thousands of copies of Chinese texts to be distributed to local rulers for
their edification.
There was, in other words, a powerful ideological purpose behind
the Ming voyages. They were designed to convince the known world
to accept their designated place within the Chinese world order. At
the centre stood the Son of Heaven, whose cosmic role was to ensure
through the power of his virtue (de) the universal peace and harmony
essential to human welfare. This universal ambition had to include all
those countries whose merchants traded at Chinese ports—Arabs, Per-
sians and Indians, as well as Malays, Thai and Cham. By continuing
on from India to Hormuz and Mecca, Zheng He, good Muslim that he
was, brought the world known to China within the Chinese world
order.
Early Ming rhetoric makes abundantly clear the intention of the
dynasty to reestablish the Chinese ‘imperial order’. The lofty toler-
ance, the benevolence and impartiality, masked a reality with regard to
power that the Ming were determined should be well understood.
Power had always formed a crucial dimension of the hierarchical
Chinese world order. China stood at the centre of the world, not just
because of its superior civilisation and the virtue of the emperor, but
because of its imperial power—to command, enforce, and punish if
necessary. Zheng He’s kid gloves of diplomacy only partially masked his
capacity to enforce the order he represented. The very size of his fleet
and the soldiers at his command were designed to amaze and over-
whelm, to coerce through fear.
Although the voyages were designed to bring even far countries
in the Western Ocean, including India itself, within the Chinese world
order, their impact on Southeast Asia was especially great. Each fleet
had to wait for up to four months in a port on the north Javanese or
east Sumatran coast, or at Melaka, in order to catch the east–west
monsoon, more than enough time to become well informed about
local politics and economic opportunities and, in particular, the activ-
ities of overseas Chinese.
Sea power, tribute and trade