Marco Polo's The Travels

Marco Polo did not go to China, as there is not enough evidence to support his claims and stories. First of all, there is no original copy of the book, The Travels, that exists. The Travels was supposedly written by Rustichello, a writer and Marco’s fellow prisoner, whom he told his tales of travel to. According to Spodek, there are around 140 manuscripts of The Travels, in different languages, that were copied down by various scribes before printing was invented, but no actual original copy of the book. Therefore, it is impossible to prove what was written in The Travels or that the authors were Marco Polo and Rustichello. Also, Marco Polo did not describe the distinct and remarkable practices that occurred in China. As an explorer, and a
man who supposedly saw many different parts of the world, it would have been expected for him to recount these things, such as chopsticks, the Great Wall, and Chinese writing. Finally, in The Travels, Marco Polo asserts that he often met with Kubilai Khan, who was the ruler of Beijing during that time period. However, these claims are not backed up, as Marco is not mentioned in any of that time’s Chinese records. In conclusion, with no proof to support his claims, the absence of information that should be there, and the fact that there is no original copy of his tales, it is easy to deduce that although Marco Polo may have traveled through many lands, China was not one of them.