From the SFist blog:
It was called the Princess Taiping and its mission was to complete a round trip journey from Taiwan to prove that Chinese sailors may have reached North America before Columbus. Well, sadly (but also comically), in the waters just off Taiwan, the Princess Taiping was struck by a freighter and sunk just 30 miles from the end of its 14,000 mile journey.
None of the 11-man crew was injured and the other ship barely registered the collision as anything more than an offshore speed bump…No word on whether the freighter was being skippered by one of Gavin Menzie’s many dedicated detractors. Conspiracy theories abound.
From the department of “Where have I heard this before?”: Ming Dynasty warship sunk off Taiwan:
Fro.. http://tinyurl.com/chkn5e
I read yesterday that one crew member was seriously injured (‘shattered spine’). Think it was The Telegraph.
The skipper claimed afterwards that the Liberian registered vessel had rammed the Princess Taiping deliberately. Idiot.
My favorite quote about Menzies comes from the Telegraph:
Gavin Menzies: Mad as a snake – or a visionary
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3557568/Gavin-Menzies-mad-as-a-snake—or-a-visionary.html
“the historical equivalent of stories about Elvis Presley in Tesco and close encounters with alien hamsters”
Elvis sightings in Tesco is about right.
And yet, I recall CCTV and China Daily being all over the story with child-like enthusiasm. One day they’ll dig up ‘evidence’ of a moon landing during the late Qing.
Well… I’d give a **** about facts if there’d be a chance to make millions with letting my imagination go wild.
Just to be fair though, my tenth book would wear the title “To Err is Human”.
Many Chinese will swear up and down that Shang Dynasty ships visited the Yucatan Peninsula and influenced the native cultures there (Olmecs)? and the Japanese are all descended from the the lads and ladies sent east on the mission to discover the isles of Penglai by Qin Shihuang.
Surely yet another case of imperialist 美修 revisionism in action.