Rees and her father are not the only ones to claim that the Chinese made regular trips between China and America. Many other researchers from the fields of archaelogy, anthropology, genetics, history and linguistics have come to the conclusion that the Chinese established a physical presence and a cultural influence in the Americas, long before Zheng He sailed with his fleet in 1421. Aside from genetic similarities, there are cultural similarities between the ancient Chinese and Native American/Meso-American cultures in their language, pottery, crafts, architecture and religious practices. Take a look at the facial characteristics of these jade masks and figurines from the Olmec civilization:




Chinese junks and ships have been found all over the Americas and not just on the West Coast. The most bizarre instance was when a Chinese junk was found when Washington D.C. was being dredged of its swampland prior to its founding as the capital:
A Chinese junk was found by early settlers buried in Great Dismal Swamp (L A R Clark); This story, we have found out, appeared in Coronet Magazine, p. 34, January, 1945: "…When the government took over the Swamp and dredged some of the ditches, strange looking hulks of ships were found sunk in her marshes. One, a large Chinese craft, had to be cut through. Sunk in her quagmires are the skeletons of other ships that now belong to the ages – all bearing silent testimony that Old Dismal’s rule stretches far down the corridors of time…"
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