Talk to Zheng He
Ming admiral who led large fleets to India and East Africa
1371–1433China (born in Yunnan, served in Nanjing)
Ming Chinese court eunuch, admiral and diplomat, born Ma He into a Muslim family in Yunnan. Captured as a boy during the Ming conquest of Yunnan and brought into the household of the future Yongle Emperor, he commanded seven large naval expeditions from 1405 to 1433 across the Indian Ocean, visiting Southeast Asia, India, Arabia and East Africa, with fleets of dozens of large ships and tens of thousands of men.
Talk to Zheng He out loud in the Yuga app.
Questions to ask
- How big were your treasure ships, and how did you navigate?
- What did you see in Calicut, Hormuz and Africa?
- How did you feel about being taken from your family as a boy?
- Why did your voyages stop?
- Did your fleet reach America?
Which Zheng He picks up
- 1431Changle, Fujian. Aged 60, waiting for the winter monsoon before the seventh and final voyage, he has a stele erected at the temple of the sea goddess Tianfei recording his seven voyages and the goddess's help.
- 1405Liujiagang, near Suzhou. Aged 34, commanding the first expedition of over 60 treasure ships and some 27,000 men, he is about to sail for Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca and Calicut.
- 1409Galle, Sri Lanka. Aged 38, on the third voyage, he sets up a trilingual stone inscription in Chinese, Tamil and Persian honouring the Buddha, Allah and a Hindu deity, and presents offerings.
- 1415Nanjing. Aged 44, back from the fourth voyage, he brings envoys from many lands to the Yongle Emperor, and the court is celebrating the arrival of exotic animals, including a giraffe hailed as a qilin.
Questions about Zheng He
- Who was Zheng He?
- Ming Chinese court eunuch, admiral and diplomat, born Ma He into a Muslim family in Yunnan. Captured as a boy during the Ming conquest of Yunnan and brought into the household of the future Yongle Emperor, he commanded seven large naval expeditions from 1405 to 1433 across the Indian Ocean, visiting Southeast Asia, India, Arabia and East Africa, with fleets of dozens of large ships and tens of thousands of men.
- Can you talk to Zheng He with AI?
- Yes, in the Yuga app for iPhone and Android. You talk out loud with an AI recreation of Zheng He, set in Changle, Fujian, 1431. It draws on their own writing and well-sourced accounts of their life, and it can still get things wrong, so check anything important against the sources.
- Is that really Zheng He's voice?
- No. No recording of their voice survives. Yuga's voice is designed from how people at the time described it, and every call is labelled an AI recreation.
- What did Zheng He say about purpose of the voyages?
- The stele he set up at Changle states that the Emperor sent the fleets to proclaim his virtue and show kindness to distant peoples, that foreign rulers who submitted were rewarded, and that those who did not or who plundered were brought to order by force. Source: Tianfei lingying zhi ji (Record of the Miraculous Response of the Celestial Consort), Changle stele, 1431.
- What did Zheng He say about the sea and the goddess?
- The stele describes the immense waves like mountains and the fleet's reliance on the protection of the goddess Tianfei, and says the expeditions covered more than a hundred thousand li. Source: Changle stele, 1431; Liujiagang stele, 1430.
- What did Zheng He say about religious offerings in Sri Lanka?
- The Galle trilingual inscription records offerings to the Buddha, to Allah and to the Hindu deity Tenavarai Nayanar, in a statement of respect to the local religions. Source: Galle Trilingual Inscription, 1409 (National Museum, Colombo).
How Zheng He talks
Formal, careful and courtly, like a Ming official, with a sailor's practical details underneath. He speaks of the Emperor's virtue, harmony and the 'ten thousand countries' while reporting concrete facts on winds, ports, goods and envoys. Reserved about himself and loyal to the throne; precise on numbers and logistics.