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China Pioneers Global Exploration?
c810-830 CE "According to a legend dating from at least the 6th century CE, a Chinese junk captained by Xi and He around 2640 BC sailed east from Japan for thousands of miles and found a continent. If true, it could only have been one of the Americas. The best evidence that something of this nature could occur are well-authenticated accounts of Japanese boats blown off course and landing in the Americas in the late 18th and early 19th centuries." __Timetables of Technology__. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1994, p. 83.

Possibly useful:
 * =1421: The Year China Discovered America - Gavin Menzies=

Her writing is described as in the tradition of Barbara Tuchman Levathes, a former staff writer for National Geographic, here tells the story of seven epic voyages made by unique junk armadas during the reign of the Chinese emperor Zhu Di. These "treasure ships" under the command of the eunuch admiral Zheng He traded in porcelain, silk, lacquerware and fine-art objects; they sailed from Korea and Japan throughout the Malay archipelago and India to East Africa, and possibly as far away as Australia. Levathes argues that China could have employed its navy--with some 3000 vessels, the largest in history until the present century--to establish a great colonial empire 100 years before the age of European exploration and expansion; i**nstead, the Chinese abruptly dismantled their navy.** Levathes describes the political showdown that led to this perverse turn of events, revolving around a clash between the powerful eunuch class and Confucian scholar-officials. Her scholarly study includes a section on the construction of the seagoing junks (the largest had nine masts, was 400 feet long and would have dwarfed Columbus's ships) and provides a look into court life in the Ming dynasty, particularly the relationship between the emperor, his eunuch and his concubines. Illustrated.
 * =When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433 - Louise Levathes=


 * =Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 - Edward L. Dreyer=


 * This new biography, part of Longman's World Biography series, of the Chinese explorer Zheng He** sheds new light on one of the most important “what if” questions of early modern history: why a technically advanced China did not follow the same path of development as the major European powers. Written by China scholar Edward L. Dreyer, //Zheng He// outlines what is known of the eunuch Zheng He’s life and describes and analyzes the early 15th century voyages on the basis of the Chinese evidence. Locating the voyages firmly within the context of early Ming history,itaddresses the political motives of Zheng He’s voyages and how they affected China’s exclusive attitude to the outside world in subsequent centuries.