Roles of Chinese Navy and Maritime, and Ming Treasure Ship Voyages - Term Paper Example

? Roles of Chinese Navy and Maritime, and Ming Treasure Ship Voyages Introduction China was among the most powerful and advanced countries, before the arrival of the Europeans in Asia. It had a large population its citizens were politically unified, and most significantly, China had mastered the agricultural art. However, at the arrival of the Europeans in China, the Europeans found a country that valued traditional culture and warfare. Industrialization was nearly non-existing. This was at the initial 20th century years.1 However, China had many occurrences before the 20th century. These occurrences significantly influenced on the early Chinese governments and even the Chinese people. These occurrences were also steered by certain groups like the navy of the Chinese. The navy of the Chinese, therefore, played a significant role during the 19th century. Some occurrences include the Chinese maritime and those caused by the Ming treasure ship voyages. Roles of Chinese Navy and Maritime China has had an extensive and storied marine heritage. The Chinese geography and its coastlines could not lend itself as a protected area where saltwater sailing could be practiced. The eastern part of the Chinese coastlines fairly considered sailing except during the typhoon season and the Taiwan Strait stays as the most hazardous water stretch in the globe for purposes further than that of defense. The Chinese coast has most of its parts jagged and rocky to allow mooring, and natural port are little and distant between. Ancient China was chiefly a sedimentary, seamanship and agricultural society was restricted to navigation. In 1135, the Nomadic people of the north subjugated several regional capitals and launched a fresh capital at Hangzhou on the southern part of the Chinese coast at the Yangtze River. This became the initial chief seaport of China. Despite, its reputation as both port city and imperial capital, the shift, to Hangzhou never created new values; it formed no new locate of attitudes regarding the ocean.2 In 13th century, during the reign of Mongol, several seaborne attacks were started against Vietnam, Japan and Java. The number of the solders involved in these attacks was significant; the attack on Japan involved to 250,000 soldiers and close to 900 ships; the subsequent attack in 1281 included 4400 ships. Nevertheless, the scheme of a strong navy never took in majestic China.3 Some most tremendous achievements of the dynasty of Ming, controlled by Admiral Zheng, were not sufficient to warrant sustained exploration. The navy of the Chinese, therefore, assisted in protecting the Chinese coastlines before the 20th century. The navy used the warships to keep away the enemies like Japan and Jeda form their coastlines. From this, China became powerful because of its stability. That is the Chinese people were provided with maximum security thereby could carry out their activities without any interference. Moreover, the Chinese navy also provided a defense to the conquered coastlines so that no enemies could form alliances with the natives of the conquered coastlines. Furthermore, the navy provided defense from sea crimes. For example, the navy prevented the operations of pirates in their coastlines. This intensified the superiority of the Ming dynasty and their superiority spread throughout the globe. Moreover, the navy of the Chinese also helped in invading other coastlines purposely to gain more wealth and fame. The navy also invaded the other coastlines so that they could increase their borders. Increase in their boarders could help them in could help in widening their market for their products. Moreover, the coastlines invasion could help the Chinese to have a strong domination (sea power) in the globe. The Chinese navy also helped in exploration that was done by the Chinese nation. The explorations done had numerous hazards hence it was the duty of the navy to prove maximum security to the explorers. They, therefore, assisted the explorers to do their exploration of the world without any interference from the raiders or the pirates in the seas. Through this China made many discoveries and their fame and power increased. Moreover, the navy also helped in the exploration by helping in doing the heavy tasks that involved the exploration. The navy of the Chinese also assisted in carrying out trading activities that took place in the sea. The navy helped in transporting the trade products to other nations through the sea. This they did by providing protection to the traders and the products throughout the journey. Moreover, the navy assisted the traders in loading in goods, in the ships at the port, and offloading of the goods from the ship once they arrived at the destination. Furthermore, the navy assisted the traders in the steering of the ships throughout the journey hence ensuring protection from sea waves and storms. The Chinese navy also helped in the construction of voyages and the harbor construction. Since the building, of the ships required much effort, the skilled workers who built the voyages required help from the navy. Despite that, the some navy soldiers were also skilled in the voyage building. Since the harbors had to have strong docks, the navy work force assisted in building of the docks, and ensuring that the docks had a strong and lasting support. This ensured perfect harbors that could handle large ships and could handled several ships. Since the harbors could handle several voyages, the Chinese nation developed because trade thrived. Another role of the Chinese navy was to help in the collection of tax duties at the docks when the foreign ships came for the trade. The navy people were never tax collectors but only assisted the Chinese tax collectors in collecting the taxes. For instance, the navy helped the duty collectors incase a disputed arose between the duty collector and the foreign traders. The navy also helped in providing protection of the tax duty collected and ensured that it safely reached its required destination. The taxation was chiefly through the provision of goods. Maritime affairs played an astonishingly little role in the long history of China long. Despite China having a long coastline, it use of the coastal transport was restricted for much of Chinas history; it merchandise and armies traveled mostly in the inland waterways. Most significant naval fights in the history of China occurred on the rivers and lakes. Maritime matters were not Confucian elite concern. Serious Safety threats were from the main land, mainly in invasions form by Central Asia forces. This, however, does not essentially mean that China did not engage in the activities of the maritime. China had a broad network of maritime trade with South of Asia and the Middle East especially in the dynasties of Tang and Song. There is evidence showing that, between 14th and 15th centuries, the merchants of China kept sophisticated records of navigation of the voyages at the seaport of South China and the Indian Ocean. The peak of pre modern maritime activities of China was in the premature 15th century, with remarkable series of voyages under Admiral Zheng He. The voyages went to Africa and The Middle East. Entirely seven voyages, visited what today are the Middle East, Brunei, Indonesia, East Africa, India, and Thailand.4 The Chinese maritime played a significant role before the 20th century. The crucial role played by the Chinese maritime was the intensification of global trade. Since China lacked some basic commodities, it needed to trade to get these commodities. Using the sea routes and the voyages Chinese could travel to other nations purposely for acquisition of such commodities. Moreover, China also used the maritime trade to remove their surplus out of their nation. The Chinese maritime, therefore, played a role of providing transportation base to the products of the Chinese to the outer world, for the acquisition of imports by the Chinese people. The Ming dynasty, therefore, became powerful because the Empire received almost everything they needed and they gained a lot from the exports. The maritime played a role of improving communication and social interaction of the Chinese empire with the outside world. For instance, the Chinese through maritime the Chinese could be connected to the outside world. The Maritime enabled the Chinese to travel to diverse world parts hence they easily communicated with the outside world and formed trade relationships with them. The maritime created a social interaction between the Chinese people. For instance, through maritime trading the Chinese interacted with different people hence they created mutual relationships with the other nations thereby gaining ideas which helped them in coming up with ideas that improved their empire. The maritime also provided a basis for the Chinese navy to carry out exploration on the other world parts. Through this, they made many discoveries, which assisted them back at home both economically and socially. Moreover, they were able to get to know the outside world hence their intelligence was elevated. Impacts of Ming Voyage Ships The Ming’s voyage ships had significant impacts on China and even the world. For instance, the voyages influenced positively on the Empire because it helped the Chinese to conquer some coastlines, which improved the economy of the Empire.5 Moreover, the ships also helped in the globe exploration hence the Chinese people were able to create mutual relationships with different nations thereby intensifying trade. Furthermore, the voyages assisted the Chinese in carrying out the maritime trade. The voyages, however, had a negative impact on the other nations. For instance, the nations that lost their coastlines because of voyages were adversely affected because they depended on the coastlines for their income. Conclusion In conclusion, it is notable that the Chinese did many activities before 20th century purposely to improve their livelihood and make their nation powerful and prestigious in the face of the earth. It is, therefore, evident that the activities they did had significant impact on them. Furthermore, the inventions that they made also affected their lives and the lives of their neighbors. References Levathes, Louise. When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405- 1433. New York: Oxford University Press, 1996. Wang, Gungwu. Maritime China in Transition: 1750 - 1850. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, n.d. Wilkinson, Endymion Porter. Chinese History: A Manual. Cambridge, Mass. [u.a.]: Harvard Univ., Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute [u.a.], 2000. Yuan, Haiwang. This Is China: The First 5,000 Years. Great Barrington, Mass: Berkshire Pub. Group, 2010. Read More