persians, from the coastal region of ancient basra, were already trading with t'ang and song china (s'ung) at the port of canton (guangdong) by ship before any majapahit shit in south east asia. they were all over the sea routes between basra and china, including the malacca straits and south china sea. they were also in the mediterranean, indian ocean, and east african coast before many ancient civilizations (remember the vast persian fleet off the coast of the greek archipelago in the battle of thermopylae?).
t'ang soldiers, or rather prisoners of war, were returned to china at the port of canton several years later (in fact over a decade later) by persian ships after the battle of talas between the abbasid caliphate and t'ang in talas, near kazakhstan/kyrgyzstan border, thousands of miles away from south china. seafaring persian families settled in south china during the t'ang and song eras.
cheng ho was influenced by sea adventures and rich history of persian sailors. unfortunately, today's western-dominated history has pretty much wiped out the contributions of persians in sea explorations. our esteemed admin is a distant descendant of one of those adventurous persian seafarers, and it explains why some of their dna end up in china and the malayan archipelago, which includes the red dot.
