A view of a pavilion on West Lake in Yangzhou. Home throughout its history to great merchant families, poets, artists and scholars, Yangzhou sits on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Marco Polo reported that he served here, at the behest of Kublai Khan. “So that this Yanju is, you see, a city of great importance. And Messer Polo himself, of whom this books speaks, did govern this city for full years, by the order of the Great Khan.” The Travels of Marco Polo, Vol 2, Bk 2, Ch 68 Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China