Chen Cheng (Ming Dynasty)

Chen Cheng's voyages in the context of the Yongle era military and diplomatic activity. Chen Cheng's approximate overland route (as based on the list of destinations in Goodrich & Tay 1976) is in green, along with the maritime route of Zheng He (in black) and the riverine route of Yishiha (in blue)

Chen Cheng (Traditional Chinese: 陳誠; Simplified Chinese: 陈诚; Hanyu Pinyin: Chén Chéng) (1365–1457), Ming dynasty diplomat, style name Zi Lu (子鲁) pseudonym Zhu Shan (竹山).

Biography

Born 1365 in Linchuan county of Jiangxi province. In 1393, he obtained the title of Ju ren (举人), 1394 Gong shi (贡士), later at the Imperial court examination, he obtained grade 3A, and granted the title of “同进士出身”.

In 1396 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the western region of Chai Da Mu to establish border defence. In 1397 he was sent by the Emperor as an envoy to Vietnam. From 1406 to 1411 he served in the Wenyuange (文渊阁, The Imperial library in the Forbidden City) as editor of the Yongle Encyclopedia.

In 1414, 1416, and 1420 Chen Cheng led Ming mission to the court of the Timurids at Samarkand.

Works by Chen Cheng

• Travel in the Western Region
• Xi yu fan guo zhi, "A Record of the Barbarian Countries in the Western Region."

See also

• Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh, the diarist of Shahrukh's embassy to the Yongle Emperor's court (1420–1422).
• Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, another diplomat - from Spain - who visited Samarkand a few years before Chen Cheng.

References

• F. J. Hecker, A fifteenth-century Chinese diplomat in Herat, Joumal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 3rd series p85-91, 1993.
• Tsai, Shih-Shan Henry (2002), Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle, University of Washington Press, ISBN 0295981245, http://books.google.com.au/books?id=aU5hBMxNgWQC 
• Goodrich, L. Carrington; Tay, C.N. (1976), "Ch'en Ch'eng", in Goodrich, L. Carrington; Fang, Chaoying, Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644. Volume I (A-L), Columbia University Press, pp. 144–145, ISBN 0-231-03801-1, http://books.google.com/books?id=067On0JgItAC&pg=PA144