The melancholy tale of the eunuch admiral

Chang Ho, also known as Cheng He and Zheng He, is having a moment of notoriety locally. His reputation has been given a major boost

by a new book by amateur historian Gavin Menzies.

http://www.visitsingapore-zhenghe.com/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sultan/explorers2.html

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060537639/104-5174740-6269502?v=glance

Chinese junks of the Ming Dynasty once visited Africa.

Singaporeans, who are the denizens of a kind of China on

the equator, have to wonder if the Mings stopped there.

In the 1400s, giant Chinese junks could have voyaged

most anywhere on the high seas, and nobody would

have noticed or cared. Even the Chinese themselves

swiftly forgot what the Chinese navies had been up to.