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G6 | History & Geography Department: History Project — Travel in China with Marco Polo

June 16, 2023

When a traveler visits a new city, he or she can use websites to search for the interesting sites to visit, restaurants to eat at, or just read about other travelers’ experiences in that city. When the sixth-grade students were learning the history of the Yuan Dynasty, the project they completed was related to travel. The objective was to write a travel guide to China from the perspective of Marco Polo, and to design an introduction webpage for tourist cities by using the Trip Advisor website template.

As a foreigner who spent 17 years in China, what was China like in Marco Polo's eyes? The students needed to do research and check the dates of when famous landmarks were built. They reviewed what was there when Marco Polo was in China, which means the sites or scenery they chose had to be historically accurate. Special attention had to be paid on this point to avoid some mistakes.

The students’ project allowed them to show their own areas of interest. If they were interested in ancient architecture, Marco Polo visited the Pavilion of Surging Waves in Suzhou, the palace of Yuan Dynasty in Beijing, and the Six Harmonious Pagodas in Hangzhou; If they liked the natural scenery, Marco Polo visited the steppes in Shangdu (in present Inner Mongolia) and the West Lake, etc. Besides these, there were also famous attractions including the Lugou Bridge and water towns in southern regions of the Changjiang River and the Grand Canal. With the catchy titles, illustrations, and recommendations, the wonderful travel guides created by students demonstrated their abilities in research, analysis, and application of historical materials, as well as personalized observation and thinking.

Summer vacation is approaching. If students have plans to travel in China, they can use the knowledge and skills they practiced in this project to customize a travel guide before their trip!

Written by Liu Chen

Pictures by Liu Chen

Supervised by Kelly Schroer

Edited by Serene Yang, Minghui Zhuang (Intern), Niall Keenan