During the reign of the Yongle Emperor (early 15th century), his relative from Kaifeng sent him a captured zouyu, and another zouyu was sighted in Shandong.
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The zouyu sightings were mentioned by contemporaneous authors as good omens, along with the Yellow River running clear and the delivery of a qilin (i.e., an African giraffe) by a Bengal delegation that arrived to China aboard Zheng He's fleet.