Craftsman replicates fleet of explorer

KUNMING — After more than 600 years, the fleet of legendary Chinese navigator Zheng He has been brought back to life by Fu Kunxiang, a craftsman from Yunnan province.

During the early years of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Zheng’s fleet sailed to dozens of countries and regions in Asia and Africa, several decades before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas.

“There are no seas around my hometown in Yunnan, but it was the birthplace of Zheng He,” Fu said, sharing his inspiration behind creating the replicas.

In honor of Zheng’s accomplishments, Fu decided to create models of the ancient fleet in 2012. But the 55-year-old craftsman, who developed a passion for such models at the age of 13, had no idea how tough the work would be back then.

Since the design and building plans of the fleet had long been lost to history, Fu had to travel across the country visiting experts of ancient sailboats and manufacturing sites connected to Zheng’s fleet to form plans of his own.

“We don’t know how many times we failed in the process of building just a single treasure ship,” Fu said.

After three years of effort and an investment of over 10 million yuan ($1.54 million), Fu and his team of more than 70 members finally replicated Zheng’s fleet on a 1:50 scale.

The fleet consists of 208 model ships, including Zheng’s flagship, 61 treasure ships and other vessels with various functions. It will require an exhibition area spanning more than 5,000 square meters to fully showcase the models. Fu, however, is not satisfied with what he has achieved and is determined to take on a bigger challenge — a more delicate model series on a scale of 1:100.

“I want to create models featuring cultural relics and use them to reproduce the exquisite shipbuilding skills of China more than 600 years ago,” he said.

Fu spent several years honing his craft, visiting coastal provinces such as Fujian and Guangdong to acquire shipbuilding skills.

“The smallest pulley used on my ship models is only 2 millimeters long, and there is also a 0.5-mm-long bearing between the pulleys,” he said. “I had to make over 100 pulleys for a ship model and sometimes even used a magnifying glass in the process.”

Fu adopted a slew of construction techniques from ancient China, including using mortise and tenon joints to create his models.

“I want to use my ship models as a medium for illustrating the intangible cultural heritage of China,” he said.

In 2019, a German museum took one of Fu’s treasure ship models into its collection.

“I am very pleased that my work has been recognized,” he said, adding that it will take three to five years to finish his new model series.

“I hope to exhibit my models in countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative in the future,” Fu said.