Series |
Medieval and Modern Philologies
Edited book | Pratiche di scrittura e contesti culturali intorno a Marco Polo
Chapter | Marco Polo and the Political Economy of the Yuan Empire: Realities and Ideologies
Marco Polo and the Political Economy of the Yuan Empire: Realities and Ideologies
Abstract
Departing from a Yuan perspective of political economy, it will be shown that we can find a substantial number of descriptions in the Devisement dou monde on the Mongol state’s involvement in, and influence on, the Chinese economy. Apart from these explicit references, the Venetian’s account contains numerous implicit indications of important sectors of the economy that, at least indirectly, can be linked to economic measures during Qubilai’s reign. An idealistic tone frequently permeates Polo’s narration concerning the Mongol emperor’s economic policies, but relevant positive evaluations are also present in late Yuan and early Ming sources.
Submitted: May 24, 2024 | Accepted: Oct. 25, 2024 | Published April 16, 2025 | Language: en
Keywords Political economy • Yuan dynasty • Military • Public works • Reality • Marco Polo • Ideology • Taxation
Copyright © 2025 Hans Ulrich Vogel. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/978-88-6969-853-8/010
