The Cautionary Tale of Zheng He

China should have discovered Europe, not the other way around. But it didn't. It's still paying a 600-year price for that mistake.

by Rod D. Martin
December 3, 2024

Many people are familiar with important figures from Chinese history, from Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-Shek to Lottie Moon and Hudson Taylor.

Perhaps they should pay more attention to Zheng He.

Almost a century before Columbus, from 1405 to 1433, China’s Admiral Zheng He led daring voyages of exploration throughout the East Indies, along the South Asian coast, all the way to the Arabian Peninsula and as far as Zanzibar.

He commanded 317 ships and 28,000 crewmen. Columbus’ entire fleet would have fit in the hold of his flagship. He forced nations across half the world to pay tribute to his Emperor, and his treasure ships carried fortunes back to China.

Indeed, China was then the greatest nation on Earth: vast, rich, united, and far more technologically advanced than any possible foe. By contrast, Europe was a backwater, a patchwork of warring fiefdoms, locked in the Spanish Reconquista and the Hundred Years War.

Had Zheng He continued, China would likely have …