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The Ming Voyages
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The Ming Voyages: The Seventh Voyage, 1431-1433
Evidence for the Seventh Voyage
The Order for the Seventh Voyage
The Departure of the Seventh Voyage
The Return of the Seventh Voyage
About the Seventh Voyage
Imperial Order for the expedition:
An edict of 25 May, 1430, ordered the provision of ships
and supplies for the envoys. The edict ordering the voyage
was dated 29 June, 1430, and was addressed to Zheng He and
others.
Departed: Xuande 6 (1431), 19 January,
1431
Returned: Xuande 8 (1433), 7 July,
1433
We have much more detailed information on
this voyage because of Zhu Yunming's itinerary (see below),
hence three tables are required below to contain all the
data:
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The Seventh Voyage
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Voyage
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Jan '31
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Feb
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Apr
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Dec
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19th, at Longwan
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2nd, at Fuzimen
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8th, at Changle jiang
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16th, at Foudoushan
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23rd, at Xushan
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3rd, at Liujiajiang
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Jan '32
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Feb
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Mar
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July
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Aug
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Sept
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Nov
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Dec
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12th, left China coast via Wuhumen
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12th, left Qui Nhon
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7th, Java
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13th, left Java
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3rd, Melaka
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2nd, left Melaka
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2nd, left Samudra-Pasai
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2nd, left Ceylon
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27th, Champa (Qui Nhon)
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24th, Palembang
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12th, Samudra-Pasai
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28th, Ceylon
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10th, Calicut, 14th left Calicut
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Jan '33
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Mar
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Apr
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May
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June
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July
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17 arr. Hormuz
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9 left Hor-muz to return
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9 left Calicut
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1 left Semudera;
9 arr. Malacca
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10 Chikan (Ke Ga
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1 Wan-die(Da-mao-shan);
6 arr. Gutzlaff Is.;
7 arr. Taicang (Liu he)
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31 arr. Calicut
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25 arr. Semu-dera
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9 Malacca
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13 arr. Qui Nhon;
17 left Qui Nhon
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27 rec'd honours from Emperor
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28 Kunlun ocean (Poulo Condore)
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Fleet: More than 100 large ships.
Personnel: 27,550.
Itinerary: A valuable textual fragment entitled
"Xia Xiyang" (Down to the Western Ocean) by Zhu Yunming
(Chu Yün-ming) gives a large amount of detail about this expedition,
including a complete itinerary of his portion of the voyage. Although
it is only a partial itinerary of the voyage as a whole, it is important
because it gives travel times between the various stopping points.
Places visited: Zhu Yunming mentions 8 countries:
Champa, Java, Palembang, Malacca, Semudera, Ceylon, Calicut, and
Hormuz, but he did not travel the entire extent of the voyage. The
expedition also visited Thailand, Aru, Nagur, Lide, Lambri, the
Nicobar islands. Cape Comorin, Quilon, Cochin, the Maldive Islands,
Dhofar, La'sa, Aden, Jiddah, Mecca, Mogadishu, and Brava.
Highlights: This is the only one of the voyages
dispatched by the Xuande (Hsüan-te) emperor. An expedition
was planned for 1424, but was cancelled because Emperor Yongle passed
away. After Yongle's death there was a strong movement to suppress
stop the expeditions because they were so costly and there were
pressing problems demanding the empire's attention and resources
at home.
On this voyage some of the Chinese emissaries went
from Aden to Jiddah and made the pilgrimage to Mecca, as described
by Ma Huan and Gong Zhen.
Sources
J. V. G. Mills, Ying-yai Sheng-lan: 'The Overall Survey of the
Ocean's Shores' [1433], Translated from the Chinese text ed. by
Feng Ch'eng-chün. Hakluyt Society, extra series, no. 42.
(Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1970); J. J. L.
Duyvendak, "The True Dates of the Chinese Maritime Expedition
in the Early 15th century", T'oung Pao 34 (1938), pp.
341-412.
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