The Time Travel Handbook

by James Wyllie

  Word of Kublai’s deeds filtered its way along the Silk Road trade routes back to Europe. Keen to discover more, Marco Polo’s father, Niccolo, and uncle, Maffeo, who had been wandering the Caucasus in search of business opportunities, made their way slowly to China.

  As luck would have it, Kublai was looking to develop a Christian presence in China – his mother was a Nestorian – alongside the Taoists, Buddhists and Muslims that competed for his attention. Kublai understood that if he favoured one faith above the others he was inviting trouble: the followers of those given secondary status might plot against him, while the devotees of the primary religion might prove strong enough to act as an alternative source of power. Consequently, keen to add another church into the mix, he welcomed the Venetian travellers with open arms.

  Having enjoyed Kublai’s hospitality, Polo’s father and uncle were dispatched homewards with a mission: to return as soon as possible with 100 high-ranking emissaries of the Pope and to bring valued Christian relics. When they finally got back to Venice after their extended round trip, Polo was only fifteen years old, but ready and eager to join them. Two years later, in September 1271, the group set off with a letter from the Pope and some holy oil from the sepulchre of Christ, purloined by the Venetians during a stopover in Jerusalem.

  The journey to China took the party around three years. Their start had been delayed by papal politics, and their journey involved lengthy diversions across brutal deserts and snow-covered mountains to avoid hostile locals. But in 1275 they reached the borders of Kublai’s territory, and from then on it was plain sailing. Kublai had the party accompanied by a large Mongol contingent and furnished them with a gold piazi – a travel pass that ensured they completed the journey unmolested, arriving at the Emperor’s court in the summer of 1275.

  MARCO POLO IN TARTAR COSTUME.

  THE TRIP

  YOU WILL MEET UP WITH THE POLOS at one of the many relay stations (yamb) that appear at regular intervals across the Khan’s territory and act as both crucial nodes in his communications infrastructure and as refuelling stations. Your yamb is at XUANHA, a few days travel from Xanadu, located on a level basin between mountains, and with well-appointed, comfortable lodgings. Here you will take on supplies and around 300 fresh horses, mostly for the military escort that will now accompany you on this first leg of your journey.

  It is at Xuanha that you will become part of the Polo entourage, and you will go on to play a range of supporting roles over the course of the trip. Expect some light menial duties and a certain amount of bowing and scraping. Nevertheless, you will share the exclusive access of the Polos to Kublai’s court; this privilege will surely outweigh any unpleasantness you may encounter as a domestic helper.

  A the same time, both in Xanadu and Beijing, you will be able to merge seamlessly into the small army of staff and attendants needed to keeps the wheels of Empire turning – cooks, artisans working in gold, silver, porcelain and textiles, servants, managers, entertainment specialists, historians, translators, interpreters, astronomers, doctors, librarians, shrine-keepers, musicians, architects – and lose yourself amongst them, giving you the freedom to wander and explore as you choose.

  During the summer months you will wear pyjama-like CLOTHING; for the winter, you will be supplied with coats made of sheepskin, furs and animal pelts, thick boots and the ubiquitous Mongol furry hats. You will also be provided with enough cash to cover your expenses for the duration of the trip. Kublai is very keen on PAPER MONEY, which has been in circulation in China for several hundred years, and has introduced three new notes – two backed by silver, one by silk. These currencies are made from paper that comes from the beaten inner bark of mulberry trees, and is printed using carved wooden blocks. With a wad of these notes, you will have plenty in the way of spending money.

  XANADU (SHANGU)

  You will approach the city of XANADU through open grasslands, passing a series of hills marked with shrines of sacred stones (obo). Notice the steady build-up of traffic – mostly carts pulled by bullocks or yaks – on the many tracks converging towards it. Up to 500 vehicles a day travel this route in order to supply Xanadu’s 120,000 citizens.

  You will be sticking to the main thoroughfare, the ROYAL ROAD, from which you will marvel at the thousands of pure white horses, the most prized animals that Kublai possesses, ranging over the plain, and a similar number of musk deer, much coveted for their distinctive perfume. Your route then takes you into the OUTER CITY, with its dense conglomeration of simple mud-brick houses, traders and thousands of cooking stalls wafting tantalising aromas.

  Passing on, you reach Xanadu proper. The site for the city was chosen by Kublai’s foremost town planner, Liu Bingzhong, and members of his Golden Lotus Advisory Group. As the area was previously known as the Dragon’s Ridge (Lung Gang), spells were cast to evict said dragon and a magical iron pennant was raised to prevent its return.

  Xanadu divides into three sections, all squares, with a twenty-five-foot-high outer wall, marked by bastions, towers and large gates, that stretches for more than a mile on each side. Above the walls, you will glimpse a mass of roofs with blue, green and red tiles glinting in the sun. Once inside your senses will be assaulted by another mass of street traders peddling their wares amongst densely packed dwellings. Be careful where you tread. The very poorest live in pits dug in the ground with planks and dry grass for roofs. Step too heavy and you might find yourself in somebody’s living room!

  Making your way across the city, check out the WEST GATE MARKET, which does a brisk trade in horses, sheep, cows and even slaves. Another attraction worth visiting is the NORTH YARD, a kind of zoo featuring pumas, lions, eagles and other rare animals.

  Your focus, however, will be on the inner square walled section of Xanadu that contains the IMPERIAL CITY. You will reach it via the South Gate, or GATE OF SPLENDOUR. After crossing a moat, you will walk along a road lined with houses for about half a mile to a second wall and a second gate that opens into an area of the Imperial City, laid out in grids that includes sub-palaces for Kublai’s family and staff, temples, government buildings and the houses of officials.

  Finally, once you are over another moat, you will be inside the last and most important square: the PALACE CITY, with its series of splendid tented pavilions, their names testament to their imposing stature and beguiling aura – CRYSTAL, AUSPICIOUSNESS, WISDOM, CHARITY, FRAGRANCE and CONTROLLING HEAVEN. Then take a deep breath as rising before you is the ROYAL PALACE, a two-storey building on a 350-foot-high brick-faced platform, much of it made from white marble especially imported by Kublai.

  As befits the ruler of most of the known world, Kublai tends to keep his visitors waiting, and you and the Polos will have to linger a while for your first audience and your first glimpse inside his Imperial Palace. Having changed into the special footwear, beautiful slippers of white leather that all visitors are required to wear, you’ll be escorted into a labyrinth of over 120 rooms – two wings, a central courtyard and its grand Pavilion of Great Peace – which the poet Zhou Boqi describes as ‘rafter upon rafter, the storied pavilion reaches the azure sky, a picture painted in gold floating atop seven precious pillars’.

  You will then follow the Polos into Kublai’s chamber and lay your eyes on the Great Khan – who is short, stocky and shows signs of the gout that will plague his later years. He will be dressed in glorious robes of gold laced with intricate patterns, his black-eyed gaze scrutinising your every move.

  You and the Polos should prostrate yourselves before his majesty, worried that the failure to bring along a bevy of Papal officials will anger him. Fear not. Kublai is delighted to see the Polo family and welcomes them and, by association, you, into the bosom of his court.

  LIFE IN XANADU

  You will be staying in a GER (or yurt), the traditional Mongolian habitat, on a camp site for VIPs and merchants near the East Gate. Your ger has a wooden circular frame, covered in felt made from sheep’s wool, with a frame of expanding lattice
wall sections. The interior will also be lined with felt and decorated with patterns that represent savage beasts, the five elements (fire, earth, water, metal and wood), plus geometric patterns such as the continuous hammer (alkhan kee).

  Considering the nomadic lifestyle of the Mongols, it’ll come as no surprise that their toilet arrangements are pretty rudimentary: expect to find yourself squatting above a stinking hole in the ground. But, on the bright side, toilet paper is available – the Chinese have been using it for six hundred years. Note that these open latrines are thought to harbour ghosts. To combat the presence of malicious spirits, the Ruler of Heaven (China’s main deity) blessed these latrines with their very own god, the Purple Maiden. Legend has it that a first wife, jealous of her husband’s second wife, murdered her rival by shoving her into a communal shit pit. The Ruler of Heaven then took pity on her poor befouled soul and made her divine.

  Toilet issues aside, the time spent in your ger will allow you to appreciate the alfresco simplicity and back-to-nature vitality of the Mongol way of life. With warm weather and long hours of daylight, it will be a refreshing pleasure to stay under canvas, dining out every night under the panoramic, star-speckled sky.

  EATING AND DRINKING

  Though most of the city’s population is Chinese, Kublai is determined that Mongolian culture will predominate at Xanadu. The life-blood of their diet is the mildly alcoholic drink airag, derived from mare’s milk which has been poured into a huge sack and churned with a club before turning sour and fermenting, and then churned continually until butter can be extracted from it. You better get a taste for it quickly, as it will be offered to you constantly. The mare’s milk is also boiled to get clotted cream (orom), with the remains processed into cheese (byaslag). This emphasis on dairy produce may present a challenge for those with a lactose intolerance.

  As for other foods, the Mongol’s most popular delicacies include steamed or boiled minced meat DUMPLINGS (buuz) and MUTTON cooked over hot stones. Broths are also common fare, su ch as BORBI SOUP, concocted by reducing thirty or so sheep bones in a bucket of water.

  There will be more sophisticated dishes on offer that combine ingredients and culinary techniques from other parts of Kublai’s realm such as RUSSIAN OLIVE SOUP, consisting of one leg of mutton, five cardamom seeds, and shelled chick peas, which are boiled and strained before Russian olives, sliced sheep thorax, Chinese cabbage or nettle leaf are added to the mix.

  Another option is butter skin YUGBA that uses a fine cut of mutton, sheep’s fat, sheep’s tail, mandarin orange peel, sprouting ginger, salt, sauce and spices, while the skins are from a blend of vegetable oil, rice flour and wheat flour. You will also come across NOODLE DISHES with mutton, egg, ginger, sheep intestines and mushrooms in a broth seasoned with pepper, salt and vinegar.

  VEGETARIANS may find Mongol fare a struggle. Your best bet is to stick to noodle dishes, with the meat extracted, or rice dishes that use curds or raisins for flavour. Vegans may prefer to stay at home.

  HUNTING

  One of the highlights of your time in Xanadu will be the opportunity to enjoy Kublai’s private GRASSLAND PARK, just to the north-west of the city. While its fountains, brooks, immaculate lawns and hidden groves summon up visions of paradise, the real purpose of the park is HUNTING, the defining activity of Mongolian culture. Kublai’s park is well stocked with deer, hares, rabbits and birds. Much of the hunting is done on horseback using bows and arrows; this is a tricky art and will be impossible to master without some equestrian experience.

  KUBLAI KHAN HUNTING WITH A GYRO-FALCON – A MINIATURE FROM THE FIFTEENTH-CENTURY LIVRE DES MERVEILLES DU MONDE.

  Kublai also employs a range of hunting dogs – mastiffs, greyhounds and retrievers. But most spectacular of all is the massive GYRO-FALCON. Bred mainly in Korea and Manchuria, this sub-Arctic bird is either white with black flecks or pure white, and has a massive wingspan. You will watch open-mouthed as this immensely powerful falcon brings down a deer by battering it round the head and eyes with its wings. Equally awe-inspiring, indeed a bit terrifying, will be the sight of Kublai letting his PET CHEETAHS loose. Marvel at the speed and agility of one of nature’s most sublime predators as it pursues its prey.

  Another not to be missed park attraction is Kublai’s BAMBOO PALACE, also known as the PLEASURE DOME. This regal ger, where the Khan conducts much of his official business in lavish luxury – with animal skins for a carpet – is on a scale unimaginable to his forefathers and required a considerable feat of engineering to make it large enough for his purposes while still being portable. The ger is secured in place by two hundred silken cords, and rests on top of pillars, each with a great golden dragon. The whole thing, despite its size, seems to float in the air, defying the laws of physics, rendering it somewhat fantastical to the eye, like something wrought out of legend.

  WORSHIP

  Xanadu is host to a multitude of BUDDHIST AND TAOIST TEMPLES, the biggest of them attended by several hundred monks. They are in the pagoda style that is still with us today, with multiple roof sections, bright colours and dragon motifs, while inside the ornate interiors are golden statues of the gods and incense burning continually. Feel free to enter and take part in ceremonies that have remained practically unaltered for thousands of years.

  Though Kublai is careful not to over-privilege either religion, he has chosen to adopt MAHAKALA, the Buddhist god of war, as his patron saint; its black face, fierce, blazing eyes, fixed snarl, wild yellow hair and headdress of skulls are an appropriate image for a serial conqueror. However, this does not mean Kublai has deserted his own spiritual roots. At Xanadu, MONGOLIAN SPIRITUAL PRACTICES will be the most frequently seen.

  Based on a circular concept of time, this is a pantheistic faith, particular animals acting as totems or symbolic ancestors, the most famous being the BLUE WOLF and RED DEER, the mythical progenitors of the Mongols. Ruling over their universe are the SKY GODS (tengri), the foremost being ETERNAL BLUE HEAVEN, with the sun (fire) and moon (water) for eyes. Beneath him are 99 other male divinities, 55 of them benevolent (white) and 44 terrifying (black). As an equal-opportunity religion, there are 77 female divinities (natigai), governed by the ALMIGHTY EARTH MOTHER.

  This celestial pantheon will be available to you through the ritual machinations of the SHAMANS. Gifted with psychic powers (hii) and the ability to travel between the worlds of the living and dead, human and divine, man and animal, they can also access three categories of ancestral spirits: Lord Spirits, Protector Spirits and Guardian Spirits. During their rituals, you will be transported by mysterious chants and the incessant rhythmic beating of a one sided hand-held drum (tuur). You will notice that the shaman wears an amulet (dalbuur) and a metallic circular mirror (toil), which not only acts as armour to deflect spirit attacks but also absorbs energy from the universe. To intensify the experience you will be offered alcohol and tobacco, and be expected to inhale the fumes from burning juniper, producing a mildly hallucinogenic high. Suspend your disbelief, open your mind, go with the flow, and you will find yourself travelling through time and space.

  DEPARTURE AND IMPERIAL PROGRESS

  Your stay in Xanadu will finish on 28 AUGUST, the traditional end of summer, when Kublai will depart south for Beijing. This auspicious day is marked by a LEAVING CEREMONY. You will witness Kublai sprinkling milk taken from his white mares onto the ground by hand to honour the gods, followed by the mystic men, who will drink the sacred milk that is poured out especially for them before they offer their blessings to Eternal Blue Heaven.

  This ceremony complete, you will begin the journey to Beijing along with a vast train of carriages and carts filled with hundreds of Kublai’s staff. Covering 20km a day, it’ll take you roughly three weeks to reach your destination. En route, you will be stopping at a string of towns, whose only function is to welcome Kublai once a year. The first port of call is HANGZHOU, followed by LIANG TAI and CHAGAN NOR – known as the White Lake and famous for its swans, partridges, pheasants and cran
es. Then onto ZHONG DU, ZHANGBEI, ZHANGJIAKU, XUANHU, TUMU and KHARABALGASAN (Black City), finally dropping down through a gorge between mountains to the plains.

  From here there are thirty miles of open ground between the mountains and the city of DADU (modern Beijing). You will approach it on a road that has been especially cleared and smoothed over by labourers.

  DADU (KHANBALIQ)

  The Imperial Progress will take you through the suburbs of DADU, or KHANBALIQ as it has been renamed by Kublai. This is the city that will become Beijing, and already it is a massive conurbation with a sea of houses and little plots of land for vegetables and other crops, alongside larger houses and inns reserved for foreigners and merchants. You will immediately be struck by the thick haze of smoke. This is the product of constantly burning FUNERAL PYRES; Kublai has outlawed the burial of bodies within the main city. You will also be struck by the multitudes of prostitutes hustling for business; Kublai banned them as well from his new capital.

  THE SUBURBS

  The suburbs form a thrillingly cosmopolitan and multicultural township, where you will rub shoulders with Chinese, Mongols, Turks, Arabs and Indians, haggle with merchants offering silks, spices, jewels and pearls, be entertained by buskers and tempted by the STREET FOOD being prepared on every corner. This is largely of Chinese origin and based on the northern school of cooking, Lu, and will not be that different from a takeaway back home, with similar ingredients, spices and seasoning. And, of course, there is more tea than you could ever possibly drink.