Cathay "Pratica della mercatura", a guide about trade in China, a country he called "Cathay", noting the size of Khanbaliq (modern Beijing) and how merchants could exchange silver for Chinese paper money that could be used to buy luxury items such as silk. Words related to Khitay are still used in many Turkic and Slavic languages to refer to China. However, its use by Turkic speakers within China, such as the Uyghurs, is considered pejorative by the Chinese authority who had tried to ban it. As European and Arab travelers started reaching the Mongol Empire, they described the Mongol-controlled Northern China
Cathay Dragon National Aviation Corporation Group, CITIC Pacific and Swire Pacific. Cathay Pacific claimed that Dragonair will continue to operate as a separate airline within the Cathay Pacific group, maintaining its own Air Operator's Certificate and with the brand unchanged, with 2,976 employees worldwide. However, the airline will be downsized with five percent of the airline staff retrenched or transferred into Cathay Pacific. No Cathay Pacific staff were to be affected by this announcement. By 2009, services to Bangkok and Tokyo; and the expansion plans to introduce services to Sydney, Seoul and the United States have been cancelled and terminated. In addition,