Cherokee term for 'china clay'

[A.W. Tüting]

Hello experts,

a Chinese friend of mine, Dr. Siu-Leung Lee, is doing research on the 
topic of pre-columbian Sino-American contacts (Zheng He) and only 
recently had a series of press conference and lectures about Zheng He 
and America on his tour in Hongkong. He owns a Chinese medal unearthed 
in the East Coast area (former Cherokee/Catawba territory) and is 
reflecting about linguistic relationship of the term for 'china clay' 
in former southern Chinese and the Native American languages 
respectively.
Here's what he is stating:

"The most fascinating fact is the Cherokee term for  china clay is 
“unaker”, similar to what Chinese call  堊泥 “uk-na[ke]” in  southern 
dialect. Is it a coincidence?   This happened before the arrival of the 
Europeans.   The Chinese name uk-nake was used up to Ming dynasty.   It 
was later replaced by other terms like china clay and kaolin.   A 
Jingdezhen porcelain expert said that Zheng He might have brought  the 
clay bricks (petuntse or baidunzi) along with the porcelain gifts 
(...)"

I'm quite skeptical and would like to hear your opinions on this issue 
as far as linguistic aspects are involved.

Here's the link to further details: http://www.asiawind.com/zhenghe/

Thank's in advance!

Alfred 
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