On this segment of the February 13, 2016 show Marvels of China: Pathways to the Pacific Rim both WGCH engineer Tony Savino and I reflected on the brisk cold weather our region of the USA was experiencing -and an interesting observation by Italian explorer Marco Polo.
By the end of the 11th century coal was in substantial use in China. This was mostly due to deforestation in northern China.
The sight of these “black stones ... which they dig out and burn like firewood” was something else that amazed Marco Polo: It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of black stones existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out and burn like firewood. If you supply the fire with them at night, and see that they are well kindled, you will find them still alight in the morning; and they make such capital fuel that no other is used throughout the country. It is true that they have plenty of wood also, but they do not burn it, because those stones burn better and cost less. Moreover with that vast number of people, and the number of hot baths that they maintain — for every one has such a bath at least three times a week, and in winter if possible every day, whilst every nobleman and man of wealth has a private bath for his own use — the wood would not suffice for the purpose.
The sight of these “black stones ... which they dig out and burn like firewood” was something else that amazed Marco Polo: It is a fact that all over the country of Cathay there is a kind of black stones existing in beds in the mountains, which they dig out and burn like firewood. If you supply the fire with them at night, and see that they are well kindled, you will find them still alight in the morning; and they make such capital fuel that no other is used throughout the country. It is true that they have plenty of wood also, but they do not burn it, because those stones burn better and cost less. Moreover with that vast number of people, and the number of hot baths that they maintain — for every one has such a bath at least three times a week, and in winter if possible every day, whilst every nobleman and man of wealth has a private bath for his own use — the wood would not suffice for the purpose.
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