Marco Polo's Legacy: Exploring China's Ancient Trade Routes | Marco Polo Reloaded (4/4)
In China’s desert-like province of Gansu, Bradley Mayhew begins the final leg of his long journey. After crossing seven countries, China feels like “home turf.” Traveling along the Silk Road in Gansu, Bradley follows the corridor between two parallel mountain ranges—a natural tunnel that once carried caravans from Central Asia into China. His route takes him all the way to Lanzhou, before continuing across Inner Mongolia and Shandong Province.
At last, Bradley reaches Beijing, the imperial city that in Marco Polo’s time was forbidden to all but the emperor’s court. It was the very heart of the Chinese empire, where all roads led. Bradley then follows the Grand Canal, once the great artery of Chinese trade. Rice, salt, ceramics, and luxurious silk were shipped along this vast waterway, fueling the rise of prosperous cities shaped by commerce, craftsmanship, and an emerging middle class. His journey ends in Hangzhou, a city that flourished at the southern tip of the canal.
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Chapters
▷ 00:00 - Intro
▷ 01:23 - Dunhuang
▷ 06:21 - Crescent Moon Lake Pagoda
▷ 07:59 - Mogao Caves
▷ 12:30 - Jiayuguan Fort
▷ 15:29 - Zhangye
▷ 16:52 - Dafo Temple
▷ 18:53 - Horseshoe Monastery
▷ 23:25 - Lanzhou
▷ 28:15 - Zhenglan Banner
▷ 29:26 - Ruins of Shangdu
▷ 33:23 - Beijing
▷ 35:41 - Forbidden City
▷ 39:03 - Grand Canal
▷ 42:02 - Weishan Lake
▷ 43:13 - Xitang
▷ 44:59 - Hangzhou
▷ 49:26 - Venice
▷ 51:32 - Credits
Marco Polo Reloaded re-travels the Silk Road on the tracks of its most well-known voyager: the medieval traveler and writer Marco Polo. Five road movie style-documentaries imagine the past and show today’s reality, in countries like Turkey, Israel, Syria, Iran, Afghanistan, the Central Asian Republics and China. The five films accompany a travel writer on a mission. Bradley Mayhew, 39, married, born in England, living in the US, a senior writer for Lonely Planet Publications. He is researching a book on the Silk Road and its legendary voyager. The films show what is happening if one re-travels Marco Polo’s journey again, 700 years after him, his book in mind (“reloaded”), overland, by means of local transport, covering the ancient trade-route on its entire length from Venice to Beijing.
Original Title: Through China | Marco Polo (4/4)
A documentary by Rolf Lambert & Bernd Girrbach