The Institute of Asian Studies at Universiti Brunei Darussalam is pleased to announce the publication of IAS Working Paper No 81: Wisdom of the East:
Zheng He and his Maritime Expeditions by Senior Professor Lee Cheuk Yin (IAS).
Please see below for details.
Abstract: About 600 years ago, a huge fleet with more than 27,000 men set sail from the Liujia harbour in Nanjing to begin China’s first-ever large-scale oceanic journey, marking a brilliant chapter in the maritime history of mankind. The Zheng He expeditions were the largest naval expedition during that period as it comprised of as many as 300 ships of various sizes (including 62 large treasure ships) and more than 27,000 men.1 In a span of 28 years, from 1405 to 1433, Admiral Zheng He made seven expeditions to Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the east coast of Africa, covering more than 30 countries and regions that include Annam, Champa, Cambodia, Malacca, Siam, Java, Ryukyu, Palembang, Brunei, Sumatra, Bengal, Ceylon, Cochin, Hormuz, Dhufar, Aden along the Red Sea, and Mogadishu on the east coast of Africa. His maritime expeditions demonstrated extraordinary leadership ability and serve as an interesting case study for multi-cultural interaction. Unfortunately, Zheng He was not a scholar and did not leave behind any writing that can reflect his management theories. This paper attempts to reconstruct his traits in managing such a big fleet.
Author
LEE Cheuk Yin was previously head of the Department of Chinese Studies and founding director of the Wan Boo Saw Research Centre for Chinese Culture at the National University of Singapore. He is Guest Professor of the Nanjing University, Hubei University and Wuhan University, and Academic Advisor of the National Institute for Advanced Humanistic Studies at Fudan University, China. He has served as External Examiner of the School of Chinese of the University of Hong Kong, and the History Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is currently Senior Professor at the Institute of Asian Studies (IAS), Universiti Brunei Darussalam. Prof. Lee’s interest is Chinese intellectual history, Muslim activities in China and traditional medicine. He has written 8 books and edited more than 30 books. He is editor of the book series Overseas Chinese Studies (Guangxi Normal University Press) and Emotion and the State of Mind in East Asia (Leiden: Brill).
To see more IAS Working Papers, please visit the IAS Working Papers web page.
