A Review and a Few Reflections on the Recent Studies of Zheng He’s Military Activities on the Western Seas

A controversial topic on the studies of the Zheng He voyages is how to perceive his armadas’ military actions. Most Chinese scholars argue that Zheng He’s endeavors had created and retained peaceful relationships with foreign nations, while a few Western scholars point to Zheng He’s “invasive” interventions in local politics, even employing the label of “proto-colonialism.” This article aims to briefly represent and evaluate the recent Chinese scholarship on Zheng He’s armed engagements and related issues, secondarily in light of a comparative perspective to certain discrepancy between the “Chinese” and “Western” scholars in their respective interpretations, together with a textual examination of the relevant historical process. Regardless of the mainstream Chinese scholarship’s certain purposive stance, as well as a plausible Chinese-Western dichotomy, I conclude that under the traditional tribute system Zheng He was roughly cautious in military solution in anticipation of establishing and maintaining a kind of “harmonious” international order in effect, different from the ferocious intrusion, occupation and oppression that European explorers, merchants and colonialists inflicted on the same areas that started a half century later.