Zheng He

The Chinese admiral-explorer of the 15th century

A  Zheng He was born around 1371, to a Muslim family in China's southern Yunan Province, just north of Laos. When he was ten years old, he, along with other children, was captured by the army, and three years later he became a servant in the household of the Chinese emperor's fourth son, Prince Zhu Di.

B  He proved himself to be an exceptional servant, becoming skilled in the arts of war and diplomacy and serving as an officer of the prince. Zhu Di became emperor in 1402, and a year later, he appointed Zheng He to the high military position of admiral and ordered him to oversee the construction of a Treasure Fleet to explore the seas surrounding China.

C  The first Treasure Fleet comprised 62 ships. The four flagships were huge wooden boats, some of the largest ever built in history: they were approximately 120 metres long and 50 metres wide. The fleet assembled at the capital, Nanjing, on the Yangtze River, and included 100-metre-long horse ships that carried nothing but horses, water ships that carried fresh water for the crew, troop transports, supply ships and war ships for offensive and defensive needs. The ships were filled with thousands of tons of goods to trade with others during the voyage. In the autumn of 1405, the fleet set sail with 27,800 men.

D  The fleet used the compass-invented in China in the 11th century-for navigation. Marked sticks of incense were burned to measure time. Latitude was determined by monitoring the North Star in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere. The ships of the Treasure Fleet communicated with one another through the use of flags, lanterns, bells, carrier pigeons, gongs and banners.

E  The destination of the first voyage of the Treasure Fleet was Calicut, known as a major trading centre on the south-western coast of India. The fleet reached Sri Lanka and India in 1406, and stayed there for several months, carrying on barter and trade. The following spring, the seasonal change in direction of the monsoon winds enabled the ships to sail towards home. On the return voyage, the Treasure Fleet was forced to battle with pirates near Sumatra for several months. Eventually Zheng He's men managed to capture the pirate leader and take him to the Chinese capital Nanjing, where they arrived in 1407.

F  A succession of other voyages followed, back to India and Sri Lanka, to the rich city of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, and along the east coast of Africa, almost as far south as Mozambique. During each of Zheng He's voyages, he encouraged diplomats from other countries to travel to China, either aboard his ships or on their own vessels.

G  Emperor Zhu Di died in 1424 and was succeeded by his son Zhu Gaozhi. The new emperor cancelled the voyages of the Treasure Fleets and ordered shipbuilders and sailors to stop their work and return home, Zheng He was appointed military commander of Nanjing.

H  The leadership of Zhu Gaozhi did not last long, as he died in 1426 at the age of 26. His son-and Zhu Di's grandson-Zhu Zhanji became emperor. Zhu Zhanji was much more like his grandfather than his father was, and in 1430, he restarted the Treasure Fleet voyages by ordering Zheng He to resume his duties as admiral and make a seventh voyage, in an attempt to restore peaceful relations with the kingdoms of Malacca and Siam. It took a year to gear up for the voyage, which departed as a large expedition with 100 ships and 27,500 men.

I  Zheng He is believed to have died in 1433, on the return trip, although others claim that he died in 1435 after the return to China. Nonetheless, the era of exploration for China was soon over, as the following emperors prohibited trade with foreign countries and even the construction of ocean-going vessels, thus ending an era of trade and exploration.

J  It seems likely that a detachment of one of Zheng He's fleets, though not the admiral himself, sailed to northern Australia during one of the seven voyages. The evidence lies both in the Chinese artefacts found there and in the oral history of the native Australians.

Zheng He

The Chinese admiral-explorer of the 15th century

A  Zheng He was born around 1371, to a Muslim family in China's southern Yunan Province, just north of Laos. When he was ten years old, he, along with other children, was captured by the army, and three years later he became a servant in the household of the Chinese emperor's fourth son, Prince Zhu Di.

B  He proved himself to be an exceptional servant, becoming skilled in the arts of war and diplomacy and serving as an officer of the prince. Zhu Di became emperor in 1402, and a year later, he appointed Zheng He to the high military position of admiral and ordered him to oversee the construction of a Treasure Fleet to explore the seas surrounding China.

C  The first Treasure Fleet comprised 62 ships. The four flagships were huge wooden boats, some of the largest ever built in history: they were approximately 120 metres long and 50 metres wide. The fleet assembled at the capital, Nanjing, on the Yangtze River, and included 100-metre-long horse ships that carried nothing but horses, water ships that carried fresh water for the crew, troop transports, supply ships and war ships for offensive and defensive needs. The ships were filled with thousands of tons of goods to trade with others during the voyage. In the autumn of 1405, the fleet set sail with 27,800 men.

D  The fleet used the compass-invented in China in the 11th century-for navigation. Marked sticks of incense were burned to measure time. Latitude was determined by monitoring the North Star in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere. The ships of the Treasure Fleet communicated with one another through the use of flags, lanterns, bells, carrier pigeons, gongs and banners.

E  The destination of the first voyage of the Treasure Fleet was Calicut, known as a major trading centre on the south-western coast of India. The fleet reached Sri Lanka and India in 1406, and stayed there for several months, carrying on barter and trade. The following spring, the seasonal change in direction of the monsoon winds enabled the ships to sail towards home. On the return voyage, the Treasure Fleet was forced to battle with pirates near Sumatra for several months. Eventually Zheng He's men managed to capture the pirate leader and take him to the Chinese capital Nanjing, where they arrived in 1407.

F  A succession of other voyages followed, back to India and Sri Lanka, to the rich city of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, and along the east coast of Africa, almost as far south as Mozambique. During each of Zheng He's voyages, he encouraged diplomats from other countries to travel to China, either aboard his ships or on their own vessels.

G  Emperor Zhu Di died in 1424 and was succeeded by his son Zhu Gaozhi. The new emperor cancelled the voyages of the Treasure Fleets and ordered shipbuilders and sailors to stop their work and return home, Zheng He was appointed military commander of Nanjing.

H  The leadership of Zhu Gaozhi did not last long, as he died in 1426 at the age of 26. His son-and Zhu Di's grandson-Zhu Zhanji became emperor. Zhu Zhanji was much more like his grandfather than his father was, and in 1430, he restarted the Treasure Fleet voyages by ordering Zheng He to resume his duties as admiral and make a seventh voyage, in an attempt to restore peaceful relations with the kingdoms of Malacca and Siam. It took a year to gear up for the voyage, which departed as a large expedition with 100 ships and 27,500 men.

I  Zheng He is believed to have died in 1433, on the return trip, although others claim that he died in 1435 after the return to China. Nonetheless, the era of exploration for China was soon over, as the following emperors prohibited trade with foreign countries and even the construction of ocean-going vessels, thus ending an era of trade and exploration.

J  It seems likely that a detachment of one of Zheng He's fleets, though not the admiral himself, sailed to northern Australia during one of the seven voyages. The evidence lies both in the Chinese artefacts found there and in the oral history of the native Australians.

Zheng He

The Chinese admiral-explorer of the 15th century

A  Zheng He was born around 1371, to a Muslim family in China's southern Yunan Province, just north of Laos. When he was ten years old, he, along with other children, was captured by the army, and three years later he became a servant in the household of the Chinese emperor's fourth son, Prince Zhu Di.

B  He proved himself to be an exceptional servant, becoming skilled in the arts of war and diplomacy and serving as an officer of the prince. Zhu Di became emperor in 1402, and a year later, he appointed Zheng He to the high military position of admiral and ordered him to oversee the construction of a Treasure Fleet to explore the seas surrounding China.

C  The first Treasure Fleet comprised 62 ships. The four flagships were huge wooden boats, some of the largest ever built in history: they were approximately 120 metres long and 50 metres wide. The fleet assembled at the capital, Nanjing, on the Yangtze River, and included 100-metre-long horse ships that carried nothing but horses, water ships that carried fresh water for the crew, troop transports, supply ships and war ships for offensive and defensive needs. The ships were filled with thousands of tons of goods to trade with others during the voyage. In the autumn of 1405, the fleet set sail with 27,800 men.

D  The fleet used the compass-invented in China in the 11th century-for navigation. Marked sticks of incense were burned to measure time. Latitude was determined by monitoring the North Star in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern Cross in the Southern Hemisphere. The ships of the Treasure Fleet communicated with one another through the use of flags, lanterns, bells, carrier pigeons, gongs and banners.

E  The destination of the first voyage of the Treasure Fleet was Calicut, known as a major trading centre on the south-western coast of India. The fleet reached Sri Lanka and India in 1406, and stayed there for several months, carrying on barter and trade. The following spring, the seasonal change in direction of the monsoon winds enabled the ships to sail towards home. On the return voyage, the Treasure Fleet was forced to battle with pirates near Sumatra for several months. Eventually Zheng He's men managed to capture the pirate leader and take him to the Chinese capital Nanjing, where they arrived in 1407.

F  A succession of other voyages followed, back to India and Sri Lanka, to the rich city of Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, and along the east coast of Africa, almost as far south as Mozambique. During each of Zheng He's voyages, he encouraged diplomats from other countries to travel to China, either aboard his ships or on their own vessels.

G  Emperor Zhu Di died in 1424 and was succeeded by his son Zhu Gaozhi. The new emperor cancelled the voyages of the Treasure Fleets and ordered shipbuilders and sailors to stop their work and return home, Zheng He was appointed military commander of Nanjing.

H  The leadership of Zhu Gaozhi did not last long, as he died in 1426 at the age of 26. His son-and Zhu Di's grandson-Zhu Zhanji became emperor. Zhu Zhanji was much more like his grandfather than his father was, and in 1430, he restarted the Treasure Fleet voyages by ordering Zheng He to resume his duties as admiral and make a seventh voyage, in an attempt to restore peaceful relations with the kingdoms of Malacca and Siam. It took a year to gear up for the voyage, which departed as a large expedition with 100 ships and 27,500 men.

I  Zheng He is believed to have died in 1433, on the return trip, although others claim that he died in 1435 after the return to China. Nonetheless, the era of exploration for China was soon over, as the following emperors prohibited trade with foreign countries and even the construction of ocean-going vessels, thus ending an era of trade and exploration.

J  It seems likely that a detachment of one of Zheng He's fleets, though not the admiral himself, sailed to northern Australia during one of the seven voyages. The evidence lies both in the Chinese artefacts found there and in the oral history of the native Australians.

The evacuation of St Kilda

The evacuation of St Kilda

The evacuation of St Kilda

The evacuation of St Kilda

The Nature of Language

Language is an extraordinary institution, standing in as much need of explanation as any other aspect of human life, possibly more. But to explain it, one has to stop taking it for granted. Virtually all of us are pretty fluent employers of language; we grow up with it as we grow up with the ability to walk or run, and using it seems as easy as those activities. To see how truly remarkable language is, we must, as the psychologist Wolfgang Kohler put it, retreat to a 'psychic distance' from the subject.

Language is the most complex and sophisticated of our possessions. Only very recently, for instance, have grammarians begun to uncover the enormously complicated rules of grammar which underlie our languages, and they still have a long way to go. Computers can be marvellous at dealing with mathematics and playing chess. Yet, at least at present, no computer is at all close to the reproduction of human verbal abilities. Computers are, at best, second-rate users of language, while animals are not users of language at all.

Talking might be seen as the defining characteristic of human beings. No doubt we are also the only creatures who laugh, and have two legs and no feathers – but that is not too interesting. We may be the only creatures who use tools and who organize politically – and this is more interesting. Still, amongst many peoples, political organisation and the use of tools are extremely rudimentary, whereas all known communities have possessed sophisticated languages. Further, it is probably easier to find analogies in the animal world to tools and politics than it is to language.

Many animals, of course, are capable of producing noises which cause their friends or enemies to respond in certain ways, but these noises are so different in kind from human speech that it is, at best, a misleading analogy to speak of such noises being part of a language. First, animals are incapable of organizing their noises into sequences beyond the most primitive level, whereas the most salient characteristic of human talkers is their ability to form an infinite number of sequences from a limited stock of noises. As the poet and critic Herbert Read once remarked, 'no difference between man and beast is more important than syntax'. Second, animals produce their noises in direct response to stimuli in their environment, as when a bird squawks at the approach of a cat. Such noises are analogous to human cries of pain or alarm, not to the sentences we produce.

Nothing in my environment 'stimulated' me to write down the sentence I just wrote down. In the light of this, it is easier to understand those followers of the French philosopher Rene Descartes who found it impossible to suppose that animals could be capable of any mental activity. 'If beasts reasoned', said once of them, 'they would be capable of true speech with its infinite variety.' We might not want to go as far as that, but at least we must admit that speech is one, if not the, salient feature of human nature which distinguishes it from any other sort of nature.

Not only is language our most sophisticated, important and unique possession, it is also, remarkably enough, an almost universal human possession. As already mentioned, all known human societies have possessed a language, whatever else each of them may have lacked. Not only that, but whereas there are mathematical geniuses and chess-playing geniuses, when it comes to language, nearly all of us are capable of producing and understanding an infinite number of sentences.

Language is also remarkable in its versatility. By uttering the appropriate noises, in the right circumstances, a single person in a single day can easily do each of the following: inform others of what is happening, ask them to do something, command them, excite them, promise them, insult them, express anger and get married. As some of these examples show, we do not in general utter noises as an activity separate from other activities. We perform actions with words, actions which it would be difficult, inconvenient or even impossible to perform without words. The number of such possible actions is indefinitely large.

The Nature of Language

Language is an extraordinary institution, standing in as much need of explanation as any other aspect of human life, possibly more. But to explain it, one has to stop taking it for granted. Virtually all of us are pretty fluent employers of language; we grow up with it as we grow up with the ability to walk or run, and using it seems as easy as those activities. To see how truly remarkable language is, we must, as the psychologist Wolfgang Kohler put it, retreat to a 'psychic distance' from the subject.

Language is the most complex and sophisticated of our possessions. Only very recently, for instance, have grammarians begun to uncover the enormously complicated rules of grammar which underlie our languages, and they still have a long way to go. Computers can be marvellous at dealing with mathematics and playing chess. Yet, at least at present, no computer is at all close to the reproduction of human verbal abilities. Computers are, at best, second-rate users of language, while animals are not users of language at all.

Talking might be seen as the defining characteristic of human beings. No doubt we are also the only creatures who laugh, and have two legs and no feathers – but that is not too interesting. We may be the only creatures who use tools and who organize politically – and this is more interesting. Still, amongst many peoples, political organisation and the use of tools are extremely rudimentary, whereas all known communities have possessed sophisticated languages. Further, it is probably easier to find analogies in the animal world to tools and politics than it is to language.

Many animals, of course, are capable of producing noises which cause their friends or enemies to respond in certain ways, but these noises are so different in kind from human speech that it is, at best, a misleading analogy to speak of such noises being part of a language. First, animals are incapable of organizing their noises into sequences beyond the most primitive level, whereas the most salient characteristic of human talkers is their ability to form an infinite number of sequences from a limited stock of noises. As the poet and critic Herbert Read once remarked, 'no difference between man and beast is more important than syntax'. Second, animals produce their noises in direct response to stimuli in their environment, as when a bird squawks at the approach of a cat. Such noises are analogous to human cries of pain or alarm, not to the sentences we produce.

Nothing in my environment 'stimulated' me to write down the sentence I just wrote down. In the light of this, it is easier to understand those followers of the French philosopher Rene Descartes who found it impossible to suppose that animals could be capable of any mental activity. 'If beasts reasoned', said once of them, 'they would be capable of true speech with its infinite variety.' We might not want to go as far as that, but at least we must admit that speech is one, if not the, salient feature of human nature which distinguishes it from any other sort of nature.

Not only is language our most sophisticated, important and unique possession, it is also, remarkably enough, an almost universal human possession. As already mentioned, all known human societies have possessed a language, whatever else each of them may have lacked. Not only that, but whereas there are mathematical geniuses and chess-playing geniuses, when it comes to language, nearly all of us are capable of producing and understanding an infinite number of sentences.

Language is also remarkable in its versatility. By uttering the appropriate noises, in the right circumstances, a single person in a single day can easily do each of the following: inform others of what is happening, ask them to do something, command them, excite them, promise them, insult them, express anger and get married. As some of these examples show, we do not in general utter noises as an activity separate from other activities. We perform actions with words, actions which it would be difficult, inconvenient or even impossible to perform without words. The number of such possible actions is indefinitely large.

The Nature of Language

Language is an extraordinary institution, standing in as much need of explanation as any other aspect of human life, possibly more. But to explain it, one has to stop taking it for granted. Virtually all of us are pretty fluent employers of language; we grow up with it as we grow up with the ability to walk or run, and using it seems as easy as those activities. To see how truly remarkable language is, we must, as the psychologist Wolfgang Kohler put it, retreat to a 'psychic distance' from the subject.

Language is the most complex and sophisticated of our possessions. Only very recently, for instance, have grammarians begun to uncover the enormously complicated rules of grammar which underlie our languages, and they still have a long way to go. Computers can be marvellous at dealing with mathematics and playing chess. Yet, at least at present, no computer is at all close to the reproduction of human verbal abilities. Computers are, at best, second-rate users of language, while animals are not users of language at all.

Talking might be seen as the defining characteristic of human beings. No doubt we are also the only creatures who laugh, and have two legs and no feathers – but that is not too interesting. We may be the only creatures who use tools and who organize politically – and this is more interesting. Still, amongst many peoples, political organisation and the use of tools are extremely rudimentary, whereas all known communities have possessed sophisticated languages. Further, it is probably easier to find analogies in the animal world to tools and politics than it is to language.

Many animals, of course, are capable of producing noises which cause their friends or enemies to respond in certain ways, but these noises are so different in kind from human speech that it is, at best, a misleading analogy to speak of such noises being part of a language. First, animals are incapable of organizing their noises into sequences beyond the most primitive level, whereas the most salient characteristic of human talkers is their ability to form an infinite number of sequences from a limited stock of noises. As the poet and critic Herbert Read once remarked, 'no difference between man and beast is more important than syntax'. Second, animals produce their noises in direct response to stimuli in their environment, as when a bird squawks at the approach of a cat. Such noises are analogous to human cries of pain or alarm, not to the sentences we produce.

Nothing in my environment 'stimulated' me to write down the sentence I just wrote down. In the light of this, it is easier to understand those followers of the French philosopher Rene Descartes who found it impossible to suppose that animals could be capable of any mental activity. 'If beasts reasoned', said once of them, 'they would be capable of true speech with its infinite variety.' We might not want to go as far as that, but at least we must admit that speech is one, if not the, salient feature of human nature which distinguishes it from any other sort of nature.

Not only is language our most sophisticated, important and unique possession, it is also, remarkably enough, an almost universal human possession. As already mentioned, all known human societies have possessed a language, whatever else each of them may have lacked. Not only that, but whereas there are mathematical geniuses and chess-playing geniuses, when it comes to language, nearly all of us are capable of producing and understanding an infinite number of sentences.

Language is also remarkable in its versatility. By uttering the appropriate noises, in the right circumstances, a single person in a single day can easily do each of the following: inform others of what is happening, ask them to do something, command them, excite them, promise them, insult them, express anger and get married. As some of these examples show, we do not in general utter noises as an activity separate from other activities. We perform actions with words, actions which it would be difficult, inconvenient or even impossible to perform without words. The number of such possible actions is indefinitely large.