Chinese expeditions to the Sinhala Kingdom
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. The Mongol Yuan Empire dispatched an expedition in 1284 to Sri Lanka. Kublai Khan ordered the voyage with the objective of seizing the tooth of Buddha, one of the most holy relics of Buddhism. Aboard this fleet was an official representative of Kublai, Marco Polo. In 1293, another fleet of the Yuan Empire including Marco Polo visited Sri Lanka on its way to Persia.
In 1411, the Chinese Ming Empire sent an expedition under Zheng He to Sri Lanka, which waged a war for the tooth of Buddha.
