the urge and need of chinese people to communicate with the outside world resembled that of foreigners who wanted to learn about china just as much. an italian named marco polo allowed the europe-ans to see the prosperity of the eastern empire and thus was hailed as a westerner who opened a new era of sino-western exchanges. more than 700 years ago, marco polo departed from ven and came to the east along the land silk road. it took him four years to pass through mesopo-tamia, the iranian plateau, and the pamirs, and finally arrive at dadu (now beijing) of the yuan dynasty in 1275 ad. he set off from quanzhou and returned to ven via the maritime silk road after traveling in chi-na for 17 years.
ⅰ. the life of marco polo
marco polo (1254-1324 ad) was born to a merchant family in ven. his father and uncle were both merchants. it was said that mar-co polo traveled to china with his father and uncle at the age of 17, and the trip lasted for about four years before his arrival in the capital of the yuan dynasty in 1275, where he established friendship with kublai, then emperor of yuan. he traveled in china for 17 years and visited many ancient cities as far as southeast china and yunnan in the southwest.
shortly after returning to his hometown around 1296, marco polo partook in a sea battle of ven against genoa and was captured and imprisoned. in the genoese prison, he collaborated with an inmate called rustichello da pisa, a knight literary writer in pisa city. marco polo had materials and rich experiences about the east while rustichello had writ-ing skills, so they would in time come to record marco polo’s journeys and thus completed the book the travels of marco polo(il milione)in 1298. in the summer of the same year, marco polo was released and returned to his hometown after the negotiation between ven and genoa. how-ever, whether marco polo had been to china or not remains controver-sial among historians both in china and the west, and none of them has sufficient evidence to prove it.
ⅱ. the travels of marco polo
although we generally call the book the travels of marco polo(also named the traveling records of marco polo),it has in fact many transcripts and printed copies with different names: the traveling records of marco polo was titled the description of the world or the record of travelling the world in the earliest copies while called il milione in italy,marco polo’s motherland.
the travels of marco polo is a documentary of marco polo’s travels in china, as well as the situation in some countries and regions in west asia, central asia and southeast asia that marco polo passed by. the book is divided into four neat and clear parts:
the first part records merely the family history of marco polo, why he came to china, and what marco polo, his father, and uncle encoun-tered on their way from their home in ven to shangdu - the summer capital of the yuan dynasty (now in the zhenglan banner of xilin gol league, inner mongolia). many sections of the route they traveled be-long to the silk road.
the second part records the appearance and the family of khan kublai, the capital, the palace, the ordinary life, the festivals, the safaris, and the wars of the yuan dynasty, as well as the government depart-ments, the post house system and transportation, economy and trade, social affairs, ethnic relations and so on. it goes on to introduce two routes of marco polo’s travels in china: the southwestward route begins with dadu and stretches to myanmar through hebei, shanxi, shaanxi, sichuan, yunnan; the other one goes along the beijing-hangzhou grand canal to hangzhou, and then southeastward to quanzhou of fujian and other places.
the third part records areas outside china, including japan, viet-nam, east india, south india, west asia, and northeast africa.
the fourth part mainly narrates the war between the mongolian imperial princes. it also records the cold northern zone of the eurasian continent (now russia).
in general, the book involves a great variety of topics such as mountains and rivers, natural resources, climate, commerce, residents, so-cial life, religious beliefs, customs, and so forth, as well as political events, institutions and regulations, and anecdotes. the book deserves the rep-utation as the encyclopedia of societies in west asia, central asia east asia, south asia, and northeast africa in the 13th and 14th centuries, ex-posing almost all the geographical world known to the eurasian residents at that time.
the book was the first detailed travelogue written by a european about chinese history, culture and art. for the first time, it comprehen-sively introduced the advanced material and cultural achievements of china to europeans in a way never heard before. it ed the world the image of china as a vast territory with abundant resources, advanced culture, and education.
the loopholes and fallacies in the book cause some people to rashly think the book as a pure fabrication as china is described in the book as a place impossible to reach. despite this, we cannot deny the positive role of this legendary figure and his work in history studies, literary, and cultural exchanges between china and the west.
the information and communication between the east and the west had been greatly restricted before the age of discovery due to the inconvenient transportation, the long distance, and the ers between western europe and the east. since their contact with the east was mainly based on the silk road, western europeans heard of the exis-tence of india and china, but very few of them actually reached these places and thus their understanding of the economic situation in the east and even the world was mainly based on ancient greek books, rumors, and hearsay of the envoys and missionaries sent by the pope and arab merchants. the east was a mysterious and distant land in their opinion. marco polo’s book describes china as an incredible “land of richness”, and the east asia or even the entire east as a developed and strong cul-ture with unprecedented prosperity and full of gold and sps. reaching the east meant limitless business profits.
“the travels of marco polo certainly broadened the geographical and spiritual vision of europe, aroused an oriental fever, inspired the euro-peans’ oriental complex for centuries, and played an important role in the promotion of the navigation industry in europe in the 15th century. many people began to flock to learn from the east, and europe had un-dergone earth-shaking changes. many of the most valuable maps of the middle age were made with reference to the book. many great naviga-tors, sailing and exploring the world, were stimulated and inspired after hearing about marco polo’s travels. this book became a guide for many europeans to venture to asia and it aroused their passionate yearning for the east. in order to find china where gold was everywhere, the euro-peans began their maritime exploration after the land silk road was con-trolled by the ottoman empire and the arabs.