| Do you believe that Chinese circumnavigated the world in 1421? | |
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| Mar 26, 2007 01:36 | #11   |
 | Checking the boat. |
| Mar 26, 2007 01:41 | #12 |
| The model are just like the real one. The window can be opened! |
| Mar 26, 2007 01:43 | #13 |
| The smaller boat on Bao Chuan. |
| Mar 26, 2007 05:26 | #14 |
| Fair enough. I agree that evidence is the ultimate test. But everything has to begin as a theory. So who knows..maybe the evidence will turn up. Personally I think there is a better than even chance of that happening. Despite your scepticism Chris I think you would find the book an interesting read. On the Flores find, I heard the people who are involved in the dig talking on the radio the other day. They seem quite convinced now that these are really a totally different human species. I think it's still early days though and I guess the interpretation of the eveidence will take time to resolve. May...nice pics of the Sailing vessels. They look like very seaworthy vessels indeed, and if the steps are a way of judging size they are a lot bigger than I had thought. |
| Mar 26, 2007 06:57 | #15 |
| Excellent pics of the vessels. If only the Ming Dynasty hadn't fallen prey to those officials who opposed exploration. It would've given Europe quite a shock to see ships like that arriving off the coast! Yeah, I've heard the people who discovered the Hobbits were convinced they'd found a new species, but there are still competing explanations. Early days, definitely, and scepticism and healthy debate are part of the scientific process. Now if Gavin Menzies can come up with some proper evidence, we'll find ourselves in a very interesting debate indeed. For the record, whenever the subject comes up (and it's amazing how Eurocentric my students' knowledge of history is! I always have to remind them of Zheng He!) I tell my students "It is possible Zheng He sailed to NZ and a variety of other places, but there's no firm evidence yet, so we can only say that he explored South East and South Asia and the east coasts of Africa and Arabia, and may have visited other places, too." |
| Mar 26, 2007 20:07 | #16 |
| It is said that there are some culture relics about Chinese excavated in US. And people believe it might be an evidence to show that Zheng He sailed to US. Anyone heard this?? |
| Mar 27, 2007 05:16 | #17 |
| Hi BBQQ. I personally think that this is quite probable. Chris would probably disagree but thats what makes forums like this interesting. If you get a chance to read the book that has been the subject of this thread there are some interesting issues raised in it. It has been said that Captain Cook was using maps when he first explored Australian and other Pacific areas. It begs the question as to who made these maps? Maybe Chinese navigators who had been there a long time before?? Maybe we will never know, but it is interesting to speculate. I would take a guess that early explorers of the US may have had similar "Old" maps. |
| Mar 27, 2007 18:55 | #18 |
| As a sailor who once considered sailing across the Pacific alone, I am certain the Zheng He voyage is a possibility. However, sailing to the east coast of the US and Canada does not seem as likely to me as sailing to the west coast. Getting to the west coast of Canada or the United States could be simple coastal sailing until you are there. Setting off into a vast ocean not knowing if there was something on the other side of it is certainly a mind boggling plan. Even with the experience of circumnavigating the Pacific on a small ship under my belt and knowing for a fact that there was land on the other side, the Pacific looked too big for my 26 foot sailboat...now if I had had a 30 footer... Those old sailors were something else! |
| Mar 27, 2007 21:16 | #19 |
| Well Griz, the problem with Gavin Menzies' claims are that they are entirely possible, but there's a definite lack of evidence. Remember that Zheng He's baochuan were so large that Columbus' entire flotilla, boat and crew, could've been comfortable housed on one, with plenty of room left over. As for the navigation skills required, remember that the ancient Polynesians at that time had colonised pretty much the entire Pacific and had even begun settling as far south as New Zealand- and they were going on knowledge of the stars and oral traditions perhaps backed up by nothing more than woven representations of the stars. And their waka were tiny in comparison to even Columbus' boats. Of course, to get to the east coast of the America's would have required rounding either Cape Horn or the Cape of Good Hope, which are still dangerous even in this day and age. |
| Mar 29, 2007 17:54 | #20 |
| Hey Chris, maybe the Chinese found the 'North East passage' !!!! (To others: It was a big thing to find the 'north west passage' from Europe through the arctic through Canada to the west coast of America and to Asia. So I am light heartedly joking with Chris that he left out a possibility) |
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