Latest news with #ZhengHe
The Star
8 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Feature: Emerging Chinese-built harbor links past, present and future in Tanzania
by Xinhua writer Hua Hongli DAR ES SALAAM, June 9 (Xinhua) -- A gentle sea breeze stirs the trees on a quiet island off the southeastern coast of Tanzania. Here lie the ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani, once a bustling port on the Indian Ocean trade route, where ships loaded with gold, spices, and porcelain gathered in significant numbers. Now, just across the water, another port is taking shape. The Kilwa Fishing Harbor, dubbed a "port of the future," is rising with ambition. A 315-meter-long jetty extends into the ocean like a steel arm. Nearby, construction is in full swing on cold storage facilities, a trading market, office buildings, and a sewage treatment plant. This new harbor is expected to anchor Tanzania's blue economy for years to come. Historical records show that Chinese navigator Zheng He led massive fleets during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) on seven expeditions to the Indian Ocean, reaching as far as East Africa and the Red Sea. "Many pieces of Chinese porcelain have been unearthed at the Kilwa Kisiwani site. It shows how long the friendship between Tanzania and China has existed," said Shomari Rajabu Shomari, historical curator of the National Museum of Tanzania. "Six hundred years ago, the Chinese came in peace to trade. Now, six hundred years later, they are helping us build a port that leads to prosperity," he told Xinhua in an interview, pointing to an old chart of a 15th-century Chinese fleet. The project, constructed by China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC), a leading Chinese construction company, is Tanzania's first modern large-scale fishing harbor. Covering about 5.6 hectares, it is designed to handle 60,000 tonnes of fish annually and can dock deep-sea fishing vessels, according to Chen Zhifeng, vice project manager of the CHEC Tanzania maritime project department. The project is expected to be completed in September. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan attended the groundbreaking ceremony in 2023, emphasizing its significance to the national economy and people's livelihoods. Tanzania boasts abundant marine resources, and the waters around the Kilwa District lie along the migration route of tuna. Yet, for years, the lack of modern fishing facilities has forced local fishermen to maneuver small boats close to the shore. Without proper cold storage, their catch spoils easily, resulting in unstable incomes. The fishermen's hardship mirrors a major bottleneck hindering Tanzania's development of a blue economy. While the East African country has an extensive coastline, its deep-sea fishing capacity remains limited. "Once completed, the cold storage and trading facilities will solve the preservation problem. Fishermen won't have to worry about unsold catch, and deep-sea fishing will be viable," said Chen. At the construction site, nearly 600 direct jobs have been created, including skilled roles like welders, crane operators, and excavator drivers. "Each Chinese engineer mentors a dozen or so Tanzanian workers, occasionally entrusting them with independent operation. This approach to training has enhanced the practical skills of local workers," said Edwin Christopher, the project's human resources and administration manager. "We believe that after the project, these trained workers will be capable of holding jobs in related sectors." The Chinese company is committed to sustainability as well. For the surrounding mangroves, they have established protective boundaries where machinery is prohibited. An environmental team conducts monthly beach cleanups to remove marine waste. Additionally, to ensure visitor experience and safety at the ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani, a boarding ladder was relocated away from the construction zone. On a sightseeing boat, local guide Daudi Gideon gazed at the emerging fishing harbor, his eyes glittering with anticipation. "When visitors come to see Kilwa Kisiwani, they will also see this remarkable new port. Once it's completed, more people will come to learn about our history and witness our new chapter," he envisioned.
Malay Mail
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
‘A thousand sages have but one mind': China and Islam, a confluence of values — Alexander Wain
MAY 24 — The inaugural Asean-GCC-China Summit due to be held in Kuala Lumpur on May 27 constitutes a new, innovative chapter in global politics. An exercise in inter-civilisational cooperation, the recognition of shared values, and the fostering of mutual respect, it represents a decisive break from existing narratives defined by Western imperialistic interests. Concurrently, however, it also revives a longstanding tradition of Islamic-Confucian dialogue, one stretching back over a millennium, and in which Malaysia has consistently played a prominent role. Beginning in the fifteenth century, Malaysia's Melaka Sultanate, the linchpin of Islamic civilisation in the Malay world, formed a special relationship with China that allowed it to bridge the gap between the Middle Kingdom and the Islamic world. Forming an important base for the famed voyages of Zheng He (1405-1433), each an expression of traditional Confucian values rooted in Muslim leadership, Melaka took the unprecedented step of sending three of its rulers to China in person. Doing so fostered inter-civilisational understanding, economic cooperation, and strategic alignment. It also elevated Melaka into South-east Asia's first great Islamic power. This pattern of Islamic-Confucian dialogue did not begin, however, with Melaka and its sultans. Mirroring the policies of Malaysia's current Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, they were merely continuing a longstanding tradition of civilisational respect traceable to the very beginnings of Islam. The arrival of Islam in China According to Chinese legend, in the year 651, the Tang Emperor Gaozong (r. 649-683) had a dream in which a monstrous entity attacked the imperial palace, shaking it to its foundations. Before it could be destroyed, however, a turbaned man dressed in green appeared and chased the demon away. Awaking with a start, Gaozong promptly sought the council of his Interpreter of Dreams. Construing the devil to be an ill-omen, the Interpreter stated 'the turbaned man is a Muslim from the west. In Arabia is a Muslim king of great virtue. A great sage [Muhammad] is born, with favourable omens.' To avoid the ill-fortune portended by the devil, Gaozong was advised to despatch an ambassador to Arabia, to bring the sage to China. Although the appointed ambassador arrived in Arabia long after the Prophet's demise, he was received hospitably by Caliph 'Uthman, who responded to Gaozong's request by dispatching a delegation of sahabah headed by Saad ibn Abi Waqqas (c. 595-674). Upon arriving in China, Saad was ushered into the presence of Gaozong, who expressed his desire to learn about Islam. After listening to what Saad had to say, Gaozong was struck by Islam's similarity to and compatibility with Confucianism; rather than seeing a rival, competing tradition, Gaozong perceived a shared set of values: loyalty to the sovereign, filial piety, and brotherly love. Taking this common core as the basis for a lasting bond between the two civilisations, Gaozong allowed Saad to build China's first mosque at Guangzhou – the still-extant Huaisheng mosque. The uniting of Islamic and Confucian civilisation As the centuries past, this early Muslim presence spread throughout China – and so, too, did Emperor Gaozong's perception of Islam and Confucianism as two mutually affirming paradigms. As early as 847, an Arab with the adopted Chinese name Li Yanshong became the first Muslim to pass China's Imperial Examinations. Gaining the highest degree (jinshi), Li Yanshong's contemporaries attributed his extensive knowledge of the Confucian classics to an abiding love of Chinese culture, an admiration that existed not despite Li Yanshong's Muslim identity, but because of the profound confluence in values he thought it encouraged. Unsurprisingly, Li Yanshong's achievement was soon emulated by others. The prominent Muslim Ma family, for example, which first arrived in China in 968, produced its first degree-holder in 1000; by the nineteenth century, thirty-one generations of this family had produced forty-four degree-holders, demonstrating a multigenerational commitment to Confucian learning in the context of Muslim identity. This trend attained its fullest expression, however, within the seventeenth- to nineteenth-century Han Kitab tradition, an explicitly Islamic-Confucian form of scholarship that reached its epitome with Liu Zhi (1670-1739). A Muslim trained in both traditional Chinese and classical Islamic thought, Liu Zhi considered Confucianism and Islam to be expressions of the same universal truth – theologically, they were one. He attributed this unity to a common source: applying the Chinese word sheng (sage) to both the Prophet Muhammad and Confucius, he argued that the latter had been a bearer of din al-fitrah, or the 'natural religion' which the Quran claims underpinned the message of each prophet sent by Allah. For Liu Zhi, Confucius had been the bearer of divine inspiration, whose teachings expressed the same fundamental truth as Islam. On this basis, Liu Zhi and the other Han Kitab writers sought to fuse Chinese and Islamic civilizations into a mutually affirming ethical system rooted in a shared origin and moral consensus. And neither did this go unnoticed within Confucian circles: in his preface to Liu Zhi's biography of the Prophet, China's Vice-Minister of the Board of Ritual wrote: 'The ancient Confucian doctrine has been undermined at different times by Buddhists and however, in this book of Liu Zhi we see once more the way of the ancient sages.' A civilisational confluence As the first Asean-GCC-China Summit rapidly approaches, underpinned by China's commitment to a 'shared future for mankind' and Asean's belief in the values of mutual respect, non-interference, and shared prosperity, we are reminded of this long tradition of Islam-Confucian synergy, of admiration without domination. The inaugural Asean-GCC-China Summit due to be held in Kuala Lumpur on May 27 constitutes a new, innovative chapter in global politics. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin A fourteenth-century Islamic inscription from Sianfu cites a famous Chinese proverb: 'A thousand sages have but one mind, and through ten thousand ages only one truth holds.' As China once again becomes a world power, and as Western nations decline amidst fervent nationalism, economic tribalism, and anti-Muslim rhetoric, Muslims need to re-recognize the existence of this 'one truth' and forge new bonds based on shared history and a common future. As during centuries past, Malaysia will no doubt continue to sit at the heart of that endeavour, bridging both East and West Asia. * This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
The Star
13-05-2025
- The Star
China's Yunnan launches cultural exhibition in Saudi capital, spotlighting heritage, tourism ties
RIYADH, May 13 (Xinhua) -- China's Yunnan Province opened a cultural exhibition in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday, featuring UNESCO World Heritage displays, traditional craft demonstrations, and a symbolic fusion of tea and coffee culture, as part of the Saudi-Chinese Cultural Year. The event, held at the Cultural Palace in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter, drew hundreds of Saudi officials, diplomats, and local residents. Titled "A Life Called Yunnan," the exhibition highlighted striking photographs of the province's natural and cultural landmarks, including the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Areas and the Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er -- both listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The latter was inscribed during the UNESCO conference hosted in Riyadh in 2023. Saudi visitors were drawn to Yunnan's lush landscapes and diverse ecosystems, with many expressing interest in its ecotourism potential. The tourism segment of the exhibition underlined centuries-old connections between China and the Arabian Peninsula, referencing the 15th-century voyages of Zheng He. Born in Yunnan, the Ming Dynasty admiral and diplomat led maritime expeditions that reached the Red Sea and Arabia, laying early foundations for trade and cultural exchange. Parallels were also drawn between the historic waterways of Yunnan's Lijiang and the old districts of Saudi Arabia's Jeddah, with Saudi travel agencies expressing interest in developing tour packages tailored to the Chinese province. Artisans from Yunnan's Yi and Bai ethnic groups demonstrated traditional embroidery and indigo tie-dye crafts. Other exhibitors showcased silver-inlaid copperware, a practice recognized as national intangible cultural heritage in China. Guests were served Yunnan's renowned Pu'er tea alongside Arabica coffee grown in the province, which is China's largest coffee-producing region due to its favorable weather and soil conditions. Organizers described the pairing as a "dialogue between traditions," symbolizing a deeper cultural connection. "Saudi coffee is part of our identity, but Yunnan's beans have a unique smoothness. There's potential here," said Saudi vlogger Abdullah Majed. The exhibition coincides with the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and Saudi Arabia. Chinese Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Chang Hua said the event helped "advance mutual understanding through shared heritage." Zeng Yan, a senior official from Yunnan, outlined plans for enhanced cooperation, including a World Heritage Voyage Program for Saudi tourists, youth exchange initiatives, and joint archaeological projects focused on Zheng He's journeys to the Red Sea. Home to more than half of China's plant and vertebrate species, Yunnan is regarded as the country's most biodiverse and culturally rich province. It hosts six UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is known for its vibrant ethnic traditions, including the Water Splashing Festival of the Dai people.
South China Morning Post
18-04-2025
- Science
- South China Morning Post
Oh rats! did Zheng He's Ming era Treasure Fleet help spread rodents around the world?
Ancient silk paintings dating to China's Ming dynasty have yielded new clues about the domestication of brown rats, which according to researchers, could have spread to the rest of the world while the treasure ship fleets of explorer Zheng He ruled the oceans. Advertisement The artwork could be the earliest evidence of such domestication, shedding light on the taming of an animal that is vital to biological and clinical research. 'The imperial paintings, The Silk Scroll of Three Rats, depicted domesticated brown rats with coat colour variation in China during AD1425–1435,' the team wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal npj Heritage Science on April 12. One of the rats depicted in the Ming dynasty imperial scrolls. Image: Handout 'It was more than two centuries older than the known record in Japan, presenting the earliest evidence of brown rat domestication.' The researchers said that based on the inferred pattern of the introduction of wild brown rats across the world, domesticated brown rats may have spread by stowing away on ships used by admiral Zheng He during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The expeditions involved tens of thousands of men and hundreds of ships known as the Treasure Fleet Brown rats, also known as common or street rats, are a widespread species of rat found around the world, but are believed to have originated in northern China and Mongolia. Advertisement The domesticated forms of the brown rat include fancy rats, which are kept as pets, as well as laboratory rats. Laboratory rats are one of the most common animals used in biological research, but tracing the early domestication of these creatures has proven challenging.
