# Yeheidie'erding

Part of a series on Islam in China :
History
By dynasty
Tang
Song
Yuan
Ming
Qing
Rebellions and revolts
Jahriyya revolt
Panthay Rebellion (1856–1873)
First Dungan Revolt (1862–1877)
Second Dungan Revolt (1895–1896)
Afaqi Khoja revolts
Post-dynastic China
1912–present
Second Sino-Japanese War
Islamophobia :
Major figures
Afaq Khoja
Du Wenxiu
Hu Dahai
Hu Songshan
Kasim Tuet
Liu Zhi
Ma Anliang
Ma Bufang
Ma Buqing
Ma Fuxiang
Ma Gui
Ma Hualong
Ma Laichi
Ma Mingxin
Ma Qixi
Ma Wanfu
Ma Yize
Ma Zhu
Shams al-Din
Su fei-erh
Yeheidie'erding
Yusuf Ma Dexin
Wang Daiyu
Zhang Chengzhi
Zheng He :
Culture
Architecture
Cuisine (Uyghur)
Han Kitab
Mosques
Shrines
Sini script
Sufi orders
Uyghur Arabic
Xiao'erjing
Islamic Association of China :
CitiesRegions
Hong Kong
Kashgar
Linxia
Macau
Ningxia
Sichuan
Xinjiang
Xunhua :
Groups
Ahmadis
Bonans
Dongxiangs
Hui
Ili Turks
Kazakhs
Kyrgyz
Salar
Tajiks
Tatars
Tibetans
Utsul
Uyghurs
Uzbeks :
Islam portal • China portal :
vte :
Yeheidie'erding (Chinese: 也黑迭兒丁; pinyin: Yěhēidié'érdīng, ? – 1312), also known as Amir al-Din (Arabic: أمير الدين, Amīr al-Dīn), was a Muslim architect who helped design and led the construction of the capital of the Yuan dynasty, Khanbaliq, located in present-day Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China. According to Cary Y. Liu interpretation of the Ma-ho-ma-sha Stele inscription, either Amir al-Din's ancestors came from the Western Regions, although originating from Arabia, or that he directly came from Arabia.

## Construction of Khanbaliq

Yeheidie'erding learned from Han architecture. In 1264, in preparation to establish the Yuan dynasty, Kublai Khan decided to rebuild the city which was then known as Zhongdu (中都, "central capital", pinyin: Zhōngdū) as his new capital. Liu Bingzhong was the planner and the original architect and was appointed as the supervisor of its construction, while Yeheidie'erding help designed and led the construction. The construction of the walls of the city began in the same year, while the imperial palace was built from 1274 onwards. The design of the city followed the Confucianism classic Zhouli (周禮, "rites of Zhou"), in that the rules of “9 vertical axis, 9 horizontal axis”, “palaces in the front, markets in the rear”, “left ancestral worship, right god worship” were taken into consideration. It was broad in scale, strict in planning and execution, complete in equipment.
After the establishment of the Yuan dynasty in 1271, Kublai Khan renamed the city from Zhongdu to Khanbaliq (大都, "great capital", pinyin: Dàdū) in 1272, and it officially became the capital of the Yuan dynasty, though some constructions in the city were not completed until 1293. It would last until 1368 when Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming dynasty and future Hongwu Emperor, made his imperial ambitions known by sending an army toward the Yuan capital. The last Yuan emperor fled north to Shangdu and Zhu declared the founding of the Ming dynasty after razing the Yuan palaces in Khanbaliq to the ground, and the city was renamed Beiping (北平, pinyin: Běipíng) by the Ming dynasty in the same year. After the enthronement of the Yongle Emperor, the third Ming emperor, the city was renamed to Beijing (北京, pinyin: Běijīng) and became the capital of the Ming dynasty.