Thursday 14 November, 5-6:30pm, online lecture and Q&A, with Dr Sally Church

In 2002 a book entitled 1421 claimed that Zheng He, during his 15th century maritime expeditions, discovered America and circumnavigated the globe. More recently, messages on Chinese social media have been expressing doubt that the voyages happened at all. The truth lies between these two extremes. Zheng He did command seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1433, and although he did not “discover America”, he sailed in a fleet of Chinese ships as far as India, Hormuz, the Arabian peninsula and East Africa multiple times before 1433, which was in itself an astounding accomplishment. Given the circulation of such vastly different interpretations, it seems important to revisit the history of Zheng He’s voyages, not only to acknowledge his accomplishments and to recognise the significant amount of responsible scholarship that has been done on him in the past, but also to set the record straight with regard to what we know and do not know about them, and perhaps more importantly to ponder the question of what truth in history is, how we arrive at it, and why the quest for it is important.

If you wish to attend this virtual seminar, please email the China Forum Administrator, Denise Hayles (china-forum@jesus.cam.ac.uk) and she will be pleased to book a place for you and send you the Zoom joining instructions nearer the time.

Other virtual seminars in the China Forum this term will be:

Wednesday 20 November, 5-6:30pm: Prof Sucheta Mazumdar, 'From the Slave Trade to the Optium Rush: China-America Trade in the Making of the Global World'

Thursday 28 November 2024, 12;1:30pm: Dr Santosh Mehrotra, ‘Economic Growth and Human Development in India and China: A Comparative Analysis'

The China Forum forthcoming events webpage also details upcoming events.