Results tagged “zhenghe”

Shanghaiist has posted before about the controversy surrounding the new high school history textbooks in Shanghai, which were thrown under the media spotlight after an article in the New York Times by Joseph Kahn claimed that the new history books were a big departure from the old books and went so far as to nearly remove Mao from China's history. You can read what the folks over at the Peking Duck thought about it this issue here and here. It seems that only one or two people there managed to compare the new history textbooks in Shanghai, which move away from the "great man" theory of history, with a somewhat similar movement in teaching of American history towards more social and cultural history, along the lines of (and this perhaps isn't the best or only example) Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States.

Or maybe it won't. Either way, it will likely make its owner even richer. In 2001 at a Shanghai store, Liu Gang, founding partner of one of Beijing's largest commercial law firms, bought an ink map on bamboo paper that could be from the 18th century and could be a copy of a world map from 1418 that could offer proof that Chinese admiral Zheng He did in fact beat Christopher Columbus to the "New World" by more than 70 years, as at least one disputed author -- Gavin Menzies, who wrote 1421: The Year China Discovered the World -- has been claiming for a while now. Liu bought the map for US$500 and will unveil it -- well, a copy of it -- tonight in Beijing. We found this bit interesting:

As July 11th approaches, many Shanghai residents are eagerly anticipating the celebration China's newest holiday: Maritime Day. Given the Chinese penchant for celebrating in style, Maritime Day should prove to be a momentous occasion, as 2005 marks the 600-year anniversary of Zheng He's (鄭和) nautical expeditions to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Some even argue Zheng, everyone's favorite eunuch explorer, might have beaten ol' Chris Columbus to the New World.