Marco Polo and The Travels of Marco Polo by Tang Zhuo, 132 x 210 cm Oil on Canvas, 2019

       马可·波罗（Marco Polo,1254-1324）威尼斯人，其父亲尼柯罗和叔叔马菲奥担任元朝派往罗马教廷的特使——忽必烈希望他们从罗马带回100个精通各类学问的传教士。1271年，马可·波罗随父叔带着罗马教廷给忽必烈的回信于1275年到达元大都,并在此住了十七年。元世祖派马可波罗做元朝的外交使臣和地方官员。

    Marco Polo (1254-1324) was a Venetian whose father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo served as envoys of the Yuan dynasty to the Holy See - Kublai Khan wanted them to bring back from Rome 100 missionaries skilled in all kinds of learning. In 1271, Marco Polo accompanied his father and uncle with a letter of reply from the Holy See to Kublai Khan, arrived in Dayidu by 1275 where he had stayed for seventeen years. Emperor Shizu of Yuan appointed Marco Polo to be a diplomatic envoy and local official of the Yuan Dynasty.

     1291年他们回到家乡。1296年在威尼斯和热亚那的海战中，马可·波罗被俘，其东方周游的故事口述给同在狱中的小说家鲁思梯切诺。于是，一部轰动世界等游记于1298年完成了。《马可·波罗游记》出版成为“世界一大奇书”，它从地理、政治、风俗、物产、商贸、交通及文化等角度，全方位地向欧洲介绍东方的富庶和文明的游记。时值欧洲文艺复兴的前夜，而该游记正是在文艺复兴中才大放异彩，游记拓宽了欧洲人的世界观，催生了近代地理大发现。哥伦布就是带着《马克·波罗游记》远洋航行，寻找契丹（中国）却发现了美洲，一个新的时代到来了。

   In 1291 they returned home and in 1296, during the naval battles of Venice and Genoa, Marco Polo was captured and his stories of his travels to the East were dictated to the novelist Rusticiano, who was then also in prison. Thus a travelogue that was a world sensation was completed in 1298. After the publication, The Travels of Marco Polo became “a remarkable bookof the world”, a travelogue that introduced the richness and civilization of the East to Europe from the perspectives of geography, politics, customs, products, trade, transport, and culture in an all-round way. It was on the eve of the European Renaissance that the travelogue shone, broadening the European view of the world and giving rise to the great geographic discoveries of modern times. It was with The Travels of Marco Polo that Columbus sailed the seas in search of Khitan (China) but found America, a new era has come.

“文化互译，沟通世界”