Reddit mentions of Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 (Library of World Biography Series)

It's Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433. It's a pretty interesting read!

Absolutely, this is a great book. If you want something about ancient China there are some other options, but the Spence book is a great intro.

Another interesting read is Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405-1433 by Edward Dreyer. A little more specific but fascinating nonetheless.

If you are interested in military history, I strongly recommend Arthur Waldron's The Great Wall of China: From History to Myth. http://www.amazon.com/The-Great-Wall-China-original/dp/052142707X

The Ming were the dynasty that built the Great Wall. Waldron explains at great length what drove them to do so - why they decided to build walls to face the nomad threat instead of follow other common strategies (trade networks, Heqin-type alliance, all out war).

Edward Dryer has a neat book about Zheng He, the Ming minister whose fleet sailed across the Indian ocean and to Africa http://www.amazon.com/Zheng-He-Dynasty-1405-1433-Biography/dp/0321084438/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381479732&sr=1-2&keywords=zheng+he

And if you like social history, then Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in the Ming is the go-to book. http://www.amazon.com/Confusions-Pleasure-Commerce-Culture-China/dp/0520221540/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381479790&sr=1-1&keywords=confusions+of+pleasure

I have not read this last one, but others in th eknow tell me it is the best place to start.

Not really a hoax. Relics come out in Sri Lanka and Kenya suggest such trips. But the details is not clear. There even some western scholar and people find evidence in other countries and write a book about it.

https://www.amazon.com/Zheng-He-Dynasty-1405-1433-Biography/dp/0321084438

Also, the wiki page with more details.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He

Also, Chinese coin in Kenya back 600 years

https://www.world-archaeology.com/world/africa/kenya/chinese-coin-in-kenya/

Also, A English men found a relics in Shri Lanka in 1911 , installed by Zheng He back to his trip

Galle Trilingual Inscription

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galle_Trilingual_Inscription

​

The details of Zheng He's trip is content matter and you can still say it is not true. Therefore, I suggest you read some academic journals, written not by Chinese to get different perspective:

https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C14&q=zheng+he+voyages&oq=Zheng+He+

Also, your clearly does not work for the government. Xi's article is published not in a random newspaper. It is published in People's daily.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People's_Daily

People's daily is the OFFICIAL newspaper for the CCP. It has the official power and represents the CCP. The boss of people's daily is a also a CCP official. Therefore, it usually has the equivalence of formal diplomatic papers if the CCP leader is doing something.

Your argument could be true if it is published in a random journal.

Again, I am not here to discuss the Zheng He thing. It is a history topic and you can search online for details including journals, evidence by people around the world. I am here to inform you why Xi is not responding to random challenge from some random judge in Philippines.

Also, please give some third party source to support your arguments. Otherwise, it is a waste of time for both of us.