The term ‘Medieval China’ is quite a misnomer as there was no clear ‘medieval’ period in Chinese history. While the medieval period in Europe spanned over one thousand years, between the fifth and fifteenth centuries, the Chinese Imperial period spans a much greater period. The Chinese Imperial period began in the third century BCE with the Qin Dynasty and continued approximately two thousand years. This period in Chinese history is referred to as the Chinese Imperial Era that began after the first unification of the seven kingdoms by the Qin (221-206 BC).[1] Imperial period began to decline from the destabilization effect of the European opium trade on Chinese society resulting in the Opium Wars during the final, Qing Dynasty.[2] Numerous Europeans are known to have been in Medieval China during the second half of the 13th century and the first half of the 14th century (from 1246 to around 1350), at a time when the Mongol Empire ruled over a large part of Eurasia and connected Europe with their Chinese dominion of the Yuan Dynasty. The Europeans were essentially located in eastern Central Asia, as far as the Mongol capital of Karakorum. As contacts however, European missionaries and merchants started to travel far and wide in the Mongol realm under the ‘’Pax Mongolica’’. It is thought that thousands of them lived in medieval China under Mongol rule.[3][1]
Before that time, instances of Europeans going to China, or of Chinese going to Europe are virtually unknown.[1] The closest cases are those of the Chinese general Ban Chao's exploration of the West in the 1st century CE and his dispatch of one of his officers Gan Ying to Rome, instances of Roman embassies to China in the 3-4th century, and the European invasions of the Huns under Attila in the 5th century.
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In 1253, the Franciscan monk William of Rubruck reported numerous Europeans in Central Asia. He described German prisoners who had been enslaved in iron mines. In Karakorum, the Mongol capital, he met with a Parisian, Guillaume de Buchier, and a woman named Pâquette, from the French city of Metz, both of them having been captured in Hungary during the Mongol invasions there. Hungarians and Russians are also mentioned. It is also known that 30,000 Alans formed the guard of the Mongol court in Pekin.[1]
Niccolò and Maffeo Polo left Constantinople for the east in 1259. The Polo brothers arrived in China in 1261, and are the first known European merchants to have visited China. Marco Polo and his family received an audience with Kublai Kahn, one of the great khanates of the Golden Horde and founder of the Yuan Dynasty. The Polo family made a favorable impression on the Khan. They were given maps and ideas of better places to trade. The Polos were also allowed to spend a great deal of time in China (a year), something previously denied to Europeans. Due to the impression made by the Polo family, the Khan considered inviting European missionaries into his empire.
The Polos were pioneers in China, but others were soon to follow. The Florentine Balducci Pegolotti compiled a guide about trade in China, based on the accounts of several merchants who were already knowledgeable of the country. Another merchant, Petro de Lucalongo, is known to have accompanied the monk John of Montecorvino to Khanbaliq in 1305. A Lombardian surgeon is known to have reached the city in 1303.
In Zaytun, the first harbour of China, there was a small Genoese colony, mentioned in 1326 by André de Pérouse. The most famous Italian resident of the city was Andolo de Savignone, who was sent to the west by the Khan in 1336 to request “100 horses and other treasures.” Following Savignone’s visit, an ambassador was dispatched to China with one superb horse, which was later the object of Chinese poems and paintings.[2]
Venetians also were present in China. John of Montecorvino had one of them bring a letter to the west in 1305. In 1339 a Venetian named Giovanni Loredano is recorded to have returned to Venice from China. A tombstone was discovered in Yangzhou in the name of Catherine de Villioni, daughter of Dominici, where she died in 1342.[2]
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine was the first Christian monk to reach as far as Karakorum in 1246. Catholic missionaries soon established a considerable presence in China, due to the high religious tolerance of the Mongols. This tolerance was due in no small part to the great tolerance of the Khan. Kublai was a brilliant political leader and openly encouraged the development of trade and intellectual avocation. He translated the New Testament in the Mongol tongue, and converted 6,000 people (probably Alans, Turks and Mongols rather than Chinese). John of Montecorvino was joined by three bishops (Andre de Perouse, Gerard Albuini and Peregrino de Castello) and ordained arshibishop of Peking by Pope Clement V in 1311.[5] Following the death of John of Montecorvino, John of Marignolli was dispatched to Peking to become the new archbishop from 1342 to 1346 in an effort to maintain a Christian influence in the region. In 1370, following the ousting of the Mongols from China, and the establishment of the Chinese Ming dynasty, a new mission was sent by the Pope to China formed by the Parisian theologian Guillaume du Pré as the new archbishop and 50 Franciscans. This mission however disappeared without news, apparently eliminated.[5] These early missionaries to China faced a great deal of opposition and ultimately paid the price. In 1253, the Franciscan monk William of Rubruck reported numerous Europeans in Central Asia. He described German prisoners who had been enslaved in iron mines. In Karakorum, the Mongol capital, he met with a Parisian, Guillaume de Buchier, and a woman named Pâquette, from the French city of Metz, both of them having been captured in Hungary during the Mongol invasions there. Hungarians and Russians are also mentioned. It is also known that 30,000 Alans formed the guard of the Mongol court in Pekin.[3]
In 1370, following the ousting of the Mongols from China, and the establishment of the Chinese Ming dynasty, a new mission was sent by the Pope to China formed by the Parisian theologian Guillaume du Pré as the new archbishop and 50 Franciscans. This mission however disappeared without news, apparently eliminated by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of Ming.[3]
1 http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/timelines/china_timeline.htm 4Roux, Jean-Paul, ‘’Histoire de l’Empire Mongol’’, Fayard, 1993, ISBN 2213031649
2 http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_opium.htm 9[http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1791machines.html
10 http://www.archive.org/details/chineseaccounto00parkgoog 11 http://www.archive.org/stream/chineseaccounto00parkgoog#page/n91/mode/1up/search/money 13http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/china_1750_macartney.htm
14 http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1793qianlong.html 15http://web.jjay.cuny.edu/~jobrien/reference/ob41.html)
[20] • An Economic Analysis of the Protestant Reformation • Robert B. Ekelund Jr., Robert F. Hébert and Robert D. Tollison • The Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 110, No. 3 (Jun., 2002), pp. 646–671 (article consists of 26 pages) • Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3078445