Editions of “The Description of the World”—Zhiyang Ning

There have long been concerns about the edition problem of Marco Polo’s account. While the book is dictated by Marco Polo in prison and wrote down by Rustichello da Pisa when they are in a prison in Genoa, how can we know that if the manuscript wrote by Rustichello altered Marco Polo’s words or not? Besides, as the manuscripts were copied and translated to different languages in the medieval ages, editors changed the content based on various reasons, and how should we look at these large number of different editions of the book? Do the differences or the similarities in the editions offer us any significant insights? This page will focus on the book “The Description of the World” itself and its multiple versions to find out whether Marco Polo had been to China.

Background of Marco Polo’s Travel—Ambrose Lai

Throughout history, we have always had to understand the context behind events to satisfactorily explain why they happen. Marco Polo is classified among the first batch of Europeans to set foot in Asia and to explain whether what he described was true or false, we have to understand the relationship between Europe and the Mongols, learn the institutions and practices of the Mongols that facilitated travelers a place under their rule, and figure out how Marco Polo could come to play a part in these institutions. Only then can we attempt to answer whether Marco Polo was really in China or not.

Marco Polo’s Description of China’s Paper Money

—Eric Lin

A special thing in China, paper money, as mentioned in most sections of Chapter Four and Section 96 of the Description of the world. Marco Polo described how it was made, what it was used for, where it was used, and so on. However, the first question is whether paper money really appeared so early in China, and if so, whether his description conforms to other sources. I researched some Chinese sources about the topic of currency and became convinced that paper money appeared earlier than Marco Polo’s arrival and Marco Polo’s description in Section 96 was most credible.

Marco Polo’s Role in China—Youki Liu

To answer the question of whether Marco Polo went to China or not, one of the most important topics that need to be mentioned is his role in China. Marco Polo suggested that he had stayed in Yuan for seventeen years. In his own book The Description of the World, he claims that Khublai Khan likes him a lot and even let him rule YangZhou, one of the major cities, for three years. However, his credibility on this claim was being questioned. Not only that, historians are suspicious of all the identities that Marco Polo indicated himself in the book including being an envoy and accompanies. In order to answer the question “Did Marco Polo go to China?” carefully analyzing the unclear mysteries in this topic would be necessary.

The Return Journey of Marco Polo—Audrey Liu

The Prologue of The Description of the World mentions Marco Polo’s family’s return journey from China back to Venice. In their journey, the most important event, which was also Marco Polo’s motivation for leaving China, was the mission of escorting the princess Kökečin to Arghun, Ilkhan of Persia, with three envoys. However, Dr. Frances Wood, a British historian questions the authenticity of Marco Polo’s accounts of escorting the princess and casts doubt on the reliability of Marco Polo’s trip to China in her book Did Marco Polo go to China. But many other scholars believe in Marco Polo’s accounts in his travel notes. What is the truth? Did Marco Polo escort the princess to Iran with the three envoys? Has he really been to China? We will figure out these questions in this section.