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Master mariner's genealogy comes to light
To commemorate the 600-year anniversary of the first ocean-going voyage of Zheng
He, several books are rolling off the presses of local publishing houses
here.
One book, a replica of the original genealogy of Zheng He (1371-1435), is
expected to draw great interest among historians and scholars.
It reveals, for the first time to the world, this extraordinary mariner's
family history.
It also tells how Zheng, an imperial eunuch of the Ming
Dynasty (1368-1644) adopted the son of his elder brother, as was customary
at the time.
As a result, some 350 Muslims, now scattered in Yunnan
Province in the south and Jiangsu
Province in the east, as well as Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, can
proudly claim lineage to Zheng.
The stories of his voyages are the stuff of legend. From 1405 to 1433, he
commanded huge fleets of Chinese junks in their seven journeys to Xi Yang, or
the Western Seas what we now know as the Indian Ocean to explore the great
region stretching to Africa. Some historians, including Gavin Menzies, a retired
British Royal Navy officer, believe Zheng's fleets even sailed to the Americas.
Despite Zheng's achievements, official Ming historic annals devoted only 30
characters to Zheng's family background.
And the first inkling about who Zheng's father was, emerged in the early part
of the last century when a tomb he had built for his father, Ma Hazhi, in
Kunyang County no more than 30 kilometres south of Kunming,
the provincial capital of Yunnan was discovered.
On the tombstone, Zheng had had inscribed a brief history of his own family.
His father, whose original name was Milijin, was a descendent of a Mongolian
prince of the Yuan
Dynasty (1279-1368). A devote Muslim, he had made the pilgrimage to Mecca,
and thus earned the title of Hazhi. Thereafter, Zheng's father took the name of
Ma Hazhi.
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Emissary