Sānbǎo Tàijiān Xīyáng Jì Tōngsú Yǎnyì 三寶太監西洋記通俗演義
The Sanbao Eunuch’s Journey to the Western Oceans by 羅懋登 (撰)
About the work
The Sānbǎo Tàijiān Xīyáng Jì Tōngsú Yǎnyì 三寶太監西洋記通俗演義 (abbreviated Xīyáng Jì 西洋記, “Record of the Western Oceans”) is a 100-chapter vernacular novel by Luó Màodēng 羅懋登, first published in 1597 (Wànlì 萬曆 25th year). It fictionalizes the seven great maritime expeditions of Zhèng Hé 鄭和 (1371–1433), the famous Muslim eunuch admiral who commanded Chinese fleets to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Arabia, and East Africa between 1405 and 1433. The novel embeds the historical voyages within a framework of supernatural adventure, Buddhist miracle, and military conquest, far exceeding the historical record in its dramatic and fantastic content. Zhèng Hé is commonly known by the popular sobriquet Sānbǎo Tàijiān 三寶太監 (“Grand Director of the Three Treasures/Triratna”), which Wilkinson notes is “often mistranslated into English as the Three-Jeweled Eunuch” (§54.4.2).
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
Luó Màodēng 羅懋登 (fl. late 16th/early 17th century) is known almost exclusively through this novel; no independent biography survives. The CBDB entry (id 691011) records his name but lacks birth or death years. The novel was first published in Wànlì 25th year (1597), as documented in the novel’s own preface and confirmed by bibliographic records; the date is one of the most precisely fixed in Ming popular fiction, making this an unusually dateable text.
The historical Zhèng Hé (born Mǎ Hé 馬和, 1371–1433) was a Muslim eunuch from Yúnnán who served the Yǒnglè 永樂 emperor (r. 1402–1424). He led seven massive naval expeditions between 1405 and 1433, the largest premodern maritime operations in Chinese history. Wilkinson (§54.4.2) provides a full account of Zhèng Hé and notes that the sobriquet Sānbǎo probably derives from a Mandarin transliteration of a Persian word for the day of his (unknown) birth, not from Buddhist Triratna. The novel bears only a loose relationship to the historical voyages; it invents elaborate supernatural adversaries, magical weapons, and Buddhist saint-protectors (notably the monk Bìfēng 碧峰), and greatly extends the geographic scope to include fantastical kingdoms far beyond the actual itinerary.
The Kanripo source file follows the division “三寶太監 / 西洋記 / 第一部,” consistent with the 100-chapter structure of the standard edition.
Translations and research
- Wilkinson, Endymion. Chinese History: A New Manual, §54.4.2. Provides historical context for Zhèng Hé and mentions the novel.
- No full English translation exists.
- Dreyer, Edward L. Zheng He: China and the Oceans in the Early Ming Dynasty, 1405–1433. Pearson Longman, 2007. (Historical background; discusses the fictional tradition tangentially.)
- Church, Sally K. “The Giraffe of Bengal: A Medieval Encounter in Ming China.” Medieval History Journal 7.1 (2004): 1–37. (On the historiography of the voyages, with reference to their fictional reception.)