Zheng: The Sailor Who Came To Melaka

Zheng: The Sailor Who Came To Melaka

Author: Christopher Teh
Publisher: Cherita Books
ISBN: 9789670076768
Weight: 287 g
Pages: 285 pp
Year: 2026
Price: RM39

17th-century China. Zheng has lost everything—his family, his future, and now, sentenced to serve in the Great Qing Navy, even his freedom. Not that a lowly peasant like him ever had much to begin with, especially in the eyes of the Emperor.

But fate takes a turn in Bak-Cheng, where a mysterious stranger urges him to flee to Maliujia—Melaka, a land of blazing sun and bustling trade. Defying the Imperial Court, Zheng escapes and begins a new chapter far from the shadow of the dragon throne.

In Melaka, he meets Melati, a formidable noblewoman who welcomes him into her world of kueh, kebaya, and sampan. For the first time, Zheng tastes freedom—not just from the past, but the freedom to choose joy, to belong, and to love. Yet old wounds linger, and Melati’s family isn’t easily convinced. Can Zheng truly leave behind the ghosts of China and earn his place in this vibrant new land?