I went to the 1421 exhibition held at Marina Promenade yesterday and came away with a different perception of the Ming Dynasty. I used to view the Ming Dynasty as a redundant dynasty that caused China to lag behind the rest of the world in terms of science and technology advancements. I was wrong. The Ming Dynasty did indeed made used of their knowledge of the world and their state-of-the-art ship-building technology to chart the world to such details that future “explorers” were to benefit.
The exhibition wasn’t a grand one but it was an eye-and-mind-opener nonetheless. The many theories presented are surrounded by much historical information that the exhibition left little for the visitors to refute the theories even if they didn’t believe them. I got to understand the background and findings which have led Gavin Menzies to write his book. Yes, I now believe the Chinese did sail the world.
Today is the last day of the 1421 exhibition and it will be a pity if you haven’t gone to visit it. If you have missed it, you can read about it at http://www.1421exhibition.com/ and understand more about the continuing work in gathering more historical evidence to support Menzies’ theories at http://www.1421.tv/. ChannelNewsAsia will be showing a documentary about 1421 soon so try not to miss that.
2 Comments »
1. I went to the exhibition weeks back when Gavin was in town, and got my 1421 book autographed by him :D
-Stefan- — September 17, 2005 @ 4:35 am
2. Aiya… why didn’t jio me? I also have the book but have yet to finish reading it.
James — September 17, 2005 @ 10:45 pm
