system
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human
ELI5: Why did China never explore the world like Europeans?

I'm just reading about the greatness of Zhanghe's fleet in 15th century china in my history class. Seems like they had the technology but somehow where just missing that spark. Why didn't china explore the Americas, Australia, Europe, etc.? 

THey had compass centuries before europeans...
gpt
Under the Ming dynasty, China adopted a policy of *Haijin*, meaning "sea ban". Convinced that it was already the most advanced country in the world, the Chinese Empire became isolationistic and inward-looking. By the time they realized that the Europeans had become more advanced, there wasn't much they could do about it.