An afternoon with Zheng He

An event relating to the Chinese eunuch admiral Zheng He (鄭和) and the ways in which his image and the Ming sources which portray him are used and abused in history and popular writing.

Programme

14.30 - Presentation
Dr. Geoff Wade (Visiting Senior Research Fellow Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Singapore) will introduce the eunuch admiral and examine the various ways in which his voyages in the early 15th century are seen.

14.50 - Presentation
Prof. Tansen Sen (Head Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre, Singapore) will speak on “Zheng He in South Asia: Trade, Diplomacy, or Regime Change?”

15.45 - Screening of Junk History
A video entitled Junk History will be screened. This video produced by the Australian broadcasting Corporation, examines the creation and marketing of Gavin Menzies’ book 1421: the Year China Discovered the World. Menzies’ book claimed that Zheng He’s junks circumnavigated the world, “discovering” Australia, New Zealand, the Americas, and Antarctica. His fleets supposedly left settlers and artefacts wherever they made landfall. If true, this makes Zheng He and his sailors greater explorers than Columbus, Cook and Magellan combined. However, as the programme shows, 1421 has a  credibility problem. Professional historians label it naïve scholarship, or worse, straight-out fabrication.

16.30 - Q&A and Discussion
The screening will be followed by a discussion on Zheng He and his uses and abuses in the contemporary world, as well as popular history versus academic history.