The Zheng He emperor actually had 3 of these ships...all capable of holding 300,000 Chinese. They also had the ability to round the horn of Africa before the Portuguese did. Can you imagine how history would have changed if China had managed to pull into the harbors of Europe? They were originally built to masquerade as vessels searching for Zheng He's brother, the former emperor that was thought to have fled during an attack, but actually fled to the hills where he was killed by his own brother. The ships were actually merchant ships that obtained items all around Asia and Africa to bring back to the Emperor for his private collection. When he passed, his replacement saw no need for the ships anymore and had them destroyed.

You could discover new land by walking to the front of the ship.

Sad that we never hear about these spectacular feats of engineering unless you happen upon it. Looks to me that the Europeans could have learned a lot from the Chinese!

No wonder Columbus got lost.

Wow...was Zheng He bringing an entire army with him?

Actually, non-Chinese scientists and historians have proven this is b.s. and it wasn't nearly that big. Big, yes, and impressive, yes, but don't be fooled by typical chinese propaganda and lies. Also, it wasn't build for exploring, just showing off, while Columbus's ship was made for exploring.

What are these?! Ships for ants?

battle ship

His* ship

WHich is which?

aircraft carrier

goes to show how backward the Spanish were

Yah, but who won?

Piece of junk!

It’s thought that several Chinese ships of this size made it to North America. It’s also theorized the reason none where found Is they tore them apart and built houses.

He's ship?

Makes more sense for explorer ships to be smaller to cover more area faster. Not to mention they are wind driven. Pretty impressive size for back then.

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This is one of the reasons I preferred the third Pirates of the Caribbean film out of the original trilogy - I want more Chinese piracy!

First class vs economy

good grief his ship is enormous even by today's standards of local craft.

And here Europeans thought they were civilized.

Show off!!!

chris had a budget! no... seriously. he did.

Just think of the labor (slavery) it took to build it back then!

The Mayflower was tiny as well. I don't understand why Europe made such small ships and China cold make these massive Ocean Liners.

Well, they did have more sailors to work with. . . but if you line up the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, they might be about the same length, but maybe not width. Where did they sail to?

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Did He make it to Europe?

Just read the Wikipedia entry on the huge boat. First mention of the dimensions of the ship was 100 years after they were destroyed - no contemporary accounts. The size of this boat would exceed the size of steel reinforced wooden boats from the 19th century - raising serious engineering doubts it could ever be built.

Holly ship!!!

Overcompensating much? xD

Yeah but he didn't come over to the new world and pillage it or rape little girls did he????

Damn, that's all I got really :P.

The era of the Mall?

Holy ship!