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Lesson 1 (from Prologue; Preface; Chapters 1-2)

Objective

Prologue; Preface; Chapters 1-2

China is known for being the first country to have a powerful and successful Navy. This lesson focuses on China's naval system, boats, and why this was important to the country, past and present.

Lesson

1) Class Discussion: Kissinger states: "...in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, between 1405 and 1433, China launched one of history's most remarkable and mysterious naval enterprises: Admiral Zheng He set out in fleets of technologically unparalleled "treasure ships" to destinations as far as Java, India, the Horn of Africa, and the Strait of Hormuz. At the time of Zheng's voyages, the European age of exploration had not yet begun. China's fleet possessed what would have seemed an unbridgeable technological advantage: in the size, sophistication, and number of its vessels, it dwarfed the Spanish Armada (which was still 150 years away)." Discuss this passage and China's long standing naval history...

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