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Did the Chinese Discover America?Why couldn't a person from China have been the real discoverer of the America's? Why couldn't he have arrived much earlier than Columbus? Why did we not hear about this remarkable voyage much earlier? These are just a few of the many questions which need to be answered if we would tend to accept the fact that they arrived as discoveres or explorers at all. One of the first scholarly Western mentions of the discovery comes from a French scholar, Deguignes, who wrote about such a Chinese discovery in 1761. It obviously sparked controversy. Later, Professor Neumann, published Hoei-Shin's narrative in 1841 along with a commentary. In 1875, an American, Charles Leland published a translation and expanded on the previous work. Today, with Chinese archives being more available, more people are delving into the research and raising some interesting questions as they bring more information to light. It has even been a part of the History Channel's offerings in an "In Search Of" program and video. Here is some of the information presented in these and other sources. Examine them and then make your own decision about its accuracy. According to Buddhist literature, the monk and missionary Hu-Shen (whose name is also spelled Heoi-Shin or Hoei-Shin by some), journeyed in one of the Chinese trading junks the 20,000 Chinese miles (about 7,000 miles of US measured miles) to the coast of America following the strong clockwise Japanese current. That route would bring him right to the American shores. Where he landed is a mystery, although some speculate that it might have been at a place where the current breaks off and goes both North and South along the coast. The date of the journey was 499 AD. 
The Laingshu literature further records that he, and the band of other monks who accompanied him, traveled across forests and high mountains. They made their way to a huge canyon that had various bands of color along its sides and had a river winding through boulders below it. (Some speculate that it might have been the Grand Canyon.) Continuing on their exploration, the record indicates that they made their way through deserts where they got water from a plant they called Fusang. They also describe natives making rope, thatch, paper, and cloth from the plant as well ask eating its roots and making a wine from its sap. Some feel that they were describing the great cactus or perhaps aloe or maybe the Agave Americana which served many functions for the pre-Columbian natives. Fusang appears in old Chinese legends and poems as a mystical and strong tree. Is this the same one? He wrote that they later crossed rivers where some speculate they reached Mexico and the Mayan civilization just at the time it was about to flourish. What other evidence was cited that they actually arrived and stayed for a while in the America's? There were several possibilities given in the History Channel's presentation. The first deals with tangible items. One of the tangible items would have been the finding of a Chinese ship anchor. What they used were large stones through which they bored holes. Some similar anchors of that type are still used today. It would have been easy for them to lose the anchor in the rough waters of the American coasts or if their ship had been involved in one of the many shipwrecks in the treacherous coastal waters. Some stones with holes have been found, but few have gone out on a limb to say that most are man made. Those that have taken that risk and have been described a very few as being man made and dated to be at least 1500 years old. That would put them at about the time of the discovery by the Chinese, Similar cultural artifacts were shown. It was also pointed out that the Maya had a distinctive bowl stand that is very similar to the unique Chinese bowl stand of the period. Another unique element shared by both cultures was the use of jade for carving as well as the rich overlay of jade on a sarcophagus of a warrior in each culture. More evidence, according to the program writers, can be found when one goes to Mexico and examines the Maya ruins. There are some striking similarities in sculpture types between the early Chinese and Maya. Dragon types and others were presented. There are also a minority of sculptures that show gods and men with distinctively Oriental features and facial shapes. That is is distinct contrast to known Maya facial reconstructions. Further, there was one sculpture presented that showed a man with obvious Oriental features and a beard. Since it is widely accepted that Native Americans were without facial hair, this is an oddity to be pondered. According to Boland, in his book They All Discovered America, Heoi-Shin called some of the people in what we believe to be present day Mexico, Ichi. This is the tribe that had the most influence in regards to art and architecture on the Mayas and was more recently called the Itza. In addition, he recounts that they had no weapons and did not wage war. Many archaeologists believe the ancient Itza to be a peaceful people. In Boland's article in the Smithsonian, "Who the Heck Did Discover the New World?" he points out that there were similar complex rainmaking ceremonies in the two cultures. Is this just a coincidence? Another point of possible evidence is much more speculative. Through the examination of facial characteristics, some had noted that a few tribes of Indians along the North West Coast have much more slant eyes and lighter skin tones than the rest. No more scientific evidence was given so that statement remains a weak link in the evidence chain as it could be co-incidence or from another Asian migration. How did he return home to record the information in the Buddhist literature? Some historians suggest that to return home after 40 years in the Americas, the monks could have traveled on the North Equatorial Current, which flows westward from Central America to Asia at a point just above the equator. The question is obviously, how does one historically account for these possibilites? Let us examine ony the strongest evidence. We do believe that the Chinese invented the Junk about 200 A.D. for sailing rivers and lakes. What size they were at that time is open to speculation. That size could have been an important factor in making it across the Pacific Ocean. Much of the journey on this route could have been within visual distance of the shore following the suggested route which follows ancient Chinese sailing practice. Was navigation to America possible? Recreated attempts have not been successful. One attempt got more than half way to the coast before they had to abandon ship due to a typhoon. The Spanish records do record Chinese ships in a harbor in California at a much later date. Today, Japanese glass fishing buoys are sometimes found at various points along the Northwest coast using those same currents. The Chinese did have the capability for navigation. "By the first century A.D., historians say, the Chinese had some knowledge of the winds and currents of the Pacific. When weather prevented the Chinese from navigating by the sky they mariners used magnetized needles to guide them. Because the sailors had no level surface on their rocking ship, they floated the needle in a shallow bowl of water, and the compass that guides explorers to this day was born." Source China: from the Mariner's Museum One thing that most readily accept is the fact that Christopher Columbus was not the first to discover the New World. There are many others for which there is information and speculation. Why not consider that a monk from China with his four companions, spreading the message of Buddhism, might also have been one of them? Perhaps, he was the first. If one accepts that fact, consider that if that Buddist monk's discovery had gotten the same publicity and acceptance as did that of Columbus, America may well have been called "Fusang," the name Hoei-Shin gave to the lands through which he travelled. That was the name he also gave to the succulent plant that he described in his writings and is also found in old Chinese stories and poems. Other links off of this site on this explorer, whose name is spelled in various ways, and the theory of possible Chinese discovery of America that might be of interest are: |