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Fustat,” archaeologist R. L. Hobson describes the significance of the porcelain and ceramics finds:
    â€¦Turning over the piles of fragments stored at Fustat and in the Arab Museum in Cairo…we realise most clearly the extent and antiquity of the tradebetween Egypt and the Far East. There are, for instance, pieces of buff stoneware with cream glaze mottled with green and brownish yellow, which came from China in the Tang dynasty; there are several varieties of celadon porcelain which tell of Sung traders. And there are blue and white porcelains ranging from the Yuan to the end of the Ming period….
    The typical Lung ch’uan and ch’u-chou celadons of the Sung, Yuan and Ming periods abound, bowls and dishes with carved designs or with reliefs of fishes or rosettes, things too well known to call for detailed notice….
    It was only natural that the volume of trade with China should increase in the Ming dynasty…. This is evidenced in Egypt by the large quantity of blue and white porcelain, of which fragments abound not only at Fustat, but all around Cairo.
    â€¦Among the earliest specimens is the bottom of a bowl with the reign-mark of Yung Lo (1403–1424)”—viz Zhu Di. 8
    This extraordinary trade in porcelain and ceramics was lubricated by the Karim. The Karim had their own warehouses ( fonduqs ) stretching from Cairo to India and beyond. They built their own ships and sometimes leased them to others. They also operated as bankers, which proved to be their undoing.
    In 1398 the Karim made a massive loan to the Mamluk sultan, to finance an army to halt Tamburlaine’s march toward Cairo. When the loans were called, the sultan came up short. Al-Ashraf Barsbay nationalized the Nile–Red Sea canal to replenish his coffers, setting the prices at which goods brought through Egypt could be bought and sold. With a single stroke, the security for the Karim’s loans—trade through the canal—unraveled. The Karim were ruined within decades. When China withdrew from the world stage in the 1430s, after Zheng He’s final voyage, Chinese goods came no more.
    Cairo: The Quintessential Timeless Islamic City
    Cairo stands today just as it did in 1433. The fortified city has withstood invaders for five centuries. During the Mongol wars, Saladin’sfortifications provided a refuge for all of Islam, making Cairo a haven not only for the caliph but for philosophers, artists, craftsmen, and teachers as well as hundreds of thousands of ordinary people fleeing Genghis Khan and his successors. Enormous wealth flowed into the city and was deployed on a sumptuous array of mosques, madrassahs, mausoleums, and hospitals. This is the domed medieval Cairo that Zheng He would have found. 9
    At first sight, Islamic towns and cities appear chaotic to Western eyes, with their elaborate, twisting streets leading higgledy-piggledy in all directions. They had, however, a master plan. At “the centre of the Islamic city stands the Friday Mosque; to it and from it everything flows as if it were a heart.” 10 Next to the mosque stands the madrassah, where Islamic law and theology are taught, the forerunner of the Western university. Around mosque and madrassah sprawls the bazaar with its khans and caravanserais where merchants rest, feed their camels, and store their goods in safety.
    Trade and religion go hand in hand under Islam, which affords merchants great prestige (Muhammad was one). The status of the merchant was evidenced by the distance of his shop from the Friday mosque: perfume, spice, and incense shops were nearest, followed by gold merchants and silversmiths. Cobblers were farthest away. Mosque and market were both within easy reach of the caravanserais.
    The central square played host to all manner of entertainment, resounding with the cries of snake charmers, bears, dancers, and storytellers. Radiating outward beyond the bazaar was a jumbled assortment of residential districts