...be mentioned, and that man was Zheng He. He was a great Chinese commander for Emperor Yongle. Zheng He was sent on a series of seven voyages, sailing all over the Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean world. He and his enormous fleet navigated to many different countries, and for this reason historians believe that the purpose of his voyages were exploration and that he was an explorer. Historians also debate whether or not Zheng He’s expeditions were imperialistic. However, Dreyer argues that Zheng He was not an explorer and the purpose of his voyages were not imperialistic. The main purpose of Zheng He’s voyages was to project the wealth and the power of...
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...As stated by asianhistory.about.com, “Later emperors and scholars sought to erase the memory of these great expeditions from Chinese history.” It appears that almost all the evidence of Zheng He’s seven voyages were burned or destroyed. I am a firm believer in fact and confirmation and without the proof of the expeditions; there is no concrete form of proving it. Along the coast of the Indian Ocean, artifacts from the ships were recovered. But, I believe that Zheng He could have passed by the Indian Ocean and some of the artifacts simply just traveled a far distance. I do not believe that this is strong enough evidence of the possibility of He’s ludicrous...
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...If Zheng He was the explorer with more achievements why do we not celebrate his accomplishments? Zheng He was the far more advanced explorer who with the help of all of his technological advances was able to explore new lands. Money was a huge contribution to how the fleets came to be so powerful and stand out from the rest. The rout he traveled on was the farthest and longest of all the other explorations of that time. That makes it very significant and unlike other traditional explorations. How advanced China was for it is time made sea travel easier for explorers. The Chinese has the compass, the map, and the astrolabe to help find their way and know what direction they where heading in. All of these are essential sea traveling tools and you could not choose one or the other or else you would get lost. China was also one of the largest working countries, which meant more workers and more production. All of China is extra manpower was why they were able to create so many fleets. It was also were a large portion of their crew on the ship came from....
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...Why did China fall behind Europe in the 15th century? In my opinion, the main reason that China fell behind Europe in the 15th century is the closing down of itself with other civilizations and the banned international trades strategies which severed the communication and connection of the Chinese people with the outside world. And in the same time the rapid growth of the European countries had boosted those civilizations in the other direction thanks to the newly discovered resources on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. I would like to explain these ideas from the following aspects: The early developments of China: China has gone through a period of rapid technological advances in the first centuries of human history thanks to its particular geographical location and the early coming together of the nations within its boundary. Although there were lots of nations fighting wars against each other, aiming to control all the territory on the land of the so-called East Asia nowadays, the Chinese empire was finally founded by the Qin and the united nation has adopted lots of governing strategies to develop the livelihood of its people not only in literature but also in science. Because of these factors, the Chinese people have invented ways to preserve the cultural and technological achievements and also have developed ways to explore the 1/7 outside world. Such decisions have been made since the Han dynasty when the empire opened up the Silk Road to the west, connecting...
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...Zheng He vs. Christopher Columbus When you hear the name Christopher Columbus the first thing that probably comes to your mind is that he was the one who founded America. However, if you actually do some research you will find out that he wasn’t the only one. Evidence shows that there was another man who discovered America seventy years before, Zheng He. He was a Chinese admiral during the Ming Dynasty, who also served as the Ming Dynasty Emperor and leader of seven voyages in the Indian Ocean. Christopher Columbus and Zheng He were both great travelers with great differences in their journey. Columbus’ story is one of great greed and domination while Zheng’s however one of a more noble cause. Very rarely, does the name Zheng He ever come up unless you’re in China. But he was a very important traveler in the world of discovery and he predates many of the more famous explorers. The purpose of his travel and explorations was to display the power of China while also creating better relations with other nations and setting up trade agreements in different parts of the world. One of the things that Zheng He’s voyages are known for is the size of the fleets that he commanded. In all, there were seven voyages headed up by Zheng He, including voyages to East Africa, India, and Arabia. Zheng He and his expedition exemplified the highest level of ancient Chinese propriety in terms of foreign trade. Zheng’s voyage stimulated and inspired the development of overseas trade....
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...between the yes (Gavin Menzies) and the no (Robert Finlay). Menzies is the yes the Chinese found American first. He says that the Chinese spent four months exploring the pacific coastline and left substantial evidence that will support his contention that the chines found America way before the Europeans. Finlay believes that Menzies does not have concrete evidence that the Chinese found America because other historians have not come up with the same conclusion, that the Chinese discovered America first Robert Finlay talks about how Menzies is wrong and how he bases all his knowledge on facts and evidence that puts the Chinese on America before Columbus. Finlay accuses Menzies of “ignoring the basic rules of historical study and logic to concoct an implausible interpretation of the Chinese”. Finlay believes that Columbus found America first because they used the maps of the Chinese. When the Chinese explored the pacific coast they didn’t set foot on the land they just made a map that told there was land. The Chinese then used the maps that they made to trade with the Europeans for other goods. Then Columbus used the maps to find other land to colonize and make a new colony to spread. Finlay believes that Columbus explored the land and actually set foot on the new America, and expanded the map by putting new locations and land marks that he and his crew explored. He says that Menzies has very limited evidence that the Chinese found America first. Finlay says that “many professional...
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...Should we celebrate the voyages of zhen he? Have you every heard of Zheng He? His name was originally Ma He, he was the trusted advisor of the Emperor Yongle. The emperor sent him on a mission to guide a fleet of ships, up until recent years he was hardly known by the world. The real question is if we should celebrate Zheng He’s voyages, I personally think that we shouldn’t. You might be wondering why, well in order to make the voyage possible there was a lot of expenses and all the tribute he received was not enough to pay off the expenses, also he traveled far and didn’t find any new land or establish any new trade relationships, lastly some officials from the government said that they did not need trade or political communication so they concluded the expedition to be a big mistake. Now lets get more in to it. To start off, the voyage took a lot of expenses that couldn’t be regained by the tributes offered to Emperor Yongle. In Document D it states “ Emperor Yongle acquired goods and treasures…yet they did not makeup for the wasteful expenditures of the Middle Kingdom”. Officials or representatives from overseas would frequently return to China with Zheng He’s fleet to offer tributes. Some local leaders did it to avoid military fight; they made sure to pay their respect to the emperor. Tributes are often offerings of money or goods given by a weaker country to a stronger country. Next, Zheng He traveled far and wide and was unable to find new land or...
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...Christopher Columbus –VS- Zheng He Exploring the world and see what it has to offer was nothing that any other person would naturally think of or about in their time. Upon the more detailed check out the experiences on the adult men guiding the actual explorations, we could study a whole lot concerning the trips, the actual adult men whom took these individuals, and also the nations that will recognized the attempts. The particular voyage by Christopher Columbus along with Zheng. They are actually the voyages of two nations along with the search for extreme power along with management in the ever-expanding world. For The world, Columbus’ trips showed both equally to be able to get around governed industry avenues along with master fresh persons on fresh lands. For China, Zheng He’s trips showed a chance to keep along with replenish existing associations along with neighboring nations. Even though trips of Columbus along with Zheng had been many generations separated, the parallels along with differences outlined exactly why guiding the journeys along with revealed what exactly both pondered the actual ethnicities they stumbled upon as you go along. Early fifteenth one hundred year found China’s Ming Dynasty for the maximum of its controlling power being a kingdom. China’s money along with electric power improved the actual circumstance of its seek trips through those of other nations over the “age of voyages. ” Because of the money along with the controlling power of China...
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...navy"that all amassed to put a cork in China's explorative progression during a premier time of discovery(556). According to Reilly, there are two and a half reasons amongst the many that historians attribute to China's lack of worldly influence; "Asia was simply not greedy enough", "a culture of complacency", and the fact that "China was a single nation while Europe was many"also attributed to the setbacks that were encountered(557). First and foremost, China's greatest shortcoming is due to their "culture of complacency". It is evident that China's culture and mindset played a major role in their self perpetuated setback because they lacked a central focus and goal; regardless of the fact that "half a century before Columbus, Zheng He had reached East Africa and learned about Europe", China's progress in terms of colonization was stagnant to say the least. In many ways this suppression is due to the Chinese fixation on visual grandeur and quantity vs. quality and their "tendency to look inward [and represent] a devotion to past ideals and methods, a respect for authority, and a...
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...counter arguments for all of Josh's points. Josh's girlfriend Kara (Cassidy Gifford) breaks up with him, fearing that standing up to Radisson will jeopardize their academic future. Ultimately, it comes down to the third and final debate between Radisson and Josh, who again both make compelling points. Josh then halts his line of debate to pose a question to Radisson: "Why do you hate God?" After Josh repeats the question twice more, Radisson explodes in rage, confirming he hates God for his mother's death that left him alone despite his prayers. Josh then casually asks Radisson how he can hate someone that doesn't exist. In the end, Martin (Paul Kwo), a foreign exchange student whose father had encouraged him not to convert to Christianity, stands up and says "God's not dead." Almost the entire class follows Martin's lead, causing Radisson to leave the room in defeat. Against the backdrop of the debates, a series of peripherally related subplots develop. Radisson dates Mina (Cory Oliver), a Christian whom he often belittles in front of his...
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...fly through the courts without anything resembling due process, and it’s as if no one realizes that the perpetrator lacks the mental faculties needed to represent or stand up for himself when everyone is against him from the start—even including the policemen and lawyers whose job it is to assume his innocence. Instead, they work only to prove his guilt, because there’s literally nothing to stop them. Especially not the law. What follows is a story that takes place in two time periods. There’s the modern storyline, where the father’s grown-up daughter works as a lawyer to clear his name—though that takes up far less screen time than the flashback to 1997, the year that her father was accused and imprisoned in Cell No. 7. It was there that he met the cellmates who would become not only his friends but also family to him and his daughter after they devise an (admittedly improbable) plan to sneak her into the prison. Soon the entire prison population joins in the effort to try and save the innocent man from being executed, culminating in a heart-rending and revelatory masterpiece which manages to shine a spotlight on humanity at its best and at its unbelievable, infuriating worst. Ryu Seung-ryong plays YONG-GU, a man with the intelligence of a child but whose world revolves around his young daughter. She, on the other hand, has been forced by circumstance and unconditional...
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