East Meets West
o Europeans living in the Middle Ages, China—or Cathay, as it was then known—was a place shrouded in mystery. Few Westerners had ever ventured to the far-away land, and those who had provided their fellow Europeans with sometimes wildly embellished tales of the region, including those about dog-like men. More veracious accounts were not forthcoming until the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when trade between European powers and China was established. But by this time, the fantasy
