Nanjing: the “Southern Capital”. This was my fourth visit to this former imperial capital city (also capital for a while during the Republic).

During this visit my focus was seeing my friend Violet, and a pair of historical sites related to Zheng He, the renowned admiral during the early Ming Dynasty whose immense “treasure fleet” explored southeast Asia, India, and even areas of Africa’s eastern shores! Unlike typical “western” expeditions, the goals were trade, goodwill, and world investigation.

Unlike the later Christopher Columbus, Zheng He actually *did* arrive in India, and was not so stupid as to confuse new, unknown regions with India.

Nor did Zheng He spread disease and enslave the people he met.