Yuan Dynasty had worldwild contacts with different countries in Asia, Africa and Europe. Among the many foreigners who came to China at that time, Marco Polo (1254 - 1324), an Italian from Venice, was the most famous.

In the summer of 1271, Marco Polo arrived in China with his father and uncle after a journey which had taken them four years.

Marco Polo was very smart and hard-working. Soon he acquired Mongolian, equitation and toxophily, and became a favorite of Kublai Khan, who ofter sent him on inspection tours. Later, he wrote a book which described many places in the northwest, southwest, the middle south of China as well as northern China and eastern China. It is said that he served as the magistrate of Yangzhou for three years.

After their long settlement in China, the three Europeans missed their homeland very much, and pleaded to return back several times. They got permission and began an adventurous journey home. The three Europeans finally returned to their homeland in 1295.

They had left their homeland for 24 years. The local people believed they had died abroad. However, they came back in eastern clothes. People thought they had brought back countless treasures and gave Marco Polo the nickname, "a millionaire".

Soon, Venice had a war with another city Genoa. Marco Polo bought a ship with his own money and sailed it himself to join the armada of Venice. Unfortunately, Venic lost the battle and he was captured and thrown into prison. Genoa people heard about his travels to the east and ofter went to jail to listen to his stories of the East and China. There was a writer in jail who wrote down the stories told by Marco Polo and edited it into a book called The Travels of Marco Polo.

Marco Polo described a fabulous eastern world in his trabel, and introduced the great political events, customs, beliefs, famous cities, productions and commercial activities in detail. Since the book was published, it had been popular with Europeans and roused their interest in eastern civilization.

Since 15th century, European navigators and exporers, generally influenced by Marco Polo, went to the East to search for a country full of gold.