The Ming Voyages
In Our Time: History
BBC
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2011
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Ming Voyages. In 1405 a Chinese admiral, Zheng He, set sail with an enormous fleet of ships carrying more than 27,000 people. This was the first of seven voyages of discovery which took Zheng and his ships all over the known world, from India to the Gulf of Persia and as far as East Africa. They took Chinese goods, evidence of the might of the Ming Empire, to the people they visited; and they also returned to China with treasure from the places they visited, and exotic items including a live giraffe. These seven voyages were an expression of the might of the Ming Dynasty; but they were regarded by some Chinese courtiers as a wasteful extravagance, and after internal disputes they came to an end in 1433. These extraordinary journeys live on in the imagination and the historical record - and had a profound effect on China's relationship with the rest of the world.With:Rana MitterProfessor of the History and Politics of Modern China at the University of OxfordJulia LovellLecturer in Chinese History at Birkbeck College, University of LondonCraig ClunasProfessor of the History of Art at the University of Oxford.Producer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Thanks for downloading the in-artime podcast. For more details about in-artime and for our terms of use |
| 0:05.4 | Please go to bbc.co.uk forward slash radio for. I hope you enjoy the program |
| 0:12.4 | Hello in the winter of 1405 a fleet of 317 Chinese ships manned by more than 27,000 crew members |
| 0:20.0 | That sailed from the Yangtzee estuary and headed south towards Siam |
| 0:23.8 | These were the treasureships of the Ming Empire so called because some of them not only carried treasures |
| 0:28.8 | such as silk, porcelain and gold, but also sought riches from distant lands |
| 0:33.2 | This was the first of seven voyages over the course of 28 years |
| 0:36.6 | We saw the Chinese sailed to many airports across the globe from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea and east coast of Africa |
| 0:42.2 | They brought back much booty to China including precious stones and even a giraffe |
| 0:47.0 | But what was the purpose of these voyages and why did they come to an end in 1433 with me to discuss the Ming voyages |
| 0:53.8 | Arana Mitter professor of the history and politics of modern China at the University of Oxford |
| 0:58.5 | Julia Lovell lecturer in Chinese history |
| 1:00.8 | Birkbeck College University of London and Craig Clooners professor of the history of art at the University of Oxford |
| 1:06.8 | Arana Mitter these epic journeys are known as the Ming voyages. Can you tell us a bit about the Ming first? |
| 1:12.6 | Well the Ming dynasty |
| 1:14.4 | Lasted all the way from 1368 to 1644 and it's the very last of China's dynasty that is actually ruled by ethnic Chinese |
| 1:22.2 | The one that followed that was actually ruled by |
| 1:24.2 | Manchus who came from the the north and I'd sum it up perhaps very crudely with two terms and those terms of commerce and |
| 1:31.3 | Culture it's an immensely rich and prosperous period at least during its flourishing |
| 1:36.1 | It's a time when China's internal market means that a newly prosperous middle class you might almost say starts to eat exotic fruits and |
| 1:44.9 | Foods from different parts of the country which are sold in the internal market also the development of much more sophisticated |
| 1:51.2 | Art and commercial art as part of that. So the two come together very much during this period |
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