View source for Hong Bao

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{for|the monetary gift known as [[wikt:hóngbāo|hóngbāo]] in Mandarin|Red envelope}}
[[File:Zheng-He-7th-expedition-map.svg|thumb|300px|The 7th voyage of Zheng He's fleet. A possible route of Hong Bao's squadron is shown as a dashed line, based on analysis by [[Edward L. Dreyer]].{{sfn|Dreyer|2006|p=156-157}}]]
'''Hong Bao''' ({{zh|洪保}}; ''[[floruit|fl]].'' ''ca.'' 1412–1433) was a Chinese [[eunuch]] sent on [[Treasure voyages|overseas diplomatic missions]] during the reigns of the [[Yongle Emperor]] and [[Xuande Emperor]] in the [[Ming dynasty]]. He is best known as the commander of one of the detached squadrons of [[Zheng He]]'s fleet during the Seventh Voyage of this fleet to the Indian Ocean (1431–1433).

==Early career==
According to the ''[[History of Ming]]'', in 1412 (i.e., some time between the third and fourth voyages of Zheng He's fleet), Hong Bao was sent by the [[Yongle Emperor|Yongle]] Emperor as the envoy to [[Thailand]].{{sfn|Tsai|2002|p=198}}<ref name=grave1/>

In 1421 Hong Bao participated in the sixth voyage of Zheng He, during which foreign envoys were transported back to their countries, as far as [[Ormus]].<ref name=grave1/>

==Hong Bao on the Seventh Voyage of Zheng He==
Hong Bao's name appears in the [[:commons:Category:Zheng He Liujiagang Stele|inscription]] made by [[Zheng He]] in [[Liujiagang]] in 1431, before his fleet left China on its 7th (and last) voyage to the "Western Ocean" ([[Indian Ocean]]). According to the inscription,
the two Principal Envoys (正使) sent by the [[Xuande]] Emperor to the countries of the Western Ocean were the eunuchs [[Zheng He]] and [[Wang Jinghong]].
Hong Bao was one of the five Assistant Envoys (副使) (along with Zhu Liang, [[Zhou Man]], Yang Zhen, and Zhang Da). Hong Bao, as well as all other Principal and Assistant Envoys except for Zhang Da, had the eunuch rank of Grand Director (太監, ''Taijian'').{{sfn|Dreyer|2006|p=146,191}}<ref name=grave1/><ref>[http://www.douban.com/note/13208305/ 娄东刘家港天妃宫石刻通番事迹碑] (Text of the Liujiagang inscription)</ref>

Much of what we know about Hong Bao comes from the book written by the interpreter [[Ma Huan]], who served in his squadron during the 7th voyage of Zheng He's fleet. According to [[Edward L. Dreyer]]'s analysis of the preserved sources about the voyage, in particular [[Ma Huan]]'s book, Hong Bao commanded a  squadron which most likely separated from the main fleet in [[Semudera]] in northern [[Sumatra]] (although other suggested it may have happened earlier, in [[Qui Nhon]] in [[Champa]]), and visited [[Bengal]]. From Bengal, Hong Bao's squadron would then go to [[Kozhikode|Calicut]] in southern India, to which the main fleet came directly from Semudera across the [[Bay of Bengal]].{{sfn|Dreyer|2006|p=156-157}}

While the main fleet left Calicut to [[Ormus]] (in [[Persian Gulf]]), Hong Bao's squadron went from Calicut to various destinations on the west side of the [[Arabian Sea]] in southern Arabia and [[Horn of Africa]], including [[Aden]] and [[Mogadishu]].{{sfn|Dreyer|2006|p=156-157}} Before leaving Calicut, Hong Bao sent seven of his men, including [[Ma Huan]], to [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]] with a ship from Calicut{{NoteTag|Ma Huan's account is ambiguous on whether the Chinese traveled on a foreign ship or on their own Chinese ships in company of a foreign ship. The Chinese likely traveled with their own ships: (1) the Arabic texts ''Kitab as-Suluk li-ma rifat duwal al-muluk'' by al-Maqrizi and the ''Inba' al Gumr bi nba' al-umr'' by al-Asqallani use terminology specific to Chinese ships, (2) a letter by a captain to the authorities in Jeddah and Mecca for permission to make port was received as Chinese, and (3) the massive Chinese treasure ships—not Indian or Arab ships—were able to transport large animals for a very long span of time. ({{Harvnb|Jost|2019|loc=86–88}})}} going to [[Jeddah]].{{sfn|Dreyer|2006|p=158-159}}

==Grave==
In June 2010, the Chief of Archaeology Department at [[Nanjing Museum]] Wang Zhigao announced that a Ming Dynasty grave
recently found near Zutang Mountain (祖堂山) in the [[Jiangning District]] of [[Nanjing]] was identified as that of Hong Bao (and not of Zheng He himself, as it was earlier surmised).<ref name=grave1>{{citation
|url=http://news.sina.com.cn/o/2010-06-26/052517711814s.shtml
|title=南京发现郑和下西洋副手之墓 (The grave of Zheng He's deputy on his Voyage to the Western Ocean found in Nanjing)
|date=2010-06-26
}}</ref><ref>{{citation
|url=http://news.xinmin.cn/rollnews/2010/06/26/5430612.html
|title=南京祖堂山神秘大墓主人系郑和副手洪保 (The "owner" of the mysterious grave on Nanjing's Zutang Mountain is Zheng He's deputy Hong Bao)
|date=2010-06-26
}}</ref><ref>{{citation
|url=http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/06/25/53s579319.htm
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100629020334/http://english.cri.cn/6909/2010/06/25/53s579319.htm
|url-status=dead
|archive-date=29 June 2010
|title=Zheng He's Tomb Found in Nanjing
|date=2010-06-25<!-- 21:49:19
-->|website=CRIENGLISH.com
}} (This is published ''before'' the inscription identifying the "owner" as Hong Bao was read)</ref>

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot|1}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{citation
|first=Edward L. |last=Dreyer
|publisher=Pearson Longman |year=2006
|isbn=0-321-08443-8
|title=Zheng He: China and the oceans in the early Ming dynasty, 1405-1433
|series=The library of world biography}}
*{{cite book |last1=Jost |first1=Alexander |title=Early Global Interconnectivity Across the Indian Ocean World, Volume I: Commercial Structures and Exchanges |date=2019 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham |isbn=978-3-319-97666-2 |chapter="He Did Not Kiss the Earth Between His Hands": Arabic Sources on the Arrivals of the Zheng He Fleet in Aden and Mecca (1419–1432)}}
* {{citation|first=Shih-Shan Henry|last= Tsai|title=Perpetual Happiness: The Ming Emperor Yongle|publisher=University of Washington Press|year= 2002|isbn= 0-295-98124-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aU5hBMxNgWQC }}
{{refend}}
{{Chinese travellers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hong Bao}}
[[Category:Chinese explorers]]
[[Category:15th-century explorers]]
[[Category:Ming dynasty eunuchs]]
[[Category:Chinese admirals]]
[[Category:Year of birth uncertain]]
[[Category:Year of death uncertain]]
[[Category:History of Kerala]]
[[Category:Ming treasure voyages]]
[[Category:Explorers of South Asia]]