Biography
Fei Xin (费信) was born around 1385 into a modest family. An inherited military post placed him, while still young, aboard Admiral Zheng He's treasure ships around 1409. A soldier of modest fortune but a literate man, with a keen eye and a taste for words, he took part in at least four of the great Ming maritime expeditions, under the reigns of the Yongle and then Xuande emperors. From these crossings, which carried him from the South China Sea to the coast of East Africa, he drew, around 1436, The Star Raft, a collection of forty-four regional accounts, each one closed by a poem. His testimony, that of a simple crew member, offers a rare Chinese view of societies that Europe would not encounter for generations to come.
