A portrait of Zheng He, the world-famous Chinese mariner and explorer.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Frescoes hold hints about the nature of a famed explorer and a fellow Ming eunuch's relationship

When Li Tong commissioned the building of the Fahai Temple about 600 years ago he could barely have imagined that one day it would link him to one of his contemporaries, the world-famous Chinese mariner and explorer Zheng He (also known in English as Cheng Ho).

Commanding a fleet some of whose ships were 120 meters long - Christopher Columbus's Santa Maria, by comparison, was 26 meters - Zheng made expeditionary voyages to parts of Asia and Africa from 1405 to 1433.

Ever since his story began to become widely known in the early 20th century, the mystique of Zheng He has been perpetuated partly by the fact that he was a eunuch of the Ming court (1368-1644). However, very few people know that Zheng, who lived between 1371 and 1433, was a devout Buddhist. And his religious pursuits eventually led him to share his Buddhist mentor with Li Tong, who was 18 years his junior.

According to Zheng Zihai, a descendant of Zheng He, his ancestor was Li's colleague for nearly 30 years. (Although Zheng He became a eunuch very early in life, he did later adopt a son of his elder brother.) The two, both influential men in an era when eunuchs were given unprecedented power and had immense political sway, served three emperors together and became very close.