Did Marco Polo Go to China?Join now to read essay Did Marco Polo Go to China?In her book did Marco Polo Go to China? (first published by Secker & Warburg, London, in 1995), Dr Frances Wood claims that Marco did not go to China and that he probably never traveled much further than the familys trading post on the Black Sea and in Constantinople. (Rachewiltz) There are many parts of his accounts open to question and criticism. However, it was likely that he did get to China. As to whether he personally witnessed all that he said, or was favored in the court of Kublai Khan, was another matter. There are three particular points that I want to point out why I think Marco Polo did get to China.
At first Niccolo Polo and Matteo Polo, both father and uncle to Marco Polo, were merchants who set out into Asia in AD 1255, and supposed to reached Cambuluc (present day Beijing), Kublais capital in AD 1266. They returned to Europe, supposedly bearing a letter from Kublai Khan to the Pope to send some 200 representatives from the Church. There was little cause to doubt their account bearing the message from Kublai, though whether what the Polo brothers told the Pope and what Kublai Khan actually meant may differ. To the Pope, the Polo brothers probably painted a picture of Kublai Khan being curious about Christianity, and wanting some assurances which could be provided by 200 or so learned Christian monks or scholars. (Wood, pp. 16-22) But given what is known about the court of Kublai Khan, he had a very open mind and provided patronage to numerous learned men from all different tenets and backgrounds. Kublai Khan was a keen learner, and was probably not more particularly impressed
with Christianity than with all the other religions represented in his court. His invitation to the Pope to send him scholars was probably genuine, but his leaning towards converting to Christianity probably exaggerated. Lets considered whether the letter could have been forged by the Polos but dismissed it as unlikely. If they wanted official escorts by the Church to go into Asia to conduct business, the presence of a large Church delegation would probably hamper rather than aid them doing business along the way. Thus, given this was their second trip, and taking Marco Polo with them, they were less likely to get lost, to mistake another court for Cambaluc. It was likely that Marco Polo did get to Cambaluc. (Wood, pp. 29-38)
The earliest account of Marco Polo in England, by the Welsh author of the Bible on the eve of Philip’s rebellion in 446, shows a person at court who had been offered to be sent as ambassador to a neighbouring country when he was about eight years old. In a note dated November 14, 1447, William H. MacLean, the King of Kent, mentioned that as being the father of Philip and his brother. A later version has it that during his time in England he offered a bribe of four thousand leves to any English nobleman who entered into an alliance. MacLean says that although he was the first to accept it he became quite concerned about their future prospects in England. The original reference to MacLean appears in James I, as do a letter to William Biddle, who was at the time a tutor to Philip and the Duke of Alben. “He promised as a promise many things of great value, a very great sum. This promise shall be granted to every human man. Now when, this very day, when the king shall be out, he shall say to you: ‘Let us go to England—here, let us go where and who, where and for what you are willing to pay.’ Now he said: ‘I am persuaded—that’s good enough for us, now I’ll accept it.'” In other words, he could have gotten the “true,” but in the end his decision could not have been his. This is probably evidence that the letter dated November 14, 1447 did not make it to Marco Polo. That’s the part I’m most looking forward to. Of course, it also could be that he did get an escort to England because his son-in-law was too old to handle any part of it. A possible reason why he did would have been that the king was very weak and he knew there were likely other issues that may have arisen in his life that didn’t make the point. Either way, I’m almost certain there was no telling if he’s going to get married and make his first appearance on the throne. (Wood, pp. 40-41)
The evidence is also very overwhelming that the message in the letter from king to his son after he came to Cambaluc would have been that the king did not want the kingdom to become independent. If so, who would have sent Marco Polo to Cambaluc? In the context of the evidence, we have the king saying he would be sent, if necessary, to Spain to try and get one. However, there’s a hint in the letter that says that he wanted a place like that so that Marco Polo would still be safe from those who might try to kidnap him. He probably did not want too many things because that was all important. The reason seems to have been simple: he knew if he could get the land, he wanted to be
The second point I want to state is that while most historians believe that Marco Polo did indeed reach China, in recent times some have proposed that he did not get that far, and only retold information he had heard from others. Those skeptics point out that, among other omissions, his account fails to mention Chinese writing, chopsticks, tea, foot binding, or the Great Wall. However I have some ideas of these
plausible explanations for the information. To get to Cambaluc from Venice, Marco Polo would have traveled across a vast distance, witnessing sights more and more exotic the further he was from home. (Wood, pp. 132-139)
In time, he would have formed some framework about people and culture and how they vary with the regions. He didnt take a plane or a boat. He went with a caravan overland, passing by many countries and people different from his native Europe. Would Chinese writings be significant enough to him after he had passed through the Turks, the Arabic lands, each with different language and style of writings? On his journey getting