在中国的北海，工人延续着一个历史悠久但渐趋没落的传统，为富饶的南海渔业打造中国帆船的木制骨架。自从郑和于600年前率领庞大船队展开七趟西洋之行以来，这种中国船的设计八成没什么改变。郑和效忠明成祖朱棣，率领“宝船”船队在整个印度洋地区进行贸易与外交。他的任务就是向印度洋沿岸的其它国家索求贡品、充实国库，并巩固他们对中国的忠诚。

　　the fins of a hammerhead shark hauled out of the red sea at al hudaydah, yemen, may end up on dinner tables in china, where shark-fin soup is highly prized. seafaring traders from yemen and other arabian peninsula countries did brisk business throughout the indian ocean during the ming period, which lasted from the 14th to the mid-17th centuries. when zheng set sail in 1408, his fleet was the mightiest of its age. with vessels numbering in the hundreds and crewmen in the tens of thousands, zheng took to the seas nearly a century before the european age of exploration began in earnest.

　　这只锤头鲨是在也门荷台达附近的红海捕获，它身上的鳍可能会跑到中国人的餐桌上──鱼翅羹在中国被视为珍馐佳肴。在明代(公元14世纪至17世纪中期)，也门与阿拉伯半岛上其它国家的航海商人确实在整个印度洋地区带动了蓬勃的商业。当郑和于1408年出航时，他的船队是当代最强大、最威震八方的。在欧洲人开始认真展开海洋探险之前将近一个世纪，郑和就已经率领着数以百计的船只与数以万计的船员航向大海。

　　at the bottom end of a soaring market, an ethnic chinese worker squats in a sluice to gather tin ore at a mine on bangka island off the sumatran coast. zheng's crewmen found a chinese community already settled on this indonesian island when their ships called at bangka to trade for tin and other goods. prices for the metal rose substantially in 2004, and abandoned mines are being reworked as demand grows, particularly within china's vigorous economy.

　　在苏门答腊外海邦加岛的一处矿场，一名华裔工人蹲在一个洗矿槽内采集着锡矿砂。当郑和的船员来到邦加岛进行锡矿与其它商品的贸易时，已经有一个中国人社群定居在这个印尼的岛屿上。锡的价格在2004年上涨了不少，而随着需求增加──特别是在中国蓬勃的经济发展之下──废弃的矿场也重新启用。

　　on pate island along the swahili coast of kenya, the mohame family pounds corn to make cornbread, a staple of their diet. the mohameds are one of three families of the famao clan who claim chinese lineage. according to local legend, shipwrecked sailors from zheng's fleet made it to shore and married local women, a belief that has become a central part of the famao's personal mythology. hints of past chinese presence still exist on the island: local tombs and lion statues have designs that some believe closely resemble those of the ming era, and bits of chinese ceramics that have washed ashore decorate the facades of some houses.

　　在肯尼亚斯瓦希里(swahili)海岸上的培迪岛，默哈姆一家人打磨玉米制作他们的日常食物──玉米面包。默哈姆家族是宣称拥有中国血统的“法茂”氏族中的三个家族之一。根据当地传说，遇上船难的郑和船队水手游上了岸、跟当地妇女通婚，这样的想法已然成为法茂氏族个人神话中很重要的一部分。至今岛上依然可以瞥见中国人曾经到此一游的痕迹：有些人认为，当地坟墓与石狮子的样式跟明代中国的设计非常相似，而某些房屋的门面上则装饰着被海浪冲上岸的中国陶器碎片。