----------------------------Original message----------------------------
 
On Thu, 10 Apr 1997, Johnnie D. Sutherland wrote:
 
> 2 messages.-----------------------------------Johnnie
>
> >Date: Mon, 07 Apr 1997 10:18:29 -0700 (PDT)
> >From: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: Cities of Marco Polo?
>
>
> I reviewed these questions with Thomas Yeh, our Head of Documents, and he
> thought that perhaps Zayton might be Tianjin (formerly Tientsin) and
> Kinsay might be Yantai (formerly Chefoo), both significant and
> longstanding ports. Shanghai, a mere village at the time, is up the
> Huangpu River and is a huge distance from Kublai Khan's capital. Tianjin
> has always served as Beijing's seaport, though it is some distance up the
> Hai River from the sea. Its' harbor, though, might be the haven in
> question, though Polo might already have referred to it. Another
> possibility might be Qingdao (Tsingtao) or Weihai, both in Shandong
> Province, and thus, close to Beijing. As you can see, I've not read my
> Polo, but having been in China last year, your questions caught my
> interest. Good Luck!
>
>
> >Date: Mon, 7 Apr 1997 10:44:09 -0700 (PDT)
> >From: Lily Wai <[log in to unmask]>
> >Subject: Re: Cities of Marco Polo?
>
>
> I think Kinsay (or Kin-sai) is the city named Hangchow (Wade-Giles
> spelling), and now called Han-zhou (pinying spelling?).  Zayton (or
> Zaitun) is probably Amoy, and now called xia-men.  Hangchow happens to be
> my birth place -- a beautiful ancient city, well-known for its West-Lake,
> tea, and silk.  Amoy is across from the Taiwan Strait, and was the center
> of the attention in the early '50s during the Korean War, and Taiwan
> Strait crisis. Most of the Chinese immigrants that came to United States
> in the late 19th century were from Amoy.  Hope this helps.
>
> Lily Wai                                Phone: 208-885-6344
> Head of Government Documents            Fax:   208-885-6817
> University of Idaho Library (0135)      E-Mail:[log in to unmask]
> Moscow, ID 83844-2353                   http://www.lib.uidaho.edu/govdoc
 
 
        I actually looked at a map "Travels of Marco Polo in the Mediaeval
Asia; the routes of Marco Polo, 1271-1295" in Travels of Marco Polo with
25 illustrations in full color from a 14th century manuscript in the
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, published by the Orion Press in 1958.  The
map did have these two cities with similar spellings, Kin-sai (Hangchow),
and Zaitun (Amoy).  At that time, Peking was named Kanbalu.  The other
coastal cities on the map were: Koi-gan-zu (Tung-hai), Yan-gui
(Changchow), Fugui (Foochow), and Kan-gui (Canton.)  I found this
discovery to be very interesting.  None of the more modern cities that
mentioned in the first message existed at that time, or at least did not
show on the map.  Lily Wai, U of Idaho Library