Zheng He, the eunuch admiral and ruler of the seas

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang

Chinese immigrants, or hoakiau, as well as native people have hoped to gain knowledge and wisdom from the great explorer Zheng He (also called Cheng Ho) when he visited Semarang city some 600 years ago. As a well-learned person who had mastered untold knowledge, most people felt they needed him, and had urged him to stay. Jawahir, a native Semarang resident, even offered Zheng He the entire Simongan hill (Sam Poo Kong area) so that he would feel at home. "I'm not just giving you the whole Simongan hill area, Sir, but my daughters as well to become your wives or concubines," said Jawahir.

Zheng He simply laughed at the idea. Jawahir apparently did not know that Zheng He, whose his visit to Semarang city some 600 years ago will be commemorated between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7, had been castrated.

This was an excerpt from the novel Sam Poo Kong, written by Remy Silado in 2004 about Zheng He's story when he first landed in Semarang. Remy straightforwardly states that Zheng He was a castrate.

Many sources have explicitly and repeatedly mentioned that Zheng He was rendered impotent because he was the commander of the Ming dynasty emperor's palace guards who had all been castrated.

Castration in the Ming dynasty involved the removal of the testicles and penis of a man so that he could no longer -- presumably --engage in sexual intercourse with a woman. It meant that castrated men during the Ming dynasty without doubt could not have children or wives in the normal way.

Why did Admiral Zheng He, a strong and brave explorer during the Ming dynasty, become castrated? What wrong had he done so as to be castrated and made into an 'incomplete' male?

In two of his books, The Fall of the Hindu-Java Kingdom and the Rise of Islamic States in the Archipelago, and Kuntala, Sriwijaya and Suwarnabhumi, historian Slamet Muljana mentioned Zheng He a castrate.

Other historical sources said that male castration was done by the Chinese when they were stormed by the Mongolian forces in 1382. Invading soldiers purportedly castrated male captives, including Ma He or Muhammad He, alias Zheng He, from the Ma clan in Central Asia. Zheng He's father died during the Chinese attack.

The story continues when Zheng He becomes the right-hand man of Prince Zhu Di, also called Emperor Yung Lo.

He was Zhu Di's main confidant, who took to the throne by overthrowing his nephew who was still young. Zheng He's large- scale expeditions were purportedly aimed at pursuing his nephew who had reportedly fled to Champa. The purpose was certain, to kill the nephew so that he would not take revenge.

A Chinese martial arts author and Chinese history observer from Semarang, Gan Kok Hwie, has other views on the castrations. He surmised that palace guards in China were castrated for only one reason, and that was to avoid adultery within the palace compound," he said.

The emperor owned every woman in the palace. By castrating all the palace guards, adultery, which could lead to conflicts in the palace, would no longer occur.

"And one of them was Zheng He," said Kok Hwie.

He said that every dismembered organ was kept and labeled according to its owners. When a castrated person died, the organ would be reattached, meaning he could face God with a whole body. "And that also was applied to castrates (thaykam) who held top government positions, including Zheng He," he said.

Kok Hwie added that the courageous and good-looking admiral had once been involved in a love affair with one of the ladies-in-waiting. However, the affair was never consummated into marriage.

His life ended in the middle of the ocean. He was presumed to have died on his seventh return voyage from eastern Africa. The ruler of the seas who had traveled to 30 countries in 28 years, including Semarang, drew his last breath aboard his junk.