Episode 12 Arrival of the British (I)
March 11, 2025
I was once asked a question.
Comparing Zheng He’s peaceful voyages to the West with the numerous atrocities committed by European colonists in the Americas, Africa and Asia in the 16th century, can we conclude that the Chinese were more civilized and peace-loving than the Europeans?
一
At first glance, it certainly appears so if we only consider behavior and the end result. But history is complicated. Decisions made by a group of people are very much dependent upon the stage of development as well as the living environment they are under. Naturally, their behavior, as a result of those decisions, will differ.
Take the United States as an example. In the 21st century, if you think the U.S has its eyes on other countries and is constantly plotting to expand its territory, well, you’d be mistaken. Even if others want to be included, the U.S. would turn them down. Why? Because more people mean more benefits to distribute and more election ballots to count—not exactly a smart deal for today’s U.S.
Therefore, regarding the question of whether the Chinese in Zheng He’s time were more civilized than the European colonist, let me do a comparison from following three aspects, you can then draw your own conclusion.
1: Different Mission and Purpose.
Zheng He’s mission was to roam around the oceans to show off Ming Dynasty’s mighty power and, if possible, bring back Zhu Yunwen, as ordered by his emperor. As for who Zhu Yunwen was and why there was a need to bring him back, I will not go into details here.
He was not tasked with acquiring treasure or land by his boss, Emperor Zhu Di.
On the contrary, early European navigators were mostly employed by the monarchs and were given one specific order: bring back gold and spices.
2: Different Class of People.
As I highlighted in a previous discussion: early European navigators—aside from a few exceptions like Prince Henrik—were largely pirates or seafarers making a living off the ocean. The five fundamental virtues in Chinese culture— benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and trust— were not their code of conduct. To them, robbing and looting whenever possible was simply second nature.
Zheng He, on the other hand, was a respected court official. Though a eunuch, he held a high status and his fleet members regarded themselves highly civilized and superior. In terms of spiritual self-discipline, they completely outclassed the early European navigators. Much like today’s U.S. military, their status as members of the upper class plays a role in ensuring they conducted themselves rather properly wherever they went.
3: Different National Status
What was the Ming Dynasty like at that time? In one word: Rich. While Zhu Di was at war with the rightful emperor, Zhu Yunwen, for many years, the conflict was mainly between their military forces. Farmers might have gossiped about the war in their spare time, but the general population, especially in the southern part of the country, barely felt its impact.
China was prosperous and its people were wealthy. Aside from a few exotic spices and animals, they had little interest in anything else from the small, underdeveloped countries in Southeast Asia.
Europe, on the contrary, was filthy, chaotic, underdeveloped, and poor at that time. They had next to nothing. It’s no surprise that their primary goal was to go out and loot from others.
二
I was also asked another question: why didn’t the global colonization that Europeans started in the 16th century spill over to China? Wasn’t it true that the Ming Dynasty was near the end of its life, its government was corrupt and weak, and its people were suffering?
First of all, it is certainly not true to say that China was unaffected. Like I previously pointed out, European robbers were so greedy that their eyes lit up at the sight of gold, it would have been an insult to their nature if they had not tried to rob China once they had the ship and routes to China.
They preferred bullying and looting over living in peace with others.
The reason China seemed unaffected can be explained by an ancient Chinese idiom, “A camel dying of starvation is still bigger than a horse”. In other words, even though the Ming Dynasty was dying, Europeans still lacked the capability to overpower it.
I list here some naval battles between the 16th and 17th centuries for you to make your own judgement:
- Late August 1521 – The Battle of Tuen Men between the Ming Dynasty’s imperial navy and the Portuguese navy. A total victory for the Ming.
- 1522 – The Battle of Sai Tso Wan between the Ming imperial navy and the Portuguese navy. Another Ming victory.
- 1597 – The Battle of Noryang, where the allied forces of the Ming Dynasty and the Joseon Kingdom fought against Japan. The Japanese navy was completely destroyed. Afterward, Japan remained inactive for 200 years, and Korea enjoyed peace for two centuries.
- 1624 – The Battle of Penghu between the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch. The Dutch were defeated, and the Ming regained control of Penghu.
in 1661, after the Qing Dynasty gained control of mainland China. Zheng Chenggong, a loyalist of the fallen Ming, had no place to go. He led his fleet to Taiwan, which was occupied by the Dutch. Zheng completely crushed the Dutch in battles and claimed Taiwan as his own territory.
Had China lost any of these key battles, the southeast cost of China would have been swamped with European adventures arriving in endless streams of warships.
A contemporary farmer living in Guangzhou most likely didn’t know about these battles. He only knew that he had to get up the next morning to work in the field. However, if China had not been victorious, this farmer might have been loaded to a ship the next day and sent off to a cane field somewhere in Southeast Asia. There, he would have been forced to work day and night as a slave until he was exhausted to death.
This is not a far-fetched imagination on my part. The Dutch did exactly that—They went ashore trying to abduct Chinese people, and that was when their confrontation with the Ming first broke out. Knowing how the Spaniards and the British transported slaves from Africa to America, we can only imagine, if the Ming had not still been able to fight off the invaders, the fate awaiting the Chinese, especially the ones living along the coast, would have been no different from that of the African slaves.
三
Before ending our discussion on the early history of Latin America and turning our focus to North America—once a colony of Britain—let me talk a bit more about the word “Indian”.
As we have learned before, it referred to the people of India in Spanish due to the mistakes Columbus made. The problem was that once the term became widely used, it was difficult to correct.
This created an issue for the Europeans: it became hard for them to differentiate the Indians in Asia with the Red-haired natives of the newly discovered continent. In the end, they came up with a solution: referring to the natives of the Americas as “West Indians” and those of India as “East Indians”.
This explains why in historical books, you’ll read about many East India Companies and West India Companies. The difference between the two lies in the location of the company’s headquarters. If the headquarter is in India, Asia, it’s an East India Company. If the headquarter is in America, It’s a West India Company.
In recent years, Canada and the U.S. have felt embarrassed by the term “West Indians” as it reminds them of a history of discrimination and bloodshed.
In Canada, the official term for the native people is now “First Nations”. Meanwhile, in the U.S, the updated term for Native Americans is “Indigenous American”, while for Black people, it is “African American”
Names can be changed, but history can not. The atrocities committed against these people over the past few hundred years may have been forgotten by some but they can never be erased from history.
The restless spirit of the Native Americans who died in pain and the souls of Black slaves at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean will forever wail in the skies above the so-called ‘new land”.
Starting from the next episode, we will focus primarily on Britian’s colony in North America and provide a brief review of America’s early immigrants.