Cathay about the country from Chinese books and from conversation with people of all walks of life. During his first 15 years in China (1583–1598) Matteo Ricci formed a strong suspicion that Marco Polo's "Cathay" is simply the "Tatar" (i.e., Mongol) name for the country he was in, i.e. China. Ricci supported his arguments by numerous correspondences between Marco Polo's accounts and his own observations: Most importantly, when the Jesuits first arrived to Beijing 1598, they also met a number of "Mohammedans" or "Arabian Turks" – visitors or immigrants from the Muslim countries to the west of China, who told Ricci
Cathay Organisation lanes at SAFRA Yishun and 22 lanes at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. Cathay Bowl became, at that time, Singapore's largest bowling centre operations with 8 bowling centres and a total of 178 lanes. To promote the sport, the Cathay Bowling Academy was established with structured training programmes by qualified bowling coaches. Also in 2001, Cathay opened two Mega Pavilion Cinemas in Penang; a four-screen cineplex at Prangin Mall and 5-screen cineplex at Island Plaza. In 2002, Cathay Bowl opened 24 lanes at THE CHEVRONS club while Cathay Cineplexes introduced its drive-thru ticketing kiosk at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard, a self-service automated ticketing