For example, many people have noted that Menzies uses a scientific approach to tell us such things as how large Chinese sailing ships, relying on seasonal winds for power, could escape the limitations of the seasonal winds; or how Chinese sailors, upon reaching the Southern Hemisphere-where the Northern Hemisphere constellations on which they relied for navigation disappeared behind the horizon-could switch over to the star Canopus and the South Polar Star for navigation.
尤其膾炙人口的是，孟西士以科學方式告訴我們：仰賴季風航行的大型中國帆船如何能擺脫季風的限制；當艦隊到達南半球，中國人仰賴指引方向的北極星因星體角度消失於天際線時，水手可能改以老人星和南極星導航。