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As Above So Below
The Mystery of the Dragons that Marco Polo saw in China
Venetian merchant Marco Polo is considered one of the first known medieval Europeans to travel to Asia. Among other things, he visited China twice and claimed to have seen…dragons there.The records of Marco Polo are often subject to legitimate criticism, and some experts believe that he either was not in the countries he indicated at all, or that he did exist but mixed real facts with fictional ones.
The first time Marco Polo came to China was in 1266, but it was a short visit, and the second time in 1275, and this time Polo stayed in China for 17 years.
This was enough for him to describe in great detail the daily life of local residents, their crafts, culinary traditions of various regions, etc. Moreover, all this is described very reliably, suggesting that Marco Polo actually lived in China for some time.
His book, The Travels of Marco Polo, document much of his exploration into the regions of China, Persia, Tibet, and Burma (Polo, 1961, preface). Polo spent much of his book detailing the interesting customs of different ethnic groups he encountered. He also focused on the different animals and plants associated with these tribes.
In chapter 49, Polo related items of interest found in a province named Karajan. He reported that large quantities of gold were found in the rivers. He further noted that the citizens used cowrie shells as currency. He then described some of the animals associated with the area. He wrote:
His notes on dragons are also quite detailed, not just a mention, but a description of their appearance. Marco Polo describes them as huge snakes with short legs, which is consistent with the traditional image of Chinese dragons.
“Leaving the city of Yachi (Zhachi) and walking ten days in a western direction, you will reach the province of Karazan (Karajan), which is also the name of the main city… Here you can see huge snakes that are thirty feet in length (about 30 ft) and ten spans (about 8.2 ft) in body circumference.
“In front of them, near the head, they have two short legs with three claws, similar to a tiger’s, and their eyes are larger than a 4-kreuzer loaf and are very sparkling.
“Their mouth is wide enough to swallow a man; their teeth are large and sharp, and their whole appearance is so formidable that neither man nor any animal can approach them without fear. There are also smaller snakes, 8, 6, or 5 steps long.
“They hunt them using the following method: During the day, due to the intense heat, they hide in caves, from where at night they come out for food and for any animal they encounter and can capture, be it a tiger, a wolf, or any other animal.
“They swallow it and then crawl to a river or stream, and from the movement of their body along the shore and their enormous weight, they leave traces, as if a heavy log had been pulled across the sand.
“Those who catch them watch the path along which they most often walk and attach to the ground several pieces of wood with sharp iron spikes, which they sprinkle with sand in such a way that they cannot be seen.
“When the animals go to the places they usually visit, these weapons wound them, and they quickly die. The crows, as soon as they see them dead, begin to scream, and this serves as a signal to the hunters, who move to the spot and begin to separate the skin from the meat, immediately taking care to preserve the bile, which is highly valued in medicine.”
Apparently, these snakes were found only in the Karajan area because Marco Polo did not see them anywhere else after leaving Karajan. However, in other notes, he mentioned that the emperor bred these dragon creatures to harness them to his chariots in parades.
But where is this Karadzhan-Karazan located? There is no such city in the history of China, so there is either some kind of distorted name or confusion. Or did Marco Polo lie?
Despite Polo’s accounts having been previously criticised for being overly fanciful, and possibly fraudulent, modern studies have revealed that his Travels are remarkably accurate. Details such as currencies used, salt productions and revenues, have been proven to be not only accurate, but unique to Polo, with such detailed descriptions not being found in other non-Chinese sources of the time.
All of this makes one wonder whether or not his descriptions of “great serpents” were also accurate, and if Marco Polo truly did encounter the long-revered dragons of China.
Some researchers believe that the city of Zhachi is the modern city of Zhetigen in Kazakhstan, and Karajan is, accordingly, the modern city of Taraz in the same Kazakhstan. Well, huge snakes with legs are nothing more than a Central Asian monitor lizard.
That is, according to this version, Marco Polo did not reach China, but walked in the region of Kazakhstan. Another thing is that the monitor lizards of Kazakhstan are actually not nearly as large in size as Polo describes. Maximum 5 ft, of which more than half is on the tail. This one won’t even eat a dog, much less a person.
Also a very interesting detail is the Chinese zodiac. Of his twelve signs, eleven are real animals: rat, horse, dog, bull, rabbit, tiger, snake, ram, monkey, rooster and pig. However, the twelfth sign is the dragon.
Why did the Chinese include the “fictional” dragon among these common animals? Maybe because once these “dragons” were also completely real for them? There is another interesting hypothesis that Marco Polo mistook ordinary crocodiles for dragons.
A large crocodile is quite capable of killing and devouring a person, and the African way of hunting a crocodile by sticking stakes in its path is exactly what Polo described. But where then could he see crocodiles? Definitely not in Kazakhstan.
But in China, there are actually alligators in the Yangtze River. Although rather small, on average they are no more than 5ft in length. Not dangerous for an adult.
But you can’t harness a crocodile to a chariot, and their eyes are small, and in Karajan’s description there is not even any mention of such a large river as the Yangtze. Inconsistencies again.
In conclusion, Marco Polo’s accounts of his travels in Asia, including his descriptions of these dragon-like creatures in the Karajan region, continue to be a subject of both fascination and debate among historians and scholars.
While some aspects of his stories are met with skepticism, his meticulous observations of Chinese culture and daily life during his extended stay in China provide valuable insights into a bygone era.
The legends of dragons in Chinese culture have persisted for centuries, and Marco Polo’s encounters with these creatures, whether rooted in fact or embellished by time and retelling, remain an intriguing part of the tapestry of exploration and discovery in the medieval world.
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