Basking in reflected glory

Some historians who have examined centuries-old navigational charts stored in Europe, even believe his ships reached the Americas.

Today the people of Jinning have chosen to erect a statue commemorating their most famous son, not set against the backdrop of the mighty oceans, but Dianchi Lake, or as it was known in olden times, Kunyang Ocean. Navigational charts in hand, Zheng He's sculpture stands braced to move on.

He might be somewhat miffed if he could see the setting his home town saw fitting. But to the locals of this inland area, a lake Dianchi was enormous centuries ago is an ocean.

Xu Keming, a researcher on Zheng He, said evidence suggests he spent his childhood along the shores of Dianchi Lake. No doubt its vast expanse spawned his later seafaring dreams.

In the 15th century, Kunyang Ocean had a circumference of 500 li (250 kilometres). Today that has shrunk to around 300 li or 150 kilometres.

Unlike their ancestor, who faced the challenges of uncharted seas and the threat of pirates, today the people of Jinning spend most of their time pondering how to earn a decent living.

In the Zheng He Memorial Hall, Jinning, a model rests on a rectangular table in the exhibition hall gathering dust.

Locals explain it represented plans to build an Arabian Nights Amusement Park, one in which every major place Zheng He visited would be crammed in, in miniature. Strolling around Jinning County, the thing that strikes are the many factories with dilapidated signboards and a sense of the crestfallen.

On a bulletin board in the main street, a plastered article cut from newspaper has the headline: "To Make Known Jinning the Birthplace of Zheng He!"

After 600 years, Zheng He's town fellows are at pains to convey one simple fact: Zheng He was born in Jinning.

Editor: Maggie