Chinese Discovery of America (Mexico, European, economy, Japan)

[lentzr]

My Chinese History professor told us that it is well documented in the Chinese archives that explorers reached the west coast of North America before Columbus. It is most probable that they discovered Mexico and Central America. However, what other evidence exists for this other than what is written in the archives and the ministatues with Asian features? I believe they were there before Columbus, but when can it be proven like how it was proven the Vikings were in Canada? When will US History books include a Chinese discovery of North America like how the Vikings also discovered America?

Secondly, is it true that there may be the remains of a Chinese junk in California like mentioned in that infamous book about the Chinese discovery of most of the world? I say infamous...I cannot remember the tile...something like 1438, the year the Chinese discovered America...much of it has been largely discredited...the book even makes the ridiculous claim that the Chinese circumnavigated Greenland. However, is there some truth to the claim that there may be the remains of a Chinese junk in the Sacramento River? The remains?

Let me hear your thoughts!

[wilvan]

There may be some truth to the story the Chinese did discover the Americas well ahead of the Europeans. For centuries the purpose of their sea going is mainly to search for new markets to trade, they were never in the business of conquering other nations.

[jtur88]

There are indeed the remains of a Chinese junk in the Sacramento River, in an excellent state, and probably seaworthy. It arrived there in 1955.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/wo....18679864.html

[cpg35223]

The Chinese also invented gunpowder and the printing press. Yet didn't do anything with it. It fascinates me how a society could be so inventive on one side yet totally lack innovation on the other.

[dadeguy]

while it may well be true about the asiatics and the norsemen and the frenchies and the aliens from outerspace the fact remains that once the italians discovered flatbush avenue america remained discovered! m'kay?

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

The Chinese also invented gunpowder and the printing press. Yet didn't do anything with it. It fascinates me how a society could be so inventive on one side yet totally lack innovation on the other.

Maybe they were culturally above your sense of innovation. Just because they didn't use the printing press to lie to each other, and use gunpowder to kill people, doesn't mean they "didn't do anything with it" and were a deficient society.

I can almost hear disappointment in your voice that it was not the Chinese, but the Christians, who were "innovative" enough to use their ciscoveries to enslave the native Americans and force their religion on us all.

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by dadeguy

while it may well be true about the asiatics and the norsemen and the frenchies and the aliens from outerspace the fact remains that once the italians discovered flatbush avenue america remained discovered! m'kay?

Yeah, but you can't hold one mistake against a whole ethnic group.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by jtur88

Maybe they were culturally above your sense of innovation. Just because they didn't use the printing press to lie to each other, and use gunpowder to kill people, doesn't mean they "didn't do anything with it" and were a deficient society.

I can almost hear disappointment in your voice that it was not the Chinese, but the Christians, who were "innovative" enough to use their ciscoveries to enslave the native Americans and force their religion on us all.

Well, this gets my nomination for the dumbest kneejerk post of the day.

The fact that the Chinese did not technologically innovate meant a great deal of woe for the Chinese people over the past 500 years. Before the close of the 18th Century, the Chinese were the world's largest economy. By the end of the 19th Century, they were at the mercy of the European powers and Japan. Only now, and only through the sheer weight of population, are they even within sight of reaching that status again.

As far as repression goes, the Chinese have been masters at that. And gunpowder did not prevent periodic massacres of millions of Chinese in various rebellions and civil wars, not to mention frequent famines and plagues. In the 1500s, the Chinese regarded Europeans as barbarians. Yet, after the technological advances of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution, the Chinese were relegated to near vassalage, all because of the cultural resistance to change.

What's more, the Chinese themselves were the ones who began repudiating the more retrograde aspects of their culture, particularly because of the humiliation inflicted on them by the Boxer Rebellion. Sun Yat Sen and Mao pretty much paved the way for that in the 20th Century.

[bluebeard]

Originally Posted by dadeguy

while it may well be true about the asiatics and the norsemen and the frenchies and the aliens from outerspace the fact remains that once the italians discovered flatbush avenue america remained discovered! m'kay?

like noodles?

[dadeguy]

more partial to thin crust and multiple toppings