Zheng He，s world-famous expeditions to theWestern Ocean was actually a great Sino-foreigncultural exchange on an unprecedented scalewhen viewed from a cultural perspective. At that time，most Asian and African countries were less developedboth economically and culturally when compared toChina in the Ming Dynasty. As a result， the relativelyadvanced Chinese culture was bound to flow into therelatively backward Asian and African countries， as isdescribed in the principle of Cultural Communication，which says one culture， based on its actual needs， willalways absorb something else from another culture that itdoesn，t own. The big cultural exchange initiated by ZhengHe was mainly reflected in three aspects： Material culturalexchange， spiritual cultural exchange and institutionalcultural exchange.
4规模空前的中外文化交流
15世纪初声振中外的郑和下西洋，如以文化交流这一视角来审视，不啻是一次规模空前的中外文化大交流。当年，许多亚非国家与明代中国相比，还处在较为后进的社会发展阶段，其文化相对落后于中国文化。由于文化势差和“互通有无”法则的存在，一方文化总是根据自己的需要吸纳另一方文化中自己所不曾有的东西；相对先进的中国文化必然流向相对后进的亚非国家。这次文化大交流，主要在物质文化、精神文化和制度文化三个层面上展开。
物质文化的交流
郑和七下西洋，主要通过赏赐、贸易、朝贡等途径，与亚非国家展开物质文化的交流。郑和船队经由海路输向亚非国家的物品，计有瓷器、丝绸、茶叶、
Material cultural exchange
Zheng，s fleet carried out material cultural exchangeswith Asian and African countries primarily throughlargess， trade and tributes. The goods they exportedto alien countries included porcelains， silk， tealeaves，lacquers， copper coins， iron farm tools and metalwork.
Porcelains， as one of the greatest inventions of theChinese people， were a significant contribution madein the history of human culture. The Chinese blue andwhite porcelains produced during the Ming Dynasty wereexported by Zheng，s fleet as presents and commoditiesto Asian and African countries via sea routes. BeforeZheng He，s expedition， the people in some Asian andAfrican countries had no food containers and had to usethe leaves or shells of certain tropical plants instead， butafter Zheng，s expedition， Chinese porcelains graduallyemerged among Asian and African people and furtherchanged their way of life and enriched their materialculture. It was for this reason that the maritime routeZheng，s fleet opened to connect China with other Asianand African countries became known as the “Road ofPorcelain.”
Zheng introduced lots of Chinese silk products to Asianand African countries and other areas through largess，trade and tribute. Silk products during the Ming Dynastymainly included silk scarves， laces， gauze， patterned
漆器、铜钱、铁制农具、金属制品等，以瓷器、丝绸为大宗。
瓷器作为中华民族的伟大发明之一，对人类文化的发展作出了卓越的贡献。明初盛产的中国青花瓷器，被郑和船队选作主要礼品和商品整船整船地经由海路向亚非国家输出。郑和下西洋前，有些亚非国家人民饮食无器皿，只能因陋就简地利用热带植物的茎叶或果壳作为饮食器皿；郑和下西洋后，以青花瓷为代表的中国瓷器逐渐成为亚非人民普遍使用的饮食器
fine silk， embroidered fine silk， golden silk clothes withembroidered dragons， golden veiling and baldachins.Those exquisitely-made Chinese silk products weredeeply loved by both officials and civilians in Asia andAfrica. It was Zheng He，s voyage that made the Asianand African people in the middle ages enjoy advancedsilk civilization and affected by the Chinese silk culture insuch respects as silk weaving and garment making.
Huge foreign demand for Chinese silk products inreturn promoted the development of the domestic silkindustry. During the early Ming Dynasty， officially-fundedweaving bureaus with jurisdiction over the silk industryemerged and quickly sprung up like mushrooms all overthe country. Besides Nanjing， other cities like Hangzhou，Shaoxing， Jinhua， Ningbo， Suzhou， Zhenjiang， Chengduand Jinan all saw the establishment of silk-weavingbureaus that organized silk production and export.
The tea culture was another great invention of theChinese people and a brilliant pearl the Chinese nationcontributed to the human cultural treasury. When ZhengHe，s fleet visited Siam， they distributed tea seeds to localfarmers and this gave rise to a tea-drinking fashion thatswept over Siam and the rest of the Indo-China Peninsula.This is why the pronunciation of “tea” in Thai is the sameas that in Chinese.
Siamese used to eat the mineral salt exploited from
皿，从而改变了他们的生活习俗，提高了他们饮食文化的层次，丰富了他们的物质生活。有鉴于此，郑和下西洋所开辟的中国联系亚非国家之间的海上之路，也被誉为“陶瓷之路”。
郑和下西洋，通过赏赐、贸易、朝贡回赠等方式，将大量中国丝绸产品传播到亚非国家和地区。明代中国丝绸产品主要有丝巾、冠带、纱罗、锦绮、文绮、织金文绮、蟒龙金织衣、销金帐幔、黄盖、华盖等。这些精美的中国丝绸产品，深受亚非各国官民的喜爱。中世纪亚非各国人民正是通过郑和下西洋丝绸制品的外传，享受到先进的中国丝绸文明，并在丝织技术、服饰文化等方面受到中国丝绸文化的影响。
郑和下西洋对外销丝绸产品的大量需求，反过来促进了国内丝织业的发展。明初，管辖丝绸行业的官办织造局应运而生，且遍及全国。除京师南京外，杭州、绍兴、金华、宁波、苏州、镇江、成都、济南等地，均开设织造局，组织丝绸生产和外销。
茶文化是中华民族的一项伟大创造，是中华民族贡献给人类文化宝库的一件瑰宝。郑和船队到暹罗访问时，曾将中国茶籽分配给暹罗农民种植推广，使饮
remote mountains. But the lack of iodine in the saltresulted in swelling thyroid glands. After his arrival，Zheng He helped them make sea salt and told themthat sea salt can also help dispel heat and remove toxicsubstances. This made local people quite pleased becausemany of them tended to catch skin lesions due to thehot weather. Besides， Zheng He also taught the Siamesehow to cut wood， make porcelain， dig wells and reclaimterraces， which greatly boosted local productivity.
Chinese fishing nets were introduced into Cochin， Indiathrough Zheng，s voyage. Unfortunately， Zheng He diedof disease when passing by Calicut during his seventhvoyage. After his death， some of his attendants were leftto keep vigil and later moved to Cochin， south of Calicut，because of flood. They brought Chinese fishing nets there.The fishing nets， based on the principle of leverage， havefour corners tied on four long wooden sticks， the tops ofwhich join together and are fixed to a strong long pole.The pole is further supported by a very high bracket.Taking a net out of the water surface required the jointefforts of five or six fishermen. Fishermen would takeout the nets while singing a work song， then the fishingnet would slowly rise out of the surface accompanied bythe creaks of the poles， leaving fish thrashing about atthe bottom of the net. At that time， one of the fishermenwould walk closer with a tuck net and catch fish from the
茶之风传遍暹罗及中南半岛国家。泰语中的“茶”与汉语中的“茶”发音一样。