It’s a narrative about pursuing one’s dream, a narrative of collaboration between China and the UK, and a narrative of cultural exchanges and mutual studying — all contained inside the new documentary movie Within the Footstep of Marco Polo, which had its world premiere in London earlier in July.
Marco Polo was an Italian service provider and explorer who travelled by means of Asia alongside the traditional Silk Highway within the thirteenth century, ending his journey in Dadu, the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), which is present-day Beijing.
His observations and particulars about his route had been recorded within the e book The Travels of Marco Polo, which was later translated into many European languages and that impressed generations of Western travellers to go East.
Stanley Johnson was one such follower of Marco Polo.
An creator, environmentalist, and former member of the European Parliament, he’s additionally the daddy of the previous United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson.
Final 12 months, Stanley and his youngest son, Max Johnson, participated in a China-UK documentary mission that showcased the nation’s astonishing landscapes whereas that includes participating interviews with locals and capturing the hilarious banter between the 84-year-old father and his 39-year-old son.
Following a part of the traditional route, their journey lined greater than 3,100 miles, ranging from a land port 16,730ft above sea stage on the China-Pakistan border on the Khunjerab Cross and crossing the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous area, by means of the Taklamakan Desert, by means of Gansu province to the Mogao Caves, traversing the highlands of the Internal Mongolia autonomous area, and concluding in Beijing.
As an undergraduate on the College of Oxford in 1961, Stanley Johnson, together with two mates, Tim Severin and Michael de Larrabeiti, launched into an formidable journey by means of Turkiye, Iran, and Afghanistan as they inched nearer to the Chinese language border.
The trio was travelling on bikes and located they might not cross the Pamir Plateau between Central and South Asia on two wheels.
Pressured to surrender, they vowed to return and full the journey collectively at some point, however the dream didn’t come true for de Larrabeiti and Severin, who handed away in 2008 and 2020 respectively.
In 2023, accompanied by his son, Stanley picked up the unfinished journey he started six a long time earlier and continued.
“That is the realisation of fairly a long-held ambition. I’ve been to China numerous occasions, however I’d by no means performed the entire route that I needed to do,” he mentioned.
His son Max, who had visited Kashgar in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous area when he was 20, mentioned: “This time, I went again and to see the event was simply unbelievable. After which clearly, I’ve been to Beijing. I stay in Hong Kong. However to me, to see how a lot China developed, how shortly China developed, could be very fascinating.” Max had studied in Beijing and may communicate fluent Mandarin.
Within the documentary, Stanley and Max take the viewers to see among the most breathtaking landscapes in Northwest China. Driving a 4×4 SUV, the 2 slowly descended 3,280ft by going round greater than 600 activates a mountain freeway referred to as Panlong Highway, or twisting dragon street, close to Kashgar.
In addition they board an in a single day sleeper prepare from Hotan to Ruoqiang, the most recent leg of the world’s first railway loop line circling a desert that opened in 2022, which crosses China’s largest desert, Taklamakan, with ease. “That is the trendy model of the Silk Highway,” Stanley exclaimed within the movie.
Along with seeing magnificent surroundings, the Johnsons meet numerous individuals alongside the best way.
That they had the possibility to speak to historians at websites in Xanadu, the northern capital of the Mongol Empire, and within the Forbidden Metropolis, tracing Marco Polo to the locations he should have been, and the issues he may have seen.
“Macro Polo turned the nice bridge-builder between the East and the West, and he’s nonetheless very a lot appreciated in China. To me, I hope this movie may even assist in a symbolic bridge-building,” Stanley mentioned.
