[00:00.00]lesson 31 Marco Polo
[00:01.00]Marco Polo and His Travels marco Poto was born in Italy in 1254.
[00:02.00]He was the son of a merchant and in 1271,when he was just 17 years old,
[00:03.00]he travelled across Europe and Asia with his father,
[00:04.00]who wanted to do trade with the Chinese.
[00:05.00]Eventually,they arrived in Beijing.
[00:06.00]At that time China was ruled by the Yuan Dynasty Emperor,Kublai Khan.
[00:07.00]Kublai Khan welcomed Marco and his father.
[00:08.00]He was very happy to meet tow foreigners and wanted to learn all about Europe.
[00:09.00]Marc and his father were guests at the Emperor's Palace.
[00:10.00]Although Marco was young,he was very clever and could already speak four languages.
[00:11.00]The Emperor was impressed by him and they became friends.
[00:12.00]He asked Marco to serve in his court
[00:13.00]and sent him on many important missions across the country.
[00:14.00]Marco,in turn,was amazed by how beautiful and powerful China was.
[00:15.00]He was very impressed by Beijing and the Emperor's Palace.
[00:16.00]He was particularly awed by the Summer Palace which he described as
[00:17.00]" The greatest palace that ever was...
[00:18.00]The walls were covered in gold and silver
[00:19.00]and the Hall was so large it could easily dine 6,000 people."
[00:20.00]There were inventions and developments in China
[00:21.00]which were not available in Europe at that time.
[00:22.00]Marco was surprised to see Chinese people using paper money in the markets.
[00:23.00]In Europe people paid for goods with gold or silver.
[00:24.00]He could not understand how people could pay for food and valuables with paper!
[00:25.00]He was also confused by the black stones people used to burn for fuel.
[00:26.00]The black stones were coal,but Marco had never seen coal before!
[00:27.00]In 1291,after 17 years of faithful service to the Emperor,Marco returned to Italy.
[00:28.00]He was now a very wealthy man.
[00:29.00]Not long after his return,a local war broke out near his town.
[00:30.00]During the war,Marco was the captain of a warship
[00:31.00]but was captured by the enemy and imprisoned.
[00:32.00]However,Marco was lucky enough to meet another prisoner
[00:33.00]who enjoyed listening to his stories about China.
[00:34.00]This prisoner was an author and persuaded Marco to dictate all his stories to him
[00:35.00]so that he could write them in a book.
[00:36.00]This book,which was called The Description of the World,
[00:37.00]became one of the best selling books in Europe.
[00:38.00]Although people enjoyed reading his book,
[00:39.00]many of them thought that Marco's stories about China were too fantastic to be true.
[00:40.00]But Marco always stood by his tales.
[00:41.00]Just before he died,aged 70,Marco was asked the question,
[00:42.00]'Was it all true?"to which he replied,"I have only told a half of what I saw!"