Marco Polo: Description of Hangzhou

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

The Travels of Marco Polo ranges as widely as the terrain Polo covered in his journeys—from the modern-day Middle East to India to China (for which he uses the name “Cathay”). He discusses the history of the Mongols, with particular emphasis on Kublai Khan (whom he calls the “Great Kaan”) and his court (as well as his own place in it) and describes the many regions and provinces he visited. In Chapters 76 and 77 of the fourth part of the Travels, he focuses on the city of Hangzhou, referred to as “Kinsay” at the time.

Chapter 76: Description of the Great City of Kinsay, Which Is the Capital of the Whole Country of Manzi

From the beginning, Polo is very complimentary of Kinsay, which he refers to as the “City of Heaven,” and of the Chinese living there. His respect for Kublai Khan is shown in his reference to the “Great Kaan” and in his entreating Kublai not to destroy the beauty of the city. Historians believe that Polo made notes for this chapter shortly after the Mongols conquered Kinsay. He encourages Kublai Khan to avoid undue destruction, since the residents are sophisticated, rich, and peaceful; do not bear arms; and represent more of a financial boon to the Mongols than any type of threat.

According to a document that was written by the “Queen of this Realm” (a captive princess of the Song Dynasty, taken from Hangzhou to the Kublai Khan’s court) and which Polo relies on, the city of Kinsay is said to be one hundred miles in circumference with twelve thousand bridges of stone. This description, in the third paragraph, is no doubt an exaggeration. However, Kinsay was indeed a very large city, perhaps the largest in the world at that time, and many historians believe his description is standard medieval verbiage for a very large city with many bridges. Others see the figure of one hundred miles as an inaccurate inequivalent to one hundred Chinese li, a measure actually equal to about a third of a mile. Kinsay certainly had many bridges, which were often very high so that large Chinese barges could pass underneath. Hangzhou is situated at the end of the Grand Canal, and historians speculate that part of Polo’s attraction to the city is based on his childhood in Venice with its many canals and bridges.

Polo writes in paragraphs 4 and 5 of successful tradesmen and craftsmen organized in guilds and of merchants who have become very wealthy. Such persons would have been important to the Polos, since they themselves were merchants and did business in China; also, in working for Kublai Khan, traveling where assigned and bringing back detailed reports of the various sights, Polo would have been accustomed to recording such societal particulars. The Chinese women of Kinsay receive special attention from Polo, who describes them as dainty, angelic, and beautiful, wearing an abundance of silk.

In modern times, West Lake in Hangzhou is considered one of the most beautiful parts of China, and Polo writes expansively of it, with its beautiful palaces and mansions. Polo gives the non-Christian, Buddhist Chinese—whom he calls “Idolaters”—credit for their beautiful temples around West Lake. In the medieval Western mind, any religion other than Christianity, especially one featuring the worship of idols such as a statue of the Buddha, would have been considered a practice of idolaters.

The only openly critical aspect of this chapter is the reference to the dining habits of the Chinese, who Polo says persist in eating “dogs and other unclean beasts” that a Christian would never consume. Medieval Europeans wrote frequently about their pet dogs and the loyalty and love that these pets offer. Eating dog has never been a part of European cuisine, so it is not surprising that Polo would denounce the habit. Polo also reports in paragraph 8 that the Chinese in Kinsay use paper money—which was not in use in medieval Europe at the time—since Kublai Khan has control of the city and paper money is mandated by the Mongols. From Polo’s description, Hangzhou is evidently a city that has a curfew, is under careful military control, and offers protection from fire.

Polo mentions richly endowed state hospitals, where the authorities take “poor cripples” to stay; alternatively, they find work for them if they are able to work. By contrast, medieval European hospitals were often religious institutions that were part of monasteries, staffed by monks and nuns. Some medieval European hospitals were independent, with their own land endowments; others were leper sanatoriums or hospitals for the poor. Still others operated as hostels for travelers or religious pilgrims or homes for the elderly, the mentally ill, the lame and the blind.

Historians speculate that Polo’s role for Kublai Khan was to inspect provinces and collect taxes. He describes in paragraph 12 that Kublai pays special attention to Hangzhou because of the size of the city and the volume of its trade, which makes it a very profitable part of the empire. He writes later that Kinsay is a city with many hot baths, leading to another positive assessment of the Han Chinese, whom he calls “very cleanly in their persons.” In medieval Europe, while there were a few communal baths, plumbing was neither advanced nor sophisticated, and Europeans were not easily able to bathe regularly.

Speaking as a merchant (beginning in paragraph 15), Polo notes the proximity of Kinsay to the ocean and the large volume of shipping to and from India and the rest of the world. Medieval trade routes were dominated by Venice and Genoa at the time, and silk and spices topped the list of desired trading goods from the Far East and Southeast Asia. While Polo was working for Kublai Khan, his uncle and father continued to trade within China, and they became very wealthy during their time there. The nine kingdoms of Manzi to which Polo refers included all Chinese territory south of the Yellow River and in the West today’s Shaanxi Province. Polo describes this territory as vast, with more than twelve hundred cities, each with its own garrison.

Polo makes special notice in paragraph 18 of the Chinese attachment to astrology, a practice that was important in Europe at this time as well. In Chinese astrology, the twelve animal signs are based on the moon’s phases as recorded through a lunisolar calendar, as opposed to the solar calendar of the West. Polo refers in paragraph 19 to the Buddhist practice of cremation and the associated funeral ceremonies. In Europe, bodies were not cremated. From the seventh century, burial was a Christian church function. Most bodies of the poor were buried in mass graves, and after decomposition, the bones were dug up and stored along the walls of the graveyard or within the church under the floors or behind the walls. The rich could afford their own crypts. Polo speaks of the Chinese custom of burning paper money for the dead, a practice that many Chinese still follow today.

In paragraph 21, Polo describes the “palace of the king who fled”—the thirteenth-century Song Dynasty Emperor Duzong, who fled when Kublai Khan and the Mongols invaded. There is no evidence today that the “greatest palace in the world,” which had a “compass of ten miles” and “20 great and handsome halls,” still stands. Polo also briefly mentions the only Christian church in the city, that of the Nestorian Christians.

Polo the tax collector certainly appreciated that the population of the city was carefully counted, with the names of entire families and their slaves listed above the front doors of homes and with guests being registered for stays at inns. This was another element of control by the Khan; hostelers were required to keep detailed records of their guests, such that the movements of people could be monitored.

Chapter 77: Further Particulars concerning the Great City of Kinsay

Polo opens this chapter by again extolling the beauty of the lake, speaking of the system of canals that serves as a sewer system to “carry away all impurities.” The canals are large enough that one is able to travel the city via canal as well as on the streets. He devotes two paragraphs to the “vast number” of markets, supplied by “merchants from India and other foreign parts.” On market days, held three times a week, an “ample supply” of game is available to the city—ranging from roebuck to rabbit to quail. In paragraphs 4 and 5 he writes enthusiastically of the fresh fruits and vegetables and the fish from the sea. “Owing to the impurities of the city which pass through the lake,” he says, the fish is “remarkably fat and savory.”

Polo is especially fascinated with the women of Hangzhou, beautifully attired and “abundantly perfumed.” He writes that they are also practiced in the “arts of allurement”; male visitors are so bewitched by them that they when they return home, they say that they have been to the “City of Heaven.” By contrast, women in medieval Europe were often defined religiously, in their devotion to the Virgin Mary, or in chivalrous terms, by being placed on a pedestal.

Other sections of the city are occupied, Polo tells us, by doctors and astrologers, among other professionals. Chinese astrologers were greatly admired for the depth of their knowledge and were the “teachers of reading and writing.” They devised detailed charts for prediction of the future, calculating auspicious days to marry, start a new business, build a new home, and so on. In his description of the neighborhoods and squares of the city, Polo impresses the reader with the size of the city. He uses the sale of huge quantities of pepper to illustrate the immense extent of Hangzhou, saying that the daily consumption of pepper amounted to forty-three loads, each load made up of 223 pounds. Historians speculate that Hangzhou had between one million and two million people in the thirteenth century.

Polo comments that the inhabitants of the city are peaceful and that they are honest in their commercial dealings. If, as he reports, residents of Hangzhou treat foreigners very well, one can understand his fondness for returning to the city. Indeed, he ends his description of the city by returning to the lake and reporting on the recreational “parties of pleasure” that take place on barges of all sizes. From the lake, he points out, one can take in the whole city, “in its full beauty and grandeur, with its numberless palaces, temples, monasteries, and gardens.”