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Shangdu
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If Khanbaliq was the city of Genghis Khan,
Shangdu would be most closely associated with his grandson Kublai. The
Mongolian Empire reached its zenith under Kublai Khan, and Shangdu was
its summer capital. This great city was visited by Marco Polo and his reports
of its splendour were the inspiration for Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous
words: "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan; A stately pleasure-dome decree."
Welcome to Shangdu, the city built by Kublai Khan! You have had a long journey if you come from Peking – nearly 275 kilometers, and it’s hard on the horses because the grazing in sparse on the way north. Now, promise me, you’ll say nothing about that “Xanadu” poem. Mr. Coleridge knew absolutely nothing about the world of Inner Mongolia, and although he loved to write about the imaginary opulence of the city Marco Polo had described, the actual Shangdu is far more interesting than some western poem!
First, you must remember that the great Kublai Khan, grandson of Chingis, picked out Shangdu as his summer residence, to get away from the crowding of Khanbaliq. Before Kublai Khan became the first Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty, he was the Khan of Kaiping prefecture, and decided to build the Kaiping prefecture government offices here, in Shangdu. So years before he founded Beijing, the Great Khan knew – and perhaps loved – this city in the vast Mongolian plain. It is so many miles from everywhere that only a great Khan could love it. Even the name “Shangdu” means the “Upper Capital” of the Mongols. Kublai divided his Empire into four regions, and the Great Khanate controlled Mongolia (and eventually all of China). This, the Upper Capital, was literally the second most important city under the Great Khan’s eye, and where he was proclaimed Emperor on May 5, 1260. When he was stationed here in the Kaiping prefecture, he had named the city Kaipingfu, but later changed it to Shangdu. So, are you oriented? On the map of China, Inner Mongolia stretches from the center grassland, to the western desert, and the dense forests of the east. So at Shangdu, you stand in the very center of the Mongol realm. Here we are on the high Mongol plain – stand here and look. As far as the eye can see, on the Golden Lily plain, you will see hardly a tree, no lake, no foliage, nothing except the sky stretching out past the horizon, the endless grass plains, and the icy air coming down from the high country. Thank heavens for the Yam, or the Great Khan would have had no idea what was happening in the rest of the Empire. Oh, I see you don’t understand. The Yam was the Khan’s mail system. All over the Empire, for thousands of miles, there were great roads with little huts or relay posts, known as örtöö or ordu, where the riders could change their horses. Usually one messenger would travel 25 miles or so to the next ordu, then either receive a fresh horse or pass on the mail to the next rider to ensure the quickest delivery. The Americans had something like it in the Pony Express, although our riders covered 125 miles per day – faster than any other record! And this, you understand, when Philip the Fair of France was sending out his mail by wandering ox-carts.
 City within cities at Shangdu: The Palace is in the inner square, lower center. If you were a bird, looking down, you could clearly see that Shangdu started with the great Khan’s palace, built (unusually for the Mongols) of stone – in fact, in legend, it is simply called the Stone City. Imagine a series of rectangles, as shown by the aerial view above. You see, in the lower-right corner, the square of the Stone City. Once that was up and fortified with great walls, a second city was built around it for scribes and courtiers to live – the Scribes City. Beyond its wall lay the great third city, much bigger than the others, which we call Wen Ching City – from “earthen jar,” which is a bit what the south gate looks like – 2,200 meters per side, more or less! Its wall was the greatest of all – multiple watch towers, six great gates (two on the east and west, one north, one south). Beyond that was a giant moat. Tough for enemies to get at! Prominent buildings were carefully laid with the advice of Chinese sages using principals from the I Ching. In the upper northwest corner, where there was lots of space, the Khan eventually built a botanical garden and a great zoo. Shangdu was a Mongol City built using Chinese technology, and while there are many great stone houses built in the inner two cities, the outer city was more flexible, suitable for Mongols who still loved their yurts. There, you could live in an elegant wooden house, or in a simple yurt, and there was a lot of semi-permanent building. You could fancy up the house when the Khan was in residence, or strip it down and move it to Beijing during the winter. The Mongols were a hunting race, and the Great Khan’s imperial hunt was not forgotten in designing Shangdu. To the north and west of the outer city walls was a game preserve, carefully landscaped in this seething sea of grass to provide meadows, woods, coppices of trees, and lakes. It was stocked with game, mostly varieties of deer, and dotted with fountains and streams. The Khan’s pleasure in hunting is shown by the interior decorations of his palace, full of man-made images of birds, animals, flowers and trees. The park itself was also surrounded by an earth wall, and apparently the Khan’s sacred white mares – who provided milk which only the Great Khan could drink – were also raised here. At its height, an estimated 200,000 persons lived inside the walls of Shangdu. Early urban planning was definitely in effect. Most of the houses, in which the foundations are still visible, were quite large – 100 square meters. In the modern Mongolian language, the word for Shangdu is “108 temples” due to the many temples that were scattered throughout the city. The streets were on an organized grid pattern and were wide for the time, partially to allow movement of armies. Marco Polo was an early visitor to the Khan in Shangdu, and wrote about it with gusto. He wrote that Shandu (Shangdu), built by the Grand Khan Kublai, now reigning. In this he caused a palace to be erected, of marble and other handsome stones, admirable as well for the elegance of its design as of the skill displayed in its execution. The halls and chambers are all gilt, and very handsome. He noted the beautiful cane palace in the northwest quadrant, The palace of Sheng-tu was made of cane supported by 200 silk cords, which could be taken to pieces and transported easily when the Emperor moved.. Kublai Khan’s many advisers also knew how to use water to make a great city, and there are tombs showing that he also utilized Arab advisers who, at the time, were highly sophisticated in creating water systems. Shangdu had a man-made water system, including drains and fountains. This, when the solution to public hygiene in Paris and Rome was to throw waste and dead animals into a gutter in the center of their streets! Many people know of the palace due to what Marco Polo wrote about China when he returned to the West. Of course, that was in 1275, and he had a real problem making the Italians back home believe that he hadn’t made up the entire thing. When he described Xanadu, he made it sound like a western world – not the Khan’s world, not the high desert plains where nothing but grass ripples to the horizon. But to read him is to have a shimmering picture in your mind of a great stone city, smack in the middle of nowhere, with its beauties highlighted by the golden grassy plain. The city was not only strongly fortified and built to last, but it was beautifully decorated. Marco Polo wrote that in Shangdu,There are a lot of beautiful palaces built out of stone in the city. All the houses are covered with gold and decorated with the pictures of birds, animals and flowers. These buildings and patterns are so beautiful that they are pleasing to the eye." Of course, he probably exaggerated when he also wrote "The greatest palace that ever was … The walls were covered with gold and silver and the Hall was so large that it could easily dine 6,000 people. Since Polo has been accused of – well, shall we say, exaggerating – we can’t be sure. Can you imagine the size of kitchens to feed 6,000 people? If you are visiting Shangdu, you can enjoy both a beautiful, well-planned city and the art and sophisticated features. You can walk down the wide streets, drink from the many fountains, visit the temples, or watch the procession as the Khan goes to his private hunting preserve with dozens of his most favored courtiers. If you live here, you can live in a magnificent stone palace or in a humble Mongol yurt. But if you want to live inside The Stone City, be careful – being under the Khan’s eye, as his most important courtiers were, can be dangerous! If you want to learn more about the details of building Shangdu, you can check out the History of Shangdu. Otherwise, welcome to our high plains city! While you're visiting Shangdu, be sure to read the enchanting Mongolian legend of The Search for the Sacred White Mare.
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