We arrived in Beijing at the end of our long journey just in time to attend a symposium on the tRavels of Marco Polo held at the Beijing Woring People's Cultural Palace. Polo held at the Beijing Working People's Cultural Palace.

It was a fortuitous occasion, because besides hearing from experts from Italy, China and other countries, we also met Mr. Padolucia Polo, one of Marco Polo's descendants.

When Padolucia Polo took the stage, a familiar face appeared before our eyes. He looked very much like the picture of Marco Polo in The Travels,the book we carried with us throughout our entire trip. It seemed like we had suddenly gone back in time 700 years.

Padolucia Polo's voice brought us back to reality. In his speech, he said that he was proud of the deeds of his ancestor and also expressed his admiration for China's beautiful scenery and her people.

Although we were not familiar with all of the arguments put forth by the experts and scholars,the names of the places he travelled to and many of his experiences were well known to all of us. got being academics, we had our own understanding of Marco Polo's accomplishments, gained through personal, practical experience.

When we finally finished the editorial work for this issue and reflected on the 80-day adventure we had gone through, braving all sorts of difficulties, it seemed as if the event occurred ages ago. Although only one member in our party, Wang Miao, made the entire journey, the others all travelled great distances and each person fulfilled his or her individual goals.

We would therefore like to thank our steadfast travelling companions for their support and help:Wang Jianiun from Sichuan, Chang Ken from Gansu and our driver Li Jiang.

As for the jeep that carried us along thousands of kilometres of roads and desert stands, it survived the journey and is remarkably still in good condition. Thus we would also like to express our gratitude to the authorities of the automobile factory in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, who lent us the vehicle. Without it we probably would not have been able to accomplish this major undertaking,We have represented here in words and pictures what we learned and witnessed along the way, and hope that through this, our readers will gain a better understanding of and appreciation for China's past and present.