Zheng He's Legacy (#106; Topic H)

Two days ago, Monday, March 13, I gave a Power Point presentation on "Zheng He: His Seven Voyages, 1405-1433, and His Legacy" at the Chevy Chase Branch Library of the DC Library. On legacy, one of the slides gives the following:

• Promoting peaceful co-existence
• harboring no territorial ambition
• exhibiting no military aggression
• rewarding cooperating governments
• Sharing worldly goodies
• give-more-take-less bartering
• disseminating technical knowledge
• Embracing religious integration
• respecting Islam and Buddhism side-by-side

Some 50 attended this presentation. Judging from questions asked, attendees were both knowledgeable about Zheng He and anxious to learn more about him. Indeed, before I could finish my first sentence, one asked: "I have read 1421. Does your presentation have anything new?" Luckily, out of 88 slides I assembled for this presentation, 30 were photographs I took last September, in China, on brand-new buildings and monuments completed in 2005 to celebrate the 600th anniversary of Zheng He's 1st voyage. Thus, the presentation seemed to be well received.
Posted at 11:11 pm, Thursday, March 16, 2006