Information 7: Why Chinese and Western voyages have different results
Zheng He's voyages to the West were an unprecedented large-scale voyage in Chinese history. It has been 600 years since then. 87 years after Zheng He's voyages, Westerners also began to carry out large-scale voyages. However, large-scale voyages between China and the West
The results or social impacts of the activities were quite different: Zheng He's navigation activities were later dismissed as "bad policies" due to their huge cost. As time went by, their impact became only a historical event recorded in textbooks; while in the West,
The navigation activities of Columbus, Magellan and others discovered a "new world", which promoted the development of colonies, science and trade, and has continued since then, affecting the political and economic structure of the entire world today.
Why do Chinese and Western navigation activities lead to such different results?
Different results of Chinese and Western voyages
In June of the third year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1405), Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty sent Zheng He, the "Three Treasures Eunuch", to lead more than 27,800 people in 62 large ships, departing from Liujiahe, Suzhou, on an envoy to the West. Zheng He led the fleets to Champa (today's Zhancheng).
Southern Vietnam), Java, Old Port (now the southeastern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia), Mancajia, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), Guri (now the southwest coast of India) and other places, did not return until October 1407. After that
, Zheng He made six more missions to the West, reaching as far as Shuguo, the capital of Africa (today's date of receipt: 2005-09-25, Mogadishu, Somalia). Zheng He made seven missions to the West, which lasted 28 years (
1405-1433), is an earth-shattering feat in the history of human navigation.
In 1492, 87 years after Zheng He's first voyage to the West, Columbus, a native of Genoa, finally persuaded the King of Spain to agree to fund his voyage across the Atlantic. So Columbus led 3 ships and 87 sailors to sail in 1492
It set sail from the Port of Barros, Spain on August 3, 2011. After 70 days of long and arduous sailing, the "new land" - San Salvador (the "Savior") was finally discovered on October 12 of the same year. Since then, it has been discovered one after another.
Cuba, Haiti and other new lands. Perhaps encouraged by this successful voyage, Columbus made three more transatlantic voyages in 1493, 1498, and 1502, and successively discovered Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Costa Rica, Panama and other places.
Columbus's major discovery of the new sea route stimulated the Portuguese to resume sailing around Africa to India along Dias's route (because Columbus mistakenly believed that the place he arrived was India in the east). On August 7, 1497, Vasco da Gama's
The fleet set out from Restello Port in Lisbon, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, crossed the Indian Ocean, and arrived in India in 1498. In 1519, the Portuguese Magellan, with the support of the King of Spain, undertook the first circumnavigation of the world in human history.
He led 5 ships with a crew of 265 people, first crossed the Atlantic Ocean, then sailed south along the coast of the South American continent, passed through the Strait of Magellan, entered the Pacific Ocean, and arrived at the Philippine Islands. In the Philippine Islands, Magellan was killed by the indigenous people because of his intervention in local tribal disputes.
Killed. The remaining two ships continued to sail westward under the leadership of his assistant Carnot, passed through the Strait of Malacca, passed through the Indian Ocean, and returned to Spain on September 7, 1522. At this time, there were only 1 ship and 18 people left.
crew.
At this point, mankind has finally realized the dream of sailing around the world, and it has also been proved that the earth is indeed a ball.
Although both Chinese and Westerners have carried out large-scale navigation activities, and the scale, number of people, treasures and cargo carried by Zheng He's fleet in China are beyond the reach of Westerners, today it seems that Zheng He's voyages
The results (or subsequent influence) produced are far less than those of Westerners. Although Zheng He's voyages to the West expanded the Chinese people's world geographical horizons, enhanced international exchanges, trade exchanges and cultural exchanges with many countries in Asia and Africa, and in
It has greatly improved China's international prestige in the world, but these positive effects did not last long. Because Zheng He's seven voyages to the West consumed a lot of manpower, material and financial resources of the country, many people accused him of wasting people and wasting money.
Shortly after the move, "the emperor issued an order prohibiting the construction of ocean-going ships, and then issued an order prohibiting the retention of sailing ships with more than two masts. From then on, the crew had to work as laborers on small boats in the Grand Canal. Zheng He's warships rotted due to being laid up
"[1].
"Therefore, Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean became an unprecedented feat in the history of ancient Chinese navigation, and also became the last glory in the history of ancient Chinese transportation."[2]. In this way, in just a few decades, China's navigation industry has gone from its peak to its peak.
It declined rapidly, and the door that had just been opened to the world was closed again. The positive impact of Zheng He's voyages to the Western Ocean gradually became smaller and smaller. It "did not and could not trigger the transformation of Europe like Columbus's discovery of the New World."
"Similar structural social changes leading to capitalism" [3]. What is even more regrettable is that Zheng He's heroic voyages to the West not only did not become the motivation to inspire the Chinese to continue to engage in larger-scale maritime undertakings, but also became the reason for the implementation of isolation from the country.
The good reason is that sailing is too expensive, wastes people and money, and is completely unnecessary. In sharp contrast, the voyage completed by Columbus across the Atlantic and discovering the New World not only directly stimulated the sailing activities of Vasco da Gama and Magellan
, thereby completing the first circumnavigation of the world in human history, irrefutably proving that the earth is indeed a ball, and since then, the West has entered a new era of navigation, and has gradually and forcefully moved all parts of the world
Countries are connected together.
The British invaded Australia at the end of the 18th century, and in 1840 the British used gunboats to open the closed door of China. This is an example of this.
It is not difficult to understand that Westerners' global navigation activities have not only greatly promoted trade around the world and made the connections between various parts of the world closer and closer, but more importantly, Westerners have "uncovered" what they discovered.
"New World" (first the entire America, and then the entire Australia and New Zealand) forcibly claimed and "transformed" them as their own homeland, thereby greatly expanding the geography and sphere of influence of the Western world. In this way, on today's world map
In the world, about 1 billion Westerners not only occupy almost all of Europe, all of North America, all of Australia and New Zealand, but most of the large and small islands in the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Atlantic Ocean are also owned by Westerners.
In addition, large-scale navigation activities in the West have significantly promoted the development of the shipbuilding industry and the study of geodesy, and have also accumulated rich perceptual materials for marine geography, geology, and biology. In fact, Columbus's "Navigation El"
The Chronicle is very rich in content and has been called "one of the most touching documents in the era of geographical discovery". It provides valuable original information for future generations to study the maritime geography and navigation technology history of the West Indies, the Atlantic Ocean, and Central and South America.[4]
Columbus also described the Sargasso Sea in detail for the first time. Later, it was on this basis that people began to conduct scientific investigations and research on the Sargasso Sea. If the naturalist Darwin had not taken the "Beagle" warship for a long
It was impossible to write the masterpiece "The Origin of Species" after five years of investigating biological species. In short, starting from Columbus's transatlantic voyage, Westerners began to regard navigation as a major undertaking, and it has never been completed.
Intermittent. It was this continuous navigation activity that, on the one hand, led to the "Geographical Discovery" and promoted connections, integration and exchanges around the world, thus changing the political and economic structure of the entire world. On the other hand, it also greatly promoted
Research and development in surveying, oceanography, geology, and biology.