Chinese knowledge of the world in 1421
(i) Four major expeditions had been conducted by Zheng He, the first in 1405. Fleets had acted independently in voyages to Pacific, Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and Africa (Ma Huan).
(ii) Japan, Korea and central Asia had been known for centuries (Ma Huan).
(iii) Chinese had known of North and South Poles since 3rd century BC (Zhuangzi) and that the earth was round (para. 9(b)).
(iv) Australia had been known since 316 AD (para. 9).
(v) Americas known since 6th century AD Fu Sang, the accounts of the monk Huei Sen were entered in Chinese official records (Annals).
(vi) Three Chinese path-breaking books summarising knowledge of world (Wah Sang Lee evidence)
(a) Knowledge about South China and beyond (Lingwai Daida) by Zhou Qu Fei, 1178 AD.
(b) Records of Foreign Peoples (Zhu Fan Zhi) by Zhao Rukvo, 1225 AD.
(c) Records of Overseas Countries and Peoples (Daoyi Zhilue) by Wang Da Yuan, 1349 AD.
(vii) The Yuan traveller of the world – Wang Da Yuan – Barbarians of the Isles (includes Australia. T’oung Pao vol. 16, 1915 (Martin Tai))
(viii) Chinese knowledge of Australia – Melchior Thevenot Relations 1663 (Mark Righton)
(ix) British missionary diary – map of Australia (Martin Tai)
(x) Father Ricci’s 1589 Map of Australia
(xi) Dong Fan Shue of Western Han dynasty reached North Pole in 132 BC (Beijing Morning News , Feb 9, 2003 – Report of Historian Ju de Yuan.)
(xii) Trade with Spain: Zhao Ru Kua (1170-1228) Zhu Fan Zhi (Description of various barbarians) has chapter on ‘Muranbi Kingdom’ = Al Murabitum (Kingdom in southern Spain) – Rockhill (Martin Tai).
(xiii) The Illustrated Record of Strange Countries (published 1430) shows pictures of armadillos – unique to Americas.
(xiv) ‘Zu Zhi Ben Cao Pin Hui Jing Yao’, part of a larger book, Zhong Guo Ben Cao Quan Shu (The Complete Herb Book of China, published 1503) shows pictures of peanuts then unique to the Americas (Key Sun).
(xv – xvii) 3 maps showing pre-Columbus America in Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
– Map of Dr. Hendon Harris
– Vellum map of Pacific coast (c.1300)
– Map of W. Central America (c.1500)
Many have commented on the Shan Hai Jing, a manuscript of several sources’ origin, compiled between the 8th and 1st centuries BCE. The manuscript dates itself to the 3rd millennium BCE. Of specific importance are chapters (or Books) II, IV, and XIII, which deal with Chinese descriptions and mapping of lands to the extreme east of China. Although establishment scholars feel these are references to Korea or Japan, the duration of sailing time, descriptive topography, and duration of land travel are all at odds with that assertion. At any rate, Japan and Korea were well known to China, and neither would be considered a ‘new’ land. Most, if not all, of the information in the aforementioned books of Shan Hai Jing corresponds amazingly well with North and Central America, including many easily recognized sites, place names, and landmarks in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, Mexico, British Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
For more information on early Chinese maps of the Americas please visit www.marcopolovoyages.com and read Gunnar Thompson and Charlotte Harris Rees’ presentations, made at the Library of Congress in May 2005.
Charlotte Harris Rees’ Re-Publishes Her Father’s Book – In 1972 Dr Hendon M. Harris Jr., a third generation missionary who had grown up in China, discovered an ancient map in an antique shop in Korea. His intimate knowledge of Chinese language and history enabled him to recognize the significance of his discovery and carry out research that led him to see the connection between the land of “Fu Sang”, mentioned in ancient Chinese literature, and America. His book, The Asiatic Fathers of America (Chinese Discovery and Colonization of Ancient America), was published in 1975 in Taiwan. After his sudden death in 1981 his map collection was kept under a bed in his son’s home, his book went out of print, and his work was virtually forgotten. In 2003, the growing interest in pre-Columbian exploration of America, caused in no small part by the publication of “1421”, inspired his daughter, Charlotte Harris Rees, to revise and re-publish her father’s book. To learn more about this fascinating story please visit www.asiaticfathers.com
Author submits that China knew of the whole world by 1421.
