Silk

[Travellers | Cities | Routes | Trade Goods | Themes]

A note in Henry Yule's edition of Marco Polo's text has the following entry:

"Silk is a large item in the produce and trade of Sze ch’wan (Sichuan province); and through extensive quarters of Ch’êng tu fu (Chengdu fu), in every house, the spinning, dying, weaving, and embroidering of silk give occupation to the people. And though a good deal is exported, much is consumed in the province, for the people are very much given to costly apparel. Thus silk goods are very conspicuous in the shops of the capital." (Richthofen)

- Book II, Part II, Chapter XLIV, "Concerning the Province and City of Sindafu", in Henry Yule, trans. and ed., The Book of Ser Marco Polo, The Venetian, Concerning the Kingdoms and Marvels of the East, 3rd ed. (with commentaries by Henri Cordier), 2 vols. (London: John Murray, 1903), p. 37, note 5)