Ezberler Çöpe! * New york times e gore Kolomb’dan 87 yıl önce Çinli Müs. Amiral Zheng He, 218 gemiyle 7 kez gitmiş! Log In Register Now HOME PAGETODAYS PAPERVIDEOMOST POPULARTIMES TOPICS Search All NYTimes Search New York Times Arts WORLD U.S. N.Y. / REGION BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY SCIENCE HEALTH SPORTS OPINION ARTS ART & DESIGNBOOKSDANCEMOVIESMUSICTELEVISIONTHEATER STYLE TRAVEL JOBS REAL ESTATE AUTOS Did Chinese beat out Columbus? By Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop Published: Saturday, June 25, 2005 LINKEDIN PRINT SINGLE PAGE SHARE SINGAPORE — Did Chinese sailors really discover America before Columbus? A new exhibition sets the scene, presenting new evidence that lends support to the assumptions made in 1421: The Year China Discovered America by Gavin Menzies. 1421: The Year China Sailed the World, in Singapore in a special tent near the Esplanade (until Sept. 11), is primarily a celebration of Admiral Zheng Hes seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1423. With a fleet of 317 ships and 28,000 men, Zheng He is generally acknowledged as one of the great naval explorers, but how far he actually went remains a matter of dispute. With original artifacts, videos and interactive exhibits, 1421 aims to take visitors through Zheng Hes life story, setting the historical and economic context of his voyages. Against this factual background, Menziess theories are presented, along with new evidence, mainly maps, backing his claims. The exhibition starts in Hunnan (China) in 1382, with a narrative space giving some background on Zheng Hes youth. Zheng, a Chinese Muslim, was captured as a child in wartime by the Ming army and made a eunuch to serve at court. He became a scholar and a trusted adviser to the third Ming emperor, Zhu Di, who sent him on a mission to proceed all the way to the ends of the earth to collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas. When the giant fleet returned in 1423, however, the emperor had fallen. With that change of leadership, China began a policy of isolationism that would last hundreds of years. The large ships were left to rot at their moorings, and most of the records of the great journeys were destroyed (though some argue the records still exist). A lattice maze in the exhibition takes visitors through the internal turmoil dominating the early part of the Ming dynasty. In the main room, five giant masts and sails mark the admirals first five voyages, each depicting the destination while highlighting important historical facts such as the trade of spices and teas and life on board the ships. With 600 years of sailing experience, the Chinese had already developed many tools useful to sailing over great distances - like magnetized compasses and watertight bulkhead compartments of a kind the West would have to wait hundreds of years for. Importantly, Zheng Hes ships, known as junks, included on-board vegetable patches, growing soybeans in tubes all year to provide protein and vitamin C, guarding sailors against scurvy. Along with examples of spices and other goods that the fleet would have brought back to China, the visitors can find ancient artifacts like unusual animal-shaped money from Malacca (Malaysia) made of tin, which the Chinese produced as currency when their copper coins ran out. Shaped in the form of animals like crocodiles, turtles and chickens, these coins were exclusive to Malacca but have been found in shipwrecks throughout Asia. Arguing that the Chinese had reached America 70 years before Columbus, Menziess book caused a stir when it was published in 2002. Columbus had a map of America, de Gama had a map showing India and Captain Cook had a map showing Australia, and its not my saying; its the explorers saying it, the retired British Royal Navy submarine commanding officer said in an interview. None of the great European explorers actually discovered anything new. The whole world was charted before they set sail. So somebody before them had done it, and that was the basis of the book, he said. Since then, the Web site he created to centralize evidence to substantiate his book has received more than 100,000 e-mails from people across the globe coming forward with massive evidence corroborating his claims, Menzies said. Its no longer about my book. Its really a collective work. Menzies, who is planning to revise his book by 2007 in light of the latest evidence, now believes that Zheng He was not the first to sail to America. One of the mistakes I made in my book was to say that Zheng He did everything. He had a legacy. Most of the world had already been mapped by Kublai Khans fleet, he said. 1 2 NEXT PAGE » More Articles in Arts » Ads by Google whats this? publish academic book peer reviewed, quality publisher, high royalties, wide dissemination vernonpress MOST POPULAR EMAILEDSEARCHEDVIEWED Op-Ed Contributors: How Medical Care Is Being Corrupted Thanksgiving Recipes Across the United States Toning Down the Tweets Just in Case Colleges Pry 36 Hours in Seattle Mike Nichols, Acclaimed Director on Broadway and in Hollywood, Dies at 83 State of the Art: Bringing Sous Vide to the Home Cook 36 Hours in Seattle Couch: Less Talk, More Therapy Op-Ed | Mark Bittman: A Sustainable Solution for the Corn Belt Rivalry Earns Its Pinstripes Go to Complete List » RELATED ADSWhat are Related Ads? » Chinese Warriors » Chinese China » About Chinese Art » Columbus » Chinese History Home World U.S. N.Y. / Region Business Technology Science Health Sports Opinion Arts Style Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos Back to Top Copyright 2009 The New York Times Company Privacy Policy Search Corrections RSS First Look Help Contact Us Work for Us Advertise with Us Site Map
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 17:24:36 +0000