Definition of "Cathay"

For us that epic celebration somehow is confined to Thanksgiving Day when we celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims who fled the tyranny of Charles I. But imagine, had the Genoese captain and his Spanish caravels not sailed eastward searching for Cipango and Cathay in 1492, then the Pilgrims might have been forced to turn to the known continents of Africa or Asia.

1982 October 11, “Our Columbus”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 28 August 2017‎

For Marco Polo in the 13th century as for Ezra Pound in the 20th, China was "Cathay," a land of mythic wonders. For the American-born director and writer Ping Chong, to visit China and make theater in the West meant exploring myth and history, joining Asian and Western traditions.

2005 November 1, Margo Jefferson, “Puppets Help Evoke China's History of Love and War”, in The New York Times‎, archived from the original on 29 May 2015, THEATER‎