Akar Nusa
A huge ship, taller than any the harbour has seen, anchors off Melaka. Silk, porcelain and gifts are rowed ashore.
The story
Zheng He was an admiral of the Ming dynasty. Between 1405 and 1433 he led seven large voyages for the emperors Yongle and Xuande. The first left in July 1405 with about 317 ships and nearly 28,000 people.
The fleets sailed the Straits of Melaka. Melaka was then new, and China supported it. By the time the fleets came, a sizeable Chinese community already lived there. Later, a Melaka ruler and his court travelled to China with more than 540 people.
The Malay Annals tell of a Chinese princess, Hang Li Po, sent to marry a sultan in 1459. Chinese records do not mention her, so scholars treat the story as legend. Some Peranakan families keep it as part of their tradition.
Zheng He was born into a Muslim family from Yunnan, and inscriptions suggest that he also gave great devotion to Mazu, the goddess of sailors.
Where you can still see it today
In Melaka's museums and old Chinese temples, and in Peranakan homes, look for the food and clothes of a mixed Chinese and Malay culture.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
Chinese families have lived in the Malay world for a very long time. In our family lines, China's most common father line O-M324 and the mother line F1 (The line of the great rivers) are told as part of the story of the wider region, but we do not claim a person's line came with these fleets. DNA does not decide race, religion or bumiputera status.
