ADMIRAL ZEN HE

ADMIRAL ZEN HE - a little known Chinese explorer

Amiral Zen-He sailed from China in the early 1400's. He wanted to show the world China's strength and power. Ch'eng Tsu, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty gave him a huge fleet of junks to sail with. Of these 255 ships, 62 of those enormous sized junks were laden with glorious treasure. Zen-He took 28,000 men to with him on his journey. He set sail on his adventure out of Nanking harbor.

His ships reached the Cape of Good Hope in Africa in 1415, seventy years before the Europeans! He was exploring worlds the men in Spain and Italy would explore for the first time years in the future.

By 1433 he had gone on seven voyages to South Asia, India, Persian Gulf and Southeast Africa. He saw things no other Chinese had ever seen before. He gave away much of the treasures as gifts to the people he visited. Zen-He brought back foreign diplomats and exotic animals to China.

Admiral Zen-He was an adventurer who was not afraid to do what others said could not be done.

Draw and label a junk. Add it to your ship page.
Label all the places he went on a map. Draw his travels if you can.
Make a floating compass. Add the approximate date of this to your timeline (1000 AD) One of the things China was well known for was its silk. They kept the process hidden for many years.
Mark the Silk Road on your map and tell about it.
Research silkworms. Make a poster showing how silk is produced.
Asbestos was another thing Marco Polo saw that the Chinese knew about. Write a report on asbestos.
Learn how to make some of the Chinese letters.

This would also be a great addition to a unit study on China.