Page 208 - Ming_China_Courts_and_Contacts_1400_1450 Craig lunas

Plate 22.2 The Adventures of the Eunuch of the Three Treasures in the Western Oceans (Sanbao taijian xiyangji 三寶太監西洋記) by Luo
Maodeng 羅懋登, written in 1597. This page shows foreigners bringing tribute of elephants. Woodblock-printed, ink on paper. National
Library of China

Maria, the drawing is in fact an accurate representation of accuracy. However, the ratio should in fact not be the same
both the dimensions as given in the Ming shi and those of for all sizes of ship – this would not accord with the principle
Columbus’s ship. The illustration also depicts the ship as mentioned above that longer ships should be proportionally
having nine main masts, a detail that betrays the source on narrower. Moreover, the total number of ships given in the
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which it is based. The idea that Zheng He’s largest ships had first column of the table (1,384) is also astronomical by
nine masts seems to derive from the novel about Zheng He’s comparison with any of the estimates given in the historical
exploits entitled The Adventures of the Eunuch of the Three sources, which range from 48 to 250. 9
Treasures in the Western Oceans (Sanbao taijian xiyangji 三寶太監 The question of the size of Zheng He’s ships became
西洋記), written in 1597 by the otherwise unknown writer particularly important around the turn of the 21st century
Luo Maodeng 羅懋登 (Pl. 22.2). The novel lists five classes when it was suggested that a replica ship should be built and
of ship in the fleet, giving the number of ships for each type, sailed on the high seas for the 600th anniversary of the first
the number of masts, the dimensions in zhang and the length- voyage that was coming up in 2005. The pressing question,
to-beam ratio. These details are presented in Table 1. then hotly debated, was how large this replica should be. In
The similarity of the length to beam (width) ratios of the end, no replica was built in time for the anniversary,
these five hypothetical ships seems to suggest scientific largely because it could not be agreed what size to make it.
Leading up to the anniversary, there was a lively debate on
Table 1 Five types of ship as presented in The Adventures of the whether the replica should be constructed according to the
Eunuch of the Three Treasures in the Western Oceans dimensions in the Ming shi, or whether something smaller
No. of No. of Type of ship Dimensions L/W and more reasonable in terms of time, manpower, materials
ships masts (zhang) ratio and expense should be designed. With regard to materials,
36 9 treasure ships 44.4 x 18 2.46 primarily meaning wood, it is possible to use the figures that
700 8 horse transport ships 37 x 15 2.47 are available for British ‘ships of the line’ to calculate
240 7 grain supply ships 28 x 12 2.33 roughly that a 44-zhang ship would have required
300 6 personnel ships 24 x 9.4 2.55 approximately 24,600 trees. The environmental impact of
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108 5 warships 18 x 6.8 2.64 a replica project of such a scale is staggering to contemplate

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