Marco Polo describes Guangzhou like a Utopia, where every citizen was cared for so even the poorest person had a house and food, and couples were even borrowed a castle for their wedding party, among many other things, how much of this can we believe?

by Frigorifico

In the book he seems to really love this place, he seems relieved when he mentions that the Queen surrendered on the condition that the city was allowed to continue as it was, and Kublai accepted, but Marco has a tendency to exaggerate things so, was Guangzhou really a society that cared for every citizen to such a degree?.

PD: He also mentions that he read the letter of the Queen surrendering, that he held it in his hand and read it to Kublai, this seems perfectly plausible so I mostly believe it, but if any of you can confirm it I would sleep better at night

kl0

Just a quick add-on question to this as I've been to Guangzhou a few times and found this interesting: if there IS some level of truth to the original question, could the responder perhaps discuss a few (or THE few) major shifts (ancient or contemporary) that caused it to change into more of what it appears to be today (which doesn't seem super utopian to me, personally, but perhaps I'm mistaken). Thanks!