QUESTION:
Which
of these is a fact about Marco Polo?
a) He had a Chinese wife who was 30 years
younger than him.
b) He never wrote of the Great Wall or of
feet wrapping.
c) He never went to jail.
d) He studied with the Shaolin monks.
e) He lived at a Russian monastery in Beijing.
ANSWERS:
a) No, but this is common for modern
Italians.
b) Correct. You must be an avid academic.
These omissions from Polo's books on China
have lead many up and coming historians to
believe Polo may have never been in China
at all. Some scholars now believe Marco learned
about China while in a central Asian prison.
It is a known fact that Polo was in the prison
for a year and his cellmate was an Arabian
traveler who may have been the real China
scholar.
c) No, in fact he did go to prison. But don't
tell his mother about the year he spent in
the slammer.
d) My master can beat Marco's master. What
were you thinking?
e) No, however, some, if not the first foreigners
to live in Beijing, were Russian monks at
a monastery.
