Content area
Full Text
Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433. By Edward L. Dreyer. New York: Pearson Longman, 2007. ISBN 0-32108443-8. Map. Illustrations. Glossary. Index. Pp. xiv, 238. $20.00.
The seven Chinese voyages to Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean led by the eunuch admiral Zheng He, involving hundreds of ships and tens of thousands of men, have become a staple of World History curricula, where they are presented as a counterpoint to the smaller scale but more consequential voyages of European explorers. Since both textbooks and specialized studies usually present the early Ming expeditions as peaceful voyages of discovery, Edward L. Dreyer's book might at first glance seem an unlikely candidate for review in the JMH. The author's central argument, however, is that Zheng He's master, the Yongle emperor, was in fact engaged in power projection aimed at bringing distant states within the ambit of the Ming tributary system. The book presents compelling evidence...