These gigantic cantilevered fishing nets, called locally 'Cheena Vala,' are supposed to have been introduced to Kochi coasts by Kublai Khan's palace tradesmen sometime between 1350 and 1450, however, some suggest they were transferred by Chinese explorer Zhang He. The nets, according to some accounts, were set up by Portuguese from Macau, a former Portuguese colony. Regardless of who brought them initially, they are one of the most visible symbols of the enormous flow of culture and ideas that existed on the Indian subcontinent at the time.