China had been developing shipbuilding technologies and seafaring skills since the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 219 AD). This meant China had been the world’s leader in shipbuilding and navigation for more than fifteen hundred years by the time of the Ming Dynasty.
The shipyard responsible for building Zheng He’s “treasure boats”, as they were called, was in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. What’s left of those shipyards may be seen on the video embedded in this post.
Those dry docks were used six hundred years ago to build China’s giant fleet.
Since the Song Dynasty had invented the Pound lock in the 10th century to be used along the Grand Canal, China had the technology to build dry docks.
When the ships were ready, the Pound Lock would open and the dry dock would flood then the ship sailed into the Yangtze River.
Zheng He sailed from China in July 1405 with a fleet of about 300 ships.
Kong Yuanzhi, a professor at Peking University says, Compared with the ships of Western explorers during the 15th and 16th centuries, the size of Zheng He’s fleet was unmatched.
Christopher Columbus had just 88 men in three boats, Ferdinand Magellan had 260 in five boats and Vasco de Gama had 160 in 4 ships.
However, Zheng He had 27,000 for seven voyages. According to historical records, the largest ship was over 10 thousand tons —120 times larger than the largest of Vasco de Gama’s ships.
While the Ming Dynasty’s great fleet was sailing halfway around the world, the Forbidden City was being built — another marvel of architectural technology.
The dark-red palace walls and golden yellow tiles of the roofs set the Forbidden City apart from the rest of Beijing.
Return to Ming Dynasty (1368-1643 AD) – Part 1, 1/3
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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.
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