Robby Mills, age 10, of Hobart, Indiana for the question:

Where is Cathay?

There are two small towns named Cathay., one in California and one in North Dakota. But neither of them is the romantic, faraway land of Cathay where Marco Polo and many other merchants traded curing the Middle Ages. During the late 13th century and through most of the 14th, many travelers went eastward from the Mediterranean Sea to reach the land of Cathay and its glamorous capital Cambaluc. They brought back fade, fine silks, embroidered linens spices and porcelains. They also brought back seeds of oranges, apricots and peaches and a wide assortment of flowers never seen before in Europe.

Though they did not know it, these Mediterranean merchants were trading with a civilization far older than their own. For the ancient country of Cathay is China and the glamorous capital of Cambtaluc has become the modern city of Peking.