It’s another of those cherished myths–that Ming Dynasty explorer Zheng He made his way as far as the coasts of North America and Europe. It does a lot for Chinese national pride and it has certainly made Gavin Menzies a well-known and wealthy author. He’s become something of a strawman in China history circles, but Menzies’ theories do have support in some quarters, especially from Liu Gang, owner of a map (right) that supposedly proves Zheng He surveyed the wide world. (Though it should be noted that the authenticity of that map is also hotly disputed.)
The problem with all of this is that nasty old preference by most historians for actual documented evidence as opposed to speculation and, in this case, outright fantasy. (See related links here, here, and here.)
Fortunately, serious historians have one of China’s foremost historical myth debunkers, Ge Jianxiong, on their side. In today’s China Daily, Professor Ge weighs in on the Zheng He “debate.”
“Menzies’ logic in the whole book is wrong. How could he draw the conclusion that the world’s geographic knowledge must have come from Zheng He’s fleet since Europeans did not have the knowledge at that time? He ignores the