Despite of the efflux of 600 years, the heroic feat of Zheng He's oceangoing voyages to the west and his well-known name have not been faded a bit by the passage of the time, let alone being forgotten. On the contrary, thanks to his outstanding efforts and merits in establishing and improving relations with other countries in a peaceful way, he is increasingly respected and cherished by more and more people.

　　Ma Huan, who took part in Zheng He's Voyage, wrote in his "A Poem on Travel": "Acting on the imperial order of the Emperor of China, his messenger came to the foreign lands to make known the imperial edict". Here, the heart of the "imperial edict" was the "establishment of diplomatic relations peacefully". Upon Zheng He's departure, Emperor Yong Le enjoined: "You people are obliged to yield to heavenly laws, observe strictly to my words, act in line with ethics and be law-abiding, and should not disobey me or overstep your mandate, not try to ride roughshod over the minor tribes and not to bully the weak, so as to live together in peace and happiness". According to the historical records, the international environment surrounding China then was characterized by turbulence and intranquility. Countries in Southeast Asia were suspicious of each other, and were contending with each other. Some countries even killed envoys from the Ming Dynasty without any reasons, and intercepted diplomatic missions coming to China. In addition, the sea was haunted by rampant piracy making the maritime traffic quite difficult and dangerous. After making careful calculation of how the matters stood, Emperor Yong Le decided with great resolve to pursue a peaceful and tolerant foreign policy featuring "maintaining security inside China and pacifying the neighboring countries". A review of Zheng He's practice of oceangoing voyages will reveal that he followed the order of Emperor Yong Le to the letter in performing his duty as a peace-maker, and consequentially conducted successfully a string of trips of peace that attracted worldwide attention.

　　In the eyes of Zheng He, "peace" was not a mere statement, let alone an empty word, but was something to be reflected in a range of actual deeds to promote economic and cultural exchanges. The history record has it that wherever Zheng He went, he would generously give to charities to the local people and trade with the local businessmen either by way of government-to-government or after the manner of people-to-people. On one hand, he sold fairly silks, porcelain, iron products and tea from China to the local people, and on the other hand, he bought peppers, spices and dyes at relatively cheap prices. What is particularly worthy of mention here is that Zheng He's fleet paid special attention to the promotion of China as a land of courtesy and propriety, and to the encouragement of cultural exchanges with China, thus spreading China's civilization. The fleet would give books, garments and stationary commodities as presents to the local governments and residents wherever it pulled in to shore, and give publicity to China's rites, calendar and cultures of the Confucian school by virtue of various methods. In addition, the fleet also took the opportunity of trade to introduce China's tea culture, porcelain culture as well as smelting, spinning, medicines and other advanced technologies to other countries. Zheng He was likewise quite a modest man who was eager to learn. When he was in Angkor of Kampuchea, he did pay special heed to not only learn its architectural culture, but also use its experience for reference. Later, when building the Temple of Immense Gratitude in Nanjing, he used the architectural style of Angkor.

　　Zheng He longed for peace, and was good at securing peace by upholding the nation's dignity. He loved his motherland deeply and bore in mind the dignity of the nation all the time, and therefore, deserved the credit of being an outstanding diplomat who brought his mission to success. During Zheng He's second voyage, the fleet passed by a country ruled by a greedy king who became so covetous that evil ideas immediately rose in his head on seeing so many treasures brought by the fleet. He beguiled the fleet to his country and tried to seize the gold coins by force. When that was not successful, he even called in troops to plunder the fleet. When Zheng He learned all about the king's intention and the situation they were facing, he personally commanded 2,000 soldiers to beat back the enemies, and they even captured the king. Zheng He would neither incline to make a show of force, let alone abuse military might, nor would he yield to the strong or the villains, and better than that, he was always ready and capable to put up self-defense when necessary. The above mentioned good personnel qualities showed by Zheng He help to prove: It goes without saying that friendship and honesty can be reciprocated by the establishment of peaceful diplomatic relations, and yet, staunchness and military might spell the important guarantees for the completion of peace-making mission.

　　By Yang Yuchen

　　(July 12, PLA Daily)