A write up on Chinese assertivenes..
Gavin Menzies' controversial book '1434' marks a dangerous, emerging trend that China is seeking to revise world history and establish its cultural superiority. Citing evidence, Menzies claims the following:-
* By early 1400, Europe had gone through a thousand years of stagnation while China had made huge strides in mathematics, engineering, cartography & navigation, astronomy, art, architecture, weaponry, genetics etc.
* By the year 1420, China had the world largest fleet of ships, more than 1,000. Individually, each ship was technologically, vastly superior to that of any other country . For eg. due to China's knowledge of gunpowder, the ships not only had fearsome canons but also water skimming rockets
* In 1421, a fleet of ships under the command of Zheng He discovered amongst other places, America, Australia and set up a base in Nova Scotia, Canada.
* In 1430's, the then Chinese Emperor sent a fleet of ships to all parts of the world to ensure that they accept him as their supreme ruler. Reaching Italy, the Chinese ambassadors met Pope Eugenius IV in Florence. The delegation presented the pope with a wealth of knowledge, from a diverse range of fields, mainly through a gigantic encyclopedia that the Chinese had already printed, some 11,000 volumes.
* This gift of knowledge sparked the inventiveness of the Renaissance in Europe. Hence, contrary to European history, Menzies claims that Leonardo da Vinci was not an inventor but rather a brilliant 3-D illustrator who merely detailed and drew in 3-D Chinese inventions.
* Similarly he claims that Christopher Columbus did not discover America since he already had a map of America before he left. This map was a Chinese one passed to him via the pope. Same for Australia.
* There was thriving Chinese trade in South America by the time the Spaniards got there, using of course, Chinese maps. Menzies goes as far as claiming that the leader of an Inca tribe was a Chinese Admiral.
* Some Maori people of New Zealand have significant Chinese DNA resulting from this expedition.
* The reason that this fleet is unheard of, is because in the decades that followed there was a huge tsunami caused by a meteor strike that wiped out the entire fleet and many of the world's coastal communities. He reports finding burnt out wrecks of Chinese junks (ships) about 200m over sea level in some places.
* China then withdrew itself to 300 years of isolation to mourn its losses and heal its wounds. Chinese bureaucrats then wiped out all reports pertaining to this history.
This is a very interesting theory and easy to believe given the research, evidence and scholars cited. However, many reputed historians have since junked his evidence and said that scholars named in Menzies' list do not support his theories while others have little authority in this field (see here). The book also relies heavily on two things: a map Menzies claims was dated 1418 and the arrival of the fleet in Europe in 1434. The map, many historians have said is a fake as even though the paper the map was printed on may be from 1800's, there are many mistakes (detailed here) that point to it being a fake. Other discrepancies are detailed in a critical Australian Four Corners' documentary.
As for the European visit, there is no record in Europe about the ships arriving nor the treasures it brought along with it. It is highly unlikely that such a huge event would go unrecorded and everyone else would pilfer the knowledge without even a single attribution.
So while both the books and evidence cited are very likely Sino-fantasy, the dangerous thing it does is that many Chinese, in the pursuit of global superpower status, are more than willing to believe his claims without checking the merits of the theories. The belief is strong and widespread even at the highest levels. In 2003, visiting Chinese Premier Hu Jintao told the Australian parliament that Ming Dynasty fleets had visited Australia in 1420's, three centuries before Captain Cook. See here.
According to Lyman Miller, "The basic components of superpower stature may be measured along four axes of power: military, economic, political, and cultural". Economically, just as the US did after World War II, China has proved that it is the epicenter of manufacturing and the credit provider to the world, even the US. Militarily, its double digit military budget growth and new generation of weapons across the board are alarming its neighbours. Politically, it won big-time after the US and North Korea were forced to back down on punishing North Korea for its almost-proven torpedo attack on the South Korean warship –Cheonan along with 46 of its sailors. Having established itself in the first three spheres it is important for China to start making progress on establishing cultural dominance.
The book helps the Chinese achieve this in many ways. Firstly, it builds self-confidence in a people who have long been subjected to racism globally. Secondly, if people believe they are racially superior, it will bring in a sense of unity that the Chinese government is desperate to create to keep it in power. Further, in places like Tibet, where it is rumoured that Chinese soldiers/men are told to take Tibetan wives to establish a Han population there and supress the Tibetan race, they would believe that they are doing the Tibetans a favour.
With every passing month, China is getting more assertive. Take for instance its stance against India (posting troops on the J&K border, saying that J&K is India occupied Kashmir and not a part of India. See here), Japan (BBC: China suspends relations with Japan) and the US (asked to stop patrolling international waters near China) . With its huge investment in military modernization and build up, it can quite quickly turn hostile. China has shown in the past that it has little regard for international opinion and is bound to create crimes against non-Chinese populations. So how would China justify these? The most unspeakable crimes are committed by people when they have convinced themselves that they themselves are the victims. Hitler justified the holocaust by convincing the Germans that they were the victims of the shrewd Jews. Suicide bombers who kill innocent bystanders or Israeli soldiers who have shot Palestinian children believe that they themselves are the victims of injustice. So, with books like these, Chinese people are being led to believe that they are the victims of Europeans stealing their technology without attribution and their right of global dominance. Hence, any crimes that it military would commit would be justified as it would just be winning back its rightful status in the world. Similarly, the brazen Chinese intellectual property theft from the Western World is justified by the book, since these inventions were initially Chinese anyway.
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