A comparison of the two is actually very interesting:
First, Zheng He went to the West
Zheng He's voyage to the West was a sea voyage during the Yongle and Xuande years of the Ming Dynasty, the first voyage began in the third year of Yongle (1405) and the last voyage ended in the eighth year of Xuande (1433), a total of seven times.
First of all, the historical era of Zheng He's voyage to the West was during the Yongle period, when Zhu Di seized the throne by force and gained the right to rule the country. Through the 31 years of hard work of Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang, the country's agricultural economy and handicraft industry have developed greatly.
In addition, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, a large-scale official construction shipbuilding industry was established. China's silk fabrics and porcelain are welcomed by Western countries and have won a high reputation. And China has a great demand for spices.
The development of the shipbuilding industry, the use of compasses, the accumulation of navigation experience, the training of a large number of seafaring sailors, and the increase of navigation knowledge provided the necessary conditions for Zheng He to go to the West.
After completing these seven large-scale ocean voyages, the next voyage of Zheng He's fleet was to bypass the Cape of Good Hope, the southernmost tip of Africa, and sail north along the west coast of Africa, continuing to discover new land countries and trade and exchanges.
However, the eighth ocean voyage of Zheng He's fleet did not come to fruition, and the curtain was drawn from then on.
In the historical dynasties of our country, the imperial power is supreme, and the only one who can send such a large fleet is the emperor. In the early stage, based on Zhu Di's desire to restore the East Asian tribute system centered on the Ming Dynasty, in the later period, based on the emperor's vanity principle of "thick to thin", the state financial expenditure was too large, and the income could not be made, making it difficult to continue the voyage.
In fact, from the longer term history of dynastic changes, it can be found that in the core areas of our historical dynastic succession, that is, north China and southeast China, there are no mountains in the center and radial rivers flowing, making it easy for us to form and maintain a unified political system, so our country's history is a main line of continuous replacement and development. In addition, a unified political system sometimes brings favorable conditions, such as internal management and foreign wars, and sometimes it becomes a disadvantage, such as innovative development and flexible mechanisms.
Columbus discovered the New World
The European continent is divided into scattered areas by the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Italian Apennine Mountains, and the radially flowing main rivers from the Alps, and Europe also has many large peninsulas, such as Italy, Greece, Spain and Scandinavia, as well as two large islands, Britain and Ireland, forming different peoples, different languages, different countries, such as the Italians in the Po River Basin, the French in the Rhône Valley, the Germans in the Rhine Valley, Hungarians and Slavs in the Danube Valley, Antha in England.
The peninsulas, mountains, islands and rivers of Europe, the geographical conditions of which divided Europe into fragmented regions, coupled with the invasion of barbarians such as Germans and Vikings, and the integration of different races, made Europe form today's fragmentary pattern.
However, from the two sides of the matter, "Seion lost his horse, and he knew the misfortune" precisely because of the coexistence of many countries on the European continent, which gave many opportunities to those who wanted to become explorers and inventors, so that they were more likely to gain support, and hundreds of princes in dozens of countries meant that there could be hundreds or at least dozens of attempts, such as the story of Columbus, and everyone may think that he is a madman after reading!
Columbus, an Italian, wanted to get three ships to sail west, across the Atlantic to Asia. The princes of Italy said to him, "You are a madman. ”
He then asked a French duke to provide him with a ship, and the French duke said, "This is ridiculous!" ”
Not dead hearted, Columbus continued to make requests to the Portuguese king, who laughed and said nothing.
Then Columbus ran to the Duke of Spain, who said, "Stupid idea!" Columbus cheekily continued to lobby, and the count screamed: "You tmd are squandering precious gold!" ”
Columbus had no choice but to ask the king and queen of Spain to provide him with ships, but the king and queen of Spain listened to his idea and simply refused. However, Columbus did not give up, and when he lobbied the king and queen of Spain for the seventh time, they looked at the state's financial revenue and expenditure, and finally agreed in view of the mentality of "dead horses as living horses".
The result was a change of history, and the madman became a legend: with these three small ships, Columbus discovered the New World; he returned to Europe and made his experience known. Subsequently, Spain sent more fleets, such as Portugal, England, the Netherlands and Belgium, which also opened up the later colonial tide, and also brought the management system of the European and American powers to the colonies, creating the conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and the often jaw-dropping comedy scenes in India.
It can be seen from this that the fragmented geographical structure of Europe and the overall geographical structure of Chinese unification, as well as the European democratic parliamentary system and the Unified System of Chinese historical monarchies, play a decisive role in the development of historical differences between the two, and the innate conditions of a region have created a management system adapted to the local area, which is also conducive to promoting the social and economic development of the region.
Therefore, to paraphrase the truth of Marx and Engels, the pioneers of communism: the productive forces determine the relations of production, and the relations of production promote the productive forces! There is no such system that is absolutely correct and superior, or it is necessary to seek truth from facts, dynamically adjust, and establish a management model that is adapted to the region.