Zheng He China's Non-Chinese Admiral
Good evening friends,
Thought I would discuss what I found a bit unnerving and a bit shocking as I had never even heard of this before. It's called becoming a eunuch or being castrated. I actually felt a bit sad with the reading as it seems so foreign to remove one's genitals. In the case of Zheng He, this was not by his choosing. Born in 1371, Zheng's roots were from Central Asia. His dad and grandfather were Muslims and had also made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
His father was killed resisting forces of the Ming dynasty. He was taken prisoner at the young age of 11. It's unbelievable to me that the Ming dynasty would castrate a young boy. I mean what horror he must have experienced. It's written there was a long history of this practice and over one million eunuchs served the Chinese emperor. Is this like castration for horses and they felt men would obey their rulers if they lost their manhood? While it seems odd, there were several men who voluntarily gave up their manhood to achieve power, prestige and wealth (Strayer).
After some time, and in his adult life, he proved to be an effective leader. As it turns out, when his master turned emperor, Zheng served first as Grand Director or Palace Servants. This earned him a red robe of all things. This showed power.
Zheng eventually led seven voyages between 1405 - 1433. While he did not lead voyages to new and undiscovered land, he did lead men into a chartered territory. Most of these voyages were left without challenges however there were a few that challenged his leadership which included fighting pirates and punishing those who resisted Chinese leadership.
He did lead 2,000 Chinese soldiers against a hostile ruler in Ceylon, which is present-day Sri Lanka. Interesting fact about me, my husband is Sri Lankan and we are going to visit in August.
Zheng did give us his born religion of Muslin and adopted more closely to the religion of the land of Buddha and the Hindu deity Vishnu. He also showed interest in the relic of Buddha's tooth. Another fun fact, I've heard my husband speak of this tooth, which rests in the town of Kandy, my husband's birthplace.
After his death, Zheng disappeared from the history books and almost forgot about him. It was in the twenty-first century when Zheng was brought into the light again for the efforts of his peaceful ways.
Thought I would discuss what I found a bit unnerving and a bit shocking as I had never even heard of this before. It's called becoming a eunuch or being castrated. I actually felt a bit sad with the reading as it seems so foreign to remove one's genitals. In the case of Zheng He, this was not by his choosing. Born in 1371, Zheng's roots were from Central Asia. His dad and grandfather were Muslims and had also made the pilgrimage to Mecca.
His father was killed resisting forces of the Ming dynasty. He was taken prisoner at the young age of 11. It's unbelievable to me that the Ming dynasty would castrate a young boy. I mean what horror he must have experienced. It's written there was a long history of this practice and over one million eunuchs served the Chinese emperor. Is this like castration for horses and they felt men would obey their rulers if they lost their manhood? While it seems odd, there were several men who voluntarily gave up their manhood to achieve power, prestige and wealth (Strayer).
After some time, and in his adult life, he proved to be an effective leader. As it turns out, when his master turned emperor, Zheng served first as Grand Director or Palace Servants. This earned him a red robe of all things. This showed power.
Zheng eventually led seven voyages between 1405 - 1433. While he did not lead voyages to new and undiscovered land, he did lead men into a chartered territory. Most of these voyages were left without challenges however there were a few that challenged his leadership which included fighting pirates and punishing those who resisted Chinese leadership.
He did lead 2,000 Chinese soldiers against a hostile ruler in Ceylon, which is present-day Sri Lanka. Interesting fact about me, my husband is Sri Lankan and we are going to visit in August.
Zheng did give us his born religion of Muslin and adopted more closely to the religion of the land of Buddha and the Hindu deity Vishnu. He also showed interest in the relic of Buddha's tooth. Another fun fact, I've heard my husband speak of this tooth, which rests in the town of Kandy, my husband's birthplace.
After his death, Zheng disappeared from the history books and almost forgot about him. It was in the twenty-first century when Zheng was brought into the light again for the efforts of his peaceful ways.
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