Part 3
Here is part 3 of my last semester in China. I am still in Nanjing.
One of the big reasons why I wanted to visit Nanjing was to see the Nanjing massacre museum. But it was closed. It is being remodeled and will reopen in December of 2007. It sucks because I was looking forward to seeing one of the best museums on this period of history. I am not speaking just of the event that happened in Nanjing but what occurred in the rest of China by the hands of the Imperial Japanese. In the United States is almost unknown that the Imperial Japanese had murdered at least 20 million Chinese during WW2.
The next stop I had that day was to go to BaoChuan GongYuan. Or treasure ship park. This park is brand new. Less than a decade ago on this track of land a new apartment complex was going to be constructed and during construction they stumbled across the remains of a Ming Dynasty ship yard (early 15th century). Here is where they constructed some of the huge ships for the Ming Treasure fleets and you can see in the picture a replica of one of the smaller ships.
This is Zheng He the eunuch admiral of the Ming treasure fleets. During the first third of the 15th century Zheng He led the Ming Treasure fleets on 7 voyages with the primary mission of spreading trade and political influence through the tribute system. He also transported foreign dignitaries, battled pirates, deposed unfriendly rulers, and gave out Imperial titles to legitimize cooperative kings.
This is the 15 meter rudder-post that was dug up at the park. The ships constructed at these shipyards were the largest and most technologically advanced wooden ships built in the age. They will remain to be the largest wooden ships ever build and would remain the most advanced for nearly 500 years.
Big anchor and me.
They have three big rectangular ponds at this park. These are the sites of the old dry docks themselves. This is where the largest ships would have been constructed the largest of them being over a 100 meters long and 60 meters wide. By the way you can climb on that ship if you want. It is included in the admission of the park.