Portrait of Zheng He, who lived a century after Marco Polo, was the unlikeliest of great admirals. He was born a Muslim in this town in Yunnan Province, grew to a towering height of seven feet tall (2.134 m) and after being taken prisoner and castrated, became a favored court eunuch of the Ming emperor Zhu Di. As he gained the trust of the emperor, he ultimately helmed seven epic sea voyages on his behalf. His missions took him as far as Africa, and some say, even to North America. Kunyang, Yunnan, China