Zheng He Conference

The Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives at the University of Victoria is hosting a conference on the 15th Century Chinese maritime explorer, Zhang He, on August 22-23, 2014 in Victoria. The conference will focus on both on Zheng He’s epic voyages in the early fifteenth century, and on China’s millennia of relations with the Indian Ocean world (extending from East Africa and the Middle East through South and Southeast Asia to the Far East). Conference themes will include ecological diversity and interconnections, transportation over land and sea, the migration of plants, animals and people, the exchange of goods and gifts, contacts through diplomacy and warfare, the spread of religions and technologies, as well as other forms of interactions between China and the Indian Ocean world from ancient to modern times, especially around Zheng He’s era. For more information, please visit their website.