Between 1405 and 1433, admiral Zheng He brought his fleet, several hundred ships strong, to the nations between South East Asia, the Middle East and coastal Africa. It marked a desire to reach beyond China's borders; to seek relations and trade, influence and co-operation, between China and the world. Yet state sponsored expeditions abruptly stopped, and China ceased to look outwards until reforms in the 1970's.
If the binary cause-and-effect explanation that is globalization enabled by technology fails to account for the timing of the globalizing phenomena, then what is it about this era that has re-awaken the outward Chinese gaze for the first time in 500 years? Perhaps the emergence of Jiangnan the megalopolis is not as much a condition of globalization as it is an expression of local determination and resilience.
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