Xanadu

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For other uses, see Xanadu (disambiguation).

Xanadu, also Zanadu, Shangdu, or Shang-tu (Chinese: 上都; pinyin: Shàngdū) was the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty, a division of Mongol Empire, which covered much of Asia and also encroached upon eastern Europe. The city was located in what is now called Inner Mongolia, 275 km north of Beijing, about 28 km northwest of the modern town of Duolun. The capital consisted of the square-shaped "Outer City" (2,200 metres square), "Inner City" (1,400 metres square), and the palace, where Kublai Khan stayed in summer. The palace was 550 metres square, 40% the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The most visible modern-day remnants are the earthen walls though there is also a (ground-level) circular brick platform in the centre of the inner enclosure. Xanadu was visited by Venetian explorer Marco Polo in 1275; it became fabled as a metaphor for opulence.

The Mongol Emperors of the Yuan Dynasty made very few changes to China, imbibing much of the Confucianist and Taoist philosophies, and remodeling their government on the native dynasties they had defeated. However, they opened up the empire to westerners, allowing travelers like Venetian explorer Marco Polo in 1275 to report the wonders of the Eastern capital to their fellow Europeans.