Located in Yueshan Mountain of Kunyang Town of Jinning County which is in the south lakeshore of Dianchi Lake, Zheng He Park is about 60 kilometers far away from the city of Kunming. Those who have been there when they study in China may know that the former name was Yueshan Mountain Park and it then changed into the name we use now because Kunyang is the hometown of Zheng He and his father’s tomb was also on Yueshan Mountain. In the wooden land of more than 250 Mu, you can see numerous pine trees, cypress trees and fruit trees.

Zheng He was a very famous people in China’s history. Before you go to Zheng He Park, you should know something about him. The original name of Zheng He was Ma Sanbao. He was born in Kunyang in the year of 1371. Since his father and grandfather ever been to Mecca, Islam‘s most sacred sites, he has known something about the abroad when he was very young.

At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, he went to the imperial palace to be eunuch and then served for King of Yan in Beijing. He made great contribution to the fight that Zhu Di and Jian Wen Emperor strived for the throne, and then he became the important person with Cheng Emperor of Ming Dynasty. The most familiar thing for those who study Mandarin Chinese may be the events that Zheng He visited the countries in the western seas.

Following the order of Cheng Emperor of Ming Dynasty, Zheng He led more than 27,800 soldiers on 62 large ships and went for voyage in western seas. They started from Liu Jia Gang in Suzhou in the year of 1405 and went through Zhan Cheng, Java, Sumatra and Ceylon. They went back from the west of India in 1407. After that, Zheng processed eight voyages in 28 years’ time and went to 30 countries. The farthest places reached the east of Africa and the Red Sea.

The largest ship they took was as long as 148 meters and 60 meters wide, containing 1000 people. The main point that the students who learn Mandarin Chinese should know is that the voyages were half a century earlier than the voyages of Columbus and da Dama in western countries. More importantly, it promoted the communications and exchange between China and the countries they visited.