Word: maing
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Zheng He's trials began early. He was born in 1371, during the first years of the Ming dynasty, to an Islamic family in what is now the western province of Yunnan. (His name at birth was Ma He.) When the Ming armies moved into the region to wipe out the last vestiges of Mongol influence, 11-year-old Ma gained the attention of a conquering general. He was taken back to Nanjing, where he became a page to a young prince, known as Zhu Di. He was castrated and destined for a life serving with other eunuchs...
...warplanes, My Son is now abandoned, one of the few vestiges of an empire all but forgotten. When Zheng He's ships first called on Champa, the powerful Hindu kingdom had dominated central Vietnam for more than 1,000 years. The haven described by the fleet's Chinese chronicler Ma Huan was the rough port town of Qui Nhon, where sarong-wearing, wiry-haired Cham ivory merchants and slave traders plied their wares. Yet in 1471, less than 70 years later, the northern Annam kingdom of ethnic Vietnamese conquered the Chams, driving them south and scattering them. Some remained Hindu...
...bookshop near my old home, I find an obscure monograph on the history of Cochin that provides more clues to the tiles. The author suggests they were presented to the Cochin Raja by the Chinese traders who were accompanied by Ma Huan, the treasure ship's chronicler, and an unnamed ambassador (probably Zheng He). The tiles, he claims, were meant for the Raja's palace, but some clever Jewish merchants spread the rumor that Chinese use cow's blood to make porcelain and the King, a devout Hindu, had to give them up - to the Jewish merchants...
...plane, I'm in a much more respectful frame of mind. Calicut, after all, was the objective of the admiral's great voyages; this was Ma Huan's "great country of the Western Ocean." The principal city of the magical Malabar coast, it was a necessary port of call for traders and adventurers alike. Marco Polo visited Calicut on his way back home from Kublai Khan's China. The Chinese didn't just stop here, they built homes and warehouses. But driving in from the airport, I can't see a single building that might be more than 100 years...
...Maritime Museum alongside pieces of the wrecked ships of later Dutch and Portuguese visitors. Although he may be forgotten, Zheng He would recognize much in Galle's narrow alleys where gem hustlers still ply their trade as they did almost 600 years ago. According to the admiral's chronicler Ma Huan, inland mountain streams flushed gems to the surface after heavy rains, a bounty of "red rubies, blue sapphires, yellow oriental topaz and other gems," he wrote. "There is a saying that the precious stones are the crystallized tears of Buddha...