I am sorry but you are wrong there.. As someone has correctly put on before, Europe sent people around that much also because it FELT the need to catch up with more advanced civilizations. (Muslims did the same for mainly opposed reasons).
Neither europe nor china nor the middle east did not send people around.
People wanted to go around by themself, since there was a big profit to make in such a trade.
It is not a question of political/diplomatic embassies sent by a government, but of people who wanted to make money.
Everyone liked the idea of drowning in a pool of gold coins, be them frankish or arabs or chinese.
Only, in order to earn such profits, investments were to be made. A system of capital accumulation was to be developed. A system of credit letters was to be devised.
All this existed in europe and in part of the middle east, but not in china.
Thus chinese merchants were unable to make such trips, and were forced to gnaw teeths while the foreign devils cut the most of the profits
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