As the first emperor of Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) Kublai Khanmade Dadu (Beijing) the capital, Beijing became the largest city then in the world. Dadu assembled all kinds of talents from all parts of Asia and Europe, including nobles, officials, kavasses, missionaries, astronomers, geomancers, architects, doctors, technicians, musicians, art designers and dancers. Merchants streamed in and out.

The famous Venetian merchant and traveler Marco Polo (1254-1324) came to China with his father and uncle. Basically they headed east along the Silk Road, and with three and a half years' hardship they arrived at Kaiping at last in 1275. Marco Polo received special trust from Emperor Kublai Khan and lived in the palace for 17 years. In 1292, he returned to Europe by the chance of escorting the Mongol Princess Kokachin to marry to a Persian prince. In 1298, Marco Polo attended the Genoa War and unfortunately was captured. He was put into the same prison with the writer Rustichello of Pisa of Italy. Rustichello took down Marco Polo's dictation of the information about China and published the book, which turned to be the European-known Travels of Marco Polo. The book illustrates unheard miracles in China for all Europeans, naming the abundance products, perfect post system, circulation of paper money, and utilization of coal, being regarded as Yarns under the sun. Therefore, China's civilization started to export to Europe widely, and the Europeans were prostrated by the oriental richness and civilization, which broadening their mental horizons.

Another African traveler born in Morocco, Ibn Battuta (1304-1377) also wrote a book named Travels in 1355, which had great influence too, talking about his trip to China and sang high praise for the developed agricultural irrigation, introducing China as one of the first countries to grow wheat in the world.

During the 400 years from the Southern Song Dynasty in the 12th century up to the 15th century, in the mid Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), porcelain-exportation reached its peak. The exported porcelains in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) mainly included celadon of Yue Kiln and Longquan Kiln, china articles from Jingdezhen Kiln, Yao Kiln and Cizhou Kiln. People of Asian countries such as Japan and Korea took porcelains of China as valuable presents and used for daily life or decoration purposes. Now most world-famous museums have large collections of Chinese porcelain. For example, in West Asia, there are two museums famous for their rich and delicate collections of Chinese porcelains, one is Adebil Temple in north part of Iran, the other is Silaleo, South-east of Istanbul of Turkey -- the present Topkapi Saray Museum, which collected more than ten thousand precious Chinese porcelain articles, including one porcelain vase decorated with white background and blue patterns, which embodies the full text of Ode to Chibi by Su Dongpo, (1037-1101), a famous poet of the Song Dynasty) and the picture of Su Dongpo touring Chibi.

There was a medical magnum opus in the Middle Ages of Arabia named Tebi Thirteen Volumes of Medical Anthology of Arabia, which was the medical manual from the 12th century to 17th century in the west. Tebi means medical codes in Arabic language. This book had been translated into Chinese in the last years of the Yuan Dynasty and its version of block printing emerged during the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is guessed that the remaining four volumes of Muslem Medical Prescription (or Hui Hui Medical Prescription) housed by Beijing Library maybe consist of part of the aforementioned versions. Lots of musical instruments used in the Yuan Dynasty came from the Moslem of Western Regions, such as konghou (a string instrument), which has been imported into backland in the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), and became one of the main musical instruments in the Tang Dynasty (618-907); huobusi, which looks like huqin (two-string bowed fiddle), and has become a Chinese folk instrument as huqin; and xinglongsheng, an ancient organ. All these instruments are absolutely necessary for the Palace Band during the Yuan Dynasty.

During the Mongolian rein, arts in Iran were affected greatly by Chinese culture. Persian painters imitated Chinese ink paintings, through which their animal and flower ink paintings were vivid and added freshness blood to the stiff style of Persian arts. The ordinary subjects in Chinese paintings, such as flowers, lotus, duckweed, reed, peony, dragon, phoenix and kylin, appeared in the decorations and paintings. The exorcising gate of Baghdad City in 1225 also has dragon-shaped rilievi on the vaulted door. The door brim of Falaming Grand Mosque built by Busein Khan in 1322 also had the icon of dragon. In the hand-written copies found in Iran, the patterns of dragon were also seen.

Ties between Chinese and other countries in the middle ages enhanced the Sino-Western cultural exchanges and made historical contribution to the exchanges and spread of mankind civilization.