Last night I caught the 4 Corners report Junk History on ABC2 (what an excellent service that is too, by the way. Although it shows pretty much the same programs to regular ABC but time-shifted, it beats the rubbish excuses for digital channels on offer from the commercial stations) regarding the backlash against the book 1421: The year that China discovered the world by Gavin Menzies. I read this book a while ago and I must admit to buying into it, thinking it was quite convincing. Luckily, reputable historians aren’t so gullible, as it seems that the theory put forth by this book—that Chinese expeditions discovered and in some cases helped populate much of the unknown world in the 15th century—is complete rubbish, a fabrication of speculation and poor research. The significance of this theory may be lost on some of you, so here’s the gist: if it’s true, these expeditions sailed to almost every country on earth hundreds of years before European pioneers.
Scientists and scholars alike have now spoken up and rejected Menzies’ theories, after the book became a worldwide best-seller. Perhaps they are simply envious or maybe they’re protecting some great historical conspiracy (or should that be another great conspiracy since this book was published by the same people who brought us The Davinci Code) but I must admit I was slightly dubious when Menzies referred to evidence of a medieval Chinese stone navigational ‘pyramid’ in Penrith, near where I grew up. I ain’t seen no pyramids in Penrith, let me tell you.
I think the trick this author has used is to take various unexplained (and unrelated) facts and tied them together into what is a perfectly plausible story (to the layman, anyway). For example, the resemblance of certain north and south American ‘native’ peoples to the Chinese people. They look similar, nobody has ‘proved’ otherwise, so they must be related somehow! Never mind the archaeological evidence that points to the fact that people from Asia travelled to the Americas (on land, mind you) and became the native peoples, and just so happen to more closely resemble modern Chinese, in some areas.
Of course it could all just be a huge publicity stunt, since the author just keeps coming out with more and more outlandish theories (such as Chinese sailors visiting Melbourne in 800BC). If it is, it seems to be pretty successful :)
ps: isn’t it interesting how the book was titled 1421: The year China discovered America in the US, instead of 1421: The year China discovered the world. Of course, America is the world, according to Americans.
See what people are blogging about: 1421
I don’t know why, but there always seems to be a bunch of clothes outside the fire escape exit for the building I work in. It’s quicker than taking the lift, so I walk down the stairs, and outside the door, in the alleyway, there are some clothes…with plenty of undies (for you Brits I mean pants!).
As an avid car nut, and having a taste for the unusual, I have long had a fascination for unique automotive specimens. Something intrigues me about the way guys funk up cars that would normally be driven by people not part of the modified car scene. An analogy for this is that it’s a mums car, like a station wagon. Hence the phrase 
