Ibn Battuta — "The Chinese are skilled in crafts, but they are not a people of religion."
The Chinese are skilled in crafts, but they are not a people of religion.
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More from Ibn Battuta
"I saw a fish that had a human face, and it was able to speak."
"I saw in this city many things that are forbidden in Islam."
"The people of this country are very fond of chess, and they play it all day long."
"I was once caught in a sandstorm in this land. The sand was so thick I could not see my hand in front of my face."
"The women of this city are very beautiful, but they are not modest."
About Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)
Moroccan Muslim scholar and explorer whose Rihla (travels) covered ~75,000 miles across the Islamic world from Mali to China — the most-traveled person of the medieval world. Closely associated with Marco Polo (his Venetian counterpart, traveling 50 years earlier in the opposite direction). For an intellectual contrast, see medieval European Christian insularity, the sheltered monastic-feudal worldview of 14th-century Latin Christendom — Ibn Battuta's 30-year journey demonstrates that the 14th-century Dar al-Islam was a single intellectual ecosystem from West Africa to Beijing, while medieval Europe was still tribal and parochial. The cleanest 'connectedness vs insularity' contrast in pre-modern history — Battuta could find a familiar Maliki judge in any city from Mali to Sumatra.