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in a cadenced voice: “Bow down!”—“Rise!” He goes toward the vermilion vestibule (that of the emperor), and makes his obeisances before the chair, or imperial throne. The “first orderer” announces that all is in order and well executed. Then “the usher in chief” cries in a loud and cadenced voice: “Bow profoundly!” The “perambulating ushers” cry: “Bow!”—“Bow profoundly!”—“Rise!”—“Bow profoundly again!”—“Rise!” When all this has been successively and punctually executed as a preliminary, the “chief of the ushers” then announces: “The emperor in person, who is accompanied by ten thousand felicities, is coming!” The “perambulating ushers” cry: “Resume your places!”—“Bow profoundly!”—“Rise!”—“Bow profoundly again!”—“Rise!”—“Bow!”—“Replace your ivory tablets in your belts!”—“Bow!”—“Tap the ground three times with your foot!”—“Bend your left knee!”—“Prostrate the head against the ground three times!”

Pauthier notes, “It is the famous form of salutation in the presence of the emperor, prescribed by Chinese ritual, consisting in three prostrations, with bended knees and head placed on the ground, to which many European ambassadors refused to submit….” This was merely the introductory ceremony, which was followed by prolonged prayers to propitiate the heavens, also intricately choreographed, followed by more bowing, and concluded with processions. Only then did the formal birthday rites end.

Hart’s Marco Polo discusses coal in China on page 121.

On the extent of Mongol charity, Pauthier observes on page 346: “One may see there that Marco Polo was far from exaggerating the acts of benevolence of this kind attributed by him to Kublai Khan. Thus in 1260, the food supply having fallen short, money was gathered for distribution to a certain number of the needy. In 1261, the government remitted the overdue duties or taxes to the inhabitants of the three sectors of the capital…. During the whole reign of Kublai Khan, there is not one year in which the Annals do not report remission of duties, of taxes, of charges, for one reason or another, to the inhabitants of the capital, of the imperial summer residence and to various provinces or departments of the Empire; and distributions of aid in times of famine or public calamities.” He concludes, “We believe we can assert that the history of no sovereign and no dynasty in Europe could present a similar number of acts of generosity and benevolence.”

CHAPTER NINE / The Struggle for Survival

For more on the Mongol paiza, see Yule and Cordier, volume 1, pages 352–353.

Marco Polo’s account of the bridge has come under fire for its supposed inaccuracies. In some manuscripts he claims that the bridge had twenty-four arches, when other records maintain that it had thirteen, or eleven. Again, the discrepancy may be caused by descriptions of the bridge as it appeared at different times. For more on the history of this legendary bridge, see Yule and Cordier, volume 2, pages 4–8, note 1.

Dr. Sarah Schlesinger of Rockefeller University provided trenchant observations on the manufacture and molecular structure of silk.

Concerning the practice of making salt, Yule and Cordier (volume 2, pages 57–58, note 5) report that even in their day—that is, 1913—salt was being used for purchases in these markets.

The Penguin edition of the Travels includes remarks on the discrepancies concerning the date of Kublai’s military offensive against the Song (page 187, note). Descriptions of Mongol armor and arrows are based on artifacts in the collection of the Mongolian Museum of Natural History in Ulaanbaatar.

CHAPTER TEN / The General and the Queen

The psychological dynamics of childbearing are discussed in “Why Do Some Expectant Fathers Experience Pregnancy Symptoms?” Scientific American, October 2004, page 116.

For more on Bayan’s career, see Yule and Cordier, volume 2, pages 148–150. Details of Bayan’s life have been drawn from In the Service of the Khan: Eminent Personalities of the Early Mongol–Yüan Period (1200–1300), edited by Igor de Rachewiltz et al., pages 584–606.

CHAPTER ELEVEN / The City of Heaven