What does it mean when a civilization burns it's own navy? Especially when their navy was one of the largest of it's time, with years of building put into it's power. China was once the largest sea-faring empire, or at least from what we can tell from remnants of their dry docks, and the size of ships they were made for. China once voyaged to the Middle East, and even Africa, according to some sources. The Chinese ships were some of the largest of their times, which is quite astounding, and they would have dwarfed the European ships, even the metal ones. Though one thing that will always confuse history is why China decided to set fire to it's ships. At the turn of a dynasty, the new emperor ordered the ships burnt down, leaving China without a navy when the Europeans forces invaded.
The sheer size of China's treasure junks would have been one of the largest things in the world at the time. The size of the ships were supposedly larger than anything that the British had in their navy. Though, if they really were that large, the question is begged: Why would the Chinese burn something that would have been considered a marvel at the time? Surely, if the ships were as large as records show, they would be incredibly hard to burn, and there would probably be some desire to keep a few. As we can see, estimates show that the treasure junks were absolutely huge when compared to the European ships of the time. Here is a size comparison.
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