IT'S BEEN MORE than 700 years since Marco Polo travelled through China and, while the country has undergone some major changes in that time, one thing has remained the same. When it comes to getting things done, connections count for everything.
By all accounts, young Polo had a pretty good run of it in China, mainly down to one important connection. Although he wasn't the first foreigner to visit, he was, if we are to believe him, the first to win the absolute trust of Kublai Khan, who'd taken dominion in 1264 over what was then dubbed Cathay. It was this, the ultimate connection, that enabled him to travel as extensively as he did.
Polo, a gifted linguist and avid student of his surrounds, had wasted little time in winning the Great Khan's affections after arriving in May 1274 - three and a half years after setting out from Venice, at the age of 17 - and was quickly appointed an envoy, travelling on numerous missions throughout China, Burma and India.
Easing their way on these travels was the 13th century's equivalent of a diplomatic passport and suitcase full of cash - a golden tablet from Kublai Khan exhorting all who encountered Polo to help in any way they could, or face the messy consequences.
'Throughout his dominions the Polos were supplied with horses and provisions and everything needful,' wrote Polo's biographer, Rustichello of Pisa, in A Description of the World.
But that was the 13th century. Today, while there is still a strong central authority, Beijing's wishes do not always translate as smoothly into actions in the provinces as they did in Polo's day.