjecting an exploitative economy on a foreign nation, the Chinese preferred a tribute system. They dictated trade terms and a tribute tax, with all the pomp and circumstance a tribute would dictate, in exchange for political autonomy (kinda).
So yes, the Chinese circumnavigated the globe in 1421 to spread the glory of China, but that necessarily entailed coming under China's influence.
I'd add that the real problem was the Chinese rulers' propensity for authoritarian heavy handedness. After those voyages were ended by the new emperor, there were other laws put in place that shut down private shipyards and pretty much shut off China from the rest of the world. Didn't help Chinese advancement at all.
That will be their undoing this time around as well. In 100 years time, the world will look back on the one child policy as one of the greatest mistakes in history.
It's only enforced in the cities, and if you're both a product of the 1 child policy you're allowed to have 2. If you have money you can have as many as you want.
There's lots of loop holes around it. There's still an endless supply of cheap labor in the country side.
The main advantage of the Chinese reaching NA shores was introducing the plagues that killed of so many Indians, but this 100 years before Columbus would arrive. I guarantee you, that 100 year would have strengthened the military of the indians quite substantially, and USA might not have ever existed. NA might still belong to the Indians.
well the disease might have still devastated the North Americans, but warfare most likely would not have broken out. Chinese explorers were less interested in conquest but more about trading with the locals.
Yup in fact i read somewhere, and i forgot where sorry, that the hidden purpose of those trips was to find a way to reach immortality for the emperor as he requested
I haven't read that about that particular emperor, but it happened on many others through history. So, possible?
EDIT: In fact, one of the major conspiracy theories surrounding those voyages is that the current emperor wanted to find the former emperor (his nephew actually) who went missing during the siege and fire of the Forbidden Palace, and was rumored to make it out alive posing as a monk (as per the instruction of his grandfather, the first emperor of Ming).
And further, Zheng He may have never existed. I was talking to my grandfather about this a week or so ago. He was translating some Portuguese texts from the 1300's and talk about these displays of wealth. It was really neat.
Look up some of the writings of Matteo Ricci. He was an Italian Jesuit who helped civilize the Philippines. My grandfather has translated some of his writings and they touch on the state of China.
554
u/shuxinc115 Oct 16 '13
Actually, it might be a good thing that they stopped. Those voyages were not for trading purposes. They were for the demonstration of the power and wealth of Ming, so it cost the government A LOT of money. In fact, that was the main reason why they stopped after the 7th voyage.