2024 marks the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's passing. In this year, Alessandro Martini, a young man from Milan, Italy, performed in the dance theatre Invisible Cities, portraying his idol Marco Polo. 

His Chinese friends affectionately call him Alex. Alex has longed for coming to China ever since he heard about Marco Polo’s story in elementary school. He started to learn Chinese in high school. Several years later, he finally came to this fascinating Eastern country and stayed for eight years. 

Over the past eight years, Alex has travelled to most parts of China and thrilled to discover that the mysterious Chinese intangible cultural heritage is a collection of Chinese wisdom and techniques that can be touched and learnt. So, as the modern-day "Marco Polo", he will visit some uniquely charming cities to learn traditional Chinese crafts and explore local youth-run shops and museums from young inheritors of intangible cultural heritage, thus sharing these fascinating Eastern techniques with everyone. 

Alex travelled to Suzhou, Jiangsu province to visit the Xiangshan Guild and learn about the mortise and tenon technique. As we all know, Marco Polo’s hometown, Venice, and Suzhou in China are sister cities. You may not be familiar with the Xiangshan Guild, but you might have heard of the Forbidden City, Ming Dynasty Imperial Tombs, and the Suzhou Humble Administrator’s Garden. These magnificent architectural masterpieces are all crafted by the Xiangshan Guild. The mortise and tenon joints use no nails or glue. They interlock while maintaining their original shapes, balance each other without overstepping, and stand strong for thousands of years. This showcases the Chinese wisdom of combining softness and hardness.