He wasn't the first European to explore China

While his book, The Travels of Marco Polo, introduced the European world to the Far East. We all "know" that Marco Polo traveled to China, worked for Ghengis Khan for several years, and then came back to Italy with the ice cream and pasta recipes.

Frances Wood, head of the Chinese Department at the British Library, disagrees, claiming that Marco Polo most likely never even left the Black Sea, where his family was engaged in trade.Marco Polo's journeys from Venice to the exotic and far-off East, as well as the epic book he wrote detailing his remarkable experiences. Why does he not mention such staples of Chinese culture as tea, foot-binding, or even the Great Wall in his romantic and ostensibly in-depth account? Did he bring ice cream and pasta back to Italy? And why is there no mention of Marco Polo in the archives, given China's extensive and even compulsive record-keeping? Did Marco Polo Visit China? is sure to cause a stir.

Another claim claims that Polo wasn't even the first person to travel to China. Niccolo and Maffeo Polo had already traveled to China and met with Kublai Khan before Marco set out on his journey to Asia. Because Niccolo and Maffeo, the two more experienced travelers, had made friends with the great Mongol emperor and informed him about Christianity, the Pope, and the Church in Rome, Marco's journey could be seen as a sort of continuation of their earlier explorations. Kublai Khan asked the travelers to bring him 100 Christian men so he could learn more about the religion and some holy oil of the lamp in Jerusalem because he was curious about European religion. Niccolo and Maffeo left for the East once more after returning to Europe, where they picked up the young Marco Polo and managed to obtain the oil but not the 100 Christians that the emperor had requested.