China is a maritime power with a long history. China has a long coastline, is the most civilized and developed country in the world, and is also one of the first countries to master navigation technology in the world. China's culture spread overseas through the ocean, which had a far-reaching impact on ancient countries in East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.
As early as 2,000 years ago, the people of China opened up the "Maritime Silk Road" from the Indian Ocean to the African continent. China is the first country in the world to master the use of a compass. China's compass and shipbuilding technology spread from Arabia to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea, making great contributions to the great development of world navigation technology. At the same time, a large number of navigators emerged in the history of China, such as Zheng He and Mrs. Xian. For a long time, China was at the top of the world's marine civilization. However, after China became a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society in modern times, the development of China's maritime industry was hindered a little, and it was overtaken by some industrial powers in Europe and America.
The earliest navigator
China's maritime history can be traced back to 7000 years ago. Recorded the story of a stone "chopping a wooden paddle". 7,000 years ago, wooden paddles appeared in Hemudu prehistoric civilization site, which was the first evidence of China's voyage to the West. There are countless records about navigation in China ancient books. It also recorded the story of Emperor Mang of Xia Dynasty "conquering the sea and catching big fish". Contact with Korean businessmen and overseas people is more frequent. In 200 A.D., there was a record about the merchant's sailing activities: "Xiangtu was fierce and cut off from overseas".
During the Spring and Autumn Period, the navigation technology of neighboring countries such as Wu, Qi, Yan, Lu and Yue was also very developed. Wu Heqi can build a large ship 10 feet long and10.5 feet wide. They are called "pterosaurs" and are a double-decker warship that can sail at sea. Qi once played with such pterosaurs at sea. He hasn't been ashore for half a year. Confucius was very envious. He dreams of going on a "sea trip" in such a big ship.
Wu's warships can start from the East China Sea, cross the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea, and reach Jiaozhou in Bohai Bay. When Five Blessingg attacked Qi, it was along this sea route that he arrived in Qi. On the other hand, Yan conquered the Korean peninsula with the navy and sent people to Japan, opening up a new route from Liaodong to Japan and a Sino-Japanese sea route.
The largest fleet
After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, navigation technology further developed. Xu Fuyuan, an alchemist, went overseas to look for the elixir of life for Qin Shihuang. His ship carried hundreds of craftsmen and 3000 virgins. The size of this ship is predictable. Xu Fu set sail for Pinghua. According to later scholars, his fleet has been to Japan and the Philippines at least, and even reached the Ryukyu Islands.
It had the most advanced navigation technology and fleet in the world at that time. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established a shipbuilding army, which was the first professional navy in the world. This unit takes a "building boat", which is tall and wide and looks like a building. It can attack from a long distance or fight at close range. It is the most effective navy in ancient history. This ship can hold hundreds of soldiers and is equipped with the world's earliest paddles and rudders. Each floor is surrounded by battlements made of hardwood. Covered with leather for enhanced protection. The top of the ship is a flag bearer, who can command soldiers to fight. What is even more rare is that this ship is surrounded by escort ships, consisting of equipment, warships, scouts, first ships and red horse ships, much like the carrier formation of the navy today. In BC 1 13, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent a fleet of 65438+ 10,000 people to South Vietnam. The fighting capacity of the water army in the Han Dynasty is obvious.
There were also ocean voyages in the Han Dynasty. During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the sea routes of the Han Dynasty can already start from Guangdong, enter the Malay Peninsula, the Gulf of Siam and the Bay of Bengal through the South China Sea, reach Sri Lanka in the south of the Indian Peninsula, then reach Cairo in Egypt through the Red Sea, then enter the two river basins from the Persian Gulf, and then reach the Roman Empire through Greece and the Mediterranean Sea. This route, which is more than 8,000 nautical miles long, is a great pioneering work in the history of world shipping.
It was the heyday of the Tang Dynasty. With its powerful economy and open mind, the Tang Dynasty opened its arms to all countries in the world. During the Tang Dynasty, the wharves and ports in Guangzhou, Quanzhou and Yangzhou built in the Tang Dynasty set off from here, crossed the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, Indian Peninsula and Pakistan, and reached the hometown of delicacies. These big ships can ignore the wind and waves in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf. In the Tang dynasty, navigators also mastered the changes of monsoon and ocean current. They sail more than 70 nautical miles every day and roam in the wind and waves. They represent the highest navigation technology, the most prosperous shipbuilding technology and the pride of the Tang Dynasty.
Du Dong, Jian Zhen
In the twenty-first year of the Tang Dynasty, a Japanese monk and Zhao Feng came to the Tang Dynasty and invited a respected master to teach in Japan. Master Jian Zhen took pains to take his disciples on six difficult trips to the East.
As the saying goes, things are different. Master Jian Zhen's first five trips to Japan were all due to government obstruction or bad weather. It was not until 753 AD, 20 years later, with the help of Japanese envoys Fujiwara and Jibei, that Master Jian Zhen finally arrived in Japan by boat and spread the profound Buddhism to Japan.
The first five failures of Jian Zhen Eastern Airlines were not due to the backward navigation technology in the Tang Dynasty, but because the government of the Tang Dynasty prohibited civilians from sailing to Japan. Therefore, the first and fourth flights of China Eastern Airlines in Jian Zhen were directly intervened by the government and failed to take place. Although the shipbuilding technology was developed in the Tang Dynasty, the excellent shipbuilders and navigation experts in China were basically government employees. Jian Zhen and others could not recruit excellent sailors or find suitable ships. Therefore, the inexperienced crew did not know how to avoid the strong northeast monsoon when they went out to sea several times, which led to the previous failure. Therefore, the failure of Jian Zhen's last eastward crossing does not mean that the navigation and shipbuilding technology in the Tang Dynasty was backward. On the surface, his eastward crossing was banned by the government, similar to illegal immigration. Failure is also normal.
Application of compass
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, China people invented the compass and used it for navigation, which was a major breakthrough in the history of world navigation. In the Book of Changes in the Song Dynasty, it was recorded that ocean-going sailors used compasses to identify their course: "Sailors know geography, watch the stars at night, watch the sun by day, and watch the needles in the shade." Compared with navigation and astronomy, the use of compass in the history of navigation is a great leap in science and technology. This is a milestone in the history of world navigation.
The shipbuilding technology in Song and Yuan Dynasties was also superb. They can build a clipper with a sharp bottom and 24 oars, with a length of more than 30 meters and a width of more than 4 meters, carrying more than 1000 passengers. The Yuan Dynasty used this ship to open up a maritime transportation route. This route starts from Pingjiang, bypasses Shandong Peninsula from Jiaozhou, Shandong Province, reaches the mouth of Haihe River, and then reaches Wuqing, Hebei Province along the coast to transport spoiled food to Beijing. Since the opening of the sea route, Beijing's transportation capacity has increased by six or seven times, which solved the capital and food problems of Beijing and made Beijing the capital in the following Ming and Qing Dynasties.
Zheng he's voyages
Zheng He's voyage to the West in the Ming Dynasty initiated the greatest pioneering work in China's ancient maritime history. In the third year of Yongle, Zheng He led a fleet of more than 200 ships, including 62 large treasure ships, with a length of 44 feet and a width of 18 feet, 9 masts and 12 sails. Zheng He led more than 27,000 sailors and officers to sail in the southwest Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean successively, with the longest voyage reaching 10000 tons.
There are pictures of Daming.
A painting mixed with the Ming Dynasty is a map of the world drawn by Ming Hongwu in 22 years according to Zheng He's voyage to the West. The figure is 3.87 meters long and 4.75 meters wide. This is the earliest and largest map of the world. This is also the earliest map of the world depicting Africa that we can see so far. The original of this precious map is now in the First Historical Archives of China.
A 386,456 cm wall chart of the Ming Dynasty shows the houses, mountains, rivers and their relative positions in the Ming Dynasty and its surrounding areas. Residential areas are located by placing boxes on place names, and the boxes use different colors to distinguish internal and external ownership. It is centered on the territory of the Ming Dynasty, starting from Japan in the east, reaching Europe in the west, Java in the south and Mongolia in the north. This is the largest, oldest and best-preserved map of the ancient world known at present.
"Yi Tu, the Xiongnu of Daming" has no obvious boundaries. It uses different colors to distinguish between internal and external ownership. It depicts the relative positions of administrative offices, mountains and rivers in the Ming Dynasty, including more than 65,438+0,000 towns, castles, Qutang rock wells, Zechi Lake, border islands, ancient sites and ancient rivers. The Ming Ming Unified Map also depicts the topography of Europe and Africa in detail. Among them, Africa is located in the lower left corner. The Nile, Mount Orange and Mount Dreecken are all marked in detail. This painting is beautiful and rich in content. This is a precious national treasure.
The final glory
After the mid-Ming Dynasty, due to the major mistakes in the maritime ban policy of the Ming Dynasty, China's ancient brilliant maritime career was seriously damaged and gradually weakened. Although Zheng Chenggong, a national hero proficient in navigation technology, defeated Portugal, a maritime power at that time, and recovered Taiwan Province Province in the late Ming Dynasty, it was only a bright spot in the ancient navigation history of China.
1895 During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Northern Navy of the Qing Dynasty was completely annihilated, thus ending the history of China's ancient oceans. Since then, China people have never set foot in the depths of the ocean for more than half a century. It was not until the founding of New China that China's maritime career ushered in its own spring.