medcom.id, Cirebon: Cirebon during Admiral Zheng He's era was an important port city, similar to Aceh, Palembang, Batam, Bangka Belitung, Semarang and Surabaya.
Zheng He landed in Muara Jati, Cirebon, in 1415. In his initial visit, the envoy of Ming Emperor built a lighthouse and offered a souvenir to the Sultan of Cirebon as proof of good will.
"The arrival of Zheng could be traced with various beautiful porcelain plates from the Ming Dynasty attached in various cultural heritages in Cirebon, one of them at the area of Sunan Gunung Jati's tomb," mentioned a humanist and Chinese architecture art observer, Jeremy Huang, to Metrotvnews.com.
"Next is Chinese temple. One of them is Talang temple, which had also comprised of several rooms for Chinese sailors at the time," he continued.
The establishment of the trade relation, according to historian Nurdin M. Noer, was also the beginning of the existence of Chinese communities in Cirebon. The lighthouse and shrine in Muara Jati had developed into a Chinatown, centered in Mt. Sembung.
Then it is not surprising that the Chinese community influence Cirebonese culture. Aside from the porcelain plates at the sultanate wall and the tomb of Sunan Gunung Jati which we still could see, the other cultural trace we can observe are the batik motive of Mega Mendung and 'jamblang' rice specialty of Cirebon.
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"The root of Chinese communities in Indonesia, I think is mostly centered on the voyage of Zheng He," explained Nurdin.
Admiral Zheng He is a trusted sailor of the Yongle Emperor. His first voyage in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean in 1405 continued periodically up to 1433, as written by the Tan Ta Sen in 'Zheng He: Spreading Islam from China to Archipelago'.
In the book titled '1421-The Year China Discovered the World', Gavin Menzies pictured that in one voyage, Zheng He deployed up to 200 or 300 ships. The total number of the expedition crews may reach up to twenty thousand people. "In other word, China under Emperor Yongle from the Ming Dynasty has become an undefeated global maritime force across the globe," written Gavin.
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