Marco Polo

Marco Polo was an Italian tourist and business in the 13th century. He travelled in China for 17 years. Afterwards the Travels of Marco Polo dictated by him and wrote by another man stimulated the Europeans’ eager for the east.

In 1254 Marco Polo was born in Venice where all people were explorers. In the summer of 1271, Marco Polo at the age of 17 marched to the east with his father and uncle.

Marco Polo traveled to both sides of the Yangtze River in the Yuan Dynasty, and observed the society and politics in the east. He also carefully studied urban structure, population and commerce in the Capital Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty. Besides, he recorded the courier station system and paper currency making process, and provides rich materials for later generations to study the Yuan Dynasty.

After returning to his motherland, Marco Polo dictated and asked another man to write the Travels of Marco Polo. After completion, the book was questioned immediately because at in Europe at that time no one believed the wonderful stories mentioned in the book. It was not until the death of Marco Polo that people gradually realized the important value of The Travels of Marco Polo: the book was an encyclopedia about the east and the Silk Road in the 13th century.

Marco Polo shrank the world by chance through a long journey stretching across Eurasia and a wonderful but as if unlikely travel note.