Marco Polo was born in Italy in 1254. When he was 17, he travelled along the Silk Road with his father, who wanted to do trade with the Chinese. Finally, they arrived in Beijing. They were guests at the Emperor's Palace. Although Marco was young, he was very clever and could speak four languages. The Emperor was impressed by him and they became friends. The Emperor asked Marco to help him and sent him to do many important jobs all over the country.
Marco was amazed by how great China was. He was impressed by the Emperor's Palace which he described as "The greatest palace that I've ever seen". The walls were covered with gold and silver and the hall was so large.
Marco was also attracted by lots of strange things in China. Marco was surprised to see Chinese people using paper money in the markets. In Europe, people paid for goods with gold and silver. He could not understand how people paid for food and valuable things with paper! He was also puzzled by the black stones people used to burn to produce heat. The black stones were coal, but Marco had never seen coal before!
After he served the Emperor for 17 years, in 1291, Marco returned to Italy. He had a lot of money then. A writer wrote down all the stories that Marco told him in a book calledThe Description of the World, which became one of the best-selling books in Europe.
| Marco Polo and China | |
| Before in China | He was born in Italy in 1254. At the age of 17, he travelled to China along the Silk Road with his father. |
| During his living in China | He made friends with the Chinese Emperor. He helped the Emperor do many jobs around China. The beauty of China him. He described the Summer Palace as the greatest palace that he had ever seen. Some things which he never saw before attracted him. Paper money was used in the markets. The Chinese used coal to produce heat. |
| After returning to Italy | He became very . A book was about his travelling experiences. |
