Another potted biography from ASI’s Madsen Pirie. This time, he looks at global trader Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis.
We remember Kublai Khan for many things, including his unsuccessful attempt to invade Japan, and perhaps for the stately pleasure dome that he decreed in Xanadu. But on this anniversary of his death we should remember the legacy of his commitment to trade, and his inspired efforts to make it safer and easier. China’s new Silk Road today is a direct descendent of his own.
Many of us may only, dimly, recall…
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
See the full article on the Adam Smith Institute blog, here.
