Marco Polo was born in Italy in 1254. When he was 17, he travelled across Europe and Asia along the Silk Road with his father, who wanted to do trade with the Chinese. Finally they arrived in Beijing. Although Marco was young, he was very clever and could speak four languages. The Emperor was impressed by him and they became friends. He asked Marco to serve in his court and sent him to do many important tasks across the country. Marco was amazed by how beautiful and powerful China was.
There were inventions and developments in China which couldn't be found in Europe at that time. Marco was surprised to see Chinese people using paper money in the markets. In Europe, people didn't pay for goods with paper! He was also puzzled by the black stones people used to burn to produce heat. The black stones were coal, but Marco had never seen coal before!
In 1291, after 17 years of service to the Emperor, Marco returned to Italy. He was now a very wealthy man. A writer wrote down all the stories that Marco told him in a book called The Description of the World, which became one of the best—selling books in Europe.
Although people enjoyed reading the book, many of them thought that Marco's stories about China were too fanatic to be true. But Marco always stood by his tales. Just before he died, aged 70, Marco was asked the question, " Was it all true?" And this was his answer, "I have only told a half what I saw!"
