Chapter 7: Reflections on A European Christian in China

In Marco Polo's written travels, we see that he loves China! He seems to describe everything as "fine." But not the kind of fine that's just like, whatever... the kind of fine that would describe fine china. Ironic, kind of. I was referring to fine china as in plates that are used for a nice dinner party but I guess it also literally applies to the country of China in this case. Anyways, Marco Polo begins by saying that China is "the finest and noblest in the world." Clearly, he thinks very highly of it. He notices that both the men and the women are very fine and delicate and that nearly everything is just so great. He loves the silk that they dress themselves in and the quality of food in their markets and the bathhouses that they bathe in every month! Needless to say, he is very impressed. 

Marco Polo describes the city as "the finest and noblest in the world" so that the great Kaan could be aware of how awesome the city was. He did not want the city to be taken over or conquered, he wanted them to know how lovely the city was so that it could be preserved, almost, and saved from destruction and ruin.

It is clear that Marco Polo is a foreigner as well as a Christian in his writings. In one simple sentence, he is talking about how the Chinese eat dogs and other unclean animals and how a Christian would never do such a thing. For reasons like these, it is evident to see that Marco Polo is an outsider, despite the fact that he may have lived there for over ten years. In the last paragraph, he mentions that  the Chinese are extremely friendly to foreigners who come for trade and other such purposes. He knows this because he has been treated as a foreigner himself. He also makes it a point to mention that they hate the sight of soldiers!!

The evidence of China's relationship with the outer world is much focused on trade, it looks like. Marco Polo talks about how the foods that are from the market are the most fresh and how they come from different places. He also talks about how the treat foreigners so well, implying that foreigners do frequent China, especially for their exports of silk! That was a huge thing. China's silk provided for much trade of other goods, which connected them to various parts of the world.