| Research shows that Chinese sailors may have reached North America a thousand years before Columbus | |
The more we search for the first recorded visits to our Northwest Coast, the more facinating the mystery becomes. Some years ago a portion of an early chart from the North Pacific was reproduced as the end papers of a book on local history. Outlines of the coast and entries about Spanish and Russian discoveries date it prior to the voyages of Captains Cook and Vancouver. One entry reads "Land which is supposed to be FOU SENG of the Chinese Geographers", this begins about 50° north. Also it is remarked that this is the "Coast seen by the Spanish in 1771 with inhabitants which go naked".
There are other charts with similar details. A Hondius map from 1630 (Dutch) shows a Chinese junk in the area. "Fousang" shows up on other charts and maps, one from 1768 places it near the River of the West and what might be Puget Sound.
Other reports of oriental visits and artifacts continue down the coast to Central America and beyond. Needless to say the coastlines and place names of the cartographers of the time are pure fancy, interesting in an historical sense as they show the growing interest in "Terra Incognito" or the last unknown seas and landset to be explored.[VIEW MAP of PACIFIC CURRENTS]
Interest in this reported early Chinese contact led to a study of the sea routes and commerce of the orient before 1500. The port and trading center of Funan dated from the 6th century and was located well up the Mekong Delta, not far from the present Phom Penh in Cambodia. It was there that the ships from the Red Sea and other Arabic countries converged with those from China for trade. The vessels would ride the monsoon hence, trade, and lay over until the next monsoon for the homeward voyage.
The location of Funan inland, far from the open sea, was practical because the annual increase of population due to the trading period was greatly prolonged. The men had to be housed and fed, and the entry port was host to them for the four to five months between the monsoon seasons. The rich agricultural land and the farming community were dedicated to the support of the city and the trade. Over time Funan moved about, but always with a rich agricultural hinterland.
It was in this period that Buddhist monks began to move east as missionaries to China and other new lands. While the ships returned home they continued. There are records of their arrival in Canton (Guangzhou) and the establishment of a community that was the base for missionaries working throughout the land and far beyond. Centuries before this the Chinese mariner Hsu Fu was sent out by the first Emperor of China to explore westward. Two voyages were made, and as they did not return from the second, it was presumed that a rich and habitable land had been found. Three thousand are said to have sailed on the second venture.
A supposition might be made that they got no further then Japan as there is a shrine at the supposed grave of Hsu Fu at Shingu, Japan. The Japanese (as in Hong Kong) also have a society devoted to the memory and understanding of Hsu Fu. Shrine and grave or not, the story persists that they sailed on. Once at sea they would soon have been in the grip of the Kuro Shiwo, the so called Japan Current. This sets to the northeastward at such a rate that there was no returning. To the Japanese it was known as the Black Current or the Current of Death. (48° North November '91)
When the number of those involved in the Hsu Fu sailing and the probability of a well found fleet being able to make the passage is considered, some reasonable speculation is in order. There are known wrecks of Chinese and Japanese vessels along the West Coast and there is no reason to doubt that there may have been planned voyages as well. The westerlies and the Kuro Shiwo could have brought them here, and what is more, they could have returned from further south with the favoring tradewinds via the same route used later by the famed Manilla Galeons.
Probably the best documented account that has been studied is that of Hwui Shan (Hoei Shin). He was a "cha-men" or mendicant priest who had made his way from Afganistan among the first of the Buddhist missionaries to reach China. This was a period of great expansion for Buddhism and extraodinary journeys by land and sea were common for the "cha-men".
Hwui Chan sailed to the Americas some five hundred years before Leif Erickson and a thousand before Columbus. His description of the land he visited seems to indicate that he passed by California and settled in Mexico. After a stay of forty years he returned to China in 499 A.D. and related the story of his labors and travels to Wu Ti, the Emperor. The story Fusang was at that time well known in China. This eventually has been recognized and accepted by western scholars, but for some reason it has fallen out of fashion in our history and literature within the past century.
China had once been a maritime power with a substantial navy and extensive overseas trade. Then she turned inward, officially cut off maritime contact and began centuries of self imposed isolation. This was only beginning to relax when the great European explorers ranged the Pacific basin. Portugal alone maintained a tenuous contact through her treaty port or possession at Macao. Canton was the only port of entry, and that on a very restricted basis. Consequently little was known of China's maritime greatness and it seemingly dropped from the history of more recent times.
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