Zheng He made seven heroic voyages to Asia and Africa between 1405 and 1433, which predated the Westerners' Voyages of Discovery by almost a century . Despite Zheng He's remarkable maritime feats , with larger and matchless fleets until World War I , he is  ly unknown worldwide compared with his Western counterparts like Columbus and Vasco da Gama . Why ? Sadly , much of the official Chinese records of these voyages were destroyed after his death , by order of his powerful enemies at Court . They were opposed to his expeditions , both on economic and other grounds . Further , the Ming History made only little mention of his exploits . Most surprisingly , not even his date of death and burial place were recorded . Therefore , his final resting place is still a matter of  _ .So he became only a legend and folk hero in his life time . However , hardly any Chinese works on him have been translated into foreign languages . Ironically , it was due to a handful of famous Western researchers like prefix = st1 /Needham, Zlevathes and , most recently , Menzies that the world is now more familiar with his greatness . Zhen He's rightful place in Chinese history has been confirmed by none other than Deng Xiaoping in 1984 , when he addressed the nation's People's Congress in Beijing : "...The Ming dynasty , under Yongle Emperor , did wisely pursue an open-door policy resulting in Zheng He's famous maritime expeditions overseas . However , after Yongle's death, Chinadeserted this policy resulting in foreign intervention andChina's final humiliation during the 19th century . The open-door policy is therefore the way forward forChina." Following a more realistic overall appraise by scholars East and West of Zheng He's achievements , his standing as one of the greatest maritime explorers of all time has at last been firmly recognized worldwide . From the passage , we can suppose_.
Zheng He had been to Africa for seven times from 1405 to 1433 . Columbus and Vasco da Gama were  ly unknown in Chinacompared with Zheng He . the Ming government didn't know about Zheng He, so they made only little mention of Zheng He's exploits . some government officials in the Ming dynasty were strongly against Zheng He's voyages to Asia and Africa .