Reconsidering a done-to-death Concept: Zheng He's Voyages

Now I know this has been done over and over and over, but I've just got a couple of thoughts about this idea of world Chinese dominance in the Middle Ages having been possible if Zheng He hadn't been screwed over by the eunuchs.

My first thought is, if the Chinese had got to Europe would they really have achieved any kind of dominion over the Europeans? Or would they just have provided a ready point of trade for the Europeans while they competed amongst themselves and reached greater levels of power? Would it have been in the Chinese mindset to establish themselves as rulers of Europe? Vassals, maybe.

My second thought is, would the Chinese have any interest in building colonies? Would they have settled the New World, sponsored the creation of cities in the America, Australia, South Africa? I can see why the Chinese lower classes would have an interest in doing so, but would the eunuchs/bureaucrats/temple faction/emperors have put in the money for these settlements, when they had so much land back home?

Resident experts?
 
There is also I believe a common misconception toward the Ming that they stayed Anti-Trade, Anti-Ship and such for their entire dynasty. Which is wrong as after a few Emperors the policy of the Neo Confucianists was reversed and China exported a massive amount of goods as well as imported special raw materials, most notoriously silver.

The Chinese also in several ways colonized and set up trade networks through overseas Chinese populations, some of which had been encouraged to grow by Zheng He. Though, the Zheng Clan (Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Chenggong, Zheng Jing) during the late Ming period beat the Dutch out of Taiwan and more or less seized the island in a colonization for themselves. It was a rather interesting 'Military Colony' which had a double aim to overthrow the Manchu and also cultivated Cash Crops and developed other industries.
 
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