WHILE it may not be the largest city in the world today, Hangzhou once boasted a bigger population than Beijing and London. At a recent forum, Xu Wenwen discovers what life was like in the ancient city that famous traveler Marco Polo talked so much about.

Shopping in Hong Kong, attending fashion shows in Milan, viewing exhibitions in Paris ? metropolises always attract people. Around 600 or 700 years ago, the metropolis that served as the capital of Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) in China was Kin-sai, today's Hangzhou.

Hangzhou was called Xing Zai, or Quinsai or Kin-sai, a term describing Hangzhou as a celestial abode.

The title lasted until the early Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), as did the city's popularity.

Marco Polo, the Venetian traveler who introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China in the Middle Ages, described Hangzhou as "the noble and magnificent city" when he visited it during the Yuan Dynasty.

So how noble and magnificent was Hangzhou at that time, and how did ancient Hangzhou people make a living?

Last weekend, the "Yuan Dynasty Hangzhou Forum" was held in Hangzhou. Almost 100 experts and scholars gathered to rediscover what life was like in the noble, magnificent city lost in history.

Size

Ibn Battuta, a Moroccan Berber Islamic scholar and traveler in the 14th century, mentioned in his book "Rihla" that it was "the biggest city I have ever seen on the face of the Earth." He also noted that it took him three days to walk across the city.

Similarly, Marco Polo described the size of Hangzhou "a hundred miles in circuit," although this is an exaggeration since modern Hangzhou is much smaller than that, but a large city nevertheless.

Bao Zhicheng, a researcher at Zhejiang Academy of Arts has found that Hangzhou in the Yuan Dynasty extended for more than 50 kilometers, ranging from east Genshan Gate to West Lake, and from South Fengshan Gate to North Wulin Gate.

Population

According to a census conducted by the Yuan government in 1290, the population of Hangzhou at that time was 1,834,710, "the highest number in Hangzhou's ancient history," said Bao.

At that time, China's then capital Dadu (now Beijing) had around 500,000 residents, while London's population was only around 40,000.

"Hangzhou was then the biggest city in the world," said Bao, "but during Ming and Qing Dynasties (after Yuan Dynasty), the population declined."

Clothing

It is known that the silk made in Hangzhou has had a reputation for hundreds of years, clothing royal families as well as the common folk.

In the book "The Travels of Marco Polo" it reads:

"The inhabitants of the city are idolaters, and they use paper money as currency. The men as well as the women have fair complexions, and are handsome. The greater part of them are always clothed in silk, in consequence of the vast quantity of that material produced in the territory of Kinsai, exclusively of what the merchants import from other provinces."

Xu Zheng, who works at the China Silk Museum, found silk produced during the Yuan Dynasty excelled in quantity as well as quality.

"Back then a South Korean had appraised: 'Nanjing silk is delicate and features good color, but is not wearable; Hangzhou silk boasts the same density of warp and weft; while Suzhou silk is thin, with ornaments, hence not strong enough'," she said.

Cuisine

It is known that southern China's staple food is rice while northern China's is wheaten food. As a great number of northerners migrated south, Hangzhou locals became accustomed to wheaten food in the Southern Song Dynasty although such eating habits were not accepted by the southern elite until the Yuan Dynasty.

"Noodles became the first choice of southern China's elite," said Shen Wanli, associate professor of School of History and Culture of Wuhan University.

He explained in the diary of Guo Bi, a calligrapher of Yuan Dynasty born in Jiangsu Province, there is mention of wontons, noodles and pies many times, which were popular northern Chinese food.

As for alcohol, "Hangzhou people loved red wine, plum wine and rice wine, all were made by West Lake water," said Yang Yimin, a librarian at the National Library of China.

Accommodation

"When the Yuan Dynasty's Hangzhou people traveled, they lodged in inns, shuyuan (academies) and friends' houses," said researcher Shen Wanli.

The calligrapher Guo Bi noted in his dairy that he usually lived in a hotel and once he spent two months in Hangzhou for business and lived at a local inn.

As many inns were around West Lake and Grand Canal, many businessmen liked to lodge there. Some hotels were so well-equipped that they provided not only food and accommodation but sedans and lockers.

In addition, temples and nunneries catered for pilgrims during the busy seasons, and even academies welcomed and catered for travelers.

Transportation and travel

The streets in the old Kin-sai were well developed. In "The Travels of Marco Polo," it says: "The streets of Kinsai are all paved with stones and bricks ? passengers can travel to every part without soiling their feet. The main street of the city, as leading from one extremity to the other, is paved with stone and brick to the width of ten paces on each side, the intermediate part being filled up with small gravel, and provided with arched drains for carrying off the rain water ?"

"Ancient Hangzhou people loved travelling, and they chose proper transportation means," said Shen. For long distances they would mostly take ships, for short distances, horses; for business or visiting friends out of the city, walking; and seldom, interurban boats."

Of course, to travel the West Lake boats were used. "Hangzhou boats boasted equipped facilities and excellent services," said researcher Bao.

There were, on the lake, a great number of pleasure vessels or barges. These barges were kept in good condition with proper seats and tables, along with every other kind of furniture necessary for providing enjoyable travel.

Another local transport method used for pleasure was a sedan or cart which was rented to wander in the city.

"The Travel of Marco Polo" says, "Carriages are continually passing and repassing. They are of a long shape, covered at the top, have curtains and cushions of silk, and are capable of holding six persons."

The sea lanes were also developed at this time. As one of the seven ports in China back then, Hangzhou had routes that reached Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia.

World reputation

"Quinsai was such an influential place that the word even represented China at that time," said Huang Shijian, the professor of Zhejiang University.

As far back as the Yuan Dynasty, Hangzhou was already attracting a great number of domestic and foreign tourists, said Bao Xinshan from the Tourist College of Zhejiang. According to a Japanese researchers' survey, more than 220 monks had been to China and many of them had written poems and articles about Hangzhou.

Similarly, many foreigners immigrated to Hangzhou.

"Given that transportation between East and West was unprecedentedly unblocked, a batch of immigrants from middle Asian and Western regions flooded to China, and Hangzhou was their first option," said Xu Jijun from the Zhejiang Academy ofSocial Science.