Chinese Whispers: Was Marco Polo a 'sexpat'?
Best of the Spectator
The Spectator
4.3 • 826 Ratings
🗓️ 15 April 2024
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
My guest today, and the author of that book review, is the historian Jeremiah Jenne. Jeremiah has lived in China for over two decades, and he is also the co-host of the fascinating podcast Barbarians at the Gate, all about Chinese history. He has been doing a series of historical book reviews for the relatively newly established website China Books Review, and in re-reading The Travels of Marco Polo, he noticed that there was a lot of sex.
We talk about all of this, of course, but there’s a serious point here too. How much do Europeans observe when they go to China and how reliable are their accounts, understood and told through the perspective of the outsider? How much has Marco Polo’s portrayal of China moulded the western mindset on the country in the centuries since, and even today? And what does it say about the China of the 13th century that a trio of Venetian merchants could make it to the heart of the Mongol empire?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | The Spectator magazine is the greatest magazine of English language. Subscribe today for just £12, |
| 0:05.0 | and receive a 12-week subscription in print and online to see for yourselves. Also, against my advice as editor, we're giving away a free £20 £10,000 or Waitrose Voucher. Given that you're spending £12, you can do the maths. |
| 0:18.5 | Go to spectator.com.com.uk forward slash voucher. But |
| 0:22.0 | don't hurry because this offer probably loses us money. |
| 0:34.7 | Hello and welcome to Chinese Whispers with me, Cindy Yu. Every episode I'll be talking to journalists, |
| 0:40.3 | experts and long-time China watchers about the latest in Chinese politics, society and more. |
| 0:46.0 | There'll be a smattering of history to catch you up on the background knowledge and some context as well. |
| 0:50.7 | How did the Chinese see these issues? |
| 0:54.1 | When I recently came across a book review asking the |
| 0:57.0 | question, was Marco Polo a sex pat? I knew I had to get its author on to, well, discuss this |
| 1:02.8 | important question some more. The 13th century Venetian merchant Marco Polo's account of China was one of |
| 1:08.5 | the earliest and most popular travelogs written on the country. |
| 1:12.0 | And he spent years at the court of Kublai Khan, the grandson of Genkis, who ruled over China in the |
| 1:17.2 | Yuan dynasty. My guest today and the author of that book review is the historian Jeremiah Jenny. |
| 1:23.1 | Jeremiah has lived in China for over two decades, and he is also the co-host of the fascinating podcast Barbarians at the gate, all about Chinese history. |
| 1:31.4 | He has been doing a series of historical book reviews for the relatively newly established website China Books Reviews. |
| 1:37.0 | And in rereading the travels of Marco Polo, he noticed that there was a lot of sex. |
| 1:42.9 | We talk about all this, of course, but there's a serious point |
| 1:45.6 | here too. How much do Europeans observe when they go to China and how reliable are their accounts |
| 1:50.9 | understood and told through the perspective of outsiders? How much has Marco Polo's portrayal of |
| 1:56.9 | China moulded the Western mindset on the country in a century since and even today. And what does |
| 2:03.1 | it say about China in the 13th century that a few Venetian merchants like Marco Polo and his family |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Spectator, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Spectator and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.