Page 212 - Ming_China_Courts_and_Contacts_1400_1450 Craig lunas

Plate 22.6a–b Google map images, showing the actual ship under the construction
dates from the 1620s. In Chinese it is called Zheng He hanghai
Total length: 71.1m Draught: 4.6m tu 鄭和航海圖 (Zheng He’s Navigation Chart), while in English
26
Length at waterline: Loaded displacement: it has been called ‘the Mao Kun map’ because it was
63.05m 1,810 tons preserved in a collection of military texts called Wubei zhi
武備志 (Treatise on Military Preparedness) held in the
Beam 14.05m Height of main mast: library of Mao Kun 茅坤 (1512–1601), which was printed in
38m 25
Depth: 6.1m 1621 (Pl. 22.7) by his grandson Mao Yuanyi 茅元儀 (1594–
1641) and presented to the throne in 1628. This is probably
This replica is thus just under the 250ft size which in my not the actual sailing chart used on Zheng He’s voyages – it is
view is most realistic. One of the wonders of modern perhaps a copy, or a copy of a copy – but it includes compass
technology is that one can zoom in on Google Earth and see directions and the lengths of time (in watches, geng 更) that it
the replica under construction at the Treasure Shipyard in takes to sail between certain destinations, as well as drawings
Nanjing, occupying one end of basin 6 (Pl. 22.6a–b). of the shorelines as seen from the sea. It is therefore a valuable
There are three main sets of illustrations relevant to the source of information. While there are no images of ships in
size of the ships. The first is the Mao Kun 茅坤 map, which the map itself, the 40 folios of the map are followed by four

Plate 22.7 Treatise on Military Preparedness or Records of Plate 22.8 (left) Drawing of 11.07m long rudderpost comparison
Armaments and Military Provisions (Wubei zhi 武備志). Tianqi with a man; (right) Wood rudderpost. Length 10.06m. Nanjing
period edition, 1621–7. Woodblock-printed, ink on paper, National Treasure Shipyard Relic Site Park
Library of China

202 | Ming China: Courts and Contacts 1400–1450