Background:

Marco Polo ha reported on the magnificence of China after visiting Beijing during the reign of Kublai Khan, the great Mongol ruler.

By the time the Portuguese fleet arrived off the coast of China, of course, the Mongol Empire had long since disappeared. 

It had gradually weakened after the death of Kublai Khan and was finally overthrown in 1368 by a massive peasant rebellion under the leadership of Zhu Yuanzhang, who had declared himself the founding emperor of a new Ming dynasty and assumed the reign title of Ming Hongwu.

As we have seen, the Ming inaugurated a period of territorial expansion westward into Central Asia and southward into Vietnam while consolidating control over China’s vast heartland.

At the same time, between 1405 and 1433 the dynasty sponsored a series of voyages under Admiral Zhenghe that spread Chinese influence far into the Indian Ocean.

Then suddenly the voyages were discontinued, and the dynasty turned its attention to domestic concerns.