The Great Voyages of Zheng He - Hardcover

Song Nan Zhang & Hao Yu Zhang

3.8

15 ratings by Goodreads

9781572270886: The Great Voyages of Zheng He

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1572270888 ISBN 13: 9781572270886

Publisher: Pan Asian Publications, 2005

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Decades before the voyages of Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Magellan, Zheng He led seven major expeditions that extended the cultural and economic reach of the Chinese empire and helped China become a political superpower. Written and illustrated by Song Nan Zhang who co-authored the English text with his son, The Great Voyages of Zheng He highlights tells the story of a man who faced many obstacles to become advisor to an emperor and admiral of the greatest navy the world had ever seen.

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From the Inside Flap:

Decades before the voyages of Columbus, Vasco da Gama and Magellan, Zheng He led seven major expeditions that extended the cultural and economic reach of the Chinese empire and helped China become a political superpower. The Great Voyages of Zheng He tells the story of a man who faced many obstacles to become advisor to an emperor and admiral of the greatest navy the world had ever seen.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-6–Nearly a century before Columbus and Magellan set sail, Zheng He (called Cheng Ho in earlier texts) led six maritime expeditions across the Indian Ocean to Africa and Arabia. Born into a wealthy and powerful Muslim family, he was captured and made a eunuch during the revolution that established the Ming Dynasty. He entered the service of a Ming emperor who recognized his talent and selected the 32-year-old Zheng He to command a fleet of hundreds of ships. Zheng's voyages clearly demonstrated China's wealth and power to people at every port of call. This generously sized informational book in picture-book format surveys Zheng's exploits in a series of painted scenes, backdrops for squares of text in English. The two pages of Chinese text are written in the characters used before the Revolution rather than the simplified characters used now in the People's Republic. Song Nan Zhang's illustrations, by turns dramatic, monumental, and intimate, bring Zheng He and his world to life. Unfortunately, the English text is stilted. Both English and Chinese texts are too fact-filled to engage a wide audience. Libraries with a demand for Chinese history or in need of bilingual texts can use this book. Others should wait for a writer with enough verve to make Zheng's adventures more exciting.–Margaret A. Chang, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams
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