In Marco Polo's ancient footsteps

Stanley Johnson and Max Johnson pose for a photo at the premiere of their documentary in London in July. PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY Start of the dream As an undergraduate at the University of Oxford in 1961, Stanley Johnson, along with two friends, Tim Severin and Michael de Larrabeiti, embarked on an ambitious adventure through Turkiye, Iran, and Afghanistan as they inched closer to the Chinese border. I've been to China a lot of times, but I'd never done the whole route that I wanted to do," Stanley said at the premiere of the documentary film about his journey. Ref lecting on the seven-week journey, Stanley's son Max said: "It was Confucius who said 'a good son is an obedient son'. But to me, to see how much China developed, how quickly China developed, is very fascinating," said Max, who had previously studied in Beijing and who can speak fluent Mandarin.