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The Admiral's Isles
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Disunited Nations
Once a patchwork of sultanates and kingdoms, this teeming region now struggles to tame its multiple—and often conflicting—identities
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ZHENG HE'S MELTING POT
On Friday the 13th, a thunderstorm hits Semarang in Central Java. It's a big town, buffered by the harbor to the north and shrimp farms and rice fields to the east. Prosperous as well, at least judging by the number of international banks that have offices here. But the crowds at the Sam Po temple are thin.
The shrine, legend has it, was built by Wang Jinghong, a trusted lieutenant to Zheng He (Sam Po in these parts), who settled here following one of the journeys. It's a sprawling structure, a series of small temples and prayer rooms laid out in a row, large enough so the roughly 200 people spread throughout the entire complex, many of them asleep, look like a small crowd. The statues by the gates are old-school Javanese guardian figures. The temple itself is straight-up Chinese; Zheng He was a Muslim, as was Wang, but this place vibes Confucian and Buddhist. Reds and yellows dominate the sharp-angled surfaces. Incense is in the air. About 20 people watch a boxing match on a small television set near where the incense is sold.
A pregnant woman wearing a red dress and silver sandals says there are usually hordes of people here the night before Friday Kliwon: the rain kept them home tonight. She's a Muslim, who says she "came here to get blessings" for herself and her unborn child. Over there, the young guy who's waiting to have his fortune told, is a Muslim as well. He has no problem that Zheng He was Chinese. A sacred place is a sacred place. And back there, by that gazebo-like structure, the guy with the green shirt is an avowed Javanese mystic, here because before midnight on Friday Kliwon is the best time to meditate. "Following in the path of good people can bring benefits," he says. Zheng He is hardly universally recognized in these parts—"Zheng He? You mean the fruit seller?" a woman in Tuban said—but more than 500 years after his death in a country not his own, his life is drawing others together.
The rain was done for the night. On my last day in Indonesia, however, moments before I left for the airport, the sky grew dark and the rains came again. It didn't last long, maybe 15 minutes. Then the clouds scattered and the sun emerged. Even with the brilliant sky, the rain continued to fall.
With reporting by Zamira Loebis
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China
Photographer Fritz Hoffmann finds a country on the move
Indonesia
John Stanmeyer explores the jostling peoples, religions and cultures that define the country
India
The grandeur of Cochin and Calicut has long disappeared
Middle East
The cities that were once the center of the world now hover at its remotest margins -- but a few traces of their glory days linger on
Africa
In the 15th century, Zheng He's fleet went to Africa seeking exotic treasures. The Chinese still do
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CHINA: In the Wake of the Admiral
SOUTHEAST ASIA: Disunited Nations
INDIA: Misplaced Majesty
THE MIDDLE EAST: Arabian Twilight
