马可 · 波罗到过杭州吗？

徐继宏 权紫晶

从目前已有的相关资料中考证，马可 · 波罗是元代时候来到中国，也来到了杭州。当时他与父亲和叔叔一起前往中国，于1275年到达元朝的首都，后与元朝的世祖忽必烈建立了友谊，在中国游历17年，到过许多城市，包括杭州。

马可 · 波罗是世界公认的中世纪最伟大旅行家，他究竟有没有来过中国、到过杭州？对这个曾在国际学术舞台上一直存有争议的话题，鲍志成根据自己30多年来长期苦心孤诣的研究，以严谨科学、考证有据的答案告诉我们：马可 · 波罗确实到过中国，来过杭州。

马可·波罗笔下的杭州

“在杭州大学历史系读硕士研究生期间，我的导师是黄时鉴先生。黄老师的学识非常广博，懂得多国语言，极具书卷气质，是老一辈知识分子的楷模，在当时学术界有较大声望。能考上黄老师的研究生相当不易，而我幸运地成了他的学生。”谈及是从何时对马可 · 波罗产生兴趣，鲍志成侃侃而谈。

1985年即将本科毕业时，鲍志成便选择了“马可 · 波罗笔下的杭州”作为学士学位论文选题。通过查阅马可 · 波罗研究资料和杭州地方文献资料，他在黄老师的指导下完成了论文。尔后，鲍志成把论文改写成一篇题为《马可 · 波罗笔下杭州初考》的文章，刊登在中国社会科学院主办的《未定稿》1986年第7期上。

由于当时时间紧、资料不太充足，文章只考证了几方面的问题，有些也只是推论性的考辨。鲍志成笑着说：“一个本科生，能在这样的杂志上首发论文，在学术研究上好比是‘一步登天了。我后来常说自己退步了，因为自那次以后就再也没有在中国社科院主办的刊物上发表过文章了。”

对于鮑志成而言，马可 · 波罗不仅仅是他的研究课题，更是串联起他内心深处梦想的桥梁。笔者在与他的交谈中得知，东西方文化交流史一直是鲍志成的“学术初心”，30多年来，他的研究都没有背离过这个初衷。为什么会选择马可 · 波罗作为学术生涯的第一个研究对象呢？鲍志成给出了这样的答案——杭州作为国际旅游城市，加强对外旅游宣传可以提高杭州的国际知名度，而马可 · 波罗笔下的杭州美丽又富庶、神奇又神秘。作为在西方家喻户晓、妇孺皆知的世界名人，他与杭州的历史情缘是一个值得大做特做的课题。

“当年杭大图书馆教师阅览室，学生是不能进的，我跟阅览室的管理员关系不错，就让我进去了。一次在翻阅外刊时，看到一本杂志《信使》，是联合国教科文组织（UNESCO）主办的，正好看到那一期是丝绸之路专辑。什么‘琥珀之路‘波斯御道……看得我入了迷，就复印了整本杂志，我当年复印的材料，到现在还在箱子里装着呢。”提及往事，鲍志成感慨万千。于他而言，这本杂志是他研究中西方文化交流的梦想源头，而马可 · 波罗研究就是他学术之路的起点。

功夫不负有心人

当鲍志成兴冲冲地拿着那篇考证马可 · 波罗的文章给著名宋史大家徐规先生看时，本想着被夸赞的他，没料到等来的却是前辈毫不留情的批评。徐先生笑呵呵地指着文中的注解说：“你引用的《梦粱录》的“粱”，是‘黄粱一梦的‘粱，不是栋梁的‘梁！”鲍志成当时羞愧难当，知道是自己的疏忽马虎，犯了个低级错误。

就读硕士研究生期间，鲍志成就聚焦元代中外各族之间相互通婚和融合——不仅仅是血缘上的融合，更重要的是文化融合的问题。“我把《元史》《新元史》《蒙古秘史》等正史，元代所有文人诗集、文集、笔记，及其他各种资料如方志、碑刻，以及《史集》《世界征服者史》等汉译西域历史著作，全都找来买来看了个遍，把其中与中外文化交流包括马可 · 波罗与杭州有关的，都抄录下来，做成卡片！”回想起那段艰辛岁月，鲍志成感慨不已。

后来，他又查阅了许多国际上关于马可 · 波罗研究的汉学、东方学外文资料，再结合大量中文史料，对马可 · 波罗和杭州这一课题作了更加深入且全面的研究，并与元代杭州研究相结合，完成了38万字的《马可 · 波罗与天城杭州》，既印证了马可 · 波罗所述的天城杭州之盛况的可信度，又更加丰满地展现了马可 · 波罗那个时代杭州的都市风情。

“我把汉学大师慕勒与伯希和合校的百衲本《马可波罗寰宇记》中有关杭州的152、153章逐字逐句地翻译了出来。遇到语言不懂的，我就去请教不同语种的人。以前游记版本都是辗转抄录的，内容五花八门、天花乱坠，学术研究不足为信据。近代西方汉学家尤其是伯希和这样的大家，用‘审音勘同的方法，综合排比史料，梳理出综合汇校的百衲本，对马可 · 波罗学研究作出了巨大贡献。就这样，我下狠功夫，把西方马可 · 波罗学术考证中关于杭州的研究成果基本吃透掌握了，这才有了提笔写《马可 · 波罗与天城杭州》的底气。”鲍志成说。

期盼马可·波罗与杭州的故事永流传

关于马可 · 波罗是否真的来过中国，学界一直众说纷纭。大英图书馆前中国部主任伍芳思女士就写过《马可波罗到过中国吗？》一书，从西方学者的视角提出质疑。但在鲍志成的眼中，马可 · 波罗确实来过中国，而且对杭州情有独钟。如马可 · 波罗在游记中特别讲到杭城山上有个很高的塔楼，可以瞭望全城，可以及时发现哪里出现火情，一旦发生火灾，值守的士兵就立刻敲钟报警，通知驻军救火。

“杭州当时的建筑绝大多数是砖木结构的，市井街巷稠密，鳞次栉比，一旦发生火灾，就会连烧一大片城区。早在南宋时，杭州就特别注重防火，消防火灾是市政管理的要事。杭州民间有个说法叫‘城隍山上看火烧。马可 · 波罗说的这些都有详细的资料记录。穷极奢华的南宋皇宫，也是在元初因民居失火的飞烬引发火灾而焚毁的。自元朝末年开始，杭州从繁华如天堂的城市沦为一个二三流城市，除了战争造成的破坏外，一个重要原因就是连发了几次重大火灾，把核心城区焚荡一空。”鲍志成娓娓道来。

1999年，他的著作《马可 · 波罗与天城杭州》刚出版，他就带着书去了天津南开大学，参加“马可 · 波罗与十三世纪的中国国际学术研讨会”。他回忆，当时在场的人都很惊讶，杭州还有这样一个年轻学人在研究马可 · 波罗。这些年来，不少关注马可 · 波罗研究的学者、媒体记者等，都纷纷通过各种方式联系他、找到他，了解有关马可 · 波罗与杭州的故事。

文化无国界，地球一家亲。2022年是中意文化旅游年，今年5月19日的“中国旅游日”，世界旅游联盟在杭州举办“行在天城：马可 · 波罗与杭州专题研讨会”，鲍志成应邀作主题讲座。9月27日，适逢筹建中的世界旅游博览馆接受意大利有关方面捐赠“马可 · 波罗遗嘱”复制品一周年，线上展览“行在天城：马可 · 波罗与杭州展”开幕。展览以“一份遗嘱、一场旅行；一座天城、一群旅人”为主线，带领观众回顾马可 · 波罗一生的旅途，了解《马可 · 波罗游记》的诞生，走进马可 · 波罗眼中的天城杭州，并通过观众分享的旅行故事，构建起当代旅游者与马可 · 波罗的跨時空对话。

（感谢孙一文对本文的贡献）

Did Marco Polo Ever Visit Hangzhou？

By Xu Jihong Quan Zijing

Marco Polo （1254-1324） is recognized as the greatest traveler of the Middle Ages， but did he ever visit China and Hangzhou？ On this topic， which has been controversial in the international academic circles， Bao Zhicheng has given us scientifically rigorous answers with his 30-year painstaking research： Marco Polo did visit China and Hangzhou.

“When I was studying for my Master's degree in the History Department of the then Hangzhou University， my supervisor was Mr. Huang Shijian. Mr. Huang had an incredibly broad knowledge and knew many languages. He was an elegant scholar， a role model for the older generation of intellectuals， and a reputable figure in the academic community at that time. It was not easy to be supervised as a Masters student by Mr. Huang， and I was lucky enough to be admitted，” asked about when he became interested in Marco Polo， Bao talked eloquently.

In 1985， he chose “Hangzhou in Marco Polos writing” as the topic of his bachelors thesis， and completed his thesis under the guidance of Mr. Huang. Afterwards， Bao rewrote his thesis into an article entitled “A Preliminary Study of Hangzhou in Marco Polos Writing”， which was published in 1986s Issue No. 7 of the journal Weidinggao （Undecided） run by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Due to the time constraint and insufficient information back then， the article only covered a few aspects， and some of them were only inferential arguments. Bao teased with a smile：“An undergraduate student who published his first-ever paper in such a journal is like ‘reaching the sky in a single bound in academic research. After that， I always said I regressed， because， since that time， I had not published in a journal run by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. ”

Why did Bao choose Marco Polo as the first research subject of his academic career？ As an international tourist city， Hangzhou can enhance its international popularity by strengthening the promotion of foreign tourism， and the city of Hangzhou in Marco Polos writing is beautiful， affluent， and mysterious. The historical relationship between Marco Polo the world celebrity and Hangzhou is a subject worth digging into.

“Once when I was flipping through foreign magazines in the universitys reading room， I saw a magazine The UNESCO Courier， and what I chanced to read was a special issue on Silk Roads. I was so fascinated that I photocopied the whole magazine， and the copies are still kept in a box to date.”Speaking of the past， Bao was full of emotions. For him， this magazine was the seed of his dream to study the cultural exchange between China and the West， and the research on Marco Polo was the starting point of his academic road.

When Bao excitedly took his article on Marco Polo to be reviewed by Mr. Xu Gui， a famous historian specializing in the history of the Song dynasty （960-1279）， he received unrelenting criticism instead of the praise he had originally expected： Mr. Xu laughingly pointed out a mistaken character in the notes. Bao was ashamed， knowing that he had been sloppy and made a rookie mistake.

During his study in the Masters courses， Bao focused on the intermarriage and integration of different ethnic groups during the Yuan dynasty （1206-1368） — not just the integration of blood， but more importantly， the integration of culture. “I bought all the official histories of relevance， all the poetry collections， anthologies， and notes， and various others such as recipes， inscriptions， and Chinese translations of historical works on the Western Regions. From the literature， I selected all the contents related to cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries， including Marco Polos cultural connection with Hangzhou， and transcribed them on paper cards！”Bao recalled sentimentally.

Later， he made a more in-depth and comprehensive study of Marco Polo and Hangzhou and did some research on Hangzhou in the Yuan dynasty. Based on the above research， he completed Marco Polo and Hangzhou， the City of Heaven， a solid work of 380，000 Chinese characters. It not only confirms the credibility of Marco Polos description of Hangzhou but also gives a fuller picture of the urban atmosphere of Hangzhou in Marco Polos time.

“I have translated word by word the Hangzhou-relevant Chapters 152 and 153 of Marco Polo： The Description of the World， a book co-edited by the master sinologists A. C. Moule and P. Pelliot. When I encountered a language I didnt understand， I went to consult people of different mother tongues. The previous versions of the travel notes were all transcribed in different ways， and their contents were too diverse and confusing to be supported by academic research. In modern times， Western sinologists like P. Pelliot have used the method of ‘the phonetic reconstruction and the identification of the non-Chinese historical terms， synthesized and compared a wide range of historical materials， and finally sorted out this collection of various editions， which has made a great contribution to the study of Marco Polo. In this way， I had put in a lot of effort to digest the research on Hangzhou in the Western Marco Polo studies， before I mustered enough courage to write Marco Polo and Hangzhou， the City of Heaven，” Bao said.

There are many different opinions in the academic circle about whether Marco Polo really came to China. Ms. Frances Wood， the former curator of Chinese collections at the British Library， wrote a book entitled Did Marco Polo Go to China？ raising questions from the perspective of a Western scholar. However， in the eyes of Bao， Marco Polo did come to China and developed a fondness for Hangzhou. For example， in his travel note， Marco Polo specifically mentioned that there was a very high tower on the hill of Hangzhou， where he could look out over the city and quickly spot if a fire just broke out. Once there was a fire， the soldiers on duty would immediately ring the bell and notify the garrison to put it out.

“The majority of buildings in Hangzhou at that time were of brick and wood structures， and the city streets were dense and lined up. So once a fire broke out， it would burn a large area of the city. As early as in the Southern Song dynasty [1127-1279]， Hangzhou paid special attention to fire prevention and control， which was of course an important matter of municipal management. Hangzhou residents have long had a saying that goes like ‘on top of the Chenghuang Mountain one can look for fire. These descriptions of Marco Polo could be found in detailed records，” Bao narrated vividly.

In 1999， right after his book Marco Polo and Hangzhou， the City of Heaven was published， he took it to Nankai University in Tianjin to attend the “Marco Polo and the 13th Century China International Academic Symposium”. He recalled that everyone present was surprised to know there was still such a young scholar in Hangzhou studying Marco Polo. Over the years， many scholars and reporters who are interested in the study of Marco Polo have reached him through various ways to learn about the story of Marco Polo and Hangzhou.

The year 2022 marks the China-Italy Year of Culture and Tourism. On May 19， China Tourism Day， the World Tourism Union held an online symposium and exhibition titled “Journey in the Heavenly City： Exhibition in Memory of Marco Polo” in Hangzhou， and Bao Zhicheng was invited to give a keynote speech. The online exhibition was opened on September 27， which led visitors through the footsteps of Marco Polo and helped them enter a dialogue with Marco Polo through the travel stories shared by fellow visitors.