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Manny Wong Founding Publisher Asian American Times Chinese-English Newspaper 668 N. 44th St., Suite 343, Phoenix, Arizona 85008 Phone (602) 685-1138 Fax (602) 685-1137 Email Manny Wong YEAR OF THE ROOSTER The year 2005 is the Year of the Rooster. Chinese News - Online Magazines and Literature Books Culture Music Art Quotations Reading Quotations Wine Quotations Proverbial Quips Asian Music Asian Views |
BOOK REVIEW 1421: The Year China Discovered America By Gavin Menzies ..... Who REALLY discovered America? Credit is usually given to Christopher Columbus (in 1492). However, Gavin Menzies, in his new book 1421: The Year China Discovered America, suggests that trade ships may have landed on the shores of what is now the United States of America. And, further, some of these visiting Chinese traders may have established colonies, citing evidence found on Vancouver Island in British Columbia and the San Francisco Bay region. ..... Mr. Menzies, interviewed during a Phoenix television newscast (Channel 3), said his beliefs about the early Chinese explorers resulted from research into trade ship voyages from China during a two-year period (1421-23). The research, he said, included discovery of maps and charts of those early explorers to the North American continent, along with other locations around the world. ..... According to the author, Chinese Emperor Zhu Di sent hundreds of trade ships on worldwide voyages to explore and bring back important treasures. "The majority of those seamen...would never see China again," Mr. Menzies said. "Many would die, many others would be shipwrecked or left behind to set up colonies on foreign shores." ..... The huge fleet of trade ships left China in early 1421, ordered to "collect tribute from the barbarians beyond the seas" and "unite the whole world in Confucian harmony. By the time the fleet of ships returned to China in late 1423, Emperor Zhu Di had fallen, "leaving China in political and economic chaos." ..... Author Gavin Menzies said the great ships "now considered frivolous, were left to rot at their moorings and the records of their journeys were destroyed." His discoveries of their visits to America and other locations include Chinese objects (from that time period) found in those locations around the world, especially in places where small colonies were established. 1421: The Year China Discovered the World Gavin Menzies
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