Sri Lanka.

This is coolbert:

Interesting article in the most recent edition of the National Geographic. The July 2005 issue. Deals with the Ming treasure fleet under the command of the eunuch Admiral Zheng He.

I recommend this article highly.

The entire subject of Chinese eunuch Generals and Admiral Zheng has been dealt with in a prior blog. Quite often these eunuchs were remarkable men. Rising to positions of high power. Having marked ability. Such as the only General to defeat Genghis Khan in battle. Or Zheng of course.

In this article is a most interesting history item.

Sheds light on a problem that exists today.

This item deals with warfare between Tamils and Sinhalese that Zheng found on a voyage to Sri Lanka [Ceylon]. 

Sri Lanka, the "resplendent isle" was an important source of trade for the Ming Chinese, the island possessing wealth in gemstones highly coveted by the Chinese [and for the European colonists that followed too].

Arriving in Sri lanka in 1411, Zheng found a ferocious war already in progress between the Tamils and the Sinhalese. A war that Zheng found it necessary to intervene in. [Zheng DID have a large contingent of warships with marines on board as part of his fleet. This treasure fleet DID have a marked military capability.]

From the Geographic article:

"In 1411 Zheng He had intervened in an earlier on war on the island [Sri lanka], pitting Hindu Tamils from the north against two mutually hostile Sinhalese Buddhist realms in the center and south. Zheng was forced to act when one of the Buddhist rulers, a rebel chieftain, attacked a Ming shore part. In a stroke of military genius, the main body of Sri Lankan troops were lured into a fruitless assault on the fleet, leaving their capital open to easy conquest.

This episode marked the only significant overseas land battle ever fought by a Chinese imperial army. It so strengthened the legitimate Sinhalese king, Parakramabahu VI, that he went to defeat the Tamils and govern Sri Lanka for 55 years, before the kingdom collapsed into warring division once more.

Six centuries later those divisions remain ferocious. In their current guise, they pit the lethal guerrilla force known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam against the Sinhalese-dominated central government in Colombo, the nation's modern capital."

This is most interesting.

Zheng found the Tamil populace and the Sinhalese populations of Sri Lanka already at war when he arrived in 1411. The Tamil of course are Hindu and the Sinhalese, who consider themselves the indigenous people of Sri Lanka, are Buddhist. The Tamil were then, as now, looked upon as recent arrivals. Somewhat unwanted recent arrivals. War between the groups existed then, as now.

Modern day pundits will say that the current vicious and unrelenting war in Sri Lanka has "root causes" that are of modern origin. Tamils are more highly educated, thanks to the British run educational and missionary school system, which for some reason seemed to favor the Tamil. The Tamil finds themselves "discriminated against" in the Sri Lanka economy. NOT getting their share of the economic spoils. This is all the fault of the damned British and their COLONIAL system.

We can now see that the pundits are correct, but perhaps ONLY in a minor way. The Tamil and Sinhalese have been at one another's throats LONG before the British and their damned "colonial ways" arrived. Hate and warfare between the Tamil and the Sinhalese goes back a long, long way on Sri Lanka.

And, as for:

"This episode marked the only significant overseas land battle ever fought by a Chinese imperial army."

This is exactly true. I have blogged before on the relative benevolent attitude of the Chinese toward the outside world. NOT expansionist or bent on foreign conquest. Even this treasure fleet, when using force, did so only when provoked. Talas, for instance, was a battle fought [during the Tang period, seven hundred years before the treasure fleet sailed] within what was at the time Chinese controlled territory. When Zheng used his fleet and marines in battle, it was not on Chinese controlled territory.

[Personal comment. These major ships of the Chinese treasure fleet are believed to be up to 400' long, possessing as many as nine masts. Perhaps the largest wooden ships ever built!! I am wondering how masts were built for the ship!! I would doubt that single trees in one piece could have been found in Ming China that would have been tall enough. Perhaps laminate structures were used???].

coolbert.