Fernao Mendes Pinto 7: A Traveller's Guide to Ming China

Human Circus: Journeys in the Medieval World

Pinto's story continues, and the Portuguese traveller makes his way across China as a prisoner, describing some its towns, cities, and countryside as he goes. His China, which he may not have actually visited himself, is dotted with the remnants of previous Portuguese actions, an envoy's gravestone and the remnants of failed embassies.

If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here.

I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble.

Sources:

• The Travels of Mendes Pinto, edited and translated by Rebecca D. Catz. University of Chicago Press, 1989.
• Hart, Thomas R. “Style and Substance in the Peregrination.” Portuguese Studies 2 (1986): 49–55.
• Hart, Thomas R. “True or False: Problems of the ‘Peregrination.’” Portuguese Studies 13 (1997): 35–42.
• Rubiés, Joan-Pau. "The Oriental Voices of Mendes Pinto, or the Traveller as Ethnologist in Portuguese India." Portuguese Studies 10 (1994): 24–43.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices