Riddle of a lost Chinese city on the Atlantic coast
Feb 24, 2005
http://www.asianpacificpost.com/news/article/332.html


On May 16, a Canadian architect will tell the United Nations of a
lost Chinese city on the Atlantic coast of North America, lending
weight to the theory that the Chinese arrived in the New World some
70 years before Christopher Columbus.

Gavin Menzies
A Canadian architect has discovered what is believed to be the lost
naval base of China`s foremost explorer on the Atlantic coast of
North America, lending weight to the theory the Chinese arrived in
the New World some 70 years before Christopher Columbus.

The revelation was made to a Malaysian newspaper by Gavin Menzies, a
former British Navy submarine commander and author of the
controversial best-selling book, 1421: The Year China Discovered the
World.

Menzies`s theory that the Chinese Muslim explorer, Admiral Zheng He
or Cheng Ho discovered the New World first made international
headlines in March 2002 and has sparked controversy and criticism
both in the West and China.

Earlier this month, Menzies revealed that a site was found on the
Atlantic coast of North America which may have been Zheng`s naval
base.

The discoverer of the site, whom Menzies described as
a "distinguished Canadian architect", will inform the Canadian
Government and then UNESCO, and ask the latter to make it a World
Heritage site, The Star said.

Public disclosure will then be made on May 16 at the Library of
Congress.

"It`s huge," Menzies said.

"It has massive walls, and has remained undiscovered for 600 years.
And it`s two-thirds the size of the Forbidden City…Walls, roads, the
remains of foundations, graves, God-knows-what.

"It would cost a vast amount of money to excavate this site. It`s in
a very difficult position to reach. We definitely do need a lot of
money to carry on the research," according to the daily.

"And so far, I`ve received over C$1.23 mil from sales of my book and
I`ve ploughed all that back into research. But the scale of research
required now is more than my finances can bear. So I`m very, very
interested in a foundation to raise money and carry on the research,
particularly this site of Zheng He`s."

Does the discovery of the naval site in North America confirm
Menzies` theory once and for all?

"Yes, but I don`t need it," Menzies said.


Columbus' ship (forefront) compared to Zheng He's massive vessel
(background)
"This discovery absolutely confirms it but, in my view, my arguments
have completely confirmed it already. I could have predicted exactly
where this base is, by the way."

Menzies theory and his book were featured in a recent Discovery
Channel documentary that looked at the mystery of Zheng and his
magnificent fleet of giant Ming treasure junks, which he commanded
at the request of Emperor Zhu Di in the 15th century.

Collating historical accounts, archaeological finds and
consultations with modern-day historians, archaeologists and
scientists, the program studied and put to the test Menzies`s theory.

Part of that involved the retracing of the routes that Menzies
believes the Chinese took from Africa to Europe, to the Caribbean
and along the eastern coast of North America.

The documentary provided re-enactments, location shooting, and
computer-generated models of Zheng`s fleet in order to bring to life
the superpower that was 15th-century China.

It also presented the views of experts who are opposed to Menzies`s
theory, which stirred a hornet`s nest among historians and academics.

Menzies`s website (www.1421.tv) gets 1,000 visitors a day, and some
of them share their own evidence and results of their own research.

In the last two years, through the website, Menzies and his team
have managed to gather some 13,000 people from 120 countries to help
them in their continuing research.

"One of the big mistakes that I made in my book, which I will
correct in my next edition, is that I put everything down to Zheng
He," Menzies explained.

"But I found out that his predecessor, Kublai Khan, had charted
almost all of the world, including the Americas. Zheng He owed a
huge amount to Kublai Khan.

"We subsequently found Chinese maps of the Americas which predates
Kublai Khan. These maps will be released to the general public on
May 16 which will show that the Chinese had been mapping the Pacific
and Atlantic coasts of North and South America for nearly 2,000
years."


Gavin Menzies
Menzies, 66, who spent more than 10 years travelling to more than
120 countries researching his theory, is very protective of his work
and said it is not true that his work has been largely criticised,
it added.

"There have been more than 8,000 reviews and mentions of my book and
a vast majority accept the book`s thrust," he said.

"And of the readers of my book and those who write in or e-mail,
99.6% agree with the general thrust of my book. The number of people
who say that it`s untrue is miniscule."

His evidence, he said, can be broken down into three basic parts.

First is that the European explorers such as Magellan, Christopher
Columbus, Vasco Da Gama and Captain Cook all had maps showing them
the way to their respective destinations.

Secondly, when the explorers got to the Americas, they found Chinese
people there.

And lastly, Zheng He`s records of his travels still exist despite
the belief that they had been destroyed by the Ming emperors as
advised by xenophobic Confucian officials.

In fact, Menzies claimed that in China, Hong Kong and Singapore, one
can get on a bus to a public library and read about it all.

Meanwhile a Chinese-government backed documentary crew is on the
hunt in Warrnambool, Australia for the wreck of one of Zheng`s ships.

The documentary focuses on the great historic exploratory sea
voyages conducted across the globe under the command of Zheng He,
600 years ago.

In Warrnambool the documentary will explore the possibility that one
of the ships in the four giant fleets under Admiral He`s command may
have been the mystery ship wrecked off the city`s coastline.

"They think that instead of being Portuguese the mystery ship
wrecked off the coast here might have been Chinese," chairman of the
Mahogany Ship Committee of Warrnambool Pat Connelly said.

Connelly escorted the film crews as they captured footage at Levys
Point beach where a piece of red olive-type timber, believed to be
wreckage of the mystery ship, was found last October.

The crew`s interpreter, Paul Qian,: "Recently in China a map from
the Ming Dynasty, which was at the time of Zheng He, has been found
and an outline of Australia is on the map and it is labelled as
being inhabited with humans."

Qian said the red olive wood found at Levys Point and its history
remained a mystery for the time being.

"It needs radiocarbon dating but if it is over 700 years old it
would have to be Chinese," he said. Connelly said the remains of a
600-year-old ship were found several months ago near Nanjing.

"The timber was dark red, similar to the olive wood found here last
October," Connelly said.

Who was first: Columbus or Zheng?
Columbus versus Zheng He


Columbus
Some historians believe Zheng He (1371–1435) set sail in for America
in July, 1405, half a century before Columbus` voyage to America. He
was the admiral of a great fleet of big ships, each with nine masts
and manned by 500 men. There were great treasure ships over 300-feet
long and 150-feet wide, the biggest being 440-feet long and 186-
across, capable of carrying 1,000 passengers In comparison,
Columbus` three ships were less than 50-feet long.

According to some historians, Zheng He (1371–1435), arguably China`s
greatest navigator, set sail in for America in July, 1405, half a
century before Columbus` voyage to America.


Statue of Zheng He, who was said to have been 8 feet tall.
He was the admiral of a great fleet of big ships, with nine masts
and manned by 500 men. There were great treasure ships over 300-feet
long and 150-feet wide, the biggest being 440-feet long and 186-
across, capable of carrying 1,000 passengers (Columbus` three ships
were less than 50-feet long).

Most of the ships were built at the Dragon Bay shipyard near
Nanjing, the remains of which can still be seen today.

Through his big ships, Zheng would travel to the West seven times.
For 28 years, he traveled more than 50,000km and visited over 30
countries. But who was Zheng He?

Ma He, as he was originally known, was born in 1371 to a poor ethnic
Hui (Chinese Muslims) family in Yunnan Province, Southwest China.
The boy`s grandfather and father once made an overland pilgrimage to
Mecca. Their travels contributed much to young Ma`s education. He
grew up speaking Arabic and Chinese, leaming much about the world to
the west and its geography and customs.

Recruited as a promising eunuch for the Imperial household at the
age of ten, Ma was assigned two years later to the retinue of the
then Duke Yan, who would later usurp the throne as the Emperor Yong
Le.

Ma was thus awarded the supreme command of the Imperial Household
Agency and, upon his conversion to Buddhism, was given the surname
Zheng and the religious name Sanbao (or Three Jewels).

Emperor Yong Le tried to boost his damaged prestige as a usurper by
a display of China`s might abroad, sending spectacular fleets on
great voyages and by bringing foreign ambassadors to his court.
Command of the fleet was given to his favorite Zheng He, an
impressive figure said to be over eight feet tall.

Unfortunately, Zheng magnificent accomplishment was later targeted
by other courtiers as wasteful. Most of his records were destroyed
and building of ships with more than 3 masts were considered crimes
punishable by death. So, a large part of his excursion has no
reports.

In Africa near Kenya today, there are tribes that are clearly Asian-
looking. They also consider themselves as the descendants of Zheng
He`s crew.

At the opposite end of the Indian Ocean, Arab storytellers tell of
the fantastic seven voyages of a Muslim sailor named Sinbad.

Or was it Sanbao? Historians wonder.