Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.45

v2.c13.45

Wang Dayuan’s *Daoyi zhilüe*, written in the early 14ᵗʰ century ᴄᴇ as well as the writings of Marco Polo and Ibn Batuta, all testify to the flourishing state of commerce between Yuan China and the Coromandel and Malabar coasts of India. Marco Polo observed that Indian traders would bring precious stones and gems in large quantities for sale in the Chinese port of Fuzhou. He also noted how ships from India would sail directly up the Minjiang (river) to the port of Quanzhou. He commented that for every shipload of pepper shipped west from India, a hundred times that quantity would be offloaded in Quanzhou. With the fall of the Chola power by this time, the most important trading ports in India at this time as far as the trade with China went, were Kozhikode (Calicut) and Kollam (Quilon) on the southwestern coast.