While Zheng He's huge expeditions were both unprecedented and never-to-be repeated, plenty of Chinese traders were perpetually crisscrossing the South China Sea on their own account, in spite of active discouragement and even strict prohibition by the imperial government.
另一方面，鄭和下西洋，此舉雖屬空前絕後，但民間私下海上經商、貿易頻繁，無論鄭和之前或之後，與南洋（甚至非洲）一直有商業往來。反觀中國政府，不但不鼓勵，甚至曾經公開禁止。