In September of the seventh year during the reign of Emperor Yongle (October of 1409), Zheng He's fleet put forth on the third voyage from Liujiagang Port in Taicang, and pulled in at Taipinggang Port in Changle of Fujian Province in November, waiting for the monsoon which set in a month later. With the advent of the monsoon, the fleet filed out of Wuhumen of Fujian Province to the East China Sea. They sailed off at full speed before the wind by following the same sea route as they did for the two previous voyages, and arrived at Champa ten days later. After a short stay for rest, Zheng He's fleet left Champa, stopped at Chenra, then sailed with the wind to Java, Temershi (now Singapore), and Melaka. They passed Aru, Sumatra, Nam Ou Li, Ceylon, Small Gray, Cochin, and Calicut (now Kozhikode) which was once again made the last stop by Zheng He.

　　Zheng He decided to have a relay station built in Melaka. He gave the order to build spacious warehouses to store all kinds of materials needed for the voyage to the west. Since then, the homeward bound fleet would rendezvous at Melaka, take a break, get replenished and wait for the monsoon from the south to come before they hoisted their sails and returned back to their homeland.

　　In order to make the voyages to the west as meritorious as possible and to spread the splendid Chinese culture to the farthest possible area, Zheng He, while making sure that the fleet would follow the preset course, started to dispatch sub-fleets to explore new routes from the third voyage on, in order to go to sea areas and ports where they had never been to before, which had broken new ground and accumulated valuable experience for the future crossing of the Indian Ocean.

　　At that time, Zheng He's fleet was by far the largest in the world, boasting hundreds of vessels of various types. What a formidable array and a splendid and spectacular sight it was when the whole fleet sailed together in full sail with myriads of flags and pennons fluttering in the wind.

　　The fleet returned to the motherland on June 16 of the ninth year of the reign of Emperor Yongle (on July 6, 1411), thus wrapping up successfully Zheng He's third long-distance oceangoing voyage.

　　(By Lu Rude)