Big Day Out: Cheng Ho Cultural Museum

The Cheng Ho Cultural Museum, located in the old part of Malacca town, is believed to be the original site of the warehouse complex built by Cheng Ho. Cheng Ho is the Ming Dynasty Admiral who has visited Malacca many times while en route to the Western Ocean from 1405-1433.

The museum showcases many pieces of evidence regarding cultural exchange between the local ethnic and the Chinese, among others, treasure ships, tea houses and other navigation instruments.

We were brought around the museum by a friendly guide, from whom we learnt a lot about Cheng Ho and his voyages. We also saw many artefacts and recreations from Cheng Ho's voyages. Apparently, on all of his seven trips, he would make it a point to generously shower his hosts with lavish presents, mostly ceramics and silks, and in return, would be presented with exotic items that he would bring back to China. Across the four floors of the museum, we saw many intriguing things, such as a life size recreation of a giraffe Cheng Ho gave to Emperor Yongle as one of the countless gifts he received on his voyages around the world. The giraffe was from Malindi and was considered to be a "qilin", a mythical Chinese creature. This greatly pleased the Emperor and the giraffe was considered by many to be the greatest gift of them all. 

There was also a section of the museum dedicated to artefacts (mostly ceramics) from the Ming Dynasty, including this floor buried in a pile of delicately painted porcelain shards. 

One of the most impressive exhibits was modeled on Cheng Ho's ships. Cheng Ho's 1405 expedition consisted of 27,800 men and a fleet of 62 treasure ships supported by approximately 190 smaller ships. The ships were huge in size. The biggest ships, the Chinese treasure ships, are estimated to be about 127m in length and 52m in width. 



At the end of the museum visit we were brought into an AV room, where we watched a short clip on Cheng Ho and his voyages, up till his death. We all enjoyed the trip to the museum greatly. 

Links:
http://malacca.attractionsinmalaysia.com/Cheng-Ho-Cultural-Museum.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He