Marco Polo Comes to China

Marco Polo (1254–1324) was a Venetian from a merchant family. His father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo had earlier visited the Mongols, met Kublai Khan and been entrusted with a letter to the Pope. In 1271 the seventeen-year-old Marco set out from Venice with them along the Silk Road; after more than three years they reached the Yuan summer capital Shangdu in 1275 and were received by Kublai Khan. Clever and eager to learn, Marco quickly picked up Mongolian and other languages, won Kublai's trust and lived in Yuan China for 17 years, undertaking missions to various regions. In 1291 the Polo family was ordered to escort the Yuan princess Kokachin to her marriage in the Ilkhanate; they sailed from Quanzhou and Marco returned to Venice in 1295. Later, captured in a war between Venice and Genoa, he dictated his account of the East in prison, and a fellow prisoner, the writer Rustichello, wrote it down, producing The Travels of Marco Polo. The book describes the prosperity of cities such as Dadu, Hangzhou and Quanzhou, introduces paper money and coal, calls Hangzhou the "City of Heaven" and Quanzhou one of the world's largest ports, reflecting China's wealth and advancement. It circulated widely in Europe and stirred great longing for the Eastern world, and had some influence on the later opening of new sea routes. Some scholars question whether he actually reached China, but most hold that much of what the book records matches Chinese sources and that he did come.