In the early 15th century, towering treasure ships sailed from China's bustling ports, carrying sailors, envoys and banners of goodwill toward distant horizons.
Commanded by Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) navigator Zheng He, the world's most powerful fleet at the time embarked on seven expeditions across the Indian Ocean and beyond. Visiting more than 30 countries and regions, the voyages carried silk, porcelain and gifts — without occupying a single inch of land.
More enduring than any cargo was the message that the voyages conveyed: peaceful exchange rather than conquest. This maritime legacy continues to inform how China understands its engagement with the world — and how President Xi Jinping speaks about it today.
Xi has repeatedly invoked Zheng He's voyages as a historical reference to articulate China's diplomatic philosophy of harmony and common development.
"They were there to sow the seed of peace and friendship, leaving behind many stories of friendship and cultural exchanges with the local people," Xi said in 2014 at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries.
Quoting an ancient Chinese saying that "a warlike state would eventually perish however big it might be", Xi emphasized that "the Chinese people don't have the gene for invasion and hegemony in their blood", rejecting the notion that a country is bound to seek dominance once it becomes powerful.
Zheng He's presence as a pioneer of the Maritime Silk Road remains visible across Asia, Africa and the Middle East. From the Bukit Cina historical hillside in Malaysia and the Sam Poo Kong temple in Indonesia to the Zheng He Monument in Aden, Yemen, these sites trace his journeys and reflect the enduring respect that local communities have for the navigator.
However, this tradition predates Zheng He by centuries. More than 2,100 years ago, the ancient Silk Road facilitated exchanges between Eastern and Western civilizations on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.
Wang Youming, director of the Department for Developing Countries Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said, "From the ancient Silk Road to Zheng He's treasure ships, China's engagement with the world followed a consistent historical logic.
"It emphasized peaceful interaction and mutual benefit, rather than expansion through force," Wang said.
That historical understanding has found contemporary expression in the Belt and Road Initiative, he added.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2017, Xi recalled that the pioneers of the ancient silk routes "won their place in history not as conquerors with warships, guns, horses or swords", but as friendly emissaries leading camel caravans and sailing ships loaded with goods.
Shi Wei, an associate researcher at the Institute of World History of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said, "History vividly illustrates how nations should relate to one another.
"National strength need not be wielded for conquest or plunder; it can instead serve as a force for shared development," Shi added. "Differences among civilizations are not sources of conflict, but drivers of mutual learning."
At the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in 2023, which marked the initiative's 10th anniversary, Xi said China is ready to work with all partners to deepen cooperation and build "an open, inclusive and interconnected world for common development".
Collective action stressed
While Zheng He's treasure ships once carried friendship across oceans, Xi has noted that today all nations are aboard "a giant ship on which their shared destiny hinges", rather than "riding separately in some 190 small boats".
Xu Tianqi, deputy director of the Area Studies Department at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of Renmin University of China, said, "The evolution from the 'treasure ship' to the 'great ship' reflects a shift from exchange to shared responsibility.
"It underscores the idea that global challenges can only be addressed through collective action," Xu added.
During a 2024 meeting with leaders of major international economic organizations, Xi said that "solidarity, cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win outcomes" should define the spirit of the times.
China stands ready to work with major international economic organizations to practice multilateralism, strengthen international cooperation and support the development of Global South countries, he added.
At an event marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence in 2024, Xi returned to the maritime metaphor. "All countries are on board the same giant ship," he said, calling for openness, inclusiveness and mutual learning among civilizations.
"The world is big enough to accommodate the common development and common progress of all countries," Xi said.
Wang, from the China Institute of International Studies, said China's modernization follows a path of peaceful development rooted in its civilizational traditions.
Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, China has never initiated a war or occupied a single inch of another country's territory. It is the only country that has enshrined its commitment to peaceful development in its Constitution, and the only nuclear-weapon state to have pledged never to be the first to use nuclear weapons.
As traditional security challenges increasingly intersect with nontraditional threats such as climate change, Wang noted, the international community is in urgent need of cooperation based on extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits.
In this context, he said, the China-proposed BRI, together with the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, the Global Civilization Initiative and the Global Governance Initiative, offers a practical framework for translating the vision of building a community with a shared future for humanity into concrete action.
From Zheng He's treasure ships to today's Peace Ark hospital ship, China has consistently projected cooperation rather than confrontation, Wang added.
The Peace Ark, a Chinese Navy hospital ship, has carried out its Mission Harmony voyages since 2010, providing medical services to dozens of countries. It has visited 49 countries and regions and treated more than 370,000 people.
In 2010, a newborn girl, Alifa Chin, faced life-threatening complications during childbirth while the Peace Ark was visiting Chittagong, Bangladesh. Chinese naval doctors rushed to assist, saving both mother and child. In gratitude, the girl's father named her Chin, which means China in Bengali.
Wang said, "The Peace Ark hospital ship has become a vivid symbol of China's people-centered approach to Belt and Road cooperation and its commitment to providing global public goods."
Today, the BRI, which involves more than 150 countries and over 30 international organizations, has contributed to economic and social development and improved livelihoods in participating countries, emerging as a widely welcomed global public good, he added.