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Did Marco Polo Go to China? by Frances Wood (1998, Trade Paperback)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherRoutledge

ISBN-100813389992

ISBN-139780813389998

eBay Product ID (ePID)877511

Product Key Features

Number of Pages208 Pages

Publication NameDid Marc O`Polo Go to China?

LanguageEnglish

SubjectAsia / General, Adventurers & Explorers

Publication Year1998

TypeTextbook

Subject AreaBiography & Autobiography, History

AuthorFrances Wood

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.5 in

Item Weight9.2 Oz

Item Length8.5 in

Item Width5.5 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceCollege Audience

LCCN2010-485580

Dewey Edition20

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal915.04/2/092

Table Of Content* Introduction * The Bare Details * Why Go at All? Missionaries Nose to Tail * Prester John and the Magi * Not an Itinerary * The Ghost Writer and the First Fan * The Language of the Text * Omissions and Inclusions * Ice-cream and Spaghetti * Walls Within Walls * He Missed the Biggest Wall * Not Unique and Certainly Not a Siege Engineer * Who Were the Polos? Was It China? A Significant Absence * Conclusions * Afterword

SynopsisWe all ?know? that Marco Polo went to China, served Ghengis Khan for many years, and returned to Italy with the recipes for pasta and ice cream. But Frances Wood, head of the Chinese Department at the British Library, argues that Marco Polo not only never went to China, he probably never even made it past the Black Sea, where his family conducted business as merchants.Marco Polo's travels from Venice to the exotic and distant East, and his epic book describing his extraordinary adventures, A Description of the World, ranks among the most famous and influential books ever published. In this fascinating piece of historical detection, marking the 700th anniversary of Polo's journey, Frances Wood questions whether Marco Polo ever reached the country he so vividly described. Why, in his romantic and seemingly detailed account, is there no mention of such fundamentals of Chinese life as tea, foot-binding, or even the Great Wall? Did he really bring back pasta and ice cream to Italy? And why, given China's extensive and even obsessive record-keeping, is there no mention of Marco Polo anywhere in the archives?Sure to spark controversy, Did Marco Polo Go to China? tries to solve these and other inconsistencies by carefully examining the Polo family history, Marco Polo's activities as a merchant, the preparation of his book, and the imperial Chinese records. The result is a lucid and readable look at medieval European and Chinese history, and the characters and events that shaped this extraordinary and enduring myth., We all "know" that Marco Polo went to China, served Ghengis Khan for many years, and returned to Italy with the recipes for pasta and ice cream. But Frances Wood, head of the Chinese Department at the British Library, argues that Marco Polo not only never went to China, he probably never even made it past the Black Sea, where his family conducted business as merchants.Marco Polo's travels from Venice to the exotic and distant East, and his epic book describing his extraordinary adventures, A Description of the World, ranks among the most famous and influential books ever published. In this fascinating piece of historical detection, marking the 700th anniversary of Polo's journey, Frances Wood questions whether Marco Polo ever reached the country he so vividly described. Why, in his romantic and seemingly detailed account, is there no mention of such fundamentals of Chinese life as tea, foot-binding, or even the Great Wall? Did he really bring back pasta and ice cream to Italy? And why, given China's extensive and even obsessive record-keeping, is there no mention of Marco Polo anywhere in the archives?Sure to spark controversy, Did Marco Polo Go to China? tries to solve these and other inconsistencies by carefully examining the Polo family history, Marco Polo's activities as a merchant, the preparation of his book, and the imperial Chinese records. The result is a lucid and readable look at medieval European and Chinese history, and the characters and events that shaped this extraordinary and enduring myth., Contrary to an assumption basic to European and Chinese history--the tales of Marco Polo's journey to China--Frances Wood argues that he not only never went to China, but probably never ventured past his family home on the Black Sea. Instead, his imagination fueled by stories garnered from other traders and with the help of a ghostwriter, Polo may simply have sought to exploit the growing demand for tales of distant lands. By carefully examining the Polo family history, Marco Polo's activities as a merchant, the preparation of his book, and the imperial Chinese records, Wood tries to reconcile a number of inconsistencies that shed light on what may be only an extraordinary and enduring myth.

LC Classification NumberG370.P9W66 2010