Background
Zheng He was the second son of a family from Kunyang, Yunnan. He was originally born with the name Ma He. His family were Hui people.
Diplomat explorer fleet admiral
Zheng He was the second son of a family from Kunyang, Yunnan. He was originally born with the name Ma He. His family were Hui people.
Read and write Chinese and Arabic, studied military tactics, navigation, diplomacy, the arts,religion.
Only eleven years old, was captured by the Ming-allied Muslim troops of Lan Yu and Fu Youde and castrated along with 380 other captives. He was sent to the court of the Prince of Yan, one of the Hongwu Emperor's sons named Zhu Di.The young eunuch eventually became a trusted adviser to the prince and, now almost 7 chi tall (around 6'6"), assisted him when the Jianwen Emperor's hostility to his uncle's feudal bases prompted the 1399–1402 Jingnan Campaign which ended with the emperor's apparent death and the ascension of the Prince of Yan as the Yongle Emperor. For the valor he displayed in the Battle of Zhenglunba near Beiping when his horse was killed underneath him, the eunuch's name was changed to Zheng He by Zhu Di. In the new administration, Zheng He served in the highest posts, as Grand Director and later as Chief Envoy.
After the ascension of Zhu Di's son as the Hongxi Emperor, the ocean voyages were discontinued and Zheng He was instead appointed as Defender of Nanjing, the empire's southern capital. In that post, he was largely responsible for the completion of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, an enormous pagoda still described as a wonder of the world as late as the 19th century.The Hongxi era was quite short and, in 1430, the new Xuande Emperor appointed Zheng He to command over a seventh and final expedition into the "Western Ocean". It is generally believed that Zheng He died during the return trip following the fleet's visit to Hormuz in 1433.