Ever since Marco Polo's celebrated journey to the court of Kubla Khan in the 13th century, China has occupied a unique place in the Western imagination. Dreams of the fabulous East, the timeless Celestial Kingdom, have seduced travellers, writers and artists. Yet China has retained its air of mystery, of inaccessibility, unknowability and exoticism. It has been the inspiration for many works of art, from Defoe, Voltaire and Coleridge to Brecht, Kafka, Borges and Calvino. In the 19th century the craze for Chinoiserie dramatically influenced architecture and interior design. This work aims to provide an understanding of the Western world's enduring fascination with one of the world's greatest civilizations.