China on My Mind

Have just finished, and enjoyed, Simon Winchester's, The Man Who Loved China (Harper Collins, 2008). The man is Joseph Needham, a Cambridge Don. It wasn't Needham (fascinating and exceptional fellow that he was) so much as China that really got my interest. Add Gavin Menzies', 1421, and there are some fascinating theories about and insights into Chinese history.

Winchester's book finishes on a rather disturbing note, however. He describes a giant billboard at the entrance to Jiuquan, the city nearest the Chinese space centre which, in huge red letters, states:

Without Haste, Without Fear, We Conquer the World. (p265)

I don't think that's just referring to Olympic medals.

And a Chinese Thing—1421: The Year China Discovered the World

I've just finished reading Gavin Menzies, 1421: The Year China Discovered the World (Bantam Press, 2002) in which I discovered to my amazement and delight that Chinese mariners discovered the world much earlier than the European folk I was taught about in school:

These remarkable Chinese admirals rounded the Cape of Good Hope sixty-six years before Dias, passed through the straight of Magellan ninety-eight years before Magellan, surveyed Australia three centuries before Captain Cook, Antaractica and the Arctic four centuries before the first Europeans, and America seventy years before Columbus. 407

And there's solid and compelling evidence for this. There is even at least one wreck of one of their huge junks in New Zealand. There are the remains of large 150x50 foot stone buildings on Ellesmere Island in the Arctic which are thought to be Chinese. They travelled in huge junks 450 feet long, some with 9 masts, with triple hulls and watertight compartments...in 1421!

It's an amazing read. Thanks to my mother who recommended it.