Series: The Gifts of Asia

During many centuries, the treasures of Asia reached Europe through the long and dangerous Silk Road. When the Portuguese started the sea voyages that ended in the discovery of the ocean route to the East, what were before rare and very expensive goods became a fashion and a fever all around the European continent. Described by historians as the first step in the world globalization, this historical mark had winners and losers: the riches and the knowledge of the East helped the West to build empires and rule the world, while Asian potentates became weaker and weaker.

A century before Vasco da Gama, a forgotten navigator of Arabian descent, “almost” discovered the ocean route to the West, at the service of the Emperor of China. Admiral Zheng He’s boats were also the carriers of Chinese goods all over. If the voyages had not suddenly stopped, the world’s history could have been quite different. Curiously, exactly like the Europeans, the Chinese were trying to challenge the trade monopoly of the Arabs.

The “Asian Way,” an approach which emphasizes the dominant value of harmony in all of life’s relationships, seeks this harmony with one’s self, fellow humans, creation, and God. From this basis, faith-based alliances can be forged to raise a collective interreligious voice to bring about peace, justice, and reconciliation.