China’s Maritime Tradition: Origins through the Voyages of Zheng He and the Ming Treasure Fleet

Louise Levathes, journalist and author, describes China's early relations with the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007, 4:15 - 5:30 pm
Pomona College, , Hahn 101
420 Harvard Ave., Claremont
Followed by reception

Some 80 years before the voyages of Columbus, the celebrated Ming Dynasty Admiral commanded the largest fleet the world would know until World War I and extended China's trade and influence throughout the Indian Ocean Basin. Levathes, a journalist and author of When China Ruled the Seas (Simon & Schuster, 1994), a best-selling New York Times Notable Book of the Year, will explore the origin and legacy of the seven epic Ming voyages and describe China's early relations with the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

This is part of PBI’s Asian Diaspora Lecture Series: Asian Diasporas: Neither East Nor West. Through a lecture series, film festival, student video training and research program, and other coordinated activities, PBI will examine the connections between and across the Pacific basin region, emphasizing the movements of peoples, ideas, and commodities that link and sometimes divide the multi-dimensional cultures of the region.

This lecture series is made possible in part with assistance from the Bernard Chan Asian Visiting Scholars fund.