I think what he's saying that now that the internet has definitely made it easier to do things, like write, people start to get the impression that they are now professionals in whatever they're doing. However, they haven't had the proper training to earn that title and their work falls short to those that have. I agree with this, and I see this a lot myself. For example, it is so easy to snap a photo of something and put a filter over it to make it look nice. Because of this, people start to get the impression that they've earned the title of a photographer. However, they don't realize that they have not earned that title as their work is actually weak and reflects their lack of training in that area.

I was really guilty of this too. I love to draw, and when I was younger, I used to copy things all the time. I used the internet to get pictures of other artist's work and copy it. As time passed, I could copy things more accurately. I thought I was amazing and others did too!

However, I soon realized that I never actually learned to draw at all. Whenever I wanted to create something new and original, I couldn't. The only thing I could do was copy things that already existed. Frustrated, I looked around everywhere to figure out how I can draw what I really want to draw. Every source I stumbled upon said something along the lines of learning the basics (anatomy, lighting, etc.). I decided to try it. Learning the basics was absolutely boring and frustrating but I did it anyway. I began to see improvement and started practicing more. Now, I can draw things that are completely original and unique to me. If I stayed impressed with my copied work, I never would be as successful at drawing as I am today.

https://toshuo.com/2012/returning-to-america/

I've read many posts about teachers who have taught English in a different country only to return home and experience culture shock. I've read them all a while ago, but this is the one I remembered the most. I think this novel reminds me of this article because Khan is a stranger to his place like how the author in the blog has almost become a stranger to his homeland.

Do you think that Kublai Khan and Marco Polo are representing something?

From what I have read, it seems like Kublai Khan is in control of this vast empire. Though he rules this empire, he doesn't seem to understand anything about it, like what kinds of cities lie within the empire and what it's like to live in those cities. He's a stranger to his own domain ("In the Khan's mind the empire was reflected in a desert of labile and interchangeable data, like grains of sand, from which there appeared...the figures evoked by the Venetian's logogriphs").

Through Marco Polo's stories does he start to understand life within his empire. I think he pays more attention to Polo's storytelling than the others because, since Polo didn't understand the language, Polo uses gestures and sounds that "had designated a place" better than words could. And I think through both sight and sound, Khan could almost experience what it's like to be in that city.

I think each city described in Polo's stories represent all the different things one can experience while living in this empire. For example, Diomira represents all the desires, pleasures and luxuries that can be found in the empire. Zaira could represent history, mystery and nostalgia. Tamara could represent rules and order.

Once Polo learns Khan's language does the emblems of Polo's stories become completely comprehensible to Khan (Marco mastered the Tartar language...now his accounts were the most precise and detailed). He begins to know more about his empire. However, I think each emblem represents pieces of the city, things that are completely normal and familiar to its inhabitants. With that being said, when Khan asks "On the day when I know all the emblems...shall I be able to possess my empire at last?" and Polo replies "Sire, do not believe it. On that day you will be an emblem among emblems", Polo means that in order to truly understand every emblem of the cities, he will have to live in them and become part of the cities.