The Travels of Marco Polo and the Prosperity of the Yuan Dynasty
Marco Polo left Venice for the East in the year1271.During the war between Venice andGenoa in 1298，Marco Polo was caught and put to prison，where he dictated his travels in the East and a writer named Rustigielo in the same cell put down in writing.The notes was later titled Travels in the East，also named the Travels of Marco Polo.
Marco Polo arrived in the capital of Yuan, Dadu（Beijing），in 1275 and traveled for 17 years in China.He was appointed as government official by Kublai Khan and participated in governmental affairs.He had traveled to many parts of China including the North，the Northwest, the Southwest, and the East. In his travels，Marco Polo recorded the political and social situations，customs and religion，products and anecdotes of China and other Asian countries.His writing was direct and vividly interesting.It served as a window for the occidental to know China.Writings about China constitutes about one third of the whole work.Prosperous life in Dadu and Yangzhou was depicted in details in his recording.He portrayed the composition of the city of Beijing，the palace architecture，the festival ceremonies of the Emperor，and hunting activities.He was especially passionate towards the beautiful Hangzhou.There were1.6 million houses in the streets of Hangzhou.The banks along the canal were elegant.There were many canals and ditches，and the water system was very convenient.There were 3，000 bathing ponds.The residents loved cold baths，but they treated the foreigners well by serving them with hot baths.Marco Polo also recorded his travels in the backland of China.The dignified quality of theChinese was put in action when they rather be killed than be humiliated.Many powerless people hanged themselves in front of the wealthy officials’houses for dignity purpose.After someone’s death，his family will make paper figures，paper horses，and paper money according to the custom. There was a great deal of poison grass at the suburb of Suzhou，Gansu.Thousands of horses were poisoned by the grass.Sichuan people collected muskiness under the belly of muskdeer.He also recorded about beautiful concubines and the method to test if the bride was a virgin by pigeon eggs，etc.
Marco Molo was not a writer who only recorded the good side of the Yuan Dynasty.He had also honestly depicted racism in persecution in his work.He recorded the relentlessness of the Mongolians who slaughtered twenty thousand disobedient residents on the way when the corpse of Genghis Khan was escorted back home.The government official of Kublai Khan，Ahmad，clawed money from the people and tyrannized the Han people.He was later killed by revolting Han people. When Mongolians invaded the south of China，they massacred towns of people.The Han residents were extremely hostile towards the Mongolians and the Yuanregime. The residents of Changzhou placed wine jars outside of the town when the Mongolians attacked.The Mongolians were fuddled and massacred the whole town when they awoke.
In 1289，Kublai sent Marco Polo to escort Princess Kukachin to Il Khanate（now Iran）to marry akhan.Marco Polo set out with 14 giant ships in the spring of 1291.They departed from Quanzhou and arrived at Persia via Sumatra and India.
