Zheng He: recording the great era for maritime explorations

Zheng He, a 96-minute long large-scale documentary, was recently finished by Sun TV, right before the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's first voyage consisting of more than 300 ships and 28,000 sailors. Done in an epic style, the documentary is an elaborate work of great momentum.

While Christopher Columbus' great discovery opened a new epoch for human beings in the 15th century, Zheng He, a Chinese navigator, had sailed to the sea seven times from China's Yangtze River to West Asia, Africa, and Australia some 80 years before that.

The documentary truthfully reflects on how Zheng He's fleets sailed to the ocean with tremendous enthusiasm and much imagination. Despite veering away from the charted course, harsh storms, avitaminosis (a condition resulting from vitamin deficiencies), and tropical diseases, Zheng He still led the fleets through all the hardships with incredible endurance, reaching one strange port after another.

With abundant historical facts, the documentary demonstrates it was Zheng He who opened the great of era of maritime exploration for human beings. Zheng He successively built bases in some of the important hubs like Malacca and Ormus, connecting the sea route from the Far East to West Asia. Some experts think that the "map of the world" Columbus used was the nautical chart Zheng He drew.

Noticeably, the documentary for the first time introduced Zhu Di, the ambitious emperor at the time who wanted to build a global trade system centered on China.

Although 600 years have elapsed since Zheng He's voyages, people's research toward it has never ceased. At the juncture of the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's first voyage, Zheng He fever has spread all over the world, with the film's shooting spanning over dozens of countries and regions.

With an investment of nearly a million yuan, the documentary employs the elite of China's TV circle. Famous scholar Zhu Dake wrote the script, which incorporates the most recent of research achievements from both China and abroad.