To show the power and influence of the Ming Dynasty and attract foreign tributes, emperor Zhu Di (1402-1424 A.D. on the throne) decided to dispatch a large fleet on a diplomatic mission to the countries in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. In the 3rd year of Yong Le (1405 A.D., Yong Le is the reign title of Emperor Zhu Di), the first sailing was launched with Zheng He asambassador and Wang Jinghong as vice ambassador. By the 8th year of Xuan De (1433 A.D.), within a period of 28 years, Zheng He had made seven sailings to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, leading then the largest fleet in the world, with 27,000 people aboard, including soldiers, sailors, workmen, translators and doctors. According to “History of Ming”, the largest ship of his fleet was 44.4 zhangs (about 148 meters) long, 18 zhangs (about60 meters) wide, with 9 masts and 12 sails. The ships were fully loaded with precious goods and famous products from China such as gold, silver, silk, porcelain, iron wares, cloth, tea, jade carvings and bronze coins of the Ming. They traded with local people wherever they went. Covering a total distance of over70,000 kilometers, Zheng He visited more than 30 countries in Southeast Asia, Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, Red Sea and the east coast of Africa. Among the countries and places he visited, Islamic countries included: Java, Malaysia, Brunei, Philippines, India, Iran, Yemen, Oman, Somalia, Kenya, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt. Translators aboard such as Ma Huan, Guo Chongli, Fei Xin, Ha San and Sha Ban were Muslim. In the 8th year of Xuan De (1433 A.D.), when Zheng He made his seventh sailing as far as Jeddah on the east shore of the Red Sea, he sent7 people including the translators who believed in Islam, to Meccafor pilgrimage, and had them draw a picture of Ka"bah and took it to Nanjing. Zheng He also drew up navigation maps of his voyages, marking in detail the courses they sailed through, the geographical situations of the coasts and the ports of the countries they sailed by, and the submerged reefs, shallows, islands, mountains and coastal terrains. It is the first world map of marine geography in China. Ma Huan, Fei Xin and Gong Zhen who sailed with Zheng He detailed what they had seen and heard during their voyages in the books “Ying Ya Sheng Lan” (beautiful scenery in the far oceans), “Xing Cha Sheng Lan” (beautiful scenery seen in sailing) and “Xi Yang Fan Guo Zhi” (countries in the Pacific and Indian Occeans) respectively. They recorded the mountains, rivers, climates, products, social structures, politics, religions and traditions of various countries and places in Asia and Africa they had been to. These books are of very important documentary value to us today.
Zheng He"s seven sailings opened a sea-route to east Africa across the Indian Ocean, promoted economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, and enhanced the friendly contacts between the people of China and Asian and African countries. After Zheng He"s diplomatic sailings, more than 30 Asian and African countries dispatched envoys to visitChina, among whom there were 10 kings. For example, in 1417
A.D. King of Sulu (now Philippines), who was a Muslim, came to visit China and died in China afterwards and was buried in Dezhou, Shandong Province. In Southeast Asia there still exist some relics left by Zheng He. The tomb containing his personal effects is located at the south foot of Niushou Mount in Jiangning district, Nanjing. People call it Ma Hui Hui Mu (tomb of Hui Hui Ma) because Zheng He"s original family name was Ma, and his father whose name was Ma Hama was called Hajj Ma. The mount where his tomb is located is called Hui Hui Mount.
To sum it up, the Hui Huis experienced a process of large- scale gathering to Nanjing in the early Ming Dynasty, but it was very short and followed by a big dispersion soon after. Some of the Hui Huis went along with the conquering army to the west, some moved to Beijing along with Emperor Yong Le, and others still moved as the capital city was moved from Nanjing to Beijing. Some of the Hui Huis living in Gansu, Qinghai, Guangxi, Yunnan and Hunan now say that their ancestors originally lived in Nanjing, and moved to these places for the above reasons during the Ming Dynasty.
The big gathering to Nanjing and big dispersion that theHui Huis experienced in the early Ming Dynasty is of greatimportance for the wide spread of Islam, especially to places where Islam had never touched during the Yuan Dynasty. The Muslims population in Nanjing increased as a result, and became the city where Muslims lived most intensively on the southeast coast of China.