Ｚｈｅｎｇ Ｈｅ Ｗｅｓｔｗａｒｄ Ｖｏｙａｇｅｓ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ “Ｐｏｒｃｅｌａｉｎ Ｒｏｕｔｅ”

People in Southeast Asian， Arabian and African countries are quite fond of Chinese porcelain， especially those made in Jingdezhen. For instance， among the porcelain imported by Egypt in 2002， 96% were from China. The one who established this close connection between Chinese porcelain and people in these areas is Zheng He， who lived 600 years ago.

This year marks the 600th anniversary of Zheng He’s westward voyage. He was a great navigator and diplomat of China in the Ming Dynasty. In the 3rd year of the Reign of Yongle (1405)， Zheng He， together with his deputy Wang Jinghong， set out on his first voyage from the city of Suzhou. He led an enormous fleet composed of over 200 ships with more than 27，800 officers and men. They came back in the 5th year of the Reign of Yongle (1407) and made several more voyages in the following years. By the 11th year of the Reign of Xuande (1433)， they had altogether made 7 voyages in 28 years， reaching more than 30 countries and regions including east of Malaya， the Sumatra region， the Indian Ocean， Arabian regions and East Africa. These voyages were of great significance as Zheng He’s fleet conducted extensive economic and cultural exchanges with these countries， deepened the friendly ties between China and Southeast Asian and East African countries and enhanced the friendship between the people of China and the Asian and African countries.

The seven voyages were considered the largest overseas publicity event in Chinese history as they promoted export of Chinese porcelain， extended its reputation， accelerated the international trade of porcelain and enhanced cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. It is recorded in the book The History of Ming Dynasty and Xing Cha Sheng Lan written by Zheng He’s interpreter Fei Xin that each time before Zheng He set out， he would prepare large quantities of porcelain， musk and silk as gifts to the coastal countries along the voyage as well as trading commodities. In this way， Chinese porcelain was widely introduced to Southeast Asia， West Asia and Africa. It is also recorded that Javanese， in particular， favoured Chinese blue and white porcelain. The book Ying Ya Sheng Lan written by the accompanying interpreter Ma Huan and A Record of the West Countries by Gong Zhen also recorded people’s fondness in Chinese white-and-blue porcelain as well as shadowy blue porcelain， proving that Zheng He must have brought with him a huge amount of high-grade white-and-blue porcelain made in official kilns as gifts and those made in civilian kilns as commodities.

Zheng He came back from the westward voyage， bringing with him large numbers of nameless treasures and lots of valuable things such as rhinoceros horns， ivory， perfume and hawksbill turtle which were gifts given by kings and tribal leaders along the way or commodities bartered with porcelain. What is worth mentioning is that Zheng He also brought back large amount of the rare pigment called “sumani” and “rouge stones” which boosted the development of Chinese porcelain-making， in particular， the blue-and-white porcelain in Jingdezhen. Sumani， brought by Zheng He from Sumatra and Kalimanta in Indonesia， contains rich cobalt oxide. It is particularly used to decorate high-grade blue-and-white porcelain. Sumani is low in manganese and high in iron. The patterns on the porcelain base decorated with sumani， after being fired， become bright blue as beautiful as sapphire， very popular at both domestic and international markets. The great amount of sumani brought back by Zheng He met the needs of the production of blue-and-white porcelain， Jingdezhen’s principal porcelain product at the time， and ushered Jingdezhen’s blue-and-white porcelain-making into its prime time.

Thanks to Zheng’s voyages， Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain， Zhejiang celadon and Fujian white porcelain became well known to the world and were introduced to Europe from East Africa. Demand for Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain grew tremendously. Not only did many merchant ships come to Quanzhou and send people to Jingdezhen and Hangzhou to purchase porcelain and silk but also some Chinese businessmen like Li Jin， Pan Xiu and Guo Zhen shipped porcelain abroad for sale to meet international demand. The well-known businessmen Zheng Longzhi and his brother， who owned a total of 100 merchant ships and a crew of 1，000 people， often came to Jingdezhen and Zhejiang to buy blue-and-white porcelain， tea and silk and then sold them to Southeast Asian， Arabian and East African countries. They were very popular among people in these countries.

Zheng He’s westward voyages broadened the trading route of porcelain， sowed the seeds of friendship in Southeast Asia， Arab and East Africa which blossomed beautifully.