Zheng He Voyage Paper
Alfonso-Miguel S. Martija III
SBU ID: 110021212
HIS 340 First Paper
A Look on China’s Place in Maritime Trade
China has previously viewed as a closed off and isolated country. This is due to multiple times where it has been closed off from trade. Not only that but Confucian teaching does not encourage relationships with outside states because these teachings believe heavily in self-sufficiency. We can examine China’s place in Maritime trade by looking at different sources on its history.
There are many ways to write history. Though different individuals may have been present, when each gives a different account, the truth may be lost with the death of the individual. To be able to get a proper perspective of what happened, we must examine multiple sources.
We can look at two forms of sources, primary and secondary. Primary sources are sources of information that come from individuals who were present or were involved in the affair. In the case of examining the Zheng He voyages, we can assume that primary sources would come from Zheng He himself and the people he brought along with him on the expeditions. Secondary sources on the other hand would be individuals who had read about the events from a primary source. They then convey the information either through writing or speaking. For the case of the class, we are using Louise Levathes as a secondary source.
What is the significance of using primary and secondary sources? Primary sources would tend to be more accurate than a secondary source. There are also some problems when it comes to sources that need to be translated. Translations may not be completely accurate because not all words have a direct translation between languages so other words are used that may not have the same meaning, context, or value as the original text. All of these facts must be kept in mind when examining different sources of information.
We can begin with a brief summary of the Zheng He voyages. The Zheng He voyages were a set of
SBU ID: 110021212
HIS 340 First Paper
A Look on China’s Place in Maritime Trade
China has previously viewed as a closed off and isolated country. This is due to multiple times where it has been closed off from trade. Not only that but Confucian teaching does not encourage relationships with outside states because these teachings believe heavily in self-sufficiency. We can examine China’s place in Maritime trade by looking at different sources on its history.
There are many ways to write history. Though different individuals may have been present, when each gives a different account, the truth may be lost with the death of the individual. To be able to get a proper perspective of what happened, we must examine multiple sources.
We can look at two forms of sources, primary and secondary. Primary sources are sources of information that come from individuals who were present or were involved in the affair. In the case of examining the Zheng He voyages, we can assume that primary sources would come from Zheng He himself and the people he brought along with him on the expeditions. Secondary sources on the other hand would be individuals who had read about the events from a primary source. They then convey the information either through writing or speaking. For the case of the class, we are using Louise Levathes as a secondary source.
What is the significance of using primary and secondary sources? Primary sources would tend to be more accurate than a secondary source. There are also some problems when it comes to sources that need to be translated. Translations may not be completely accurate because not all words have a direct translation between languages so other words are used that may not have the same meaning, context, or value as the original text. All of these facts must be kept in mind when examining different sources of information.
We can begin with a brief summary of the Zheng He voyages. The Zheng He voyages were a set of
Bibliography: Dreyer, Edward L. Zheng He, China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433. Pearson, n.d. Levathes, Louise. When China Ruled The Seas. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.