If the Chinese had mounted a series and sustained effort to project their power overseas in the decades before de Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, then the world history we now know would not have been the same. The Chinese had a strong naval power at those times and it wouldn't have been easy for the Europeans to control all trade in the Indian Ocean basin and global expansion. There would have been a fierce competition against the Chinese. First of all the Portuguese might not have been able to control trade and make fortunes out of it. If the Chinese prevented Europeans from controlling trade, the Europeans might not have ended up controlling the whole world. The Europeans wouldn't have been able to finance all those naval expeditions to the Americas and to Asia. So, the Chinese would have been a major threat to the Europeans if they did not back of just as before the Portuguese started their first expeditions into the Indian Ocean basin.
             The Chinese were concerned on preventing the Mongols form launching other attacks on China. After all, the memory of foreign rule was quite fresh. Yongle was the only supporter of Zheng He and naval expeditions. After Yongle died, the generals tore down the Chinese navy. They thought that they wasted too much money on naval expeditions and that they could use that money to strengthen their armies to prevent Mongols or other nomads from launching attacks on China. In some case the Chinese were right, they still feared the Mongols and strengthening their armies they could feel safe and secure. But destroying their navy just as before Vasco de Gama went around the Cape of Good Hope and the Europeans starting their domination of trade was not a very good option. Destroying their navy eventually destroyed their empire.
             Other civilizations did not have the capacity for Global expansion. The only ones that had a strong navy except the Chinese and the Europeans were the A
             ...