Zheng He's voyages and why Ming China turned inward

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Why the voyages stopped (cards A to D; summaries in our words). Card A, the first sea ban (haijin), 1371: private sea trade was restricted, and legal foreign trade went through official tribute missions. Private merchants could not trade overseas legally, and many turned to smuggling. Card B, the voyages stop: in 1421 the capital moved from Nanjing to Beijing, closer to the northern frontier. The reign of the emperor who sent the fleets ended in 1424, and a new emperor ended further voyages. The next emperor sent one last voyage, 1431 to 1433. Card C, the ban ends: in 1567 the policy came to an end, and private merchants could trade by sea legally again. Card D, historians' explanations: historians disagree about why the voyages stopped. Some point to rivalry between civil officials and the court officials who ran the voyages; others point to competition over money, or to traders' own interests. One historian rejects the idea that the voyages stopped because they cost too much. One source adds that each sea ban was made for a specific reason, not from an age-old wish to turn inward.

2. 1.

   A student writes, "China turned inward because the voyages cost too much." Which part of card D challenges that, Tala asks?

   • One historian rejects the cost explanation, and others point to rivalry or money
   • Card D says historians agree on cost, so the claim is the sole explanation given
   • Card D says the sea ban began in 1371, so cost cannot have mattered
   • Card D says the voyages cost nothing, so cost could not have mattered whatever
3. 2.

   How might a private merchant and a court official each have seen the sea ban in card A, Zee asks?

   • Both saw the ban the same way, since both lived under the same government in Ming China
   • A merchant lost legal overseas trade, while an official may have valued tribute missions
   • The official lost trade, while the merchant gained as a ruler of the tribute missions
   • The merchant welcomed the ban, since it removed legal rivals from trade
4. 3.

   Card A says legal trade went through tribute missions. Which chain explains the turn to smuggling, Ari asks?

   • Tribute missions paid merchants well, so merchants smuggled to share the profits from the missions
   • Private merchants could not trade legally, so those who wanted to trade turned to smuggling
   • Smuggling grew first, which then led the court to restrict private sea trade in 1371
   • Smuggling grew because the capital moved to Beijing in 1421, and the ban played no part
5. 4.

   Cards A and C give 1371 and 1567. What do they show about the sea ban over time, Bo asks?

   • The ban lasted about 20 years, from 1371 to 1391, before trade became legal again for merchants
   • The ban began in 1567, after the voyages had stopped, and then lasted until 1371
   • The ban lasted from 1371 to 1567, so private trade was legal again after about two centuries
   • The ban was kept without a break and did not change in the 196 years from 1371
6. 5.

   Card D ends by saying each sea ban was made for a specific reason. What idea does that challenge, Esme asks?

   • That the voyages ended in 1424, since card D gives other dates for the end
   • That any sea ban could be explained, since reasons are hard to learn from the sources
   • That China turned from the sea out of an age-old wish to turn inward
   • That the sea bans were ordered by the Ming government, since card D names other rulers
7. 6.

   Which sequence of events matches card B, Jun asks?

   • The reign ended in 1421, the capital moved in 1424, and the last voyage came in 1433
   • One last voyage came first, then the capital moved in 1421 and the reign ended in 1424
   • The capital moved in 1421, the reign ended in 1424, and one last voyage came in 1431
   • The voyages ended in 1424 and no emperor sent a fleet again after that year
8. 7.

   Which source would best test the idea that competition over money ended the voyages, Kira asks?

   • A modern essay that repeats card D's list of explanations in new words
   • A list of the ports that the fleets visited on the seven voyages
   • A map of the northern frontier that shows where the capital moved in 1421 to Beijing
   • Court budget records showing what the voyages cost and what else was paid for
9. 8.

   How is card D different from a court record made in the 1420s, Luz asks?

   • It is worthless, since a summary written long after the events cannot help
   • It is a modern summary of different explanations, not a record of the officials' choice
   • It is the final answer on the voyages, since it gathers the main explanations
   • It is a record from the 1420s that lists why officials ended the voyages in that decade
10. 9.

    Card B: the reign ended in 1424, and the last voyage ran from 1431 to 1433. How many times as long as that voyage was the wait from 1424 to 1431, Noah asks?

    • 5 times as long, since 7 minus 2 is 5
    • About 0.3 times as long, since 2 divided by 7 is about 0.3
    • 35 times as long, since 7 divided by 0.2 is 35
    • 3.5 times as long, since the wait is 7 years and the voyage is 2 years
11. 10.

    Why does card D list several explanations without choosing one, Pia asks?

    • The writer forgot which explanation was right, so each of them was listed
    • The evidence does not settle the question, so historians disagree
    • The writer wanted students to guess, since just one explanation is correct
    • The explanations came from the Ming court, which chose not to pick one