China's Great Armada

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In the most extreme form of body piercing, a Malaccan kavadi bearer wears this cage of spikes and fishhooks as reparation for...
Tin miners at Bangka, Indonesia, extract the heavy metal that falls to the bottom of the sluice. The majority of the resident...
Malacca, Malaysia was China's first large-scale overseas settlement and now home of the Peranakan, or Straits-born Chinese.
In Malacca's biggest Hindu festival of the year, Datak Chachar, celebrants give thanks to the gods for prayers answered by pa...
Most fo the festival devotees are Chinese, descended from settlers who arrived with Zheng He's fleet. These Peranakan (Strait...
The wounds inflicted by the spikes and hooks do not bleed, and participants claim not to feel pain while in their trancelike ...
The Sultan of Brunei's visit to China on one of Zheng He's ships solidified the friendship between China and Brunei, although...
Water taxis ply the waterways of Kampong Ayer, the maze of stilt houses built along the banks of the Brunei River.
Kampong Ayer houses 30,000 people in 28 water villages, built on stilts over the Sungei Brunei.
Kampong Ayer houses 30,000 people in 28 water villages, built on stilts over the Sungei Brunei.
A Brunei bride greets her weeding guests and awaits the arrival of the groom.
Schoolchildren queue for a fingernail check-up in a Brunei classroom.
Al fresco classes are a change of pace for these students during the hottest months.
Even the most dedicated young scholars have their daydreams,
Even the most dedicated young scholars have their daydreams,
The mosque with its golden dome looms over the warren of stilt houses that line the river in Burnei's capital, Bandar Deri Be...
Woven mats are rolled out in preparation for Friday prayers at Saifuddien Mosque in Bandar Seri Begawan.
Children today are taught the fundamentals of Islam at an early age, as was the young Zheng He.
Women worshipers, in snow-white tudong, the traditional head-covering, are segregated from the men at the Saifuddien Mosque.
Women worshipers, in snow-white tudong, the traditional head-covering, are segregated from the men at the Saifuddien Mosque.
Dawn over the Grand Mosque. Zheng He, with his Muslim roots, must have been pleased to visit this bastion of Islam.
Temperatures at the volcano can exceed 40 degrees celsius, and workers use face cloths to protect themselves from the noxious...
Temperatures at the volcano can exceed 40 degrees celsius, and workers use face cloths to protect themselves from the noxious...
Workers carry loads of sulfur, some weighing up to 175 lbs (80 kg), making three trips in a ten-hour day to the top of the vo...
A sulfur collector carries the yellow blocks in cane baskets up the edge of the volcano in the early dawn haze.
Children play in the surf on a Balinese beach.
A bugis schooner under full sail in the South China Sea Indonesia is home to the last great sailing fleet in the world.
Weir fishing off the coast fo Sumatra, Indonesia.
Weir fishing off the coast fo Sumatra, Indonesia.
Salt-gathering in evaporation ponds in Gresik is done only on sunny days.
Children take their lessons in Koran school against a backdrop of one of Zheng He's (or Cheng Ho, as he is known here) treasu...
Wayang Beber storytelling is a traditional art form in Indonesia.
Betel-nut chewing is a pastime enjoyed by all ages and genders
Zheng He found Chinese an other foreigners living along the banks o the Sungei Musi River, as these Yamenese Arabs do today.
Wedding celebrations can last for days in Palembang.
Both Buddhists and Muslims worship here at Semarang's Tay Kak Sie Temple, in hopes that Zheng He will answer their prayers.
On certain occasions it is tradition for Indonesian's to wear detailed make-up.
A performer in the San Po festival portrays one of San Po's (Zheng He) soldiers, who will escort the Admiral-god's image from...
On the last day of the sixth lunar month, many of the faithful from all over Asia dress as Zheng He soldiers and gather to ho...
Zheng He "soldiers" wear make-up as elaborate and colorful as might be seen in a Chinese Opera.
The festival, replete with lion and dragon dancers, lasts three days.
An image of Zheng He is paraded through the streets of Semarang inside a portable shrine, mimicking the movement of a ship ov...
The Ijen Volcano multiplex is a common place for sulfur mining and is comprised of several composite volcanos in Banyuwangi R...
Pura Besakih is the most important temple in Bali, where the kind of tolerence espoused by Zheng He has been practiced for ce...
Once the most popular sport in Indonesia, cock fighting and the gambling that goes along with it is now officially banned, th...
In the best fighting form, these cocks and their handlers prepare for battle.
The sacred mountain, Adam's Peak, rises through the mist above Sri Lanka.
Fishermen on Negombo Beach in Sri Lanka, haul in their dugout outrigger sailing canoes afer a day at sea.
Framed by elephant tusks, saffron-robed Buddhist monks pray at the entrance to the Temple of the Tooth, said to contain the t...
One hundred caparisoned elephants light up the night as the procession of penitents continues.