Marco Polo's days in China
Kublai Khan valued Marco Polo's experience and knowledge. Polo knew four languages, and the Khan sent him on many official tours of the kingdom. These tours took Polo to China's southern and eastern provinces and as far south as Burma. Polo served as a government official in the Chinese city of Yangzhou (also spelled Yang-chou) for three years.
Through his travels, Polo learned about Kublai Khan's prosperous, advanced empire. He described the Khan's postal system, which consisted of a vast network of courier stations. Riders on horseback relayed messages from one station to another.
Polo witnessed many Chinese customs, such as the mining of coal and its use as fuel. Coal had not yet been used in Europe. Polo called coal "black stones." He also marveled at the Chinese use of paper money, which bore the seal of the emperor. He described all these things in his book.
Excerpt adapted from the "Marco Polo" article, The World Book Encyclopedia, © 1999