While a new Zheng He Temple was unveiled Thursday in Semarang, capital of Indonesia's Central Java Province, local historians hailed the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) navigator, who traveled to Southeastern Asia and Africa 600 years ago and left many cultural, religious and economic heritage.

The Jakarta Post Thursday quoted Semarang historian Gan Kok Hwie as saying that in his 28-year journey, Zheng traveled to some 30 countries worldwide, making him one of greatest explorers of all time.

As Hwie counted, Zheng, as "the political and trading ambassador of the Ming Dynasty," had 62 big ships and 252 other smaller ships that carried 27,800 troops. The fleet departed in 1405 from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province in China, to Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Mogadishu in Africa.

During his journey, Zheng brought along with him silk and many other goods for trading. He was slated to have gone back and forth seven times from China to other countries as far as Africa.

Another Indonesian historian Slamet Muljana, in his book entitled Java Hindu Kingdom and the Emergence of Islamic Kingdoms across the Archipelago, said that diplomacy between China and other countries was largely absent during the Yuan Dynasty because of internal conflict. However, the diplomacy was revived in the Ming Dynasty mainly due to Zheng's efforts.

In what is now Indonesia, Zheng visited Aceh, Palembang, Cirebon, Semarang and Gresik.

Hwie confirmed that Zheng reached the Majapahit Kingdom in Central Java and built diplomatic relations with it, whose span of influence has reached most of Indonesian territory today.

Zheng also established the influence of a Chinese system of government and politics on the Java kingdom, he said.

According to Muljana's book, when the Java Hindu kingdom suffered from setbacks, the Chinese Muslim community under Zheng's guidance contributed to the native people's efforts to establish an Islamic kingdom across the archipelago.

Muljana said that after Zheng landed in Semarang in 1413 in order to repair his ship, he prayed daily at a place, which was later called as Sam Poo Kong. Oei Thiam Hien, a caretaker at the Zheng He Temple in Semarang, was quoted by local media as saying that the Sam Poo Kong was thought to have originally been a mosque, but later it was turned into a temple named after Zheng himself.

Inside the temple is a well that is believed to have the power to bring good luck and prosperity to suppliants. For years, people from different religions have prayed at Sam Poo Kong for prosperity and health.

"The number of people praying here can reach dozens on Thursday night or Monday night," said Sajiran, a caretaker at the temple.

The 600th anniversary of Zheng's arrival in Semarang will be grandly celebrated in August, and the opening of new Zheng He Temple was just part of the celebrations.

"We also put up a relief of Zheng's journey that we received from Shanghai University 18 months ago," said Priambudi, who oversaw the temple's renovation.

The committee in charge of the celebrations has brought in 2,900 small Chinese paper lanterns and 400 bigger lanterns that will be sold to the public. It also built a smaller replica of Zheng's ship for display during the celebrations.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2005)