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Marco Polo's Travels to China
Home » China » Beijing - History and Overview » Marco Polo's Travels to ChinaMuch of what is known about Beijing’s early history is derived from the writings of Marco Polo. He was a trader and explorer from Venice who, along with his father and uncle, was one of the first Westerners to visit China (which he called “Cathay”). When they returned in 1295, Marco Polo published Il Milione, a book documenting his travels. His stories fascinated Europeans and provided the only tangible information about the mysterious foreign lands of China and Mongolia.
Later history began to question whether Marco Polo’s journeys had in fact ever taken place. Legend says he confessed on his deathbed to never having made many of the journeys he wrote about, instead compiling the information from others and presenting it as his own. Doubt surfaced because of his glaring omission of basic facts about Chinese culture, such as the use of chopsticks and the drinking of tea. To this day, historians debate how much of his documentation was from personal experience.
Despite the controversy, Marco Polo is responsible, in one way or the other, for introducing Chinese culture to the Western world. Among other things he brought their noodles back to Venice, where they were called spaghetti. Christopher Columbus was greatly inspired by Marco Polo’s journeys, and his discovery of America was a by-product of his efforts to find a western route to Marco Polo’s eastern destinations.
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