BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhuaent)-- An international maritime expo opened in Shanghai on Friday to mark Monday’s 600th anniversary of voyages by ancient Chinese seafaring hero Zheng He, who lived in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

　　The weeklong show exhibits seven voyages by Zheng He and the history of China’s seafaring at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

　　The 20,000-square-meter expo also showcases the achievements China and other countries have made in navigation, shipbuilding, maritime affairs and construction of harbors.

　　China’s seafaring history dates back 7,000 years to the New Stone Age and reached a peak marked by Zheng He’s voyages.

　　Zheng’s fleet, comprising more than 300 ships and manned by about 27,000 sailors, a number unrivaled in the world at that time, visited more than 30 countries and regions in Asia and Africa between 1405 and 1433.

　　Zheng is believed to be the first man to blaze a direct sea route linking the western Pacific and Indian Ocean.

　　His voyages are recorded 87 years earlier than Columbus’ discovery of America, 92 years earlier than Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer who discovered an ocean route from Portugal to the East, and 114 years earlier than Magellan’s round-the-world voyage.

　　“Zheng He was more an ambassador of peace than a sailor,” said Zheng Yijun, a researcher at the Institute of Marine Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

　　Zheng He’s seven voyages are considered early demonstrations of China’s peaceful diplomacy.