Source: Marco Polo’s account in the Book of Hangchow (c. 1300 CE); he called the
city “Kinsay”
…ten principal markets…three days in
the week,
frequented by 40,000 or 50,000 persons, who bring thither for sale every possible necessary of
life… Those markets make a daily display of every kind of vegetables
and fruits.
Neither
grapes nor wine are produced there, but very good raisins are brought from abroad, and wine likewise... Any one who should see the supply of
fish in the market would suppose it impossible that such a quantity could ever be sold; and yet in
a few hours the whole shall be cleared away; so great is the number
of inhabitants
who are accustomed to delicate living.
…squares are
thronged and crammed with purchasers, and with the traders who have
brought in stores of provisions by land or water; and everything they bring in is disposed of.
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