Abstract

When Marco Polo left China, he passed through Hangzhou (Quinsai) and then travelled approximately southwestwards into what is today Fujian province, to the cities of Fuzhou and Quanzhou (Zaiton). There are still a number of disagreements regarding his route, however, which are discussed here. Consideration is also given to Marco’s use of “Facfur” to designate the last Emperor of the Song dynasty, and more generally to the issue of the use of Persian language in Yuan China. It is suggested that there is no clear evidence that Marco Polo learned Persian. An error regarding consumption of pepper in China during the thirteenth century is corrected. More evidence of the importation of very substantial quantities of pepper into China during the Song and Yuan periods is adduced. Identifications of all the places which Marco mentions in this section of his book are suggested, with the support of evidence.