[orchestral music] [narrator] The 13th century: In Venice young Marco Polo
is about to embark on a voyage to China. However, to this day doubts persist
as to whether he ever arrived there. The sheer scale of his adventures
continues to defy belief. [punching] [yells] His account becomes the bestseller
of the Late Middle Ages. Today, scholars the world over are seeking
facts and answers. Is there reliable proof of Marco Polo's
presence at the Imperial Court of China? They are searching for clues. In Marco Polo's own words: "In Chinese sources and by applying
state-of-the-art technology." Even on his deathbed Marco Polo maintains that he has told only half
of all he had seen, otherwise, he says,
no one would have believed him. [dramatic orchestral music] [narrator] In 1298, In the course of a naval war
between the Republics of Genoa and Venice, Marco Polo, a Venetian merchant, ends up
a captive prisoner in a Genovese jail. There he encounters
one Rustichello of Pisa, a prolific author of chivalric novels. An imaginative writer
and a well-travelled man, imprisoned and cut off
from the outside world. A chance encounter...
with fateful consequences. Marco Polo entertains his fellow prisoner
with tales of an arduous journey to faraway kingdoms. He tells of strange customs, immense riches
and of a highly civilized culture of most wondrous achievements. [orchestral music] [narrator] Rustichello is fascinated
by this exotic panorama, he becomes an instant admirer
of his cellmate, this man who claims
to have seen all this in person. In their Genovese jail the two men
put the tale of these travels to paper. They will make Marco Polo
a household name to this day. But what if these tales are all woven
from hearsay? We meet Frances Wood
of the British Library in London. In her book, Did Marco Polo Go to China? she questions the myth
of the Venetian traveller. I would believe
that he probably didn't travel much further than Constantinople, where we know that a Polo family
had business and so on. And there it would...
That's a great entrepot where he would have met many
other people who had travelled further. [narrator]
This would make Marco Polo a plagiarist. But does this verdict hold? Those who are convinced that the Venetian
did, in fact, reach China have a strong argument
in support of their views. [speaking in German] [voice-over] What speaks in his favour
is the simple fact that his descriptions, of all manner of things, are very precise, and that most of his observations
can be confirmed by Chinese sources. [narrator]
The dispute surrounding Marco Polo has continued unabated for centuries. When he returned, after 24 years,
his tales strained the belief of even those among his contemporaries,
who readily believed in miracles. They call him "Il Milione", the braggart,
a mere teller of tall tales. And to this day the place where Marco Polo's house
is said to have stood, is called "Corte Milione",
the braggart's court. Literary scholar Marina Münkler is about to search the Venetian archives
hoping to get nearer the truth. In her view: [voice-over] Doubts about Marco Polo
ever having been to China, are based largely
on the magnitude of his descriptions, which makes it hard to imagine that
one man alone could have seen all that. In Marco Polo's times Venice had amassed
great wealth as the western terminus for goods from central and eastern Asia. Ornamentations on the palazzi of Venice still bear witness to the interaction
with the Muslim world. But in terms of fame, none of its merchants ever got close
to that of Marco Polo. [mandolin] Of the man himself we know very little. But at least the date of his departure
seems reasonably well established. He was a rather green young man
of seventeen when his father and his uncle allowed
him along on a voyage to Eastern Asia. The youngster very likely felt
as though he were embarking on an adventure to the end of the earth. For Niccolo Polo
and his brother Maffeo, however, this is not a venture into the unknown. Years earlier they had penetrated deep
into the heart of Mongolia and had reached the court
of the mighty Kublai Khan. As merchants they had been
among the first foreigners to cross the empire of the dreaded
apocalyptic horsemen, they are aware of the dangers in store. [orchestral music] The Mongols,
also known as Tartars at the time, were notorious for their cruelty, and people in the West
regarded them as harbingers of doom. Under Genghis Khan and his successors,
they even forayed well into Europe. Their bloody campaigns forged
a Mongol Empire that stretched from China in the East
to the Black Sea in the West. Entire peoples were subjugated,
or annihilated, in the course of these tumultuous events. Marco Polo relates that,
after a long journey, his father and his uncle reached the court
of Kublai Khan in Shangdu. There, according to his account,
things took an unexpected turn. The fearsome Mongol ruler had expressed
a genuine interest in Christian religion and sent the Venetians home to return
with a hundred learned priests. To ensure their safe passage, the Khan had allegedly provided them
with a set of so-called courier tablets. Prior to their departure,
Marco's father Niccolo Polo shows one such golden tablet to Marco. Niccolo Polo tells his son how he,
and his brother Maffeo, time and again had made use of it
on their long journey home. In his Travels, Marco Polo gives
a detailed description of these tablets, and quotes their inscription: "By the power and grace of the great God and by the Grace he vouchsafes
on our Empire, the name of the Khan be blessed, and let all such as disobey
suffer death and utter destruction." So, the bearer of such a tablet
was treated as a personal courier, or ambassador of the Grand Khan, traveling under his official protection. The Mongols called this passport a Paiza. For the Polos it would have been
a priceless possession. But what became of their set? [orchestral music] Venetian State Archives
may hold a first clue. A document from the Polo files,
dated 1310, does indeed mention the courier tablets
of the Grand Khan. [muttering in Italian] In his testament, Marco's uncle Maffeo
bequeathed to his nephew "half a gemstone
and three golden tablets, " manifestly stating
that they had once belonged to the Grand Khan of the Tartars. Yet a further document confirms
the existence of the tablets: The dowry list
of Marco Polo's daughter, Fantina. [Marina speaking in German] [voice-over] We know that this kind
of golden tablet served as ambassadorial passport
within the Khan empire, meaning they did exist. Why else would they be mentioned
in a testament, or a dowry list? [narrator] Spring 1271. For the first leg of their voyage
the Polos board a Crusader ship bound for the Holy Land. Its destination: the port of Acre. Here they met, as Marco would later claim,
the newly elected Pope, Gregory X. Marco tells Rustichello that the head
of the Church had supplied them with everything they would need
to accomplish their mission... a letter of recommendation,
addressed to the Grand Khan, and permission to present him
with a few drops of oil from the lamp said
to have burned above the grave of Christ. However, concerning the 100 priests
requested by the Khan, there would be only two monks
to accompany them. [suspenseful string music] A 14th-century manuscript highlights
the importance of their mission and the issuing of the papal order. But did all this really happen? There isn't a Pope at the time, and they cross with someone
who then does become pope. But, of course, as we've said,
there is no proof of any of this, there is no record, and the Vatican is full of letters
to and from Mongol leaders, but nothing
which seems to fit with the Polos. But I think it is part of the question
of self-presentation... they rather make themselves grander. [narrator] But seemingly,
the story is not garnered from thin air. Marco Polo even provides
the names of the two monks. And there is another source which confirms
that a certain William of Tripolis lived in Palestine at that time, a monk who was fluent in Arabic and who had comprehensive knowledge
of oriental matters. In other words,
an ideal choice for the venture at hand. [breathing deeply] The travellers set out for Armenia where they find themselves
in the midst of a local war. Fearing for their lives,
the monks turn back. The Polos, however,
continue their journey... facing eight thousand kilometres
of danger and hardship along the Silk Road
to the court of Kublai Khan. [stirring orchestral music] They have been traveling for months now. The nearer they get to China the more intimidating
everything around them becomes. Granted, there is the Pax Mongolica, a kind of official protection
for merchants, but what is this worth out here? Bandits regularly prey on caravans
plying the trade routes, attacking and plundering. [wind blowing] The constant pervasive threat produces an atmosphere both sinister and uncanny. But there are also moments
of sheer magic and amazement, yet they always intermingle
with fear spawned by the gruesome legends told
and re-told around flickering campfires. [haunting oboe melody] Two and a half decades later
Marco Polo was to relate them in his sober, matter-of-fact style,
often almost impassively. He tells of bandits who would call
upon the devil to darken the skies, only to emerge from a cloud of black dust charging side by side against traders,
or merchants too poorly armed to mount forceful resistance,
who would be plundered, and often killed. But then, Rustichello,
as narrator, steps in. [groans] It seems as though
his professional sense of drama repeatedly places Marco Polo
in the midst of the action, making it difficult to decide
where a mere account ends and where Rustichello's
imagination takes over. At the end of this particular episode,
his hero manages to escape. All others are either slain, or enslaved. [sustained musical note] [Marina speaking in German] [voice-over] Rustichello
does expressly speak of "our book", as though they were co-authors, which, in a way, they actually were. There are many passages in The Travels where Marco Polo figures
as a kind of presenter. But he, in turn,
is presented by Rustichello. So, without Rustichello, Marco Polo would be
practically non-existent in the book. [narrator] As a traveller,
Marco Polo was far from unique. Scholars have listed at least 33 men who,
in the thirteenth century, had set forth to China before him. But his report dwarfs all others
by the wealth of its details. In 1253 a Franciscan friar,
William of Rubrück, had set out from Constantinople for Central Asia
and the Empire of the Mongols. He left a vivid description
of his impressions. [Rubrück]
"To be the first time among Tartars was as if I had entered a new world. On one occasion, literally hordes
of Barbarians came galloping towards us... Afterwards I really thought
that we'd escaped the devil by a mere hair's breadth." [narrator]
Rubrück definitely portrays himself as the colourful hero of his own story. With Marco Polo,
there is always the impression of a remote collector of facts, which is, paradoxically, what later
caused sceptics to doubt his veracity. [Marina speaking in German] [voice-over]
I don't think the data-oriented exposition in Marco Polo's book can be taken
as a clue that he was not there in person. I rather think that he refrained from putting forth
his personal experiences because he was striving for objectivity. I don't see this as an attempt to conceal that he had merely worked with excerpts
from other sources. Most of the facts in his account
can be verified, and there is no other European source
from this era which provides us with more data. [wind blowing] [narrator] For instance: How many days
does it take to cross a particular desert? Where do you find food, water,
adequate lodgings? Pick up The Travels of Marco Polo,
and you'll easily find a practical answer. Its author has an eye
for even the tiniest detail. "For travellers from the West," he writes,
"the Taklamakan, so hostile to life, is the last great obstacle
to the Middle Kingdom." "If you try to cross it, from one end
to the other," he tells Rustichello, "the journey would take a whole year. Only by navigating the narrowest stretch could a traveller on horseback manage
the crossing in about thirty days." And he tells Rustichello
of wondrous sounds rising at night
like the voices of spirits... filling the air with strange music, reminiscent of drum rolls that drive
travellers almost out of their minds. [eerie rush of air] It was, Marco says,
as if the spirits were calling his name, and often they had lured travellers
into the desert, misguiding them to become lost forever. The singing dunes,
in China they call them mingsha shan. When the wind raises
millions of grains of sand, and whirls them about,
it creates a disturbing sonorous effect. A fascinating spectacle of nature. To the people of Marco Polo's times, it must have sounded like melodies
from another world. [orchestral music] At the western end of the Taklamakan
the Silk Road divides. The Polos follow the southern route. Thirty days later they reach Dunhuang,
an oasis as well as an important city. In his account, however,
Marco Polo barely mentions it. This is the hub of several trade routes
and the gateway to China proper. Nearby are the Buddha caves of Dunhuang. A mysterious site, from where Buddhism
once spread to the Middle Kingdom. Along the Silk Road from India the new faith was carried over
thousands of kilometres eastward. Monks had carved hundreds of caves
into the sandstone as places of worship and adorned them
with innumerable paintings and statues to honour the founder of their religion. So, why, Frances Wood wonders, does Marco Polo seem almost unaware
of the magnificence of the place? [flute] Dunhuang is world famous. It's an amazing sight in the desert,
this wonderful long cliff, which has got about 700 little caves
carved into it. It's the most dramatic sight. He just mentions the name of the place
and then talks about some Muslim customs, not a word about the cliff, the Buddhas,
anything like that. Which does seem to suggested
it might not have been a personal visit. [narrator] Up to this point, Marco Polo's descriptions
of places and cities are in line
with the caravan trail to Dunhuang. But then there's a leap in his narrative as though he had strayed
from the plausible route. [F. Wood] Here he makes
another sudden sally northwards, rather pointlessly to Khara-Khoto. Now, I mean,
this is a very kind of mysterious move, because Khara-Khoto
was the capital of the Tanguts, the Tanguts had been wiped off the map
in 1227, so why anyone would go there is difficult
to understand. Then he comes back to Dunhuang. [narrator] And there's another
vexing detail in the pages that follow: Why is there not a single line
about China's Great Wall, which stretches along the Silk Road
once you leave Dunhuang? [F. Wood]
If you come along the Gansu Corridor, you have flat plain between mountains and then this great yellow wall
in the middle. It's unmissable
and it's the most dramatic sight, you would have certainly wondered
what on earth it was. But, there's no mention of it. [orchestral music] [narrator] This is one of the most
imposing structures ever built. For more than 2,000 years
China's rulers ordered their subjects to construct and renew
this gigantic line of defence. At first they used clay, rebuilding long stretches
with massive stone bit by bit in later years. That Marco Polo
should have overlooked it entirely seems rather improbable to a modern mind. But then, there are
other contemporary travel accounts that fail to mention the Wall
with a single word. Even the first proper map, charted in 1385 and covering the whole of China,
does not record it. The Great Wall of China? A complete blank. This 16th-century map is the first ever
to outline the Great Wall in its course. So, Marco Polo did not overlook
the gigantic wall of stone as we know it today. In his time it was a derelict line
of crumbled clay which, after centuries of neglect,
had long lost any meaning to the people who lived nearby. Three hundred years would pass
before work resumed on the Great Wall. The question, why his account more or less skips
the sights of Dunhuang, however, remains unanswered. [haunting string music] The Polos have finally reached China. Yet there are still 2,000 kilometres ahead
before they reach their destination, the court of Kublai Khan, in Shangdu. [orchestral music] By then the Grand Khan had proclaimed
himself the first Mongol Emperor of China. In a series of hard-fought campaigns,
the grandson of Genghis Khan had succeeded in subduing all opposing Mongol tribes. For the first time in 300 years, the empire is once again united
under a single ruler. Kublai Khan becomes
the founder of the Yuan Dynasty. He is the most powerful man on earth. Rustichello writes, asserting he would
always adhere to the truth, that when the Venetians arrived the Khan had called
for a magnificent welcoming spectacle and ordered the entire court
to participate. This, Rustichello continues, was regarded
as an exceptional honour for the Polos. [orchestral music] Three years after leaving Venice they
have finally reached their destination, an all important moment,
one would suppose. But Marco, now in his twentieth year, omits to relate
a single personal impression of his first face-to-face encounter
with the Emperor of China. Whatever he might have felt,
or thought, he kept to himself. His story is the stuff of epics
and film producers readily pounced on it. Numerous stars have portrayed Marco Polo
as a dashing hero, an adventurer who overcomes any danger,
gains the friendship of the emperor, and returns home laden with riches. [orchestral music] But in his account, Marco Polo
declines to seek centre stage. For him, the true hero of his tale
is the great Kublai Khan. According to Marco, on New Year's day more than a 100,000
magnificent white horses were presented to the ruler. An incredible number that makes even the loyal Rustichello
doubt his cellmate's sincerity. But Marco's admiration for the Khan
is boundless. To him, he is a ruler
who defies comparison, be it in terms of power, or of wealth. Each year on the 28th
of September, Marco says, the Khan would celebrate
the date of his birth by donning garments covered entirely
with small plaques of gold. In attendance were 12,000 nobles
and knights from throughout the realm, wearing gowns to match those
of the emperor in fashion and colour, displaying belts of gold
indicating their rank. Some of these garments, Marco insists,
were embroidered with gemstones and pearls worth more
than 10,000 Byzantine florins. [Hans speaking in German] [voice-over] Marco Polo offers
a very detailed description of the Khan, for whom he has a near-sacred reverence. We read of festivities,
of ceremonies, of imperial hunts, and he dedicates long paragraphs
to dress regulations, the bestowing of belts, and the significance
of certain brocade garments. All this is confirmed by Chinese sources. [narrator] Since the 19th century,
scholars have scrutinised ancient Chinese documents
for traces of Marco Polo. But there is only one name
which bears a phonetic similarity to the Venetian's surname Boluo. This attribution, Boluo equals Polo, is still in dispute. But in 2010, Chinese historian Peng Hai
struck upon something that might substantiate the identification
of Boluo with Marco Polo. Peng Hai had dug deeply into the Yuanshe,
the chronicles of the Yuan dynasty. The Yuanshe relates that a certain
Saman, a confidant of the Khan, had issued a warrant ordering the arrest
of another young courtier named Boluo. The charge:
Boluo had violated the standing order that within the imperial palace women
and men must walk separately. When the Grand Khan hears of the arrest,
he orders Boluo to be brought before him. Having heard his case,
the Khan not only pardons Boluo, he even entrusts him
with an important mission and sends him away to a distant province. Once there Boluo shall act
as the Khan's official collector of taxes. [orchestral music] [speaking in Chinese] [voice-over] The Khan held
a protective hand over Marco Polo. Saman felt deeply humiliated. He turned to alcohol
and soon died an embittered man. His death caused considerable discontent
among high officials. Marco Polo's standing at court,
and even his life, were endangered. This was the reason why the wise Khan had sent him to a distant province
and out of harm's way. [narrator] In Marco Polo's account we read nothing
about the arrest of its protagonist. The corresponding passage merely mentions
the courtiers' general envy and a mission
to a remote corner of the empire. By checking the place names
of the itinerary, historians have concluded that in 1282 Marco Polo's destination
must have been Yangzhou. [speaking in Chinese] [voice-over] When we retrace his stages
on the route to Yangzhou, it becomes obvious that Marco Polo
must have used the post road. This indicates travel on horseback, a privilege reserved
for high-ranking officials, which, in turn, reveals that
he must have held a corresponding title. [speaking in Chinese] [narrator] Yangzhou is situated
on the banks of the Grand Canal of China, or the Emperor's Canal,
as it was called in Marco Polo's time. Back then, being the hub
of the salt trade, Yangzhou had grown into one
of the wealthiest cities of the empire. According to Marco Polo's own words,
he spent three years in Yangzhou. At the foot of the Venetian's statue, Hans Ulrich Vogel
meets historian Peng Hai, a native of Yangzhou. He has been searching for proof
of Marco Polo's stay in his hometown. Sifting through documents concerning administrative affairs
in medieval China, Peng Hai has uncovered
a number of striking similarities. For him there is no doubt
that Marco Polo held a high official post in Yangzhou's tax and salt authority. No one before
had ever listed the 27 districts of the Yangzhou province
as precisely and correctly as he did. Chinese sources confirm
that this administrative division was in practice for three years only,
exactly matching the time span Marco Polo claims
to have spent in the region. But could he really have held
such an exalted position? As a matter of fact, a European in the service of Kublai Khan
was no exception. China's ruler is known to have drawn
on foreign experts, most of whom remain nameless
and have left few traces. And there is one irrefutable proof that there were, in fact,
quite a number of them. In 1951, excavations in Yangzhou
unearthed a set of gravestones bearing Christian symbols. In the 15th century they had been re-used as building material
to construct the new city wall. On one gravestone archaeologists
discovered the name of a child, Catarina Ilioni, who had died here
in Yangzhou in the Year of Our Lord 1342. Her family hailed from Upper Italy,
as did Marco Polo. [Hans speaking in German] [voice-over]
The inscription tells us that Catarina was the daughter of one Domenico Ilioni,
a merchant from Genoa. Clearly, Ilioni had somehow
settled in Yangzhou and was conducting business. This shows that in certain regions,
it was conceivable to encounter an Italian engaged in trade with the Chinese. [narrator]
From foreign merchant, to state official in the service
of the powerful salt authority, a leap that is all the more credible as Marco Polo reveals
intimate knowledge of its workings. To this day, scholars are amazed
at the Venetian's detailed description of the salt-making process. In Xiangshan, 200 kilometres from the former seat
of the imperial salt authority, they still produce large amounts
of China's white gold by exposing sea-water to the sun. But there are hints
that somewhere in the region, another, even older technique
of producing salt is still in use... a technique mentioned by Marco Polo. Tips from the locals point
Hans Ulrich Vogel towards Daxu, the village of the salt men. Until quite recently, a salt man's workday
began with a prayer in the temple. Zhang Bo was one of them. Every morning they would perform
the traditional ritual to ask the gods for their blessing
before beginning their day's work. [greeting each other in Chinese] [narrator]
Zhang Bo tells of their prayers, and how, to his regret,
the times have changed so much that the salt output of the village
has dwindled to a near standstill. Most of the old simmering equipment
has been scrapped. Xu Jianghao, the salt god,
may have outlived his usefulness, but is still accorded a daily bowl
of fruit in time-honoured reverence and to invoke his protection
over the village. Marco Polo is familiar with all this. He describes in detail
the leaching process, exactly as it is still practised
by the salt men of Daxu. Salt is leached from mineral-bearing soils
by adding water. When the concentration
of a solution is high enough, it is poured into large pans and boiled
until the salt particles crystallize. Just the way Marco Polo described it
more than 700 years ago. The annual salt tax
from a single district, he says, was worth almost
six million saggi in gold, around 27 tonnes by today's standard. [speaking in German] [voice-over]
The data that Marco Polo has left us concerning the imperial salt authority,
is surprisingly detailed, precise, comprehensive
and systematically chronicled. When we compare this with Chinese sources, we find that it corresponds
almost 100 percent. And the most amazing fact
is that these sources date from an era long after Marco Polo's time. So, he could not have made use of them
for his account. He must have had an insider's knowledge,
meaning he saw all this with his own eyes. [orchestral music] [narrator] As a tax official, and as the ever-curious wanderer
between two worlds, Marco Polo experiences the China
of the Grand Khan as a country replete
with a spirit of revival and invigoration. Wherever he goes, new buildings
are under construction, old ones are being enlarged or renovated. The Venetian is awed
by the achievements of Kublai Khan. He sees a highly civilized state with an administration honed
to perfection, and a road system
unrivalled anywhere else. Time and again, scholars stumble upon
seemingly marginal details in his account. "On either side of public roads,
wherever possible, the Khan demands that trees be planted
three paces apart, that they may serve
to indicate the road surface when covered with winter snow, and to afford summer shade
to travellers and their horses." Observations like these leave little doubt that their author had first-hand knowledge
of such matters. While scrutinizing documents
of the Yuan dynasty's postal system, historian Dang Baohai
has found three sources that confirm the details related
by Marco Polo. They expressly state that Kublai Khan was the first ruler to order the planting of trees
along the post roads. [Dang speaking in Chinese] [voice-over] Many foreign travellers
were abroad throughout the Yuan Empire. But it is only with Marco Polo that we find the kind
of marginal details and footnotes that match historical documents. [narrator]
The imperial palace in today's Beijing, built along the lines of its predecessor
from the times of Kublai Khan. Back then, the ruler ordered
an entire city to be built from scratch as a symbol of his power, and in 1264
made it his new main residence. To Marco Polo, its chequer-board layout
is a masterpiece of town planning and "a most magnificent sight to behold." Adorned with paintings,
marble, silver and gold, the likes of which Europe has never seen… he is enraptured. To control his vast empire, the Grand Khan must rely
on dispatches from his roaming officials. These he sends on countless missions to report on anything that might have
a bearing on the affairs of state. It is on his tours of inspection that Marco Polo memorises
his huge wealth of details, thus becoming one
of the foremost authorities on what, back then, was modern China. The hinterland of Khanbaliq,
the Khan's city, as Beijing was then called, would comprise 200
individual cities, he relates. "From there people flock to the capital
and bring their produce and merchandise. No fewer than a thousand carriages and pack horses loaded
with raw silk arrive daily." It appears that Marco Polo
had developed a passion for China's imposing stone bridges. In his account, the Lugou Qiao bridge
in Beijing takes pride of place. Back then, it was sixteen kilometres
from there into the capital. The river spanned by the bridge
would take merchants and their goods all the way to the sea. In the 17th century a flood wreaked havoc
with the Lugou Qiao. It had to be rebuilt. But the measurements
Marco Polo quotes still apply: 300 paces long and 8 paces wide. There's no other bridge
in the world like it, he would tell Rustichello. [piano] [Hans speaking in German] [voice-over]
We still find construction elements from Marco Polo's time. For instance, these parapets
which he describes in great detail. He talks of stone pillars,
each one topped by the statue of a lion. Between the columns are horizontal
stone slabs, he explicitly states, that prevent people
from falling into the river. Marco Polo, it may be important to add,
is the only non-Chinese author who left such an elaborate description
of this particular bridge. [narrator] In the harbour of Quanzhou Marco Polo makes special note of the unusual construction
of the pylons of the local bridge. Both ends are tapered
like the bow of a ship, facing upstream and downstream. "Because, " he writes, "at very high tides there is upstream
flooding from the sea to the interior." Scholars say only someone actually present would be interested
in information such as this. To the Venetian, the empire
of the Mongols is a land of wonders, one being paper money,
still unheard of in Europe. With a piece of paper such as this,
Marco tells Rustichello, he had bought goods everywhere
without the slightest problem. The Mongols produced it
from the bark of mulberry trees. And he adds that anyone refusing
to accept such a paper as legal tender is liable to face the death penalty. As a specialist
in medieval Chinese finance, Hans Ulrich Vogel knows the contemporary
sources referring to paper money. Some twenty years before Marco Polo,
a monk compared its texture to cotton. Marco Polo, again,
provides an additional detail. He describes the process used
to produce the paper for their currency... using mulberry fibre. [tense electronic music] Frankfurt, Germany. Lab experts at Goethe University
have been asked to examine a priceless specimen
of Chinese paper money, issued in the 14th century,
to ascertain its basic raw material. Since the monetary system
of the Yuan dynasty had worked so well, it was adopted by its successors
more or less unchanged. It is the first time a detail
from Marco Polo's account is subjected to scientific scrutiny. [violins] [crescendo] [narrator] Will he be faulted on his claim that the Chinese used the membrane between the bark and the wood
of the mulberry tree? A tiny sample, 1.5 millimetres thick,
almost invisible to the eye, is removed from one edge of the note
and prepared for analysis. The result is conclusive. The membrane shows an irregular structure and permits light
to pass through unevenly, a defining feature of mulberry fibre. So, can it really be that Marco Polo might have lifted
all this from other sources, or assembled it from hearsay,
as sceptics continue to assert? He goes on to state the size
and the street value of particular notes,
their equivalent in gold, of a three percent surtax
for exchanging withered notes, and he mentions inflation. Scholars have put his data to the test, comparing them with information
from eight other sources. [Hans speaking in German] [voice-over] Marco Polo has dedicated
an entire Chapter to China's paper money, and if we analyse its content against what other western, Arabian
and Persian authors have written, we see at first glance that it was
Marco Polo who gave the most detailed, precise and comprehensive data
about old paper money that has ever reached us. [soft percussive music] [narrator] Marco Polo experiences China
as a modern country, a land of prosperity. Details about local peculiarities
and mundane curiosities are as noteworthy to him
as the consummate organisation of the vast empire. However, the wealth of details
in his account are oddly counterbalanced by much of what he omits. For instance: There is not a single line about printing,
then still unknown in Europe, nor of Chinese script, the curious custom of binding
the feet of noblewomen, or the ceremonial ritual of preparing tea. Such omissions still divide scholars
into believers and detractors. Yet even Frances Wood, although she remains sceptical
that Marco Polo ever did go to China, acknowledges
the importance of his account. The good side
about the whole controversy is that it does allow people
to carry on working, looking in different ways,
and looking at the medieval world and that has really provoked
a lot of study, which is great. And, I think, what is important
is that Marco Polo's book really brought China to Europe. And, really,
that's all I've ever wanted to do in this book and any other,
is to bring China to Europe, so that people can understand it better. [solemn orchestral music] [narrator] In Marco Polo's day not only faraway China is a blank spot
on the map of his European contemporaries. Next to nothing is known
about the countries east of Persia. Marco Polo is the first
who endeavours to fill the gap. No one before has travelled
so widely, seen so much, and brought back stories
that often border on the bizarre. One day in jail he confides a tale
from the province of Tibet. He describes a most curious custom the locals would transact
with travelling merchants. Initially, even trusty Rustichello
is reluctant to believe this story: Under no circumstances
would a Tibetan man marry a virgin. According to Marco, a girl was obliged
to have had sexual intercourse with a number of men,
lest she be regarded as worthless. Therefore Tibetan mothers
would approach men of passing caravans to sleep with their daughters, assuring obliging men they could enjoy
the tryst as long as they wished. All that was expected in return
was a modest trinket which, strung up and worn as a necklace, would testify
to the girls' amorous skills. In the eyes of Tibetans,
the girl with the most trinkets would make the most desirable bride, and be blessed by the Gods. This rather frivolous tale
has been credited to the fertile imagination of Rustichello
who lets the episode end on that note. In some versions of The Travels, however,
it is missing altogether. There are about 150 versions
of the original manuscript. Some vary greatly in their content
as well as in their wording. [piano] For instance, in the Latin translation
by Pipino da Bologna, a Dominican monk, the pre-marital custom is viewed
very differently. In Pipino's words it is a despicable habit
that originated from idolatry. [Marina speaking in German] [voice-over] Pipino certainly altered
many aspects of the text to accord with the mores
of his Dominican order. He intervened with the basic structure
of the account and edited a number of passages, such as the one about the so-called
"Tibetan guest prostitution". In the Franco-Italian version,
this passage is told with an unmistakable wink of the eye, whereas Pipino adds a commentary stating
that this custom was "utterly abhorrent". [narrator]
So, pious Pipino adapted the text to suit his Christian morals. Marco Polo, too, is a man of the late
Middle Ages and their prevailing beliefs. But his account shows him to be surprisingly open-minded and ever-curious. His attitude towards Buddhism,
for example, is one of explicit tolerance, and he admires the policy of Kublai Khan, who had elevated the teachings of Buddha
to be the prominent faith in his empire whilst tolerating the worshipping
of other gods. Marco remains a faithful Christian,
enjoying the Khan's individual protection. But finally he senses
that the time has come to depart. The Grand Khan is now an old man. And since no one could predict which turn
events might take after his passing, Marco's father and his uncle
strongly argue for their departure. This coincides
with the arrival of three barons from the far west of the empire, who had arrived to ask the Khan
to send a princess as a bride for their ruler, Arghun. Their names as Marco relates them,
were Oulatai, Apusca and Coia. He tells Rustichello the Khan had chosen
young princess Cocachin and asked the Venetians to escort her
on a ship's passage to Persia. And thus began their return journey home. So, is the story of the bridal escort the final touchstone
of Marco Polo's credibility? [muted orchestral music] [narrator] It was only in 1913 that
his account was translated into Chinese. Since then Chinese historians
have scrutinized the archives, among them
the National Library in Beijing. And in a 15th century encyclopaedia,
they found what they had been seeking. The Yongle Dadian confirms
the courtship of a Persian delegation and lists the envoys' names. They are: Oulatai, Apusca and Coia. [Hans speaking in German] [voice-over] The Yongle Dadian
may not mention the name of Marco Polo, but all the others are there, and there's also a later Persian
chronicle, by one Rashid al Bin, which states the return
of the delegation to Persia. So, it all fits together and combines
into a very plausible order of events. This shows that Marco Polo's account
is consistent with the facts, and it's more clear evidence
that he actually had been in China. [flute] [narrator]
The voyage home was to take four years. Shortly after his return, Marco Polo falls
into the hands of the Genovese, and, with the help
of his cell-mate Rustichello, begins to compose his account. Two years later, Marco is released. Rustichello, alas,
vanishes from the records. Marco marries into a wealthy family
and sires three daughters. But to his dying day
he is denied recognition by his contemporaries, for his achievements as well as
for their wondrous account. Priests urge him
to renounce his "fabrications". Finally, facing his death,
it was time, they say, to admit that his Travels
were a mere concoction, invented as a bid for fame. To the Venetians, Marco Polo remains
Il Milione, the braggart. Yet even on his deathbed he maintains that he has told
merely half of what he had seen, otherwise, no one would have believed him. He dies in 1324, in his 70th year. He leaves a small fortune, the account of his travels,
and a sober last will and testament. It contains not even
a vague reference to his adventures. [tense orchestral music] [narrator] Marco Polo. His name became synonymous
with the quintessential traveller who returned with fascinating tales
of places that hold the lure of exotic encounters and make us yearn
to visit faraway countries and cultures. But he also left a work of broad horizons, presenting the world of Asia
to the eyes of the West. What's more... 168 years after Marco Polo's death, Christopher Columbus sets sail determined
to discover the sea route to exotic Asia. On his desk in his cabin,
a copy of The Travels of Marco Polo, filled with annotations highlighting
the most promising destinations. Places where
"Aurum in copia maxima" is said to be, great amounts of gold. In his time, few believed Marco Polo. But his account heralds
the age of great European discoverers. To his dying day, Columbus would believe he had come ashore
on some islands off mainland China, in the legendary realm of the Great Khan, where, all the while, Marco Polo
had actually already been there. [orchestral music]
