Chinese maps, star charts and records which escaped destruction
(a) Chinese maps and star charts which escaped destruction
| Title & approx. date of amendments | Subject / Relevance |
| Wu Pei Chih, c. 1422. (Only a small part translated) | Chinese accept this contains information that was brought by Zheng He. It gives courses to steer between China and Africa and between other continents and shows Australia. |
| Mao Kun, c. 1422 | Kerguelen, Indian Ocean and Islands. East African coast. |
| Kangnido (1402-73) | Asia, East, South and West Africa, Mediterranean, Atlantic, Azores. |
| Star Chart (Mao Kun) c. 1422 | Polaris compared with Southern Cross and Alpha Centauri. |
| Matteo Ricci (c. 1588). Globe. | Australia (drawn from Chinese maps when Fra Ricci was in China) |
| Xi Yang Fang No. Zhi by Gong Zhen, Navigator on Zheng He’s 7th voyage (Tai-Peng Wang) | Description of Barbarian Countries of the West. |
| Taiwan Porcelain Map (1447) painted by Chinese | Australia – East coast down to Tasmania. See also accounts of Missionary to Beijing and Chinese fisherman’s charts (Martin Tai evidence). |
| Da Ming Hun Yi Tu (1389) | S. Africa (Map of the Great Amalgamated Ming Empire) |
| Antique map in private hands on parchment written in Chinese, showing West coast of N America – currently being authenticated and dated (Charlotte Rees). | Maps of Dr. Hendon Harris (currently with Dr. Herbert – Library of Congress) |
| Vellum Map (dated 1300’s) | Shows part of E. Asia and parts of coast of W. coast of N. America (Dr. Herbert / Charlotte Rees) |
| Map of N. America (early 1500’s) | Shows West coast of U.S.A. in detail (Library of Congress vaults – Washington D.C. (Charlotte Rees)) |
| Zheng He’s integrated map of the world 1418 – to be published January 2006 | Clearly shows the whole world as charted by the Chinese in 1418 (Liu Gang) |
i.e. these charts which escaped destruction describe the whole world.
(b) Chinese records which escaped destruction
(Largely taken from Chinese Discovery of Australia by Professor Wei Ju Xian)
Australia
(i) Confucius: Spring and Autumn Annals (481 BC) recorded solar eclipses in Australia
17 April 592 and 11 August 553).
(ii) Classics of Mountains and Seas (338 BC) describes boomerangs, black millet and kangaroos.
(iii) Atlas of Foreign Countries (265-316 AD) describes small black natives of Northern Australia.
Poles/Equator
(i) Zhuangzi (3rd century BC): “It takes six months including flying and resting time for seagulls to fly 90,000 li from North to South Pole”.
(ii) Ancient Chinese books: “Distance North Pole to South Pole is more than 80,000 li”. [Old Chinese li = half a kilometre]
(iii) Qi-xie (643 BC): “If a person of Yan State [Hebei Province] goes north and a person of Yue State [Zhejian, S. China] goes south they will meet each other at the very end of their journey”.
(iv) Zhuangzi also mentions going round the earth from east to west. Xun zi [40 years after Zhuangzi] also mentions round earth from east to west.
(v) Lienzi (3rd century BC): “South of Africa sun cannot be seen for 50 consecutive days.
(vi) Illustrated Record of Strange Countries (published 1430) describes North Pole – Eskimos; coldness; sunshine hours; polar lights; sea elephants and seals.
(vii) Marco Polo mentioned several unique aspects of geography that could not possibly have been contrived from hearsay or imagination. For example, he mentions in one episode that while travelling towards the North Pole (by compass), he observed that the Pole Star (at the Geographic Pole) appeared to have a southerly bearing. This observation of the discrepancy between the location of the Magnetic North Pole and Polaris could only have been made by a person who had travelled to a point midway between the Geographic Pole and the Magnetic Pole. This is solid proof that Marco Polo had indeed reached the Canadian Arctic. – Dr. Gunnar Thompson. To view Dr. Thompson‘s fascinating research please visit www.marcopolovoyages.com
Europe
Ming Shi , Year 6 Zheng He to Mulanpi (south Spain) (Martin Tai evidence).
A reader claims that there are still many Chinese official imperial documents in European museums. Only 64 volumes of Emperor Yongle’s documents were returned by Russian authorities. (Miss Hui)
Taipei – Taiwan
Taipei Palace Museum has a lot of treasure and data from the Ming dynasty. Reader believes that it will offer more evidence to support ‘1421’. (Ta Ting Peng) It would be good to hear from anybody who has the opportunity to visit this museum.
Cape of Good Hope
1996 Chinese publication has documentation of a Chinese rounding of the Cape of Good Hope and reaching the Atlantic in 1420. This document is the collection of Prince Yusuf Kamal (Monumenta Cartographia Africae et Aegypti, Vol X, pt 4, 1409 sq) Reference: Shen Fuwei, Cultural Flow Between China and the Outside World Throughout History, 1st edition, 1996, Beijing: Foreigh Language Press Pages 183 & 191. (TH LOH)
New Evidence
– Almost everyone, including historians, believes Admiral Zheng He’s records were burned by a Mandarin named Liu Da Xia. However on re-analysis of the Ming Dynasty’s historical account on this matter, it is apparent that this is not the case. The records were in fact hidden by Secretary of Transportation, Liu Da Xia, and therefore should be found to This was covered up by the then Minister of Defence Xiang Zhong, as at the time, the Ming Dynasty was nearly bankrupt due to reckless spending, and thus both ministers were keen to stop more of such spending by dissuading the Emperor from making more expensive expeditions to bring back more treasures., which they believes was worthless to the people. In short, there is no proof and no witness to the burning or destruction of the records, just a lie by Mr. Liu. It is highly likely that the records still exist somewhere in China – Michael Ngan.
– Mr Lam Yee Din has studied several Chinese maps in the Beijing National Library. These maps were drawn at the time of Zheng He, and clearly show the world to have been charted by the Chinese before the European voyages of discovery. To read his research paper please click here.
– A star chart, which was found buried in a desert cave on the ancient Silk Road between China and the West, has been dated to as early as the 7th century AD. This makes the chart several centuries older than the first star maps produced in Europe during the height of the Renaissance when astronomy benefited from the invention of the telescope. The chart is written on paper – a Chinese invention – and is a representation of the complete sky with some 1,585 stars grouped into 257 clusters or “asterisms”. Some are of the opinion that the chart could date as far back as 300BC. The origin and use of the star chart remains a mystery, although it is likely to have had a military purpose or perhaps to have been a guide to travelers. (Miss Hui)
– A reader has informed us of Ch’uan Chin’s chart, produced chart in about AD 1400 showing southern Africa “fairly accurately” including a river flowing westwards in the vicinity of the present-day Orange River – Robin Knox-Johnson / Piet Potgieter
There are sources kept in an archive in Africa telling about a big fleet sailing westwards in the Atlantic in the first part of the 15th century. The sources are written in Arabic and kept in an archive in North Africa. Any further information on these sources would be appreciated. (Torbjørn Ødegaard )
