Cheng Ho - The Life Of A Chinese Muslim Eunuch:

Cheng Ho - The Life Of A Chinese Muslim Eunuch:

History is an important source of identity to most people and so it is of no wonder that in these days transgenders and other queers search for the history of their communities, as well.

Tracing the history of the transgendered people in the world can be difficult, since the term "transgendered" was not available in former times and mainstream scholars, because of prejudices and inherent fears, usually didn.. t portray the lifes of people with transgendered patterns of behaviour in a correct way. There have been numerous transgenders of influence in all parts of the world - the Roman emperor Heliogabalus, the catholic saint Jean D..Arc, most probably the Biblical prophet Daniel (a.s.) -, but in most cases they are not recognized as having been transgendered or their lifes are portrayed very negatively.

The famous Chinese Muslim Admiral Cheng Ho (a.k.a Zheng He) is such a case. Muslims are very proud of him, they present Cheng Ho.. s story as the life of a muslim hero; however, they rarely mention the fact that Cheng Ho was a eunuch, because that would imply to be proud of a "gender variant" .

Like in India and many parts of the muslim world the court eunuchs of China usually were transgendered, many might even have been what we today call transsexual. A minority of Chinese eunuchs might have been foreign captives of war who were castrated as a punishment, but most of the the eunuchs were local Chinese or captivated "male born" children who were chosen to "be operated" and serve in the royal court because of their feminine behaviour and appearance. Those feminine behaving transgendered children were usually the favoured servants at the Chinese courts, called by the name "pure by birth".

Cheng Ho, as an important eunuch in imperial Ming China, most probably was such a child.. He/She (please note that in Chinese "he" and "she" are translated by the same word) was born in 1371 in the Yunnan town Kunyang. His/Her family was part of the muslim minority that settled in the provicne of Yunnan, he/she was raised up in a very pious environment, having a father and a grandfather who both had made the pilgrimage to Makkah.

In 1381 the army of the Ming dynasty entered Yunnan and during these events Cheng Ho was brought to the court of Nanjing to serve the prince who would later become emperor Yong Le. He/She became a faithful servant of the prince, supporting him in every situation and even fighting for him as a soldier.

This caused him/her to become a close confidant of the new emperor, holding a position of influence and power in the Ming empire.

The emperor had plans of spreading Chinese power and Chinese influences by the way of sea voyages. He trusted a lot in Cheng Ho, appointed him/her to lead these voyages and gave him/her the title of "Admiral of the Western Seas".

During his/her lifetime he/she did up to seven long voyages that started in 1405, establishing contacts with foreign kingdoms and bringing new trading goods of different kinds to China. His/her travels led him/her to Sri Lanka, India and even the eastern coast of Africa. Every foreign country he/she entered usually received more material goods from him/her than he/she took, something that was quite unusual among explorers of the time.

Although now he/she led the life of a noble person in Chinese society he/she never forgot his/her true origins.

He/She always stayed a believing muslim. His/her greatest dream was to perform the pilgrimage to Makkah, a dream that he/she was able to fulfill during one of his/her travels. He/She also made ziyarah to the tomb of our noble prophet Muhammad (s.a.s.).

Although -or because - he/she was a muslim, he/she was also remarkably tolerant towards practitioners of other religions. Historians reported an incident during which the fleet of Cheng Ho encountered a dangerous hurricane. The Taoist members of his/her crew prayed to their goddess "Celestial Spouse" for help. After the crew survived this hurricane, admiral Cheng Ho placed a pillar of thanksgiving in a temple of this Taoist deity.

On the island of Sri Lanka, in those years as still today torn by religious and ethnic rivalties, he/she erected a monument with carvings in Persian, Chinese and Tamil that praised the names of Allah, Vishnu and Buddha and proclaimed Cheng Ho..s impartial donations to the followers of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam.

Even today, long after his/her death following his/her return to China in 1433, people in many parts of Asia remember the name of this sea voyager.