Restoring 'Zhongguo' and Traditional Chinese Culture

After the turbulent transition from the Yuan dynasty to Ming dynasty, the Ming emperor Yong-le attempted the revitalization of traditional Chinese values that were lost during the prior period of non-Chinese/Mongol leadership. This attempt at the restoration of traditional Chinese worldviews was a way for the new Ming dynasty to combat previous political chaos and establish/strengthen the rule of the Ming empire as a traditionally Chinese empire. Important in this restoration is Yong-le's focus on zhongguo (China as the Middle Kingdom), and the undertaking of the Zheng-He voyages. This paper, using secondary sources, provides an overview of medieval Chinese cultural values (i.e., zhongguo, Confucianism), and a brief history of the Yuan and Ming dynasties - as well as Yong-le's rule. Once this socio-political and historical background is established, the paper then introduces the Zheng-He voyages and the primary source of Ma Huan's Ying-Yai Sheng-Lan, arguing (using both primary and secondary scholarship) that Ma Huan's records of the Zheng-He voyages directly reflects the concept of zhongguo - as well as works to bolster Yong-le's revitalization project. Ma Huan's writings were not simply documentation of the voyages he undertook, but rather served Yong-le's larger, politically propagandistic mission to restore zhongguo and Chinese suzerainty throughout the borderlands. It is important to understand this aspect of Chinese maritime history, as it demonstrates that late-Medieval Chinese explorations went beyond materialistic goals, and actually had significant cultural and political ramifications within the empire.