I was born in 1371 of the Hui ethnic group and the Muslim faith in modern-day Yunnan Province, one of the last possessions of the Mongols of the Yuan Dynasty before being conquered by the Ming Dynasty. I served as a close confidant of the Yongle Emperor of China, the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty. One of my ancestors includes a general for Genghis Khan.
I was originally named Ma Sanbao, and came from Kunyang, present day Jinning, Yunnan Province. I belonged to the Semu or Semur caste which practiced Islam. I was a sixth generation descendant of Sayyid Ajjal Shams al-Din Omar, a famous Khwarezmian Yuan governor of Yunnan Province from Bukhara in modern day Uzbekistan. My family name "Ma" came from Shams al-Din's fifth son Masuh (Mansour). Both my father Mir Tekin and grandfather Charameddin had traveled on the hajj to Mecca. Their travels contributed much to my education. In 1381, following the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, a Ming army was dispatched to Yunnan to put down the Mongol rebel Basalawarmi. I, then only a young boy of eleven years, was taken captive by that army and castrated, thus becoming a eunuch. I soon became a servant at the Imperial court. The name Zheng He was given by the Yongle emperor for meritorious service in the Yongle rebellion against the Jianwen Emperor. I studied at Nanjing Taixue (The Imperial Central College).
I travelled to Mecca, though I did not perform the pilgrimage itself. At the beginning of the 1980s, my tomb was renovated in a more Islamic style, although I was buried at sea. The government of the People's Republic of China uses me as a model to integrate the Muslim minority into the Chinese nation. I was a living example of religious tolerance, perhaps even syncretism. The Galle Trilingual Inscription set up by me around 1410 in Sri Lanka records the offerings he made at a Buddhist mountain temple.
In around 1431, I set up a commemorative pillar at the temple of the Taoist goddess Tian Fei, the Celestial Spouse, in Fujian province, to whom I and my sailors prayed for safety at sea. This pillar records my veneration for the goddess and my belief in her divine protection, as well as a few details about my voyages. Visitors to the Jinghaisi in Nanjing are reminded of the donations I made to this non-Muslim area.

Speak of the world's first navigators and the names Christopher Columbus or Vasco da Gama flash through a Western mind. Little known are the remarkable feats that a Chinese Muslim Zheng He (1371-1433) had accomplished decades before the two European adventurers.

In 1405, I was chosen to lead the biggest naval expedition in history up to that time. Over the next 28 years (1405-1433), I commanded seven fleets that visited 37 countries, through Southeast Asia to faraway Africa and Arabia. In those years, China had by far the biggest ships of the time. In 1420 the Ming navy dwarfed the combined navies of Europe.

Emperor Yong Le tried to boost his damaged prestige as a usurper by a display of China's might abroad, sending spectacular fleets on great voyages and by bringing foreign ambassadors to his court. He also put foreign trade under a strict Imperial monopoly by taking control from overseas Chinese merchants. Command of the fleet was given to his favorite Zheng He, an impressive figure said to be over eight feet tall.

A great fleet of big ships, with nine masts and manned by 500 men, each set sail in July 1405, half a century before Columbus's voyage to America. There were great treasure ships over 300-feet long and 150-feet wide, the biggest being 440-feet long and 186-across, capable of carrying 1,000 passengers. Most of the ships were built at the Dragon Bay shipyard near Nanjing, the remains of which can still be seen today.

Zheng He's first fleet included 27,870 men on 317 ships, including sailors, clerks, interpreters, soldiers, artisans, medical men and meteorologists. On board were large quantities of cargo including silk goods, porcelain, gold and silverware, copper utensils, iron implements and cotton goods. The fleet sailed along China's coast to Champa close to Vietnam and, after crossing the South China Sea, visited Java, Sumatra and reached Sri Lanka by passing through the Strait of Malacca. On the way back it sailed along the west coast of India and returned home in 1407. Envoys from Calicut in India and several countries in Asia and the Middle East also boarded the ships to pay visits to China. My second and third voyages taken shortly after, followed roughly the same route.

In the fall of 1413, I set out with 30,000 men to Arabia on his fourth and most ambitious voyage. From Hormuz I coasted around the Arabian boot to Aden at the mouth of the Red Sea. The arrival of the fleet caused a sensation in the region, and 19 countries sent ambassadors to board my ships with gifts for Emperor Yong Le.

In 1417, after two years in Nanjing and touring other cities, the foreign envoys were escorted home by me. On this trip, I sailed down the east coast of Africa, stopping at Mogadishu, Matindi, Mombassa and Zanzibar and may have reached Mozambique. The sixth voyage in 1421 also went to the African coast.

Emperor Yong Le died in 1424 shortly after my return. Yet, in 1430, I was sent on a final seventh voyage. Now 60 years old, I revisited the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and Africa and died on my way back in 1433 in India.