700 years ago, the young Venetian Kyle embarked on the greatest adventure in history. According to his 24-year-long adventure, Travels in the East became the first book in the West to completely record the mysterious China.
However, his trip to China caused a lot of controversy. Among them, Dr. Francis Wood, curator of the China Pavilion of the British Museum, wrote in "Has Kyle Poirot been to China?" In the book, she asks her famous question: Kyle Poirot has never been to China! His impression of China is limited to hearsay. Therefore, National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita spent 65,438+0 years revisiting Kyle Poirot's adventures in China, trying to uncover the truth about Kyle.
"The most surprising thing is that people's faces, cultures and landforms remain the same, as described by Kyle Poirot in the book." JonathanFinnigan, producer and director of national geographic's modern oriental tour, said.
What's in the East = a guidebook?
/kloc-in Europe in the 0/3rd century, many people thought that the world was flat. Except for a few missionaries, few people dare to go to unknown and mysterious foreign countries. But at the age of 127 1, 17, Kyle started their trip to the East, with his father Nick Kolo and his uncle Mafio.
According to Oriental News, the Polos started from Venice, Italy, passed through Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan, and arrived at the Pamirs on the border between China and Afghanistan after three years.
Michael yamashita came to China by modern means of transportation, and he could feel how hard the journey was for Kyle.
On the edge of Taklimakan Desert, the Polos encountered the most difficult challenge: crossing this endless and sinister desert. In the local language, "Taklimakan" means "something goes in but nothing goes out". Kyle recalled: "Those travelers who travel at night, if someone accidentally falls behind, will hear ghosts talking, just like his companions talking;" If he believes, the straggler will be led astray and will never find his companion again. This is the death toll. "
In the hottest and driest desert in China, the hardships of the Polos were partly felt at the foot of the mountain. At the high temperature of 100 degrees, I always feel extremely dry and everything is wrong. The sand itches and sweat keeps dripping from my forehead. ...
Yamashita thinks that "A Record of Oriental Insights" is a good "travel guide". According to Kyle's "guidance", we should at least pay attention to some local conditions and customs. For example, Kyle once described that "there are many huge wild sheep here, and their heads are all there."
The horns can be as long as six palms. Residents of Fu Na in Tizi, Xinjiang, confirmed the existence of this Pamir argali at the foot of the mountain, but now the number is very small.
Of course, sometimes Kyle's "instruction manual" will be greatly deviated. Yamashita has to admit, "The distance between the two places mentioned in his book is extremely accurate, while others are 108,000 miles." Maybe Kyle was a child at that time, and this book was written after 20 years of experience.
With Kyle's footsteps, the mountain came to Kashgar.
The book once said: "There are many towns and villages along the way, but Kashgar is the biggest and most prosperous." Perhaps in Kyle's eyes, Kashgar was the largest market in Asia at that time. The goods sold here are dazzling, and merchants in Kashgar have traveled all over the world. Today's Kashgar makes the mountain seem to have returned to the 13 century. He felt that "these people, these faces, the voice of bargaining, and the interaction between people have not changed over the years."
Later, on the Silk Road, Kyle saw the magical cloth that would not burn out. I found it in Hotan at the foot of the mountain-asbestos. In Kyle's time, many people thought that asbestos came from the skin shed by salamanders. But Kyle thinks: "These fabrics don't come from a kind of life in a flame.
Biological, but from the background of the earth. "It can be said that he was the first person to reveal the source of asbestos to the western world. The scene of the asbestos mine is exactly as Kyle described. People wear masks to work.
More and more successful discoveries make Yamashita more convinced that Kyle Poirot's travels come from first-hand materials. The real scene is exactly the same as what he described, and they are all found where he said.
Exaggeration and inaccuracy: intentional or unintentional?
1275, the Boluo family came to Shangdu (located on the north bank of Lightning River, 20km east of Zhenglan Banner, Inner Mongolia) to meet Khan Kublai Khan of Mongolia. In Kyle's eyes, "Kublai Khan is the overlord with the largest population, territory and wealth in history." Unfortunately, the palace at that time, like most of the ruins of the Yuan Dynasty, had already been destroyed. What is presented in front of the mountain is only ruins.
However, it was not long before Kyle went to a new metropolis built by Khan at that time, which is today's Beijing. At the foot of the mountain, I found some historical sites of this busy capital that Kyle told me.
"No bridge in the world can match it. It has 24 arched bridge opening, and the whole bridge is made of grey marble. There is a marble lion at the bottom of the stone pillar; There is also a beautiful and exquisite lion sitting on the top of the column. " This is Lugou Bridge, also known as Kelpolo Bridge by later generations.
Yamashita thinks that although Kyle's number of questions is incorrect and there are no lions at the bottom of the column, it is remarkable that a person who wrote a book without any comments can remember so many details after several years.
According to Kyle, he became a confidant of Khan in most places and was appointed as a special envoy to visit the most remote territory of the Mongolian Empire. In the following 17 years, Kyle saw magnificent cities, strange customs, people who ate raw meat, and China City, which was far more developed than the West. But many of his descriptions are unbelievable to westerners, and people doubt whether he has been to every city mentioned in the book.
Kyle Poirot claimed to have lived in Yangzhou for three years and served as a local official here. The book wrote: "You know, Yangzhou is a pivotal city; The protagonist of this book, Kyle Poirot himself, was appointed by Khan and served as a local official in this city for several years. " However, most experts concluded that he could not be a local official, otherwise he would be mentioned in China literature of that period. The so-called Yangzhou official has become a great example of questioning Kyle's falsehood.
"I think the biggest doubt about Kyle Poirot is that he didn't appear in any China or Mongolian historical materials. At that time, China's bureaucratic system was so huge that everything, big or small, would be recorded. Every local official and small official in every city will not be left out, but the Kyle Poirot family has never appeared.
Other Europeans are recorded in the literature, but there is no Kyle Poirot. For 200 years, historians in China and Europe have been trying to find it, but nothing has been found. This is a big problem. "Said Dr Wood.
Professor Liu Yingsheng, a historian of Nanjing University, believes that we should not rely too much on the records of that period. Even some important figures did not appear in China literature at that time. The original files of the Yuan Dynasty were destroyed at the end of the dynasty. Kyle may be a junior official. He may be a salt collector. Because Kyle knew a lot about salt affairs, all the salt in China was supplied by Yangzhou at that time.
Of course, there are still many doubts. Kyle hardly said anything about Yangzhou, where he lived for three years. He left almost all his praise to Hangzhou. "There is no doubt that Hangzhou is the most beautiful and noble city in the world." Hangzhou was the greatest city in the world at that time and was praised as "the city of heaven" by Kyle. Young people naturally like to play in this place. Kyle Market is now a shopping paradise.
Westerners don't believe Kyle Poirot, because his description is "magic" only by numbers: 6.5438+0.6 million houses and 6.5438+0.2 million bridges. After all, Venice in the Middle Ages was a city with a population of only 65,438+10,000, and its residents had no time to enjoy themselves. But on the other side of the world, there is a this beautiful city that this westerner can't catch up with, where the living standard far exceeds that of Venice.
Incredibly, he went to the border area of China while serving Khan. According to him, he met many unusual people along the way, but what interested him most was Tibetans.
He once mentioned in the book: "These people's lives are extremely simple, and they eat nothing but wheat bran all their lives;" They brew wheat bran with hot water to eat; This is their food, besides wheat bran, it is also wheat bran. ..... There are huge temples here, some of which are like a small town; There are more than two thousand monks in a temple. All these monks have to shave. "
Down the mountain, I came to Labuleng Temple in the west of Xiahe County, Gansu Province, which is one of the six famous temples of Gelug Sect (Yellow Sect) of Tibetan Buddhism in China. There, he witnessed 2000 monks with shaved heads and beards eating Ciba and worshiping the gods. It's been over 700 years, and nothing seems to have changed. Yamashita thinks that if he hadn't been to this place in person and met these people, Kyle couldn't have described them so enthusiastically.
And Kyle didn't exaggerate, but at that time, all the people in the west didn't believe the figures he quoted, which were tens of thousands. No matter the size of the city or the number of people, boats and bridges, these were incomparable to any European city at that time. In Europe, who has heard that there are 2000 priests praying in a church at the same time?
In addition, there are some chapters in Kyle's story that make modern people feel incredible. For example, as the special envoy of Mongolian Khan Kublai Khan, Kelpolo visited Yunnan and met some ethnic minorities. One thing surprised him: people here actually eat raw meat. "Residents in this area eat raw meat with sauce made of garlic and spices, just like we eat cooked meat."
It's hard for Mr Yamashita to believe it if he didn't see it with his own eyes. "I knew when I was very young that pork had to be cooked before I could eat it. But these people have been eating raw pork for 700 years; Judging from these rosy faces, they are all healthy. " This may indicate that there are some strange customs in China, a vast country.
Authenticity of version 150
After living in China for many years, Kyle Poirot and his family began to miss their hometown. Kyle was only 17 years old when he left Venice, and he was already 37 years old. He knew that Kublai Khan's health was getting weaker and weaker, and the regime was becoming more and more unstable. When Kyle came to Suzhou, it was like returning to his hometown. He stayed in Venice, the oriental water city for a long time, perhaps because it made him feel at home.
Finally, at 129 1, Khan allowed the Kyle family to return to China. They set out from the south of China, arrived in the Persian Gulf by sea and India, and then returned to Venice by land. Along the way, they may encounter infectious diseases, typhoons or shipwrecks, because only 18 of the 600 people who accompanied them survived. However, Kyle returned to Venice with great wealth.
Legend has it that when Kyle came home, he looked like a beggar, wearing a shabby coat. Then, he took off his coat and pulled out the lining, which was filled with all kinds of gems. Only then did people know that this man was Kyle Poirot, and he was about to disclose his knowledge.
The greatest traveler in history actually wrote this travel book in his cell. Kyle dictated to Lu Sidi Cello, an imaginative writer who was imprisoned in his roommate's body.
Mr. Yamashita thinks that perhaps Rusticillo, the ghostwriter, made some unrealistic exaggerations.
To say the least, even if the results of their cooperation don't have much "moisture", Dr. Wood pointed out: "Kyle Poirot and his travel notes or his discoveries in a foreign land have a serious problem: they can't find the manuscript. The manuscript has been lost, only some manuscripts are left, which are constantly copied.
There are about 150 manuscripts of Kyle Polo's Early Travels, which are different from each other. Without the most original manuscript, it is difficult to trace the origin of these stories. "
The lies and truth about Kyle are still controversial.
As Dr. Wood said, "We can't prove anything with fingerprints or DNA. After all, 700 years have passed. After all, this is really just a question of believing it or not. "
But michael yamashita, who has experienced this journey again, firmly gave his own answer: "People may sit in a library in London and think over and over again about where Kyle Poirot has been. But once you set foot on the road he once walked, you can't help but believe Kyle Poirot. Because his description is too accurate. "
On his deathbed, Kyle was advised by his friends to cancel those incredible statements, because only in this way can the soul of the deceased enter the kingdom of heaven. Kyle said to those kind people, "I didn't write half what I saw."