Marco Polo’s Friendship Renewed

Marco Polo (1254-1324) set out in 1275 on his way to China. After four years, he reached Dadu, the capital city of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). In the following 17 years, he traveled around China. He visited Hangzhou. His travelogue the “Travels of Marco Polo” introduced China to Europe and exerted great influence on the west. But few people know that the Italian traveler of the world renown came from Istria of today’s Croatia.

Zhejiang Province of China and Istria County of Croatia met at the Fishermen’s Paintings to renew the forgotten cultural links first forged by Marco Polo. Today the fishermen in Zhejiang brought their art to revisit the home province of Marco Polo after 700 years later.

The opening ceremony of the exhibition was held at Pula Art Museum in Pula, the largest city in Istria. Although the small lobby was not air-conditioned, crowds attended the event. Nearly ten media including the Croatian national television network and national radio covered the exhibition. They also interviewed the leaders of Zhejiang and Istria. Istria County Chief Ivan Jakovčić and vice governor of Zhejiang Province spoke at the opening ceremony. Though it was a cultural event between two sister-relation provinces, the relations between China and Croatia did help mutual understanding and friendly exchanges and renew the ancient friendship started by Marco Polo.

The governments of Croatia at all levels gave priority to this art exhibition. In conjunction with the museum, the foreign affairs office of Istria published a finely printed brochure and distributed the copies to local and national media. The museum managed to find adequate space for the exhibition despite its very busy exhibition schedule.

The paintings by Zhejiang fishermen fascinated local residents. When museum workers began making arrangements for the exhibition and throughout the exhibition period, visitors kept arriving to see the paintings. They admired the artworks and asked detailed questions about the style, about the fishermen artists, and their inspirations. They expressed great admiration for the imagination, expression and originality of the fishermen artists who had never received any regular art training. Many wanted to buy the exhibits. The 10-day exhibition was finally extended into a 50-day event.

The exhibition was the first cultural exchange event since the sister-relations had been established between Zhejiang and Istria. The paintings greatly enhanced Croatians’ understanding of Zhejiang.

Fishermen paintings in Zhejiang display unique features. Zhejiang, a coastal province of eastern China, faces the Pacific Ocean. The Zhoushan Archipelago is the largest group of islands in East China Sea and a famous fishing ground in China and the world. For centuries, Zhoushan has served as an important gateway to cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

The fishing culture in Zhejiang has nurtured the genre. The sea has been the home of these fishermen. Their lives are intermingled with myths and legends of the sea. Their emotions interact with the sea. These fishermen artists only received some basic training from local art teachers before they started out on themselves to explore the sea of art. Their imagination, composition, vision, narration, description, exposition all go into their paintings. The bold and spontaneous creativity has grown into a unique art. Xiao Feng, the chairman of Zhejiang Artists Association, comments: “These fishermen artists are not professionals. They depict their understanding of life, their rich imagination, their vision of a beautiful life, and their hopes of a future. Their works result in various styles. The paintings are aesthetic and powerful and valuable.”

The exhibition was not the first time that Zhejiang fishermen artists held their exhibitions overseas. They have staged their amazing art in Australia, Japan, Germany, France, Swede, Norway, Spain, Belgium and USA. The paintings vividly illustrate what Zhejiang is to overseas audiences.