Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s3.t2.101

v2.c13.s3.t2.101

In the first year of Yongle (1403), the Ming ruler sent the official Yin Qing to visit Kochi with an imperial edict, and presented the king with silk fabrics, coloured silks and a canopy, among other things. In the sixth year of Yongle, famous admiral Zheng He was sent to the country. Three years later, the king of Kochi, referred to as Keyili in the Chinese records, sent an envoy to China. The following year, he visited the country again and then Kochi sent envoys to China for two successive years. Later, when Zheng He made another visit, the Ming Emperor wrote some inscriptions and ordered him to inscribe them on rock there to publicise the emperor's benevolence. In 1430, 1,433 and 1,436 envoys were again exchanged between Kochi and China. During He's seven voyages, Kochi was one of the places where he would regularly halt for supplies of food and water and to trade. Sometimes, he waited there for the monsoon winds to arrive. There appear to have been other Chinese also present in Kochi at the time who welcomed the arrival of He's fleet. There is some evidence that Kochi once had a Chinese temple. It is said that the gold and iron statue of an official of the Ming Dynasty found in southern India in recent years was a statue of Zheng He erected by these Chinese in Kochi.