Zheng He (1371–1433): China’s Masterful Mariner and Diplomat
Ever since Gavin Menzies, a British retired naval officer, published the fictional story 1421: The Year China Discovered America, fleet admiral and diplomat Zheng He (1371–1433) has enjoyed a sort of revival as the Chinese explorer who might have circumnavigated the Earth before the age of Western exploration. I don’t know whether this is true […]
The Yongle Canon: An Ancient Repository of Knowledge
The world’s largest encyclopedia is the Yongle Canon, a vast Chinese encyclopedia compiled during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Commissioned by the Yongle Emperor, the encyclopedia is one of the most comprehensive works of its kind, containing over 22,000 volumes of texts and illustrations. Compiled over six years, the Yongle Canon is considered to be one […]