Chinese exploration includes exploratory Chinese travels abroad, on land and by sea, from the 2nd century BC until the 15th century.

1. Emperor And Seven Of Swords
2. Emperor Of The Sea Episodes
3. Land Of Sea And Sun
4. Emperor And Servant Thou Art But A Man
5. Empire Land Services Corp Melville Ny

• 1Land exploration
• 2Maritime exploration
• 5References

Of the Emperor of Persia, and of the Land of Darkness; and of other Kingdoms that belong to the great Chan of Cathay, and other Lands of his, unto the Sea of Greece. Sir John Mandeville. Marvellous Adventures. Oct 05, 2017  31.8 percent of all players have completed the 'On Land & Sea' achievement. Its description is this: Fight a combined battle during a campaign using both land and naval forces. The description seems straight forward enough. Fight a campaign battle using both land and naval forces, right? But, 62.1 percent of all players have the seemingly more stringent 'Dock of the Bay' achievement.

Land exploration[edit]

Pamir Mountains and beyond[edit]

The HanenvoyZhang Qian traveled beyond the Tarim Basin in the 2nd century BC, introducing the Chinese to the kingdoms of Central Asia, Hellenized Persia, India, and the Middle East.

From 104 to 102 BC, Emperor Wu of Han waged war against the 'Yuezhi' who controlled 'Dayuan', a Hellenized kingdom of Fergana established by Alexander the Great in 329 BC.

Gan Ying, the emissary of General Ban Chao, perhaps traveled as far as Roman Syria in the late 1st century AD. After these initial discoveries, the focus of Chinese exploration shifted to the maritime sphere, although the Silk Road leading all the way to Europe continued to be China's most lucrative source of trade.

The pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang from Chang'an to Nalanda in India not only greatly increased the knowledge of Buddhism in China – returning more than 650 texts including the Heart and the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras – and inspired the immensely influential novel Journey to the West. It also led to Xuanzang's publication of the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions, a text which introduced China to Indian cities such as the port of Calicut and recorded many details of 7th-century Bengal for posterity.

Maritime exploration[edit]

South China Sea[edit]

Before the advent of the Chinese-invented mariner's compass in the 11th century, the seasonal monsoon winds controlled navigation, blowing north from the equatorial zone in the summer and south in the winter.^[1] This most likely accounts for the ease in which Neolithic travelers from mainland China could settle on the island of Taiwan in prehistoric times.^[1] After defeating the last of the Warring States and consolidating an empire over China proper, the Chinese navy of the Qin dynasty period (221–206 BC) assisted the land-borne invasion of Guangzhou and northern Vietnam. (Called first Jiaozhi and then Annam,^[1] the northern half of Vietnam would not become fully independent from Chinese rule until AD 938.) In 1975, an ancient shipyard excavated in Guangzhou was dated to the early Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220) and, with three platforms, was able to construct ships that were approximately 30 m (98 ft) in length, 8 m (26 ft) in width, and could hold a weight of 60 metric tons.^[2]

During the Three Kingdoms, travellers from Eastern Wu are known to have explored the coast. The most important were Zhu Ying (朱應) and Kang Tai, both sent by the Governor of Guangzhou and Jiaozhi Lü Dai in the early 3rd century. Although each wrote a book, both were lost by the 11th century: Zhu's Record of the Curiosities of Phnom (t扶南異物誌, s扶南异物志, Fúnán Yìwù Zhì) in its entirety and Kang's Tales of Foreign Countries During the Wu Period (t吳時外國傳, s吴时外国传, Wúshí Wàiguó Zhuàn) only surviving in scattered references in other works,^[3] including the Shuijing Zhu and the Yiwen Leiju.^[4]

Later, during the Eastern Jin, a rebel known as Lu Xun managed to fend off an attack by the imperial army for a hundred days in 403 before sailing down into the South China Sea from a coastal commandery. For six years, he occupied Panyu, the largest southern seaport of that time.^[5]

South East Asia[edit]

Between the 15th and 18th centuries, much of South-east Asia was explored by Chinese merchants. Some parts of Malaysia were settled by Chinese families at this time, and Chinese garrisons established^[6] Similarly, some Chinese traders settled in north Java in the 1400s, and after China legitimized foreign trade again in 1567 (licensing 50 junks a year), hundreds of Chinese trade colonies developed in what is now Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.^[7]

Indian Ocean and beyond[edit]

Chinese envoys sailed into the Indian Ocean from the late 2nd century BC, and reportedly reached Kanchipuram, known as Huangzhi (黄支) to them,^[8][9] or otherwise Ethiopia as asserted by Ethiopian scholars.^[10] During the late 4th and early 5th centuries, Chinese pilgrims like Faxian, Zhiyan, and Tanwujie began traveling by sea to India, bringing back Buddhist scriptures and sutras to China.^[11] By the 7th century as many as 31 recorded Chinese monks including I Ching managed to reach India the same way. In 674 the private explorer Daxi Hongtong was among the first to end his journey at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, after traveling through 36 countries west of the South China Sea.^[12]

Chinese seafaring merchants and diplomats of the medieval Tang dynasty (618–907) and Song dynasty (960–1279) often sailed into the Indian Ocean after visiting ports in South East Asia. Chinese sailors would travel to Malaya, India, Sri Lanka, into the Persian Gulf and up the Euphrates River in modern-day Iraq, to the Arabian peninsula and into the Red Sea, stopping to trade goods in Ethiopia and Egypt (as Chinese porcelain was highly valued in old Fustat, Cairo).^[13]Jia Dan wrote Route between Guangzhou and the Barbarian Sea during the late 8th century that documented foreign communications, the book was lost, but the Xin Tangshu retained some of his passages about the three sea-routes linking China to East Africa.^[14] Jia Dan also wrote about tall lighthouseminarets in the Persian Gulf, which were confirmed a century later by Ali al-Masudi and al-Muqaddasi.^[15] Beyond the initial work of Jia Dan, other Chinese writers accurately described Africa from the 9th century onwards; For example, Duan Chengshi wrote in 863 of the slave trade, ivory trade, and ambergris trade of Berbera, Somalia.^[16]Seaports in China such as Guangzhou and Quanzhou – the most cosmopolitan urban centers in the medieval world – hosted thousands of foreign travelers and permanent settlers. Chinese junk ships were even described by the Moroccan geographer Al-Idrisi in his Geography of 1154, along with the usual goods they traded and carried aboard their vessels.^[17]

From 1405 to 1433, large fleets commanded by Admiral Zheng He – under the auspices of the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty – traveled to the Indian Ocean seven times. This attempt did not lead China to global expansion, as the Confucian bureaucracy under the next emperor reversed the policy of open exploration and by 1500, it became a capital offence to build a seagoing junk with more than two masts.^[18] Chinese merchants became content trading with already existing tributary states nearby and abroad. To them, traveling far east into the Pacific Ocean represented entering a broad wasteland of water with uncertain benefits of trade.

Exchanges[edit]

Chinese Muslims traditionally credit the Muslim traveler Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas with introducing Islam to China in 650, during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang,^[19][20] although modern secular scholars did not find any historical evidence for him actually travelling to China.^[21] There exists documentation^{[citation needed]} that in 1008 the Fatimid Egyptian sea-captain Domiyat, in the name of his ruling ImamAl-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, travelled to the Buddhist pilgrimage-site in Shandong in order to seek out Emperor Zhenzong of Song with gifts from his court.^[22] This reestablished diplomatic ties between China and Egypt which had been broken since the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (907–960).^[22] The trade embassy of the Indian ruler Kulothunga Chola I to the court of Emperor Shenzong of Song in 1077 proved an economic benefactor for both empires.^[23]

For more see Tang Dynasty, History of the Song Dynasty, and Islam during the Song Dynasty.

Technique[edit]

In China, the invention of the stern-mounted rudder appeared as early as the 1st century AD, allowing for better steering than using the power of oarsmen. The Cao Wei Kingdom engineer and inventor Ma Jun (c. 200–265 AD) built the first south-pointing chariot, a complex mechanical device that incorporated a differential gear in order to navigate on land, and (as one 6th century text alludes) by sea as well.^[24][25] Much later the Chinese polymath scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095 AD) was the first to describe the magnetic needle-compass, along with its usefulness for accurate navigation by discovering the concept of true north.^[26][27] In his Pingzhou Table Talks of 1119 AD the Song Dynasty maritime author Zhu Yu described the use of separate bulkhead compartments in the hulls of Chinese ships.^[28] This allowed for water-tight conditions and ability of a ship not to sink if one part of the hull became damaged.^[28]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

1. ^ ^abcFairbank, 191.
2. ^Wang (1982), 122.
3. ^Hsu Yun-ts'iao. 'Notes Relating to Admiral Cheng Ho's Expeditions' in Admiral Zheng He & Southeast Asia. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2005. Accessed 18 Oct 2012.
4. ^Sun 1989, pp. 191–193
5. ^Sun 1989, p. 201
6. ^https://journals.openedition.org/archipel/280
7. ^ Reid, Anthony (1999), 'Chinese and Southeast Asian interactions', in Pan, Lynn, The Encyclopedia of the Chinese Overseas, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 51–53, ISBN978-0-674-25210-3.
8. ^Sun 1989, pp. 161–167
9. ^Chen 2002, pp. 67–71
10. ^A Chinese in the Nubian and Abyssinian Kingdoms (8th century), Wolbert Smidt.
11. ^Sun 1989, pp. 220–221
12. ^Sun 1989, pp. 316–321
13. ^Bowman, 104–105.
14. ^Sun, pp. 310–314
15. ^Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 661.
16. ^Levathes, 38.
17. ^Shen, 159–161.
18. ^Ronan, Colin; Needham, Joseph (1986), The shorter Science and Civilisation in China, 3, C.U.P., p. 147
19. ^Wang, Lianmao (2000). Return to the City of Light: Quanzhou, an eastern city shining with the splendour of medieval culture. Fujian People's Publishing House. p. 99.
20. ^Lipman, Jonathan Neaman (1997). Familiar strangers: a history of Muslims in Northwest China. University of Washington Press. p. 29. ISBN962-209-468-6.
21. ^Lipman, p. 25
22. ^ ^abShen, 158.
23. ^Sastri, 173, 316.
24. ^Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 40.
25. ^Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 287–288
26. ^Bowman, 599.
27. ^Sivin, III, 22.
28. ^ ^abNeedham, Volume 4, Part 3, 463.

Sources[edit]

• Bowman, John S. (2000). Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture. New York: Columbia University Press.
• Chen, Yan (2002). Maritime Silk Route and Chinese-Foreign Cultural Exchanges. Beijing: Peking University Press. ISBN7-301-03029-0.
• Fairbank, John King and Merle Goldman (1992). China: A New History; Second Enlarged Edition (2006). Cambridge: MA; London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN0-674-01828-1
• Levathes (1994). When China Ruled the Seas. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN0-671-70158-4.
• Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.
• Needham, Joseph (1986). Science and Civilization in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 3, Civil Engineering and Nautics. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd.
• Sastri, Nilakanta, K.A. The CōĻas, University of Madras, Madras, 1935 (Reprinted 1984).
• Shen, Fuwei (1996). Cultural flow between China and the outside world. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press. ISBN7-119-00431-X.
• Sivin, Nathan (1995). Science in Ancient China: Researches and Reflections. Brookfield, Vermont: VARIORUM, Ashgate Publishing.
• Sun, Guangqi (1989). History of Navigation in Ancient China. Beijing: Ocean Press. ISBN7-5027-0532-5.
• Wang, Zhongshu. (1982). Han Civilization. Translated by K.C. Chang and Collaborators. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN0-300-02723-0.

Emperor of the Sea (Korean: 해신; Hanja: 海神; RR: Hae-sin; literally 'Sea God') is a South Koreantelevision drama series starring Choi Soo-jong, Chae Shi-ra, Song Il-gook، Soo Ae and Chae Jung-an It aired on KBS2 from November 24, 2004 to May 25, 2005 on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 21:55 for 51 episodes. The period drama is based on Choi In-ho's 2003 novel Hae-sin, which depicts the life of Jang Bogo, who rises from a lowly slave to a powerful maritime figure who dominated the East Asia seas and international trade during the Unified Silla Dynasty.^[1][2]

The series was received extremely well, holding the number one spot in the ratings for majority of the weeks it aired.^[3][4][5] It was also exported to eight countries earning approximately US$1.8 million in profits.^[6]

The filming set in Wando County, South Jeolla Province also became a tourist attraction.^[7][8]

• 2Cast

Plot[edit]

Jang Bogo (Choi Soo-jong) rises from a lowly slave to the military commander of the sea during the Unified Silla Dynasty. Along the way, he battles pirates, and engages in a heated rivalry with Madam Jami (Chae Shi-ra), a Silla noble who squares off against Jang Bogo for trade rights in the South Sea. Yeom Jang (Song Il-gook), Jang Bogo's charismatic comrade, supports Jang in his ascension to become the 'Emperor of the Sea.' But Yeom Jang competes with Jang Bogo for the love of Lady Jung-hwa (Soo Ae).

Cast[edit]

• Choi Soo-jong as Jang Bogo/Gungbok
  • Baek Sung-hyun as young Gungbok

Emperor And Seven Of Swords

Jang Bogo is an historical figure who virtually dominated the seas of the East Asia (hence name 'Sea God' or 'Emperor of the Sea') and international trade from Tang China and Japan to the North China sea during the time of Unified Silla Dynasty.

Gungbok starts from lowest social class as a slave on the docks of Cheonghae. Gungbok lost his mother to pirates when he was young. His father was a slave carpenter in Police Office of Cheonghae. Working hard in the rough dock, Gungbok soon masters the sea and has the knack of building ships. Faced with challenges, he becomes calmer and bolder. Both Gungbok and his mate Nyeon learn martial arts from certain Choi Moo-chang. Such abilities helped him to rise from a gladiator to a security guard, military head of Muryongun and then ambassador of Cheonghae. As a part of this, he eliminated the pirates by installing Cheonghaejin on Wando, which is a geographically important sea route. With his clever battle strategies, he is able to defeat the army led by Madam Jami and install the true ruler of Korea. However, even after repeated requests by the king, he refuses the high positions. After the king is assassinated by the cunning Kim Yang, he prepares the army to lead a final assault and remove the corrupt ministers appointed by Kim Yang.

At the end, Consul Jang Bogo is fatally stabbed in his office with a concealed knife by Yeom Jang. Jang Bogo accepts his death without any resistance, and his body is found at midnight by Nyeon, Choi Moo-chang and Jung-hwa. Even after his death, his army fights to the last man as a mark of respect.

• Chae Shi-ra as Madam Jami

A Silla noble and businesswoman. She first plays a role in Lady Jung-hwa's destiny. But as the story progresses, her grudges towards Jang Bogo leads to her downfall, and her life ends in tragedy.

• Song Il-gook as Yeom Jang/Yeom Moon
  • Hong Hyun-ki as young Yeom Moon

Raised by pirates, young Yeom Moon brandished short knives with remarkable skill and accuracy. Later in the story, he is captured by Jang Bogo, and receives the harshest punishment of branding as a pirate, and his forehead bears the burn mark. He is eventually released from prison by Kim Yang. For this, he trains Kim Yang's men in martial arts and leads the assault against Madam Jami's men, when they temporarily reconcile with Jang Bogo. He is later appointed the head of the king's bodyguards. With war looming against Jang Bogo, he visits Cheonghae to defuse the situation. He promises Kim Yang that if the need arises, he will assassinate him, provided Kim spares Jang Bogo's wife (daughter of Jang Bogo's trade master) and their new born child, Jung-hwa and the people of Silla. During their meeting, he tries his best to deviate Jang from his attack, but Jang has made up his mind to put an end to the ineffective and corrupt ministers in the king's council. In the end, he betrays Jang Bogo and kills him. He receives a jolt after the assassination, when Kim Yang launches an attack on Silla. Imprisoned by Kim Yang, he escapes from custody and helps Jung-hwa escape the massacre with Jang Bogo's child. He is killed by a shower of arrows fired by Kim Yang's army.

Emperor Of The Sea Episodes

• Soo Ae as Jung-hwa
  • Lee Yeon-hee as young Jung-hwa

Love interest of Jang Bogo and Yeom Jang for most of the series. The mere mention of her name is enough for Jang Bogo to abandon careful consideration (which is his modus operandi) and act in a frenzied manner, without regards for the consequences.

Extended cast[edit]

• Kim Heung-soo as Jung Nyeon
  • Ahn Jae-hong as young Jung Nyeon
• Park Yeong-gyu as Seol-pyeong
• Chae Jung-an as Lady Chae-ryeong
• Kim Ah-joong as Baek Ha-jin
• Lee Won-jong as Choi Moo-chang
• Kim Kap-soo as Lee Do-hyeong
• Jo Dal-hwan as Lee Soon-jong
  • Heo In-beom as young Soon-jong
• Jung Sung-hwan as Chang-kyeom (Jung-hwa's brother)
• Lee Hee-do as Mak Bong (Soon-jong's father)
• Kang Sung-pil as Jong Dal
• Jung Ho-keun as Dae Chi
• Park Jung-hak as Neung Chang
• Go Do-young as Da Bok
  • Lee Eun-hye as young Da Bok
• Kil Yong-woo as King Shinmu
• Seo Do-young as Moo Jin (Jung-hwa's bodyguard)
• Choi Sang-gil as Cheon Tae
• Kim Hyo-won as Yoo Ja-seong
• Lee Jae-yong as Master Jo Sang-gil
• Kim Hyung-bum as Tae-bong (Jami's security officer)
• Do Ki-suk as Jang Seong-pil
• Bae Soo-bin as Kim Yang
• Go Myung-hwan as Pan Sool (one of Master Yi's men)
• Yeo Ho-min as Baek Kyung (Yeom Jang's subordinate)
• Park In-hwan as Bogo's father
• Seo Jin-wook
• Lee Ji-eun
• Seo Bum-yul
• Jo Seung-yeon
• Im Byung-gi
• Song Ji-eun
• Seo Bum-shik
• Baek So-mi
• Kim Sung-hoon

Awards and nominations[edit]

2005 International Emmy Awards

• Drama series in the Asia, Africa and Middle East region - Final Round Nomination^[9][10]

2005 KBS Drama Awards

• Top Excellence Award, Actor: Choi Soo-jong
• Excellence Award, Actress: Soo Ae
• Excellence Award, Actor: Song Il-gook
• Popularity Award, Actor: Song Il-gook
• Best Couple Award: Song Il-gook and Soo Ae

Land Of Sea And Sun

2006 1st Seoul International Drama Awards

• Runner-up, Best Series Drama
• Best Cinematographer: Kim Seung-hwan

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Emperor And Servant Thou Art But A Man

1. ^'KOREAN TV DRAMA REVIEWS: 해신 (海神, Emperor of the Sea)'. Twitch Film. 22 February 2006. Archived from the original on December 31, 2006. Retrieved 2013-05-24.
2. ^'Historical Dramas Still Hot'. The Chosun Ilbo. 6 January 2004. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
3. ^''Emperor of the Sea' Records Ratings of 25% for Several'. KBS Global. 24 December 2004. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
4. ^''Emperor of the Sea' Records 30% Viewer Ratings'. KBS Global. 13 January 2005. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
5. ^''Emperor of the Sea' Tops Viewer Ratings'. KBS Global. 26 January 2005. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
6. ^'Choi Su-jong Promotes 'Emperor of the Sea' in Taiwan'. KBS Global. 7 July 2005. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
7. ^'Filming Set of 'Emperor of the Sea' in Wando Rides High in Popularity'. KBS Global. 11 February 2005. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
8. ^'Cheongsando Island'. Korea Tourism Organization. Archived from the original on 2018-10-20. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
9. ^''Emperor of the Sea' Drawing Attention of International TV Market'. The Chosun Ilbo. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 2013-02-23.
10. ^''Emperor of the Sea' nominated to the final round of the Emmy Awards'. KoreaContent.org via Hancinema. 4 August 2005. Retrieved 2013-02-23.

External links[edit]

• Emperor of the Sea official KBS website(in Korean)
• Emperor of the Sea at KBS World
• Emperor of the Sea at HanCinema

Empire Land Services Corp Melville Ny