A chinese story
as told by Alvise Zorzi in "Life of Marco Polo from Venice" - Milano 1982
In 1265, Nicolò and Matteo Polo, Marco Polo's father and uncle, visited the
Kubilai Khan, the great Mongolian emperor of China, grandchild of Gengis Khan,
and spoke him about Christinity. He was rather interested (its mother was a
Christian), but said:
"
How do you want that I convert myself to Christianity? Here Christians are
such ignorant and inept people. On the contrary, idolaters
(as Marco Pole calls the Buddhists)
are capable to do wonderful things, they make wine filled cups to move around
and oblige the bad weather to go away. If I converted me to the reputation of
Christ, there will be great scandal and people would ask me: what caused you to
move to the belief of Christ? What virtue and miracles have you seen from him?
.. What I could answer?
"
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Hefei - Temple of Lord Bao
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Lord Bao Memorial Temple is a typical ancient architectural complex with style
imitating that of the Song Dynasty. Orginally a Buddhist Temple, it was
transformed into the
Lord Bao Academy of Classic Learning
during the Ming Dinasty (1368-1644)
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Hefei - Scenes from Lord Bao's life
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Lord Bao (Baozheng) was a famous upright officer who lived during the Northern
Song Dynasty (960 - 1127), one of the more magnificent periods of the Chinese
civilization
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So Kubilai handed the Polo merchants a letter for the Pope in which he asked
to send him a hundreth of wise men or Christian priests that knew
"
how to make clear to the idolaters, with the force of
reason, that their law is not of divine inspiration and that the Christian law
is superior
"
But when the Polos had returned to the West, they found that the catholic
Church had no chief at that moment, because the Pope had died and a successor
had not yet been elected. After several adversities, they eventually
succeeded in bringing the sacred oil of the lamps
from Jerusalem holy sepulcher, as well as numerous splendid gifts, to the Great
Khan Kubilai. And they brought him the credentials of the new Pope Gregorio X,
finally chosen and established in Vatican, and his letters for the Mongolian
Emperor.
But the "hundred wise men of the Christian law" that Kubilai had asked for
could not be found, and actually did not exist in the
whole Christian world.
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The chinese civilization is one of the most ancient of our planet
and its accomplishments went on
for tens of centuries, through different periods and dinasties. The Chinese
technological and cultural
development came many centuries before that of the European and West regions.
The quantity of cast iron manufactured in China in 1078 was almost double of
that it is produced in Great Britain in 1788, seven
centuries after. In Marco Polo times, a census of the Beijing population (the
capital city then called Khanbaliq) accounted for about 1,200,000
inhabitants.
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A puppet show: a wedding
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Traditional marriages were always arranged by the families and the groom did
not see the bride's face until wedding night
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Beijing - Stationery shop
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A huge model of inkpot, the slate stone used to melt and mix the ink for
writing Chinese characters with the traditional brush
(see also
here
).
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The technology of printing, which was developed in Europe only in 1500, in
China began during the Tang dynasty (618-907 dC) and it was improved in the
following centuries. Already during the Song period, around 1000 AD,
publications were not limited to erudite works, but favored
also the spread of the 'popular literature', a phenomenon known in Europe only
seven centuries later. The Chinese have always been very fond of writing and
book stores as well as stationery shops, where ink, inkpots, brushes and paper
are on sale, are among the most interesting and charming places to be seen.
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