Who Was Marco Polo? Why China?

Who Was Marco Polo?

Marco Polo (1254 - 1324) was an Italian adventurer from the State of Venice whose travels did much to introduce the western world to Central Asia and China.  As a young teenager growing up in Canada, I recall a CBC Radio program which chronicled the travels of Marco Polo as if the listener was personally on the trail with him.  Even back then in the late 1950s, people knew very little about China.  What was known was either very old history or China under communist government rule - Chairman Mao, "The Great Leap Forward", the Red Guards, the "Cultural Revolution".  Our knowledge of recent history focused on the incidents of June 4th, 1989 in Tiananmen Square, cheap goods "Made In China" and a population of 1.5 billion people. 

Throughout our tour, we heard our tour guides mention "Old China" and "New China".  Chinese history goes back over 3,000 years but recent Chinese history is less than 35 years old.  While our Sinorama itinerary gave us an idea of what we would be seeing for "Old China", we weren't prepared for what we saw about "New China"

"Old China" - "The Era of The Dynasties" & "The Era of the Republics"
The China that Marco Polo visited was in the midst of what I call the "Era of the Dynasties" (my term).  It starts about 3,500 years ago with the rise of the various dynasties - the Qing (pronounced "Ching") (1644-1911), the Ming (1368 - 1644), all the way back to the Zhou (770 BC - 221 BC) and Han (206 BC - 25 AD) dynasties and even further back.  This "Era of the Dynasties" includes the struggles of the Chinese people against western imperialism in the late 1800s and early 1900s - the demands by European powers for shipping rights in Shanghai, Canton, Hong Kong and Macau; the Opium Wars of 1839 - 1842 and 1856 -1860 when the Chinese rose up against the import of opium into their country by the Europeans; the Boxer Rebellion of 1899 - 1901.  It ends with the overthrow of the last emperor of the Qing dynasty in 1911 by rebel forces led by Dr Jiang Zhongzheng (we know him as Dr Sun Yat Sen).  It was this part of the "Old China" that we got to see on our itinerary

With the end of the Qing dynasty in 1911, there begins a second era that I call the "Era of the Republics" - the Republic of China (1911 - 1949) and the Peoples Republic of China (1949 - 1976).  It begins with the rise of Dr Jiang Zhongzheng (we know him as Dr Sun Yat Sen), revered by the Chinese as the father of modern China, and the establishment of the Republic of China.  It continues with the struggles for power after Dr Ziang's death in 1925 between the Kuomintang led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists led by Mao Zedong.  It includes the invasion of China by the Japanese which required the Kuomintang and the Communists to lay aside their differences to fight a common enemy.  However the struggles resume in the late 1940s, and the ultimate establishment of the Peoples Republic of China on October 1st 1949 under the leadership of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist party. The "Era of the Republics" ends with the death of Mao Zedong on 09 September 1976 and the era of "New China" begins. 

 "New China"
"New China" starts in 1978-79 when the central government decided to modernize China's economy so as to raise the living standards of its people.  How this was done is outlined in the book "Deng Xiaoping And The Transformation of China" by Ezra Vogel.  This is a must-read if you are planning to take this trip in order to understand how China has become the economic powerhouse that it is today.  As we travelled throughout China, we could only marvel at the towering skyscrapers in cities like Shanghai, the ring roads that circled outwards from the centre of Beijing, the modern airport terminals, the bullet trains, the row-upon-row of factories, and the electrified railways.

Sharon and I were fortunate in having read Ezra Vogel's book before we left on our tour of China so it came as no surprise to us to see the modernity that today is China.  Several times, I was asked by our fellow travellers how China had been able to finance all of this infrastructure and industrial expansion.  It would take me too long to explain but I would refer my readers to a second book, "China's Superbank - Debt, Oil and Influence - How China Development Bank is rewriting the Rules of Finance" by Henry Sanderson and Michael Forsythe.

As China entered the late 20th and early 21st century, it emerged as a new economic powerhouse - the second largest economy in the world with a GDP of $8 trillion versus $16 trillion for the United States.  Trade between China and the western world reached unprecedented levels.  This trade opened the doors for westerners to travel to this previously unfamiliar country.

For Sharon and I, our trip to China in the fall of 2013 was another one of our international adventures that we eagerly looked forward to.  From September 21st to October 13th when we returned home, we embarked on a 3-week whirlwind trip that started in Beijing, over to Xi'an, down to Shanghai and Souzhou, a cruise on part of the Yangtze River from the Three Gorges Dam to Chongquing, over to Guilin and Yangshuo, and on to Macou and Hong Kong before heading back home.

While we hardly followed the path of Marco Polo (much as we'd have liked to!), we got a good idea of what the country looked like, how the people live, and what makes China such a dynamic place in the 21st century.

On Saturday, September 21st at 03:15, our adventure began!!

So let's get started with Day 1 and 2.  But before we do, here's some basic Mandarin Chinese phrases we should learn in pinyin.

Some Lessons In Mandarin Chinese
"Pinyin" is the official phonetic system for transcribing the sound of Chinese characters into Latin script in China, Taiwan, and Singapore.  It is often used to teach Standard Chinese and to spell Chinese names in foreign publications.  It may also be used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into computers.  The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s based on earlier forms of romanization of Chinese characters. It was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and and has been revised several times.  The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as the international standard in 1982.

Mandarin Chinese Phrases In Pinyin
Hello...	Ni Hao		The Numbers:
Thank you.....	Xie Xie		1...	Yi
Good -bye....	Zai Jian		2...	Er
Sorry.....	Dui Bu Oi		3...	San
My name is …	Wo Jiao ...		4...	Si
It's delicious....	Zhen Hao Chi		5...	Wu
Good night....	Wan An		6...	Liu
How are you?....	Ni Hao Ma?		7...	Oi
I am good....	Wo Hen Hao		8...	Ba
Guide....	Dao You		9...	Jiu
Welcome...	Huan Ying		10...	Shi
Yes...	Shi		20...	Er Shi
No...	Bu Shi		25...	Er Shi Wu
Correct...	Dui		100...	Yi Bai
In-correct...	Bu Dui		250...	Er Bai Wu Shi
How much is it?...	Duo Shao Oian?
Too expensive...	Tai Gui Le

Certain pinyin consonants require special pronunciation.  These are:

x = "sh"

q = "ch"

c = "tr"

So let the adventure begin!