Marco Goes to China!

Marco Polo is widely credited with opening the doors between east and west at the beginning of Europe’s age of discovery in the late 1200’s. At seventeen, Marco joined his father's Venetian trading company that had started to venture beyond the Middle East and deeper into the heartlands of Asia. Meeting kings and emperors along their way, Marco took his father’s enterprise to new heights as he returned home 24 years later to connect the known world. Tommy’s ‘China for Children” series would not be complete without this colorful tale of the famous merchant from Venice. Polo’s name remains on the lips of children all over the world today. So come along, “Let’s go to China” with Marco Polo.

Marco Polo is widely credited with opening the doors between east and west at the beginning of Europe’s age of discovery in the late 1200’s. At seventeen, Marco joined his father's Venetian trading company that had started to venture beyond the Middle East and deeper into the heartlands of Asia. Meeting kings and emperors along their way, Marco took his father’s enterprise to new heights as he returned home 24 years later to connect the known world. Tommy’s ‘China for Children” series would not be complete without this colorful tale of the famous merchant from Venice. Polo’s name remains on the lips of children all over the world today. So come along, “Let’s go to China” with Marco Polo.

Tommy has lived, worked and traveled around the world meeting people of nearly every race, religion and nationality along the way. His first visit to China came just as her doors re-opened to foreigners after more than three decades of famine, destruction and social upheaval. Only a few national monuments were open to tourists in the early years, and several of those were simply not prepared to handle the dozens of tourists arriving every month. We climbed down into excavation digs to see the jewels of the past. Standing in the midst of the famous terracotta army, sitting on thrones and strolling through gardens that are once again protected from the millions of tourists now frequenting every year. Tommy returned to China years later to live, work and continue his studies of the mysterious land. Her rapid modernization has been phenomenal and most experts believe she will soon take her place as the largest economic power in the world once again as it was in Marco’s time. Come take a look for yourself in this exciting tale of Polo’s travels!