Admiral Zheng He’s “Treasure Ships” (1405-1433): Problems of Dimensional Interpretation and Scholarly Assessments

Abstract

The article presents a comprehensive study of the problem concerning the real dimensions of the “treasure ships” – the largest sailing vessels of medieval China that formed the core of admiral Zheng He’s fleet during his seven maritime expeditions (1405-1433). It has been traced that the contradictory nature of extant written evidence, the difficulties in interpreting traditional Chinese units of measurement and the lack of archeological data have led to long-standing debates about the real parameters of these ships. A comprehensive analysis has been carried out of the main sources relevant to this issue – the historical chronicle “History of Ming”, the contemporary narrative works “Romance of the Sanbao Eunuch’s Voyage to the Western Ocean” and “Boring Talks for My Guests” as well as the memorial stele in Nanjing, with particular attention to their reliability and chronological remoteness from the events described. The involvement of data from archeological excavation reports has made it possible to trace the evolution of medieval Chinese shipbuilding and to determine the dimensions, typology, tonnage and equipment of contemporary sea vessels.

Two historiographical approaches to this issue have been identified. The traditional one (J. Needham, L. Levathes, E. Dreyer) regards that enormous dimensions of the “treasure ships” recorded in the sources as entirely authentic, whereas the revisionist approach (A. Sleeswyk, C. Wake, S. Church) argues for the technical impossibility of constructing vessels of such scale. Particular attention is devoted to the analysis of traditional Chinese units of measurement and to the correlation of the numerical data with the results of archeological excavations in Nanjing (2003-2004) and with the general principles of medieval shipbuilding.

The study establishes that the data found in extant written sources, which estimate the “treasure ships” at 117-149 meters in length and 48-61 meters in width, are not consistent to reality. The real dimensions of these junks probably did not exceed 60-76 meters in length and 16-21 meters in width, which corresponds to the size of the shipbuilding docks in Nanjing and to the evidence of Chinese shipbuilding practices of that period. At the same time, several unresolved issues have been outlined, includingthe reconstruction of the external appearance of the “treasure ships” and the determination of their draft.