Marco Polo

The Famous Marco Polo

It could be said that in China, everyone knows the name Marco Polo. He’s as well-known in Italy as Confucius is in China. People viewed him as an ambassador of communication between the East and the West. He had a well-muscled body, a lean face, and he had suffered many trials. His eyes were recessed in their sockets and his hair, black. Most Italians have black hair. He’s wearing a red cap, and red clothing, as well as stockings. His book, “The Travels of Marco Polo,” described mystical, affluent, ancient kingdom of the East. It drew the attention of a great deal of Westerners to the mysterious kingdom. After “The Travels of Marco Polo” was published, it spread like wildfire. Although centuries have passed, the charm of “The Travels of Marco Polo” still shine brightly today.

Marco Polo’s story is one that many people can talk a bit about. They know bits and pieces of it. Marco Polo has been called an ambassador of communication between the East and the West. The first original dance drama of the National Centre for the Performing Arts was written based on “The Travels of Marco Polo.” The Marco Polo in this drama is played by Mick Zeni, an Italian ballet performer. He takes on the role of a young Italian in a modern-day world, who dreams that he is transformed into Marco Polo, 700 years ago, as he travels throughout the glory and splendor of ancient China.

Debates regarding Marco Polo and his travels have raged ever since his book was published over 700 years ago. But one of the theories most widely accepted by historians is: Marco Polo was born in 1254 to a family of businessmen in Venice, Italy. When he was 17 years old, Marco Polo went with his father and uncle to the Middle East, where they spent four years. In 1275, they arrived in Shangdu, the summer capital of the Mongolian Empire, where they established a friendship with Kublai Khan then. Marco Polo traveled throughout China for 17 years, and visited many of the ancient Chinese cities, especially favoring the southern regions of China with which he became very familiar.

A Dance Drama about Marco Polo

Marco Polo is familiar, yet a stranger, someone people all know, yet also a very mysterious figure. In the performance at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, this first original performance is inspired by Marco Polo. At first, when the National Centre for the Performing Arts was preparing to create its original dance drama, they had to make many choices regarding their subjects. For example, there were subjects from Beijing, like Wangfujing, or the Forbidden City, or even Dashilan. But later, people found that these things were too local, and people needed to select something more international.

The dance-drama incorporated Eastern and Western cultures; it was put on the stage of the National Centre for the Performing Arts. It would be more meaningful than any ordinary performance. It was also bound to be very interesting. In this performance of “Marco Polo” at first, the main character in the dance drama is a modern young Italian. After he enters the former residence of Marco Polo, he starts flipping through “The Travels of Marco Polo,” and is mysteriously transported into the book. In this fantasy, he wears the mantle of Marco Polo and goes back in time. He goes back 700 years in the past to China, to Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty, in the Nouth of China. There, he has many experiences, the most important of which is an emotional experience.

He falls in love with a Chinese princess, named Cocachin. She was a princess who Kublai Khan married off in the western regions, and on her way there, she was escorted by Marco Polo. As the drama ends, the young man returns to the present. After closing the book, the eastern sun shines on his face, and he decides to go on a trip to China to continue the wonderful dream of Marco Polo.

The Influence of Marco Polo

Marco Polo is the symbol of traveling in a different culture. In the period that he grew up in, he inspired the imaginations of those who loved the culture, and people began to have an “Eastern Dream.” Even over 700 years after his death, he is still a subject for today’s artists. Marco Polo is renowned throughout Italy. So when people mention Marco Polo, they mention the fact that he confidently went abroad to the capital of the Far East, where he made a new life. Therefore, the number of people who are becoming interested in China is rising, and in their minds, they feel a bit like Marco Polo. More and more Italians are becoming more interested in China, especially in the Chinese language.

During the Yuan Dynasty, there wasn’t only Marco Polo who had come to China, there were also many other Italians. There were not only businessmen; there were missionaries and even a few doctors. In Yangzhou, there is a family grave, of father, mother, and daughter, who were all Italian. They came to China as businesspeople. Italy and China have had many exchanges, from the Roman Empire, which was the same time as the Han Dynasty in China, to today, Italy has been the only country in Europe which can claim to have been in contact with China the longest. Italians and the Chinese people have many things in common regarding that aspect.

About “The Travels of Marco Polo”

After returning to Venice, Marco Polo was captured during a naval battle between Venice and Genoa. While in captivity, he recounted his travels to his cellmate, Rustichello da Pisa, who then wrote “The Travels of Marco Polo.” This travel log recorded what Marco Polo witnessed and heard in China, inciting a fervent yearning in Europeans to understand the East. The book greatly affected the opening of new naval routes as well as the Renaissance in Europe. “The Travels of Marco Polo” became the sourcebook for everyone who wanted to know about the mysterious, ancient Eastern nation of China. The cellmate of Marco Polo was a writer of chivalric romance, which is similar to the martial arts adventure stories that young people are familiar with today. He was a writer of those types of stories. However, there are some disputes as to whether Rustichello actually wrote the book himself. Some people say that Rustichello da Pisa only edited the book; while others insist that he just made some improvements to the book so that it could attract a large readership.

In the middle and elementary schools in Italy, textbooks only mentioned Marco Polo a little, and the students think that China is a very mysterious country. People didn’t know anything about the country. Even back then, the Italians wanted to learn more about China. So when “The Travels of Marco Polo” was published, it instantly received wide acclaim throughout the society. During the time, there were many people who suggested changing some of the details, indicating that some had read the book very thoroughly.

After “The Travels of Marco Polo” was published, it spread like wildfire, especially in Marco Polo’s hometown of Venice. The book then spread throughout the surrounding area and all of Europe. In addition, it was translated into many different languages.

At the time, there were a great number of readers, especially in Europe. They weren’t interested in learning about another culture when they read it. Rather, they thought of this book as a literary work or a novel. Therefore, first, the book should be considered a work of popular literature, or something that isn’t strictly academic. Furthermore, the background of this book is worth paying attention to. It was published just before the Renaissance. When the Renaissance began, or right before it began, many people were desperate to break away from the restraints of religions, and usher in a new lifestyle. Second, Europeans wanted to learn about the outside world, so this sort of social atmosphere played an important role in this book gaining popularity. Experts believe that ancient China as described in “The Travels of Marco Polo” is authentic. The book could even supplement some of the historical records about that period of history in China.

Pizza

Rumor has it that Italian noodle Pasta has originated in China. Many Chinese people wonder why the “stuffing” on pizza is put on the outside. Some people say that when Marco Polo came to China, he ate meat pies. Since they were delicious, he went back and told the Italian chefs about these meat pies in China, but he forgot how the stuffing was added. Therefore, he merely baked the pizza with the stuffing on the outside.

Marco’s Travels—True or False

In recent centuries, the academic world has constantly been debating about whether Marco Polo had really been in China. Doubts have arisen continuously, which include:

1. Marco Polo stated that he was a trusted friend of Kublai Khan, and even an official, but there is not a single mention of Marco Polo in Eastern histories.

2. There were some very unique Chinese things which the book failed to mention, like the Great Wall, chopsticks, tea, Chinese medicine (acupuncture), Chinese characters, printing, bound feet, and catching fish with cormorants.

3. The matter of the tribute of trebuchet at Xiangyang mentioned in the book is false. Marco Polo said that he gave the Mongolian army an extremely powerful trebuchet during the Battle of Xiangyang, which brought them victory. However, historical records indicate that the Battle of Xiangyang took place in 1273 before Marco Polo had arrived in China.

4. Many of the names of locations in China in “The Travels of Marco Polo” were written in Persian, so some people theorize that Marco Polo could only have made it to Islamic nations in Central Asia.

It seems that these suspicions have their rationale. The topic of whether or not Marco Polo came to China is still being debated by many scholars. There are all kinds of explanations. However, one of the most significant traces is from the discovery of an edition of “The Travels of Marco Polo” in an Italian library, which was an edition read by Columbus. Columbus once imagined his journey to the west: a trip to the West, and the discovery of a new world, a new land, which might have been inspired by his reading “The Travels of Marco Polo.” Therefore, Marco Polo’s book played a critical part in the discovery of the world, and the advent of the modern world. There is an argument that the Age of Discovery in the 15th century was closely related to “The Travels of Marco Polo.”

It’s said that Marco Polo visited Nanjing. Marco Polo loved southern China. In his book, he said that an area is a place of colorful culture. He also went to Yangzhou as an official, before he went to Hangzhou. According to “The Travels of Marco Polo,” Marco described Hangzhou like this: “Hangzhou is known as the Heavenly City. Business booms and there are 1.6 million abodes”. Here, “abodes” might mean “rooms.”

Over 700 years have passed since this book was published, and there have always been various opinions. Some mainstream Western media outlets have discussed and disputed over many issues regarding Marco Polo. But as for these opinions, there are some answers. For example, as to the question of why there is no record of him being an official in the Yuan Dynasty. Historians say that this might be him embellishing the story. He wasn’t an official. He was a trader and explorer which was just someone who provided loans to the Mongolian elites or helped them purchase things, and obtain information, or helped them supervise some things.

As we all know, Polo was the Italian ambassador to the Chinese capital. Technically speaking, he was a commercial representative. He did go to Yangzhou. And when he went to Yangzhou, according to the policies at the time, the things that he did would not be recorded in history books if he were sent by the emperor, or if he were a trusted aide. Also, there were indeed some embellishments in the novel. For example, the donation of a trebuchet at Xiangyang, which he told others was his own doing, was in fact done by other people. When Xiangyang was being attacked, Marco Polo was still on the way. He didn’t arrive there until two years later, so there’s no way he could have done that. However, from another perspective, this proves that the attack of Xiangyang was an event of great significance at that time.

At that time, many people were talking about the battle in Xiangyang, including the details of the donation of a trebuchet. When Marco Polo went back to Italy, he chatted with others about the trebuchet. He might have bragged about it and said that he was responsible. People would easily believe his story because he was the only one who has gone to China.

However, many Italians today do not care whether Marco Polo existed. They think that he is just a symbolic character encouraging the Italian people to learn about the East.

The Significance of the Book

In his book, Marco Polo went into great detail about China. The language he used was the language Italians used back then. But there were some descriptions of Hangzhou and Yangzhou and the Grand Canal, which were clearly written in a modern style. Some historical descriptions are not only authentic but could even add to some of the things historians lack for that period of history. For example, if someone hadn’t come to China, even if what they wrote was hearsay, and they fabricated the entire thing, there were some historical facts that they definitely wouldn’t be able to fabricate without having experienced it or witnessed it firsthand.

For example, Marco Polo went with Kublai Khan on a campaign to quell a rebellion by a Mongolian noble. He took part in this campaign personally. After it ended, he described the manner of the campaign, what sort of rewards they had for outstanding officials in battle, what sort of gold medals they had, and silver medals, and even what kind of umbrellas they carried in meticulous detail. If he had only heard of the events as rumors or hadn’t been to China, then they're certainly wouldn’t have been those descriptions. But some people guessed that he might have made reference to historical records.

A more common theory is that he referred to a Persian trading guide or traveler’s handbook at the time. But there is not a single traveler’s handbook that can describe the war in such detail, or that can describe which day they left, and how many days they walked, or how many lions are on the Lugon Bridge, and the appearance of the stone and rail between each lion. Many historians believe that Marco Polo couldn’t speak Chinese at all. He lived in the Mongolian courts, and they had to speak Mongolian there. Persian was also popular at the time, as well as for Turkic. Marco Polo might have been able to speak all of these, but it was extremely likely that he couldn’t understand Chinese, so he never mentioned Chinese characters. He might not have been able to use chopsticks, because the Mongolian nobles preferred to eat with their hands or with knives. They didn’t use chopsticks.

Controversies around Marco Polo

In the Yuan Dynasty, the Great Wall wasn’t as well-constructed as in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Also, the Great Wall was used to defend against the Mongolians. So there are people who questioned Marco Polo’s description of the Great Wall. The same doubt is voiced regarding his descriptions of the bound feet of women, and cormorants catching fish. He didn’t write about cormorants catching fish, but he wrote about many other strange, wonderful creatures.

For example, when he went to the southwestern region of China, he said that there was a type of dog which was as big as a donkey. This dog could hunt boars and be fiercer than tigers or lions. People later are curious about the type of this dog. Also, he didn’t write about women’s bound feet. Some westerners found historical documents from his book, in which he said that there was a woman whose walk was very attractive, that he’d never seen such light steps. That might be about bound feet. Also, back then, women weren’t as fashionable as we are now. Women had to wear skirts and hide their feet.

Summary

The question of whether Marco Polo had been in China may never be answered. However, in the world today, it is very important for us to begin a new age of Marco Polo, to promote integration, exchange, understanding and peaceful development between China and the world. Over 700 years have passed from the creation of “The Travels of Marco Polo” to this day. The main thing people need to understand is that it depicts a world that was completely different from today’s world. However, when engaging in cultural exchanges, we should remember that the rules do not change. After a close examination of the book, one would find that: First, Marco Polo was a very meticulous man; second, he was not an intellectual, yet he was able to record all of the things he saw and heard.

Many Westerners nowadays might have some negative opinions about China. But in most cases, those who criticize China actually have never come to China. Most of them learn about China through TV and the Internet. If they can sit down and read and understand “The Travels of Marco Polo”, or if they follow Marco Polo’s footsteps and come to China, they will be singing a different tune, and formulate their own opinions about China.