Khanbaliq

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Khanbaliq or Cambuluc ("great residence of the Khan") is the ancient Mongol name for the city at the present location of Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China. It was known in the Chinese language as Dadu (大都), meaning "great metropolitan" or "great capital". Under the name Zhongdu (中都, "central capital") the city had earlier served as the capital of the Jin Dynasty, however was burned in 1215. In 1264, Kublai Khan decided to completely rebuild this city as his new capital, and it officially became the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (which was established in 1271) in 1272. Marco Polo stayed in the city in the late 1200s. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368, the city was later rebuilt by the Ming and renamed Shuntian (順天), and later Beijing (北京). Remains of parts of the ancient walls, which lie slightly to the north of the later Ming Dynasty walls, are still extant in modern-day Beijing and are known as Tucheng (土城 'earth wall').