Zheng He — Sinbad’s Prototype? (A Critique of a Popular Viewpoint)

In modern popular literature, blogs on the Internet and other media aimed at the mass reader one is more and more likely to find an assumption that the famous Chinese admiral of the Ming dynasty, Zheng He (1371—?), could be the prototype of the legendary Arab merchant and traveler Sinbad, whose seven fantastic voyages were subsequently included in the collection of folktales “One Thousand and One Nights”. This article analyzes the historical, textual and linguistic arguments for and against such a presumption from both the Chinese and Arab-Persian sides. The first part presents a general criticism of this hypothesis, after which the three main arguments of its supporters are examined separately. The author comes to the following conclusions: it is most likely that the cycle about Sinbad was formed much earlier than the expeditions of Zheng He on the basis of various myths and a self-sufficient Arab-Persian geographical and nautical tradition; the generally accepted statement that both personalities made seven voyages is in fact very controversial; Sanbao was the name given not only to Zheng He, but also to other officials at the Ming court, including those who were in no way connected with the expeditions to the Western Ocean, and the history of the appearance and use of this expression is very vague. Thus, the desire to see Zheng He as a source of inspiration for the creation of the character of Sinbad the Sailor seems groundless, and the arguments in its favor do not stand up to scientific criticism.