{"title":"Books by Frances Wood","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780813389998","title":"Did Marco Polo Go To China?","description":"We all ?know? that Marco Polo went to China, served Ghengis Khan for many years, and returned to Italy with the recipes for pasta and ice cream. But Frances Wood, head of the Chinese Department at the British Library, argues that Marco Polo not only never went to China, he probably never even made it past the Black Sea, where his family conducted business as merchants.Marco Polo's travels from Venice to the exotic and distant East, and his epic book describing his extraordinary adventures, A Description of the World, ranks among the most famous and influential books ever published. In this fascinating piece of historical detection, marking the 700th anniversary of Polo's journey, Frances Wood questions whether Marco Polo ever reached the country he so vividly described. Why, in his romantic and seemingly detailed account, is there no mention of such fundamentals of Chinese life as tea, foot-binding, or even the Great Wall? Did he really bring back pasta and ice cream to Italy? And why, given China's extensive and even obsessive record-keeping, is there no mention of Marco Polo anywhere in the archives?Sure to spark controversy, Did Marco Polo Go to China? tries to solve these and other inconsistencies by carefully examining the Polo family history, Marco Polo's activities as a merchant, the preparation of his book, and the imperial Chinese records. The result is a lucid and readable look at medieval European and Chinese history, and the characters and events that shaped this extraordinary and enduring myth.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56294928253301,"sku":"9780813389998","price":50.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780813389998_d983f2e6-1459-4725-bd2c-9ba60cdd6825.jpg?v=1786015665"},{"product_id":"9780995557703","title":"Bringing Heaven to Earth","description":"\u003cbr\u003eBinding: Paperback \/ softback","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56295185613173,"sku":"9780995557703","price":40.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780995557703_bd445bc5-fe26-4ae8-b368-7fb0eccf2553.jpg?v=1786015940"},{"product_id":"9781837930210","title":"Great Books of China","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDiscover – or rediscover – the major achievements of Chinese culture and civilization.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eGreat Books of China\u003c\/i\u003e offers concise introductions – each of them accompanied by generous quotation (in English) from the book in question – to sixty-six works in the canon of Chinese literature.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe books chosen reflect the chronological and thematic breadth of Chinese literary tradition, ranging from such classics as \u003ci\u003eThe Book of Songs\u003c\/i\u003e and the \u003ci\u003eConfucian Analects\u003c\/i\u003e, through popular dramas and novels (\u003ci\u003eThe Romance of the Western Chamber\u003c\/i\u003e; \u003ci\u003eThe Water Margin\u003c\/i\u003e), twentieth-century political and biographical works (\u003ci\u003eQuotations from Chairman Mao\u003c\/i\u003e, the autobiography of the last emperor) and modern novels that are little known in the West (\u003ci\u003eMemories of South Peking\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSix Chapters from a Cadre School Life\u003c\/i\u003e).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrances Wood presents a comprehensive, accessible and richly informative primer for the uninitiated; a box of delights that opens up an entire literary culture to the inquisitive reader.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307936788853,"sku":"9781837930210","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781837930210_0696cbf2-436d-4689-ae1c-919967db45ac.jpg?v=1786028179"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-frances-wood.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}