Sailing west sever times

   In the year 1497 , a Portuguese navigator , Vasco da Gama headed a fleet  of four ships to enter the Indian Ocean  round the Cape of Good Hope  and  arrived  in Guli  in  the south  of India,rousing cheers.But the people there told Vasco da Gama  that  " a strong  and  powerful fleet of ocean - going ships had arrived there 90 years before,and each time there were 20 to 30 large well-equipped ships in all." That was Zheng He's  fleet  of  the Ming  Dynasty  from China.The modern American  scholar,RuizLivasus concludedthe " Zheng He's fleet was incompara-ble both in China and in the world , and there was not a rival until the beginning of the First World War."
  Zheng He was born in 1371 in Kunming,Yunnan.Starting from July 11th,1405, Zheng He  headed the  fleet on  an unprecedented  scale to  sail west seven times,and this ocean-going fleet started off China ' s coast southwards and westwards  and sailed  on the seas  with mountainous - high  waves crossing thousands  upon  thousands  of miles  spreading  briliant  ancient  Chinese civilization along the course.

  It is  recorded  that Zheng He's first  sailing fleet  consisted of 27800 persons, the second sailing fleet 27000, the foruth sailing fleet 27670 and the seventh sailing fleet 27550 in all . The number of person could be said beyond comparison  if compared with  the number of 100 to 300 person on the fleets headed  by the later navigators, such as Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama , and Ferdinand  Magellan . Each  time Zheng He  organized  a fleet consisting of 100 to 200 ships  small or large  to sail west with the first sailing  in the biggest in number of 208 ships , of which 62 were seven-gem ships in large and medium sizes. The ship, which was called seven-gem ship, and was loaded with gold , silver and some other jewels, was the commanding ship. On the ship there were  four-deck splendid palace buildings with nine masts and twelve sails poking into the sky,which formed a glorious sight on the boundless seas and could be called "a city of ships".

  Zheng He's first sailing west , which was eighty-seven years earlier than the one made by Columbus , ninety-three years earlier than  the one made by Vasco da Gama, and one hundred and foruteen years earlier than the one made by Magellan , was the first ocean-going voyage  in the history of mankind . Zheng He  sailed west  seven times  going through  the unfrequented  Indian Ocean with huge waves , which switched on the charm of the design structure of  wooden  yachts  in  ancient  China  with  the  first - rate  navigating performance, which was also the miniature of science and technology as well as  comprehensive  national  strength  of  China  at that time , and  which symbolized the Chinese civilization . Zheng He's  sailing west  seven times lasted for twenty-eight years covering more than thirty countries , and had never occupied  even an inch of land belonging  to other countries ; at the same time the sailing gave an impules to the economic development in Asia , and Africa, especially in the southeastern Asian countries. People in Asia, Africa and Southeastern Asian countries regarded and worshipped Zheng He as God  of Wealth or  God of Three Treasures , and people  have never  stopped burning incenses for six hundred yeasr. Many wells,pavilians, hills,temples and cities were named after Three Treasures praising Zheng He " Carrying on the great task left over by  Zang Qian and Lu Ban and becoming a forerunner of Columbus and Magellan".
 Zheng He was the world's earliest navigator,whose sailing west seven times made three world's records : the longest-distance voyage; the most advanced ship-building technology;and the most advanced navigating technology. Zheng He's sailing west seven times showed that the sea power of China in ancient times was ranked first among the world's navigating countries.

  The modern Chinese historian  He Fangchuan a ppraised Zheng He's  sailing west as follows: " There has been communication between civilizations since the appearance of human civilization. In the whole history of communication and joining in human civilization , the Chinese civilization represented by Zheng He  in his ocean-going sailing  was the most civilized because it was the most peaceful."

The large-sized Zheng He Commmanding Ship as the reversion model