Wikipedia

Chinese exploration

Chinese explorationincludes exploratoryChinesetravels abroad, on land and by sea, from the travels ofHan dynastydiplomatZhang QianintoCentral Asiaduring the 2nd century BC until theMing dynastytreasure voyagesof the 15th century that crossed theIndian Oceanand reached as far asEast Africa.

Land exploration

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Pamir Mountains and beyond

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Further information:History of the Han dynasty,Sino-Roman relations,andDaqin
Countries described inZhang Qian's report (visited countries are highlighted in blue).

TheWestern HanenvoyZhang Qiantraveled beyond theTarim Basinin the 2nd century BC, introducing the Chinese to the kingdoms ofCentral Asia,Hellenized Persia,India,and theMiddle Eastin search of allies against theXiongnu.

From 104 to 102 BC,Emperor Wu of Hanwaged war against the "Yuezhi"who controlled"Dayuan",aHellenizedkingdom ofFerganaestablished byMacedoniankingAlexander the Greatin 329 BC. Emperor Wu also expanded Han territories beyond theGansu corridorinto theWestern Regions,in what is nowXinjiang.Han military control of the region was established with theProtectorate of the Western Regions,but the Tarim Basin states were only loosely under Han control astributary vassalson the western frontier.

In 97 AD,Gan Ying,the emissary ofEastern HanGeneralBan Chao,traveled as far as thePersian Gulfin theParthian Empire,but was deterred by his Parthian hosts who falsely informed him that the journey to theRoman Empirenecessitated an arduous trip around theArabian Peninsula.[1]Nevertheless, he returned to the Han court with a report describingthe Mediterraneancivilization ofancient Rome(called "Daqin"inChinese historiography).[1]After these initial discoveries, the focus of Chinese exploration shifted to themaritimesphere, although theSilk Roadleading all the way toEuropecontinued to be China's most lucrative source of trade.

The pilgrimage of the Buddhist monkXuanzangfromChang'antoNalandain India not only greatly increased the knowledge ofBuddhism in China– returning more than 650 texts including theHeartand thePerfection of Wisdom Sutras– and inspired the immensely influential novelJourney to the West,but it also led to Xuanzang's publication of theGreat Tang Records on the Western Regions,a text which introduced China to Indian cities such as the port ofCalicutand recorded many details of 7th-century Bengal for posterity.

Maritime exploration

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South China Sea

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Before the advent of the Chinese-invented mariner'scompassin the 11th century, the seasonalmonsoonwinds controlled navigation, blowing north from the equatorial zone in the summer and south in the winter.[2]This most likely accounts for the ease with whichNeolithictravelers from mainland China were able to settle on the island ofTaiwanin prehistoric times.[2]After defeating the last of theWarring Statesand consolidating an empire overChina proper,the Chinese navy of theQin dynastyperiod (221–206 BC) assisted the land-borne invasion ofGuangzhouand northernVietnam.(Called firstJiaozhiand thenAnnan,[2]the northern half of Vietnam would not become fully independent fromChinese ruleuntil AD 938.) In 1975, an ancient shipyard excavated in Guangzhou was dated to the earlyHan dynasty(202 BC – AD 220) and, with three platforms, was able to construct ships that were approximately 30 m (98 ft) in length, 8 m (26 ft) in width, and could hold a weight of 60 metric tons.[3]

During theThree Kingdoms,travelers fromEastern Wuare known to have explored the coast. The most important were Zhu Ying andKang Tai,both sent by the Governor of Guangzhou and JiaozhiLü Daiin the early 3rd century. Although each wrote a book, both were lost by the 11th century: Zhu'sRecord of the Curiosities ofPhnom(tPhù nam dị vật chí,sPhù nam dị vật chí,Fúnán Yìwù Zhì) in its entirety and Kang'sTales of Foreign Countries During the Wu Period(tNgô thời ngoại quốc truyện,sNgô thời ngoại quốc truyện,Wúshí Wàiguó Zhuàn) only surviving in scattered references in other works,[4]including theShuijing Zhuand theYiwen Leiju.[5]

Later, during theEastern Jin,a rebel known as Lu Xun managed to fend off an attack by the imperial army for a hundred days in 403 before sailing down into theSouth China Seafrom a coastal commandery. For six years, he occupiedPanyu,the largest southern seaport of that time.[6]

Southeast Asia

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Between the 15th and 18th centuries, much ofSoutheast Asiawas explored by Chinese merchants. Some parts of Malaysia were settled by Chinese families at this time, and Chinese garrisons established[7]Similarly, some Chinese traders settled in north Java in the 1400s, and after China legitimized foreign trade again in 1567 (licensing 50 junks a year), hundreds of Chinese trade colonies developed in what is now Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.[8]

Indian Ocean and beyond

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See also:Ming treasure voyages
ASong dynastyjunkship, 13th century; Chinese ships of the Song period featuredhullswithwatertight compartments

Chinese envoys sailed into theIndian Oceanfrom the late 2nd century BC, and reportedly reachedKanchipuramin India, known asHuangzhi( hoàng chi ) to them,[9][10]or otherwiseEthiopiaas asserted by Ethiopian scholars.[11]During the late 4th and early 5th centuries, Chinese pilgrims likeFaxian,Zhiyan, and Tanwujie began to travel toIndiaby sea, bringing Buddhist scriptures andsutrasback to China.[12]By the 7th century, as many as 31 recorded Chinese monks, includingI Ching,managed to reach India the same way. In 674, the private explorer Daxi Hongtong was one of the first explorers to end his journey at the southern tip of theArabian Peninsula,after traveling through 36 countries which were located west of theSouth China Sea.[13]

Chinese seafaring merchants and diplomats who lived during the medievalTang dynasty(618–907) andSong dynasty(960–1279) often sailed into the Indian Ocean after visiting ports in Southeast Asia. Chinese sailors would travel toMalaya,India, Sri Lanka, into thePersian Gulfand up theEuphratesRiver in modern-dayIraq,to theArabianpeninsula and into theRed Sea,stopping to trade goods in Ethiopia andEgypt(as Chineseporcelainwas highly valued in oldFustat,Cairo).[14] Jia DanwroteRoute between Guangzhou and the Barbarian Seaduring the late 8th century that documented foreign communications, the book was lost, but theXin Tangshuretained some of his passages about the three sea-routes linking China toEast Africa.[15]Jia Dan also wrote about talllighthouseminaretsin thePersian Gulf,which were confirmed a century later byAli al-Masudiandal-Muqaddasi.[16]Beyond the initial work of Jia Dan, other Chinese writers accurately described Africa from the 9th century onwards; For example,Duan Chengshiwrote in 863 of theslave trade,ivory trade,andambergristrade ofBerbera,Somalia.[17]Seaportsin China such asGuangzhouandQuanzhou– the mostcosmopolitanurban centers in the medieval world – hosted thousands of foreign travelers and permanent settlers. Chinesejunkships were even described by the Moroccan geographerAl-Idrisiin hisGeographyof 1154, along with the usual goods they traded and carried aboard their vessels.[18]

Agiraffebrought fromSomaliain the twelfth year of Yongle (1414)

From 1405 to 1433, large fleets commanded by AdmiralZheng He– under the auspices of theYongle Emperorof theMing dynasty–traveled to the Indian Ocean seven times.This attempt did not lead China to global expansion, as the Confucian bureaucracy under the next emperor reversed the policy of open exploration and by 1500, it became a capital offence to build a seagoing junk with more than two masts.[19]Chinese merchants became content trading with already existing tributary states nearby and abroad. To them, traveling far east into thePacific Oceanrepresented entering a broad wasteland of water with uncertain benefits of trade.

Exchanges

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Main articles:Foreign relations of Imperial China,Sino-Roman relations,Europeans in Medieval China,andSogdia
See also:Tang dynasty,History of the Song dynasty,andIslam during the Song dynasty

Chinese Muslimstraditionally credit the Muslim travelerSa`d ibn Abi Waqqaswith introducingIslam to Chinain 650, during the reign ofEmperor Gaozong of Tang,[20][21]although modern secular scholars did not find any historical evidence for him actually travelling to China.[22]In 1008 theFatimidEgyptian sea-captainDomiyat,in the name of his rulingImamAl-Hakim bi-Amr Allah,travelled to the Buddhist pilgrimage-site inShandongin order to seek outEmperor Zhenzong of Songwith gifts from his court.[23]This reestablished diplomatic ties between China and Egypt which had been broken since theFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdomsperiod (907–960).[23]The tradeembassyof the Indian rulerKulothunga Chola Ito the court ofEmperor Shenzong of Songin 1077 proved an economic benefactor for both empires.[24]

Technique

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In China, the invention of thestern-mountedrudderappeared as early as the 1st century AD, allowing for bettersteeringthan using the power ofoarsmen.TheCao WeiKingdom engineer and inventorMa Jun(c. 200–265 AD) built the firstsouth-pointing chariot,a complex mechanical device that incorporated adifferentialgear in order to navigate on land, and (as one 6th century text alludes) by sea as well.[25][26]Much later the Chinese polymath scientistShen Kuo(1031–1095 AD) was the first to describe themagneticneedle-compass,along with its usefulness for accurate navigation by discovering the concept oftrue north.[27][28]In hisPingzhou Table Talksof 1119 AD the Song dynasty maritime authorZhu Yudescribed the use ofseparate bulkhead compartmentsin thehullsof Chinese ships.[29]This allowed for water-tight conditions and ability of a ship not to sink if one part of the hull became damaged.[29]

See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ^abCrespigny (2007), pp. 239–240.
  2. ^abcFairbank, 191.
  3. ^Wang (1982), 122.
  4. ^Hsu Yun-ts'iao. "Notes Relating to Admiral Cheng Ho's Expeditions"inAdmiral Zheng He & Southeast Asia.Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005. Accessed 18 Oct 2012.
  5. ^Sun 1989, pp. 191–193
  6. ^Sun 1989, p. 201
  7. ^Wong Tze Ken, Danny (2016)."Early Chinese Presence in Malaysia as Reflected by three Cemeteries (17th-19th c.)".Archipel(92): 9–21.doi:10.4000/archipel.280.
  8. ^Reid, Anthony (1999), "Chinese and Southeast Asian interactions", in Pan, Lynn,The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas,Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 51–53,ISBN978-0-674-25210-3.
  9. ^Sun 1989, pp. 161–167
  10. ^Chen 2002, pp. 67–71
  11. ^A Chinese in the Nubian and Abyssinian Kingdoms (8th century),Wolbert Smidt.
  12. ^Sun 1989, pp. 220–221
  13. ^Sun 1989, pp. 316–321
  14. ^Bowman, 104–105.
  15. ^Sun, pp. 310–314
  16. ^Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 661.
  17. ^Levathes, 38.
  18. ^Shen, 159–161.
  19. ^ Ronan, Colin; Needham, Joseph (1986),The shorter Science and Civilisation in China,vol. 3, C.U.P., p. 147
  20. ^Wang, Lianmao (2000).Return to the City of Light: Quanzhou, an eastern city shining with the splendour of medieval culture.Fujian People's Publishing House. p. 99.
  21. ^ Lipman, Jonathan Neaman (1997).Familiar strangers: a history of Muslims in Northwest China.University of Washington Press. p. 29.ISBN962-209-468-6.
  22. ^Lipman, p. 25
  23. ^abShen, 158.
  24. ^Sastri, 173, 316.
  25. ^Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 40.
  26. ^Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 287–288
  27. ^Bowman, 599.
  28. ^Sivin, III, 22.
  29. ^abNeedham, Volume 4, Part 3, 463.

Sources

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  • Bowman, John S. (2000).Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture.New York: Columbia University Press.
  • Chen, Yan (2002).Maritime Silk Route and Chinese-Foreign Cultural Exchanges.Beijing: Peking University Press.ISBN7-301-03029-0.
  • de Crespigny, Rafe(2007).A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23–220 AD).Leiden: Koninklijke Brill.ISBN978-90-04-15605-0.
  • Fairbank, John King and Merle Goldman (1992). China: A New History; Second Enlarged Edition (2006). Cambridge: MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.ISBN0-674-01828-1
  • Levathes (1994).When China Ruled the Seas.New York: Simon & Schuster.ISBN0-671-70158-4.
  • Needham, Joseph (1986).Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering.Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.
  • Needham, Joseph (1986).Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics.Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.
  • Sastri, Nilakanta, K.A. The CōĻas, University of Madras, Madras, 1935 (Reprinted 1984).
  • Shen, Fuwei (1996).Cultural flow between China and the outside world.Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.ISBN7-119-00431-X.
  • Sivin, Nathan (1995).Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections.Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing.
  • Sun, Guangqi (1989).History of Navigation in Ancient China.Beijing: Ocean Press.ISBN7-5027-0532-5.
  • Wang, Zhongshu. (1982).Han Civilization.Translated by K.C. Chang and Collaborators. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.ISBN0-300-02723-0.
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