Zheng He was an amazing man. He was born in 1371. Eleven years later, he was caught by the army of a rich young man called Zhu Di and made to work for him. Over time the rich man saw that Zheng He was very clever and strong and they became close friends. In 1403 Zhu Di was made the King of China and he asked Zheng He to join his government.

The King wanted to learn more about the world and show other countries his power. He ordered many new ships to be built and made Zheng He their leader. between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He led seven sea trips to different parts of the world. He certainly travelled to India, Africa and the Middle East. A few people think his ships have even reached South America and Australia.

Each trip lasted between two and four years and it is believed he sailed more than 50,000 kms during the years of his travels.Zheng He led a fleet with 28,000 men and over 300 ships, such as boats for food, water and even soldiers' horses.

On these trips he brought with him many Chinese goods like silk and medicine to give to foreign kings or to sell for local goods. He returned from each trip with boats filled with expensive things such as gold and treasures, foreign guests and strange animals like a giraffe.

It is a pity that we may never learn everything about Zheng He' s travels. The Columbus of the east, Zheng He, died in 1433. After that, the new king, had these trips stopped and he burned almost all the books about Zheng He's travels, because he believed the trips were unlucky and too expensive. It is only in the last 50 years that historians have begun to carefully study the adventures of great Zheng He.

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    A class teacher, in my opinion, plays an important role in a child's development. Every year when my daughter moves to a new class, I have a usual big worry –her new class teacher. This year, she is moving to Class Three and I can't wait to see how things are going on.

    Last year, my daughter did not like her teacher at all. It was so bad that she did not look forward to school. It was a year full of trouble and worries.

    This year, Miss Purity is gentle and humorous. It's hard not to like her. Here are the changes in my daughter.

    She becomes an early bird. Last year, mornings were like a fight because I had to force Tasha to hurry up when she was preparing for school. I had to pull her out of bed, tell her to take breakfast and then drove her to school. But now, our mornings are like a party. She wakes up early, prepares everything at a high speed and then rushes to school to be with Miss Purity.

    She's happy. She enjoys school and school work and keeps talking about what they did at school when she comes home.

    She's responsible. She used to be careless and forgetful. But now she never forgets even her water bottle at school. She makes her bed and helps in the kitchen.

    Her diary is full of praises. The diary is the tool of communication between the teacher and the parents. Last year, her diary was always full of negative reports. One time, she poured water in a child's lunchbox, another time she threw another kid's textbook in the toilet. Now she began to share her snacks with those who did not have anything. She's always volunteering to clean the blackboard, the teacher's chair and desk.

    She does well in school. Finishing her classwork was such a big problem. She had to do it at home. But now, she finished both the classwork and homework at school.

    Chinese people have never liked a Japanese sports star before as they have loved Japanese ping-pong player Ai Fukuhara.

    But now they may feel sad, as the 29-year-old said on Oct.21,2018 that she would be retiring(退役)from the sport, "As a ping-pong player, I'm drawing the line here."

    Fukuhara has had a talent for playing ping-pong since 3 years old. When she was 12 years old, she came to China to learn ping-pong as well as Chinese Now she speaks Chinese very well.

    That's one reason why Chinese fans love her so much. Another reason is that she always shows her real feeling to others. Fukuhara often cries when she loses the games especially against Chinese ping—pong players so Chinese fans call her "Crybaby."

    Although Fukuhara is not always the winner, she is trying her best when playing her favorite sport all the time. When talking about why she planned to stop playing ping—pong, she said Japanese players are playing ping—pong better and better with her help and that it's OK for her to retire as for her future plans, Fukuhara wrote that she would like to help more people around the world get to know the beauty of the sport.