The special things in China described in the Description of the World are significant to look at if we want to prove that Marco Polo went to China. I will analyze the use of paper money in China as written by Marco Polo.
In Chapter Four of the Description of the World, Marco Polo described eighteen cities of Mangi (Southern China) in total and each section except for the first one was devoted for a city. He mentioned paper money in most sections of describing Chinese cities by saying “They belong to the Great Khan and have notes as currency”. In chapter three, he introduced many cities in Northern China, which he called Cathay. In some of these cities, he mentioned “notes for currency”. For example, in his description of Hezhoufu in Section 131, he wrote “they belong to the Great Khan and have notes for currency.” Similarly, in Section 132, he wrote “they have notes for currency.” Section 133 is also the case. Was paper money already so widespread at the time Marco Polo arrived in China? Marco Polo arrived when Song was defeated by the Mongols. The first generation of paper money in China was invented in Song dynasty. According to Zhiming Zheng’s Failure of Yuan Currency System and the Death of the Dynasty, as early as the Northern Song, a kind of paper currency called “jiaozi” already appeared in Sichuan Province. He also claimed that toward the later period of Southern Song, the use of “jiaozi” happened everywhere in its domain. Furthermore, he claimed that affected by Southern Song, the Jin dynasty that was in the north also had similar paper money in use. This not only conform to Marco Polo’s Chapter Four, but also Chapter Three. Moreover, in Huang Cheng and Li Shiliang’s Study of Currency System of Early Jin Dynasty, it was as early as 1154 that Jin started to issue paper money, which was called “Zhen Yuan Jiao Chao”, because Jin had relatively fewer copper mines compared to its surrounding kingdoms and due to constant military expense, money was drastically in need. After 1234, the year the Mongols ended the administration of Jin, the land was ruled by the Mongol barons, and they continued the tradition of use of paper money whose prices were labeled in units of silk or silver.[1] Liao dynasty mainly used coins.
In Section 96 (How the Great Khan distributes notes [Chartre] for money [Monoie]) Marco Polo summarized everything he knew about paper money in Yuan: how the money in the Yuan dynasty was made and what it was used for. According to Section 96, paper money had the seal of the great lord and no one dared to refuse it. That is to say, in the kingdom, all people are obligated to use the official paper money. According to the primary source Yuan Shi, Shi Zu Ji, vol.4 and vol.5, after the Mongols conquered the Song dynasty and controlled the whole China, Kublai Khan made a series of detailed and administrative policy with regard to the currency system of the Da Yuan. It stipulated that any transaction with copper coins, silver coins, and gold coins was banned and that any offender would be sentenced. Section 96 claimed that people bought everything with the notes. According to Zhaoyi’s Twenty-two Shi Li Ji, worker, money, lands, and taxes could all be paid with notes. Marco Polo also stated that officials of the Yuan dynasty went through town and ordered everyone who has stones, pearls, gold, and silver must bring it to the great lord’s mint, and that all people did so would be paid notes. In the first year of Zhong Tong (Kublai’s era name), the policy regulated that people from all places that wanted to get notes should have gold and silver as basics. With basics submitted, new notes will be delivered to them.[2] In Wang Yun’s Qiu Jian Ji, Zhong Tang Shi Ji, vol.80, it is recorded that along the roads were set up mints of notes. No matter how much silver was to be submitted, it would be stored as standards of currency. Officials there compared the silver and notes to estimate the price of everything. In addition, another source, Wei Yuan’s Yuan Shi Xin Bian, vol.87, described this policy similarly: people will submit silver and receive notes. In order to prevent people from suspecting, officials stored silver and gold at the mints where they received them without randomly moving the silver and gold. Marco Polo also said that the notes were produced in such great quantities “that he could buy everything in the world”. Actually, they were made under account, frugally rather than too many. However, Marco Polo thought they were in great quantity because he had never seen paper money before arriving in China. The claim that the paper money in Kublai Khan’s Yuan had seal on it corresponds to that of Frances Wood, who states that under the Mongol rule, several issues of paper money were produced, printed on small sheets of darkish paper, and finally authorized with a red seal in the Mongol script. Marco Polo’s claim that paper money in China had seals on it should be true.
Thus, after making careful comparison between Marco Polo's account of paper money in China and other sources', I can confidently say that his most points on this subject should be in accordance with history, and this fact can further prove that he was in China.
[1] The Origin of Paper Money in China (later half), by Wan Zhiying and Wang Yu.
[2] Zhao Yi’s Twenty-two Li Shi Ji, Yuan Dynasty Specialized Jiao Chao
[3] Frances Woods's Did Marco Polo Go to China?