China's five-thousand-year history of civilization is brilliant and brilliant, leaving valuable wealth not only to the Chinese nation. It has also had an important impact on the world. Japan, Korea, and other countries were all radiated by Chinese civilization in ancient times. Many of their cultures still have the shadow of Tang and Ming.
It is not surprising that they are co-located with China in East Asia and have close ties. Surprisingly, on the other side of the globe, in Africa, there is a tribe of people who insist that they are Chinese! So, how did this relationship across mountains and seas come about?
Miles of relatives make waves
This tribe entered everyone's field of vision because of a special search for relatives. In 2005, an African girl named Sharif crossed thousands of mountains and rivers to China. He also said that his tribe was actually the descendants of Chinese and hoped to return to China.
Sharif's words, like a pebble thrown into silent water, immediately aroused people's attention. In order to judge the authenticity of this matter, a group of experts became an expedition and went to Africa to investigate.
When they arrived, they found that the girl's tribe had been living in a place called Pateay Island, with about 400 permanent residents. After expert investigation and analysis, it has been confirmed that these islanders are indeed Chinese. There are two main bases.
First, there are many antique Chinese porcelains in the area, and they are blue and white porcelain fired in official kilns during the Ming Dynasty; second, Pahtay Island has the custom of building tombs, which is almost none of the other tribes in Africa. More critically, the tombs are oriented towards China.
Zheng He went to sea to leave the remnants
Based on the above two points, experts have analyzed that the inhabitants of this island may be related to the "Zheng He's voyage to the West" during the Ming Dynasty. During the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, Zheng He went to sea seven times. It has played a tremendous role in China's cultural exchanges with the world.
According to historical records, Zheng He's fleet once reached northeast Africa and the Red Sea. While passing through this area, there have been cases where ships have run aground. From the words in the history books and the situation in Pateay, we can roughly piece together the situation at that time.
Zheng He was full of spirits and set out from Guangdong with a fleet of ships. Along the way, it communicated with the countries along the way, showing the power of the Heavenly Dynasty. They also carried a large number of exquisite Ming Dynasty porcelain on board.
However, there is always too much uncertainty in the sea. There was a boat that ran aground and fell behind while passing through Pateay. They could only move supplies to the island, as they could not build such a large ship. The crew eventually stayed on the island and have been having children and multiplying ever since.
This also explains why there are many exquisite porcelain from the Ming Dynasty on the island. Moreover, the people on the island have always been thinking about their homeland, hoping that one day they will fall to their roots. That's why when they built the tomb, they had to face north to the east. Over time, it became a special custom of the island and has been preserved.
Even if this body can never return to the land of the homeland, the soul does not want to forget the way back to the hometown, this persistence is touching. Today, their wish has finally come true more than seven hundred years later. Their descendants are confirmed to have Chinese ancestry. Although we are thousands of miles apart, we will always be the descendants of Yanhuang and the sons and daughters of China!