Trade Routes Importance to China

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Rabby-Chia, Arielle June 6, 2010 Period 7, 7B Trade Routes Importance to China Trade routes made a great contribution to China because they helped the country improve and advance. Kublai Khan opened China to the world. He developed sea trade and welcomed foreign visitors. He encouraged trade by making the trade routes safer. Before him, it was very dangerous to travel through these routes because of wars and thieves. But Kublai changed all that. Under his rule, traders traveled safely and caravans took goods to Europe and Asia. The good trade routes helped China in different ways. Chinese traders grew richer because of all the goods they supplied to Europe, Asia and the rest of China. They also brought back to China goods that China did not have, like plants, foods and minerals. This helped the country because these goods did not exist in China and the country needed them. There were other benefits from the trade routes. The trade helped to develop contacts with foreigners. Many diplomats and missionaries came to visit China and live there. They told people in the world about China and how good it was to live there. This gave China good reputation and more people came to visit. Also, it opened China to different cultures so Chinese people learned about them and the world learned about Chinese culture. This helped the Chinese people spread their ideas in the world and to get new ideas and technologies from other cultures. Also, many explorers came to China because they heard great things about it and because it was possible to use the roads leading there. The most famous was Marco Polo, a trader from Italy, who came to visit and stayed to live there for 17 years. He wrote a book about his trip there. Marco Polo became Kublai’s assistant, and helped him run his government. Marco Polo was not the only one who had a position in the
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