why did china lose its edge in shipbuilding technology?

Answer 1

Because this edge did not serve any commercial interests. It rested on two pillars, admiral Zheng He and financial support given to him by the emperors of Ming dynasty.

Zheng's missions resulted mostly in establishing diplomatic relations with faraway countries and exchange of royal gifts (such as zebras and giraffes for the imperial gardens) and were unbelievably costly (his fleet at its height included 300 ships and 20,000 men).

Zheng died during his last expedition, so there was no one else to lobby for maintenance and expansion of the fleet (partly because Zheng, being a Muslim, was always somewhat of an outsider in court). Moreover, many courtiers thought that private long-distance sea travel should be discouraged (just as any other contact with foreign lands), and by 1500, no ship with two or more masts could leave a Chinese port without government permission; sailing a large ship without a permit became a capital offense...

Answer 2

The sad truth is that the Chinese abandoned their ship building and exploration of the world because of the rise of xenophobic mandarins in the government. Their is evidence today that the Chinese were able to sail around The world and were the greatest trading country in the world in the 13th -15th centuries. In fact they were about to start a voyage that would have taken them to Europe in about 1490 but were stopped by the government. At the height of their power they destroyed the docks that built the giant ocean going ships destroyed the information that their explorations had made and became an insular country. It didn't advance as fast as the rest of the world after that.

The result is used to day to explain why the Earth should continue to explore space.

Read "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies for a very good explanation for how this may have happened.

Answer 3

China never had an edge n ship building, where di dyou get that information? if your talking back a thousand years ago, who knows, they where not in the loop with the rest of the world at the time, and like most of Asia, except for Japan, failed miserably for years in not accepting technology in any field of endevor. If your alluring to there Steel navy in the 1880s, that wa more of a joke than technological edge, They where poorly designed, and obsolete before being built. Or if about the turtle boats, those where not ships in the fact they where more like a floating protected artillary piece, and prove wvery little as to be being superior in there day and age.

Answer 4

war within the country is main cause, and another cause is in olden days....all the experts must die with king...so that the secret for all kinds of technology will never reveal to outside world!!!! so generation by generation, it take many years to born new stars in specialise in certain knowledge......but it is hard to carry on, because of the ancient stupid rules......
as you can see china history is long and mostly is war within among themselves........only recent history is qing fight with western countries.......consider break through!!!