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Bridgewater Review

Volume 33 | Issue 2 Article 9

Nov-2014 : Pioneer of East-West Communication, Transportation and Trade Chien Wen Yu Bridgewater State University, [email protected]

Recommended Citation Yu, Chien Wen (2014). Marco Polo: Pioneer of East-West Communication, Transportation and Trade. Bridgewater Review, 33(2), 28-30. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol33/iss2/9

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. was very pleased with the holy oil Marco Polo: Pioneer of East-West that they had brought. In 1277, Marco Polo was appointed an official of the Communication, Transportation Privy Council by and served as a tax inspector for three years and Trade in the City of . Chien Wen Yu Staying and doing business in for 17 years, the Polos acquired escription of the World or, more commonly, a wealth of jewels and gold, but they The Travels of Marco Polo was the most influ­ were anxious to go home. Kublai reluctantly let them go in return for ential travelogue concerning in the escorting Mongol princess Kokachin so D thirteenthcentury. Today, there exist more than 130 that she could marry the Persian prince, . The sea journey took two versions of the book. Though scholars have examined years; they passed through the South many aspects of The Travels of Marco Polo, few have China Sea to and crossed studied closely what it tells us about the origins of the Indian Ocean for a final landing in Hormuz. The Polos arrived back East-West communi­cation and culture. The Travels is in in 1295 by way of Persia, a popular text in China, but it is controversial in the and the . West. Though many skeptics question the authenticity The Travels of Marco Polo of Polo’s account, the work that scholars (members and Controversies of my family and myself included) have done over The Travels of Marco Polo is a detailed many years translating and writing about Marco Polo account of his travels to China and neighboring countries in central, proves that his coming to China contributed greatly west and southeast Asia, using first- to the advance of East-West communication, cultural hand information. The book is of high academic and historical value exchange, transportation, and trade. since there were no annals in China The Life of Marco Polo and to record the historical facts of that period. The document is divided into His Journey to China four volumes. The first volume pro- Marco Polo was born to a merchant vides an account of what the Polos saw family on the Venetian island of and heard on their way to China. The Curzola (present-day Korcula, ) second volume records the society of in 1254. When he was six years old, early Yuan Empire including political his father (Niccolo Polo) and his uncle affairs, wars, secrets of the royal court, (Maffeo Polo) made their first trip to exotic customs, and economic pros- China. When Marco was 17, Nicolo perity of such cities as Dadu (), and Maffeo took him with them on (), and Xingzai their second trip to China. From (). The third volume depicts Venice, they entered the Mediterranean the conditions of the neighboring Sea, crossed the Black Sea, and arrived Marco Polo (1254-1324). Engraving by Gaetano countries to the southeast of China. Bonutti after a painting by the Venetian School. in the ancient city of in the (Photo credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images) The final volume describes the wars Middle East. There they were robbed between the Khans and the political by pirates, which dissuaded them from Afghanistan, before they arrived in situation in northern Asia. Of the four travelling any further by sea. Instead, the empire of the Mongol Great Khan. volumes, the second volume stands out they took a land route to China. Riding In May 1275, Kublai Khan invited because it is written from the perspec- on horseback, they overcame obstacles the Polos to his residence where they tive of Marco’s personal experiences in and went over the presented him the privileges and letters China and it is considered by many to passing through Armenia, Persia and that the Pope of Rome had sent. Great be the best part.

28 Bridgewater Review Today, there are two schools among the clear. For Marco Polo, the practice scholars of Marco Polo, and they have of foot-binding for women was rare, formed opposing views. One side, the especially in the Mongol area. Mongol Believers, affirm that Marco Polo went nomads practically lived on horseback; to China, while Skeptics doubt that he it would have been difficult for bound- went. Supporters are represented by foot women to function. The Great scholars such as Tübingen University Wall was built in the professor Hans Ulrich Vogel, British after the Yuan Empire and Marco Polo’s diplomat and Polo biographer Maurice travels. A Venetian, Marco Polo did Collis, and Chinese scholars such as not know or learn any Chinese, nor did Zhijiu Yang and Shixiong Yu. Skeptics he know how to use Chinese writing are represented by Frances Wood, brushes or . Therefore, there Head of the Chinese Collection at the was no mention of British Library, and Professor Craig or chopsticks. Finally, the Mongols Clunas from University of London. did not drink the regular Chinese , Best known for her book Did Marco which is brewed from tea leaves, and Polo Go to China?, Wood argues that so Chinese tea is, naturally, never Marco Polo didn’t, and that The Travels mentioned. In short, skeptics’ questions was merely a travel guide containing are easily answered and the believers’ A page from The Travels of Marco Polo by second-hand tales. Rustichello da Pisa and Marco Polo, c 1300 case is sustained. (Source: Wikipedia) Marco Polo’s Stories and Contribution to East- Today, there are two schools West Communication and Culture among the scholars of Marco Polo, Marco Polo’s description of Chinese and they have formed opposing food and drink still plays an important part in our understanding of the origins views. One side, the Believers, of East-West communication and cultural exchange. The foods he men- affirm that Marco Polo went tions include rice, noodles, the meat of birds, and the meat of domesticated and to China, while Skeptics doubt wild animals. In terms of drink, there is mare’s (horse) milk, camel milk, that he went. grape wine and rice wine. Horse milk is a Mongolian drink that many claim tastes as good as wine. According to In the fourteenth century, the book Rustichello wrote down only what he Marco Polo’s account, the Great Khans spread throughout Europe in manu- was interested in. And here is the root raised thousands of white horses, and script form, popularly circulated of the controversy. only Kublai Khan and his immediate and copied by hand. Two years after The historical debate about the verac- family had the privilege of being served Marco Polo returned from China, a ity of The Travels focuses on what is (or of this kind of drink. In addition to war started between the city states of seems to some to be) missing from the mare’s milk, camel’s milk was a favorite Venice and . During the Battle book. Why does the book contain no drink because it was reportedly tasty of Curzola (1298), Marco Polo was references to quintessential Chinese and good for promoting the health of captured and put into jail as a prisoner cultural practices and symbols, such as the whole body and strengthening of war. He spent several months of his foot-binding among Chinese women, will power. imprisonment dictating his travels to a the Great Wall, Chinese characters or fellow inmate and writer, Rustichello Polo also wrote about grape and wine chopsticks, or even Chinese tea? The de Pisa. Interpreting Marco Polo’s production in Taiyuan of Shangxi. answers to those questions are pretty stories and incorporating his own ideas, Wine was believed to stave off hunger

November 2014 29 and promote health. As Marco Polo The Polos were adventurous merchants told it, in the Yuan Empire wine was from Venice and went to the East to to be used as the only offering made in seek spices, silk and jewelries. Marco imperial ancestral temples. In Qidan, Polo was drawn to the powerful Yuan he observed, residents drank a wine Empire and the prosperity of its econ- made of rice, spice and Chinese medici- omy and trade. Regarding the mon- nal materials. In the , etary system, he gave a detailed account Chinese medicinal materials were of paper money, its money circulation infused in distilled wine liquor to make and manufacturing process. Lugou Bridge (also known as Marco Polo Chinese Wolfberry Wine, Radices Bridge), built of stone with 24 arches and Under the rule of the Yuan Empire, Rehmanniae Wine, Tiger Bone Wine supported by 25 piers (Author’s photo) paper money was used by government and Poria Cocos Wine. The Chinese officials and ordinary citizens. In Dadu, medicinal wines that spread to the Marco Polo was impressed with the refusing to accept it as payment was West are still popular today. All of efficient transportation and communi- punishable by death. Even the foreign this can be attributed to Marco Polo. cation system in the Mongol Empire. merchants who came with silver, gold, Finally, the eating of noodles was The Travels of Marco Polo describes precious stones and leather to the Yuan brought to the West by Polo. The extra another important feature of east-west Empire had to accept the paper money thin noodles that came from China transportation: the world-famous and take it for payment. Despite this to become famous in Venice as Lugou Bridge (which Marco Polo threat, the use of paper money for trade “Marco Polo Noodles.” called the Bridge of Pulisangan). was recognized by many in Polo’s time Marco Polo’s Stories and Appointed by the Great Khan as his and since as so much more convenient ambassador to the West, Marco left Their Contribution to East- and efficient than bartering with goods Khan-balik (Beijing), crossing the for goods. It signified the progress of West Transportation handsome bridge of stone built with the Yuan Empire, but it also reflects the As Marco Polo described it, the Yuan 24 arches and 25 piers. Lugou Bridge acumen the Marco Polo possessed as a Empire was a vast territory that was was a strategic point of transportation, businessman and an objective observer, remarkably well connected. Across the crossing as it did Polisangan River, and a conduit for connecting ideas, Empire were hundreds of communica- which flowed into the ocean and was practices and cultures of the East and tions posts where horses and couriers navigated by many vessels with consid- the West. were stationed. In all, about 200,000 erable quantities of merchandise. Since horses were kept and a system of town- Marco was the first westerner to cross to-town messengers was put in place the bridge and introduce the bridge for this purpose. Some messengers to the West, many westerners call it traveled 250 or 300 miles in a day. “.” The Travels of Marco Polo expanded the worldview of both his contemporar- ies and European explorers who came after his time. Some famous world maps were made using information pro- vided by Marco Polo, and The Travels of Marco Polo contributed to the expan- sion of shipping ventures and business. After reading The Travels, Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama (1460-1524) and Italian mariner Christopher Chien Wen Yu is Assistant Professor in the Columbus (1451-1506) each became Department of Management. interested in the East, envisioned Chinese prosperity and civilization, and explored the East in a way that pro- Sculpture of Marco Polo on campus of Beijing Foreign Studies University (Author’s photo) moted the East-West cultural exchange, transportation and trade.

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