Wikipedia's first sentence called it “chinese mariner”. Today it says “chinese admiral and diplomat from the early ming dynasty”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Chinese mariner and diplomat (1371–1433 or 1435)”. It now reads “Chinese Admiral and diplomat (1371–1433/1435)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
Zheng He . Zheng He ( simplified Chinese : 郑和 ; traditional Chinese : 鄭和 ; pinyin : Zhèng Hé ; Wade–Giles : Cheng Ho ; Birth name: 马三宝; pinyin : Mǎ Sānbǎo; Arabic name: Hajji Mahmud) ( 1371 - 1435 ), a famous Chinese mariner and explorer , made the voyages collectively referred to as the "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" (三保太監下西洋) or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433 .1Life magazine ranked Zheng He the 14th most important person of the last millennium .2
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 15930328.
The opening as it stood in 2010 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Statue from a modern monument to Zheng He at the Stadthuys Museum in Malacca , Malaysia . Zheng He ( simplified Chinese : 郑和 ; traditional Chinese : 鄭和 ; pinyin : Zhèng Hé ; Wade–Giles : Cheng Ho ; Birth name: 馬和 Ma He. Also known as: 馬三寶 / 马三宝; pinyin: Mǎ Sānbǎo , Arabic / Persian name: حاجی محمود شمس Hajji Mahmud Shams ) (1371–1435), was a Hui Chinese mariner, explorer , diplomat and fleet admiral , who commanded voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Africa, collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" (Chinese: 三保太監下西洋 ) or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 371079431.
The opening as it stood in 2015 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
In this article, the surname is Zheng .Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia , South Asia , the Middle East , and East Africa from 1405 to 1433.As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor , whose usurpation he assisted, he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing (the capital was later moved to Beijing by Yongle ).These voyages were long neglected in official Chinese histories but have become well known in China and abroad since the publication of Liang Qichao 's Biography of Our Homeland's Great Navigator, Zheng He in 1904.A trilingual stele left by the navigator was discovered on the island of Sri Lanka shortly thereafter." Zuguo Da Hanghaijia Zheng He Zhuan ". 1904.Journal of Chinese Studies , No. 51 (July, 2010).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 668571943.
The opening as it stood in 2020 6 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family, and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by Emperor Yongle.Zheng commanded expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433.According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded.As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor , who Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor , he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing .There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963532194.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Chinese mariner and diplomat (1371–1433 or 1435) "Ma Sanbao" redirects here.Zheng He ( simplified Chinese : 郑和 ; traditional Chinese : 鄭和 ; pinyin : Zhènghé ; Wade–Giles : Chêng-ho ; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner , explorer , diplomat , fleet admiral , and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty , and often regarded as the greatest admiral in Chinese history . He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred by the Yongle Emperor . Commissioned by the Yongle Emperor and later the Xuande Emperor , Zheng commanded seven expeditionary treasure voyages to Southeast Asia , South Asia , West Asia , and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. According to legend, his larger ships carried hundreds of sailors on four decks and were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded. As a favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the overthrow of the Jianwen Emperor , he rose to the top of the imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178541831.
The opening as it stood in 2025 4 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Chinese mariner and diplomat (1371–1433/1435) Not to be confused with Zhang He .Birth name Traditional Chinese 馬和 Simplified Chinese 马和 Zheng He (also romanized Cheng Ho ; 1371–1433/1435) was a Chinese eunuch , admiral and diplomat from the early Ming dynasty , who is often regarded as the greatest admiral in Chinese history .Born into a Muslim family as Ma He , he later adopted the surname Zheng conferred onto him by the Yongle Emperor ( r. 1402–1424 ).Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng commanded seven treasure voyages across Asia under the commission of the Yongle Emperor and the succeeding Xuande Emperor ( r. 1425–1435 ).According to legend, Zheng's largest ships were almost twice as long as any wooden ship ever recorded, and carried hundreds of sailors on four decks.A favorite of the Yongle Emperor, whom Zheng assisted in the Jingnan campaign that overthrew the previous Jianwen Emperor in 1402, Zheng He rose to the top of the Ming imperial hierarchy and served as commander of the southern capital Nanjing .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1298268549. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “chinese mariner”. Today it says “chinese admiral and diplomat from the early ming dynasty”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Chinese mariner and diplomat (1371–1433 or 1435)”. It now reads “Chinese Admiral and diplomat (1371–1433/1435)”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since October 7, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
chinese mariner
Now
chinese admiral and diplomat from the early ming dynasty
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
