Cameron DeVries

Blog Post #3

The Travels of Marco Polo: Kinsai

October 16, 2025

In the chapter entitled “From Peking to Amoy”, the city of Kinsai is one of the Great Khan’s most important cities in the South-Eastern Manzi province, and is known also as the “City of Heaven.” It is clear from the start that Marco Polo was a fan of Kinsai, as he talks about how it is the “most splendid city in the world” and “amply provided with all the means of life.” One of the first things he notices and shows interest in with this city is some of the architectural aspects, one of which seems to be a functioning system of sewers or waterways. It seems that the city is between a lake and a flowing river, and the city is filled with waterways and canals that flow from the river to the lake and pull the filth to the latter. He notes that “the whole city lies in water and surrounded by water”, so a lot of people travel throughout via boats as well as the main streets, and there are a plethora of bridges needed to traverse the city. The descriptions he gives of these architectural functions make the city sound almost like Venice, which, being an Italian merchant, could be one of the reasons he was impressed by this kind of layout across Kinsai.

He next talks about all the bustling businesses and people throughout the streets, and how there are great markets that spread across the city as well as many smaller marketplaces, businesses, and luxuries. Some that he mentions are the cold bath-houses, which the locals use to stay clean and in good health,  and “women of the town”, which I read to be a large number of prostitutes or brothels throughout the city and interestingly seem to earn the city its title of “city of Heaven” for Marco Polo. There are many other crafts as well such as doctors, astrologers, and teachers. Marco Polo once again seems very business savvy and impressed with the sheer abundance of thriving trade, even noticing the daily consumption of pepper alone, which added up to 43 cart-loads. Not to mention all of this took place in a beautiful city lined with “stately mansions with their gardens.” Not to talk too much more about the trade, but he goes on and on about the merchants and how they are “great men” that “never sold their hands with work at all, but live a life of as much refinement as if they were kings” and how their wives are “refined and angelic creatures.” This really does give a sense as to the type of people Marco Polo respects, and how he continues to be in comfort when surrounded by wealth and those that ply their trade with success. He also admires the Khan for allowing these traders to retire once they have reached said success.

This economy of trade ties directly into the people themselves in Marco Polo’s eyes, and he describes them overall as being very peaceful, honest, diligent, generous, good looking and opposed to conflict of any kind. They even seem to take very good care of the sick and poor in Kinsai. No details are specified, but given Marco Polo’s good review, one could assume that during his stay he probably took advantage of some of this luxury, and lived in comfort while he visited. While he was very impressed by a socially and architecturally sophisticated and refined city, you could also say that this point is something he was astonished by, and needed to report back on in order to convey the unexpected “wonders of the East” he was finding that even rivaled his luxuries back home.