Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the way Khubilai Khan chose to have himself portrayed in the painting?

Abstract

This article will shed new light on the already crowded area of Marco Polo research, by examining the perspective of Polo, his direct observation of Kublai Khan and Yuan China, as revealed in The Travels of Marco Polo. The paper analyses the sources of Polo’s perspective on the people he encountered on his travels in foreign lands. It argues that Polo’s ideas were shaped by his cultural background, personal experience and his own interests. Then it examines how the work presents Kublai Khan himself, as well as the Yuan empire’s monetary system, its waterway trade and its ethnic policy. The result of this investigation shows that Polo was an acute observer; he pointed out occasions of misrule despite his adoration of Kublai Khan.

References

1. Beazley, C. (1906) The Dawn of Modern Geography, Vol. III, A History of Exploration and Geographical Science from the Middle of the Thirteenth to the Early Years of the Fifteenth Century (c. A.D. 1260–1420) (Oxford: Clarendon Press), p. 117.Google Scholar

2. Islam, S.M. (1996) The Ethics of Travel: from Marco Polo to Kafka (Manchester: Manchester University Press), p. 165.Google Scholar

3. Polo, Marco (1993) The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule-Cordier Edition: Including the Unabridged Third Edition (1903) of Henry Yule’s Annotated Translation, as Revised by Henri Cordier, Together with Cordier’s Later Volume of Notes and Addenda (1920). Translated by H. Yule and H. Cordier, 2 vols (New York: Dover Publications), vol. 2, p. 500.Google Scholar

4. Larner, J. (1999) Marco Polo and the Discovery of the World (New Haven: Yale University Press), p. 105.Google Scholar

5. See Rabban Sawma’s work in W. Budge (trans.) (1928) The Monks of Kublai Khan Emperor of China (London: Religious Tract Society).Google Scholar

7. Polo, Marco (1320s) De Consuetudinibus trans. Pipino (Serville: Institución Colombina. Biblioteca Colombina. 10-3-2).Google Scholar

8. Song, L. (1976) Yuan shi (the History of the Yuan) (15 fascicules 210 vols Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company), fascs. 1, vol. 4, pp. 57–79.Google Scholar

9. Lei, R.Z., Yu, C.H. and He, J.Y. (1989) Ningxia Baisikou shuangta faxiande dachao tongbao he zhongtongyuanbao jiaochao (Dachao tongbao and Zhongtongyuanbao jiaochao discovered in the double pagodas at Baisikou of Ningxia). China Coins Magazine, 4, pp. 2831.Google Scholar

10. Vogel, H.U. (2013) Marco Polo Was in China (London: Brill), pp. 102226.Google Scholar

11.The word ‘ingot’ refers to the value of the paper money in ingot-shaped tablets, which were the ‘shape of a gold ingot’. See Z.Y. Wu, Q.Y. Huang and Y.Q. Liu (Eds) (2007) Ciyuan (the Origins of Phraseology) (Beijing: The Commercial Press), p. 3193.Google Scholar

12. Jackson, P. (2005) The Mongols and the West (Harlow: Pearson Longman), p. 8.Google Scholar

13. Abulafia, D. (2011) The Great Sea (Oxford: Oxford University Press), pp. 357358.Google Scholar

14. Zhang, Q.Z., Qizhi, Zhang, Chengkang, Guo, Tianyou, Wang and Chongde, Cheng (Eds) (2001) History of China (Beijing: Higher Education Press), p. 64.Google ScholarPubMed

15. Zheng, S.X. (1991) Zheng Sixiao ji (A Collection of Zheng Sixiao) annotated by Chen Fukang (Shanghai: Shanghai Press for Classics), p. 186.Google Scholar

16. Zhao, Y. (1997) Er’shi’er shi zhaji (Commentaries on 22 Histories) 18th century, 2 vols (Taibei: The World Book Company, first edition 1962), vol. 2, pp. 429–431.Google Scholar

17. Kong, Q. (1987) Zhizheng zhiji (Records of the Zhizheng Period) annotated by Zhuang Min and Gu Xin (Shanghai: Shanghai Press for Classics), p. 111.Google Scholar

18. Ye, Z.Q. (1959) Caomuzi, printed in Collection of Yuan and Ming Source (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company), pp. 49, 55, 81–82.Google Scholar

19. Allsen, T.T. (1997) Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press), p. 5.Google Scholar

20. Morgan, D. (2007) The Mongols (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing), p. 112.Google Scholar

21. Xiao, Q.Q. (2007) Favoring Northland while Discriminating against the Middle Kingdom (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company), pp. 466469.Google Scholar

Which of the following factors contributed most directly to the Mughal empires territorial expansion in South Asia?

2. based on your knowledge of world history, which of the following factors contributed most directly to the mughal empires territorial expansion in south asia? The Mughals' adoption and effective use of gunpowder weapons. You just studied 23 terms!

Which of the following best supports the contention that the First World War was the first total war?

Which of the following best supports the contention that the First World War was the first total war? Governments mobilized large segments of their populations and economies and targeted their opponents' military and economic capabilities.

Which of the following likely encouraged the development of cities such as Chang An?

Based on the map and your knowledge of world history, which of the following likely encouraged the development of cities such as Chang'an? The growth, in volume and extent, of overland trade and commerce.

Which of the following contributed most to the emergence of Russia as an expanding Eurasian power?

Which of the following contributed most to the emergence of Russia as an expanding Eurasian power in the period between 1450 and 1750? Its absorption of traditions and technology from the Byzantine Empire and western Europe.