When they are paler than he is? If anything he is tan as they are. Seems like they are mixing what Native Americans or darker skinned people would refer to Europeans, things that you've heard in old westerns and such, and it makes the writing seem off base. Is there a way to tell if this concept of race was accurate for this particular time period in Asia?
shareYes, it was accurate.
You have to remember that 99% of these people had never seen a white westerner before. Marco Polo traveled to Kublai's court at a time when there were no formal diplomatic relations between western and eastern powers, and before there was real trade between them.
In fact, it was Polo's book that inspired subsequent explorers to head east, and inspired traders to make the long trek on the promise of exotic spices and silk, thus the Silk Road. (Although the Silk Road existed before that.)
Also, while a lot of the actors in MP are Korean or Chinese, IRL the Mongols of the empire were much darker-skinned, because of genetics, and also because they really were nomads who spent the majority of their time in the sun, traveling on horseback. That's why they also refer to Marco as "the pale flower."