I feel like Zheng He himself, Yamashita says

Harry Bhaskara and Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post/Semarang

Photographers can get so absorbed with their subjects that they end up becoming one with them.

"At the end of my research, I felt like I had become Zheng He," renowned photographer Michael Yamashita said to the delight of his packed audience at the Graha Santika hotel here Thursday night.

Zheng He is the 15th century Chinese admiral who visited more than 30 countries, including today's Indonesia, in a span of 28 years time. Semarang is one of the places the admiral visited.

Yamashita, a senior photographer of the famous American magazine National Geographic, spent years doing research on the admiral while taking shots of the places Zheng He visited. The 600th anniversary of the start of his voyage in 1405 is being celebrated here for a week, including an exhibition of Yamashita's photos at the Central Java Recreation Center and Development Promotion through Aug. 7.

Earlier, the audience was treated to an hour of high quality photographs tracing Zheng He's life right from his birthplace in an unassuming village in China's Yunan province with Yamashita himself giving the live narration.

As an Asian-American he says he feels proud when he learned in the course of his research that Asians had sailed to lot of places in the world long before the Europeans.

"The Chinese and the Indians had conducted traded with many nations of the world before the Europeans did," he explained to an audience of more than 200 people comprising academics, bureaucrats, professionals and photographers.

He said his upbringing in the United States had made him a person who tends to look at the world with a Western bias.

Earlier, Minister of Tourism Jero Wacik revealed that plans were afoot to make a film about Zheng He, produced by Yamashita as a follow up of his exhaustive research. Wacik promptly gave his support for the production of the film.

"Film is an important medium to boost tourism," Wacik said citing the availability of 400 million potential tourists from China and India.

The government has recently allowed Chinese tourists to get a visa-on-arrival, thus eliminating most of the arduous bureaucratic procedures that Chinese nationals have to go through before visiting Indonesia. "Central Java is one of the places in Indonesia that the Chinese like to visit," he stated, in addition to East Java, North Sumatra and Bali.

Neighboring countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand have been the beneficiaries of the boom of Chinese tourists partly because of the fact they were put off by the difficulties of getting visas to Indonesia.

Separately, a hotel and tourism expert, Purwantono says that the new government policy will have a positive impact at the national level, but there were still a lot of things needed to be done on the ground. "After the Chinese tourists visit the famous Sam Poo Kong temple where will they go afterwards?" he asked. "At least there should be an international standard shopping center, for a start."

Purwantono says Central Java has a lot of untapped potential, including handicrafts and garments produced in many of its small towns. The Cheng Ho festival is one good way to promote tourism in Central Java.

Agus Djajaputra, a long time Semarang resident, says that Zheng He's celebration is the kind of celebration needed in a big city.

"The celebration involves all the people and as such it serves as a stress breaker for the community," he asserted.

The Central Java government, he says, can also benefit from the celebration by imposing more taxes on things like souvenirs sold during Zheng He's celebration.

A national level competition of lion dancing was opened by Semarang Mayor Sutawi Sutarip at the Jatidiri Sports Hall.

A total of 24 teams from Java and Sumatra - including the 9th rated international-level team from Padang -- and Borneo took part in the competition, with the winner earning a slot in an international competition. But, only a few spectators were present at the Sports Hall on Thursday to see them.

"Next year the Zheng He celebration will be prepared better," Sutawi said when asked about the generally subdued mood in the city.

In line with Zheng He's celebration, the Chinese-Indonesian Association (PITI), is to hold a book-launching on the adventure of Zheng He on Saturday here at the Santika Hotel.