本书作者Don Morreale，美国国籍，居住于科罗拉多州丹佛市。高中开始创作，用英文出版了两本关于佛教的书籍：《美国佛教徒——静修与实践》，约翰缪尔出版社（1988年）和《美国佛教徒完全指南》，香巴拉出版社（1998年）。他曾作为《丹佛邮报》专栏作家，每周撰写一篇关于科罗拉多普通人的故事。他曾获美国丹佛大学创意写作硕士学位，并在五年期间内多次赴中国杭州的浙江理工大学及尼泊尔的加德满都大学（2015年）任教英文写作及英文演讲。在中国任教期间，他为撰写关于郑和的书而专程赴南京进行了现场研究。
Don Morreale began writing in high school. He has two books in print on Buddhism in the West; Buddhist America; Centers Retreats, and Practices, John Muir Publications (1988), and The Complete Guide to Buddhist America, Shambhala Publications (1998). For several years he wrote a weekly column for the Denver Post about interesting Colorado characters which he later combined into a book entitled Cowboys, Yogis, and One-Legged Ski Bums; The Extraordinary Lives of Ordinary Coloradans, XLibris (2014). He also self-published a book of essays by his students at Kathmandu University entitled We Will Rebuild; Survivors’ Tales of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake .
With regard to his academic credentials, Morreale has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Denver, and taught writing and public speaking over a five year period at Zhejiang Sci-Tech University in Hangzhou, China, and at Kathmandu University in Nepal in 2015. While in China, he did on-site research in Nanjing for his book on Zheng He.

这是一部关于15世纪中国探险航海家郑和的传记。奉明朝黄帝朱棣之命，郑和建造了一支由300多艘宝船组成的船队，其中一些船只比足球场还大。他带领船队七次远征东南亚、印度阿拉伯及非洲等地。一些历史学家认为，在哥伦布开始探索新大陆之前60年，郑和可能已经航行到了澳大利亚、欧洲和美洲。他的航海事迹可能就是电影《航海英雄辛巴达传奇》的灵感来源。全书用浅显的语言讲述了郑和的一生，尤其是七次下西洋的精彩故事。文字通俗易懂，生动传神，有画面感，非常适合儿童阅读，也适合对中国历史中国故事感兴趣的外国读者阅读。
“The Seven Voyages of Zheng He; The Real Sinbad the Sailor,” is a mid-grade (ages 10-18) biography about the 15th Century Chinese explorer, Zheng He. At the instigation of Ming Emperor Zhu Di, Zheng He built a fleet of over 300 treasure ships, some of them larger than a football field, and led them on seven expeditions to S.E. Asia, India, Arabia, and Africa. Some historians believe he may also have sailed to Australia, Europe, and the Americas sixty years before Columbus set out to discover the New World. His journeys may have been the inspiration for the Legend of Sinbad the Sailor.
Zheng He was a Muslim by birth, a Buddhist by training and, in practice, a follower of Matsu, the Chinese Goddess of the Seas. He was also exemplary in that he was able to spread the power and influence of the Ming Dynasty by peaceful means rather than through military conquest.

Admiral Zheng He stood on the deck of his enormous flagship and surveyed his fleet of one hundred treasure ships. Their bright red sails billowed in the wind as they made their way south on what would be the last of seven trading voyages they had taken under orders from Emperor, Zhu Di.
The Admiral was a big man, nearly 7 feet tall, with eyebrows as straight as swords, and a voice as loud as a temple bell. He paced the decks like a lion and, after years of sailing in the bright sun and salty seas, his skin had become as rough as an orange peel.
On this trip they would stop at many of the places they had visited on previous journeys: Siam, Indonesia, Ceylon, India, the Arabian Peninsula, and the East Coast of Africa. The boat rocking gently beneath his feet, the great Admiral chewed spicy pumpkin seeds as he thought about the adventuresome life he had lived.
He was born in 1371 in Yunnan Province at the foot of the Himalayas, two month’s journey by land from the nearest seaport. His family belonged to the Hui tribe of Chinese Muslims. His family name was “Ma,” which in Chinese means “Mohammed.” His given name was “He.”
Ma was the second son in a family of six children ‒ two boys and four girls. His ancestors had come from Persia long before he was born. His great-great-great grandfather had fought alongside Genghis Khan, serving as his personal bodyguard. The Khan had rewarded him by making him governor of Yunnan Province.
Ma’s father and grandfather were known as Hajji because they had taken the Haj, the journey to Mecca that is required of all faithful Muslims. Dad and grandpa often talked to young Ma about their adventures on the sacred journey, and their tales made him curious about the world outside of Yunnan Province. He resolved that someday he too would go exploring and have tales to tell his children about the people and customs of the lands to the west.
Ma was an intelligent boy and a good student. He could read and write Chinese. He had also learned Arabic and studied the Koran, the Muslim holy book. But his studies and his peaceful village life were soon to be disrupted.

Chapter 1: Zheng He, China’s Famous Unknown Explorer…