| Do you believe that Marco Polo travelled the whole of China in 14th Century? | |
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| Nov 2, 2007 04:18 |   |
 | Marco Polo is probably the greatest travellers in the history. and the most prestigious Westerner traveled on the Silk Road. No other travellers could match him in his determination, his writing, and his influence. He had unclenched wanderlust. "His journey through Asia lasted 24 years. He reached further than any of his predecessors, beyond Mongolia to China. He became a confidant of Kublai Khan (1214-1294)." He traveled the whole of China and returned to tell the tale, which became the greatest travelogue. Marco Polo has a travelled heart. He made his way from Italy to China in the 14th century and taken discoveries including gunpowders to the West. Marco Polo was probably the first and foremost travel ambassador between the East and the West. He travelled the whole of China relying on the backward means of transportation. There were no bicycle, no bus, not to mention train and plane. He never enjoy "a hard seat' or "a soft seat" not speak of Sleeper. His spirit of adventure was unmatched. Marcio Pole is an "evergreen" role model for travellers. He deserves much credit for his great journey. |
| Nov 2, 2007 04:41 | #1 |
| And Leonardo, He also brought back noodles to Italy, better known in the West as spaghetti. Italian restaurants have been making a living off of it ever since. He also introduced silk to the Western market along with porcelain. As Italy was not one country but many different Principalities he was not an Italian but from Genoa. Dodger. |
| Nov 2, 2007 05:15 | #2 |
| Dodger, do you think he had a mint ( with a hole in it ) named after him? he he Alan. |
| Nov 2, 2007 06:27 | #3 |
| Alan, LOL, I still remember the song. Now, get back to work..ha Dodger. |
| Nov 2, 2007 07:48 | #4 |
| Also I wonder if the saying "used his noodle" came from him? just athought like. Alan. OK, I will go back to work, he he |
| Nov 2, 2007 14:51 | #5 |
| Did you read his book? I read a magazine article (outpost.ca) written by a Canadian woman who bicycled across part of Tibet along the path of Marco Polo's travels. She had read "The Travels of Marco Polo" (his memoir) and her journey was inspired by his journey along the Silk Road. The Travels of Marco Polo is said to be a very dry book though, even though what he did was brilliant. |
| Nov 3, 2007 02:40 | #6 |
| Marco Polo made his travels 13th century. He arrived 1295 back to Venice. Yes, he was Venetian, athough he spent some time in Genoa as a prisoner of war after a sea battle between Venice and Genoa. In fact, Marco Polo wrote his book in prison. Well, he had a "ghost writer", Rustichello da Pisa, who booked up Polo´s stories. Venice international airport is named after him: Aeroporto di Venezia Marco Polo. From his time in China, there is much Chinese written documents. None of them mention Marco Polo. His high position as a friend of Kublai Khan is widely questioned because of that. As well as his part of bringing noodles or other things to Europe for first time. Some has said he was not in China at all, because in his book does not exist for example The Great Wall, chopsticks, daily tea drinking and many other Chinese cultural things. Because Marco Polo was the one that wrote about those travels, his father, Niccolò and his uncle, Matteo have been almost forgotten. They made a travel to China before, and apparently met Kublai Khan. They returned to China 1271 with Marco, who then was 17 years old. Leonardo, before this thread I would have believed in Marco Polo´s stories, but after doing some research, I am not so sure any more. Knowledge increases pain, heh. Carlos |
| Nov 5, 2007 20:48 | #7 |
| CHYNAGYRL , I have only read a little fraction of his travelogue. Just as you said, the book was a little bit dry. However, it contains kind of encyclopedia knowledge. His account of the Mongol's life is quite insteresting. In his book, Marco Polo described the Mongol's life in a detailed way including his friendship with Kublai Khan and his observation of the East Civilization from a westerner's persperctive. Anyway, the book was worth reading , but it needs some patience. |
| Nov 5, 2007 21:19 | #8 |
| Quote: "Leonardo, before this thread I would have believed in Marco Polo´s stories, but after doing some research, I am not so sure any more. Knowledge increases pain, heh" CARLOS , You are right. "Knowledge increases pain." Yeah, there are a lot of controversies about Marco Polo and his travelogue. I also did some research. Here, I want to share the knowledge with you: "Many people took his accounts with a grain of salt and some skeptics question the authenticity of his account. Many of his stories have been considered as fairytales: the strange oil in Baku and the monstrous birds which dropped elephants from a height and devoured their broken carcasses. His Travels made no mention about the Great Wall. While traveled extensively in China, Marco Polo never learned the Chinese language nor mentioned a number of articles which are part of everyday life, such as women's foot-binding, calligraphy, or tea. In additional, Marco Polo's name was never occurred in the Annals of the Empire (Yuan Shih), which recorded the names of foreign visitors far less important and illustrious than the three Venetians. So did Marco Polo ever go to China? " We are not sure what Marco Polo has wrote in his travel journals is reliable or not. I am also doubtful and a little bit disappointed. Personally, I hope his travelogue is not a fiction but a reliable record of his travel experiences. Hopefully, the archeologists would provide more reliable evidences in the near future. According to the research, the reasons for Marco Polo's return to the West are also controvesial. Some people said that Marco Polo was actually amazed at the splend of the Eastern civilization and was reluctant to return to the West; while some others insisted that Marco Polo came back to his country to spread the eastern civilization. Here is Marco Polo' own words about his return to the West: " I believe it was God's will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world, since, as we have said in the first chapter of this book, no other man, Christian or Saracen, Mongol or pagan, has explored so much of the world as Messer Marco, son of Messer Niccolo Polo, great and noble citizen of the city of Venice." |
| Nov 5, 2007 21:37 | #9 |
| i think that's quite 'universal' across time that, in this part of the world, many expats have problems of moving back home from Asia |
| Nov 5, 2007 22:00 | #10 |
| GUEST79176 | this is a very interesting topic. thank you all for sharing. is it possible that Marco Polo didn't have a perfect memory? He wrote his memoirs a number of years after returning to Venice, and he was in jail too at the time he dictated to his friend. People can forget things and also embellish stories to fill gaps they can't quite remember. |
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