Obama's Chinese Ancestry?
Science and History Say It's Quite Likely
Prior to his election as President of the United States, the issue of Barack Obama's citizenship by birth on US soil lay on the hot coils of debate. This argument brought to light questions regarding Obama's ancestral ties, which decidedly link him to the land of Kenya on the African continent. All arguments ended, we are clear President Obama was born of an American mother (Ann Dunham) and Kenyan-born Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. (now deceased).
This said, ponder the notion that President Obama may in fact be of Chinese descent.
Impossible? Science suggests otherwise.
Kenya's Ancestry in China's Past
While many have long speculated on China's seemingly far-fetched connections to other parts of the world, science has recently proven the world is indeed smaller than we had originally thought. In 2005 a DNA analysis of Kenyan native Mwamlaka Shariff Lali concluded that she and her relatives are indeed genetic descendents of Chinese lineage.
Chinese Explorers Settled in Kenya
Historians surmise Africa's genetic link with China was established as early as 15th century during a series of expeditions conducted by the Chinese explorer Zheng He.
Zheng, a Muslim Chinese sailor commissioned by China's Ming courts, commanded a fleet of nearly 300 junks (ships) whose massive hulls could have easily carried three of the ships used by explorer Christopher Columbus. Crewed by nearly 28,000 men, Zheng's far-reaching armada reached the lands of Arabia, India, Thailand, Indonesia and - not surprisingly - the African continent.
With an assemblage of this size, it is not difficult to consider that some of Zheng's men may have strayed from the expedition. Some sailors no doubt settled in some of the lands Zheng visited, and the results of Mwamlaka Shariff's DNA tests clearly point to this notion.
Obama's Chinese Ancestry?
This said, we return to a sensitive deliberation of US President Barack Obama's background. Now no doubt tied to the east African country of Kenya, Barack Obama's ties with China may now surpass those of mere political dealings.
Mr. Obama may very well be part Chinese.
Far-fetched? Not at all.
Barack Obama's Other Link to China
Consider that President Obama has a half brother living in China who is married to a Chinese wife.
Through a tie established in multiple marriages, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was also father to President Obama's half brother. Having established a half-known presence on YouTube, Mark Ndesandjo is said by other reporting to live in Shenzhen, a bustling metropolis in southern China. He writes Chinese calligraphy, has a passable command of a spoken Chinese dialect, and seems to be living a life rich in culture and admirably fulfilled familial comforts.
Quite simply: Obama's brother is a happy man.
A Ripe Opportunity
What to say of all this? Well... Great!
If Obama's personal ties with China aren't convincing enough even to the President himself, at least they provide ample fodder for some curious discussion. Knowing how such discussions may go, this could start a friendly banter between two nations whose rocky past could use some smoothing out.
Given the blunders at the sullied hands of the former presidential administration, Barack Obama is in a great position to leverage his relations with the Middle Kingdom. Set aside its trade balance and recent funding of America's bailout, China's rise to power provides Barack Obama a ripe opportunity to begin mending the wrongs of the past. Perhaps Obama may forge new ties with China that may help foster cooperation of a kind unseen before.
Simply wonderful.
Published by John Melendez
The Yahoo! Contributor Network ranks John Melendez in the Top 1% of its 400,000 writers. John is a lecturer, journalist, and technical writer developing content for industry, health care, IT, and on-line edu... View profile
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10 Comments
Post a Commentobama is more likely to have israeli ancestry given his political stance.
interesting writing especially when you consider that Obama has appointed Steve Chu, Gary Locke and Chris Lu in his cabinet, who are all coming from Chinese ancestry.
1492: Good points all. As you notice, the title is a question, and not a statement. Likewise with the text accompanying. Agreed, it is a far stretch - but a stretch arising from not only one man (Obama) but a stretch that may perhaps unify our world eventually through a shared ancestry in the melting pot that the world is becoming..
i am sorry
so, i really enjoyed this piece of artistic writing. we need to continue conversations of this nature of skin tone and fashion and beauty as well as women's rights, because that is what I "fight" for on a daily basis :) Chau for now :)
Paul: Zheng He was not on an expedition of colonization. It was primarily of exploration and trade.
The colonization project would of course be left to the Europeans who subsequently conquered and indeed occupy the entire North and South American continents. You have heard of the Conquistadors and Columbus and so-called Pilgrims?
This is not to mention the Western colonization of most of Africa, Middle East and Asia, including the colonization of China that you euphemisitically describe as "incursions."
As for this article, it's a reach and is not based upon analyzing Obama's actual DNA. Most likely, Obama has the heritage of many peoples given his multiracial background.
Paul, what's with the "so what" part of your comment? This article is designed to impart knowledge to an audience that would normally not already know this kind of unique history. What may be already known information to you is not necessarily known by other folks. Perhaps I am wrong, but your "so what" seems to indicate your assumption that most folks of African ancestry (or perhaps everybody) may think that they are somehow also of Chinese descent. Upon asking my many friends (both black and otherwise), each one of them said that the thought of having such ancestry was utterly inconceivable.
So what? There are traces of Chinese DNA in Africa, and in South America. Zheng He's fleet carried, and purposely left behind, craftsmen, courtesans, soldiers, and farmers (and some ships) with the intent of colonizing. He returned to China to find the Emperor deep in paranoia and probably schizophrenia. He ordered Zeng's records of his voyages, and the great ocean going junks, destroyed. The country then entered into a period of enforced isolation that only ended with the European incursions of the 18 & 19th Centuries. No one from China returned to reinforce or rescue the Chinese colonists. The Chinese colonists left behind co-mingled with the native populations. Now the miracle of DNA testing proves their presence far from their motherland.
And the point is what exactly ?
The Afroasiatic peoples who came from Africa and are of Chinese origin were the descendants of Lot, Abraham's nephew. Many black people in America are of Afroasiatic origins. (http://forums.delphiforums.com/yshuaandmoshe/messages?msg=933.1); (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/183392.stm)