Where Was Xanadu Where Was Xanadu? Asian History Glossary, U-Z Where Was Xanadu? Romantic Xanadu, as portrayed in Samuel Coleridge Taylor's poem Kubla Khan, rather than the real historic city of Shang-du. Eric Meola / Getty Images Share By Kallie Szczepanski Xanadu was the summer capital of China's Yuan Dynasty after 1264, located in Inner Mongolia near the modern city of Duolun. At the time, China and Mongolia were united under Mongol rule. The first Yuan emperor, Kublai Khan , established Beijing (then known as Dadu) as the capital of his empire. For the hot, humid summer months, however, he preferred to be closer to the plains of his native Mongolia . Thus, his summer capital moved to Xanadu, previously called Kai Ping. More properly, Xanadu was known as Shangdu or "Upper Capital"; the western world first learned of it through the account by famed Italian explorer Marco Polo of his visit to the city in 1275.

Another European who wrote about the fabled city was Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who portrayed it as the essence of Oriental mystery and wealth in his poem Kubla Khan , published in 1816. Pronunciation: "ZAN-uh-doo" Also Known As: Shangdu, Shangtu, Kai Ping Examples: What is Xanadu? (with pictures) What is Xanadu? Images By: Gringos, A. Omer Karamollaoglu Last Modified Date: 10 December 2016 Copyright Protected: 10 hilariously insightful foreign words Xanadu, also known as Zanadu or Shengdu, is a mythical place that is rooted in an actual area of Inner Mongolia. Xanadu became popular as the legendary place mentioned in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem as the place where Kublai Khan built a giant dome to indulge his every fantasy. The place was believed to be mythical until the ruins were discovered 270 km (168 miles) north of Beijing and near Dolonnuur city, at the end of the 20th Century.

Xanadu is now believed to have been the capital of Kublai Khan's Empire, which was founded sometime in the 13th century. Xanadu is now little more than a vast green field extending for hundreds of kilometers. From the air, the outlines of former buildings can still be seen, but once on the ground, only the sketch of the outer wall that protected the city is now visible, and only if you are truly looking for it. The outline of the wall is covered in grass and soil for most of its length, and it can be easily confused with a small hill. There is now a low wall of stone that marks the area where Kublai Khan's palace was situated. The low wall is actually a reconstruction. Archeologists used stones and bricks scattered in the area to put together a replica of the palace foundations, which where were destroyed over 600 years ago. The original palace was about 550 square meters and occupied the center of the city. Ad Aside from the wall, little has remained of the magical place historians believe Xanadu to have been. Local museums hold an iron kettle, and drawings and photographs which show the remains of tombs and small marble sculptures.

Historians also believe they have identified a primitive irrigation system that was used in the area, and believe a sacrificial altar was also in place in Xanadu. Xanadu is now a tourist area, although the truth is that very few visitors reach the area every year. The government has plan for rebuilding a replica of the original Xanadu, but it will probably not stand in the place of the original city. Ad Kublai Khan | emperor of Yuan dynasty | Britannica.com emperor of Yuan dynasty Alternative Titles: Khubilai Khan, Kubla Khan, Shizu Kublai Khan Qianlong Kublai Khan, Kublai also spelled Khubilai or Kubla, temple name Shizu (born 1215—died 1294), Mongolian general and statesman, who was the grandson and greatest successor of Genghis Khan .

As the fifth emperor (reigned 1260–94) of the Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty (1206–1368), he completed the conquest of China (1279) started by Genghis Khan in 1211 and thus became the first Yuan ruler of the whole of China. Kublai was, at the same time, the overlord of all the other Mongol dominions, which included areas as diverse as that of the Golden Horde in southern Russia , the Il-Khanate of Persia (present-day Iran ), and the steppe heartlands where Mongol princes were still living the traditional nomadic life. To govern China, with its long and individual political and cultural history, demanded statecraft of a special order. Kublai Khan; in the National Palace Museum, Taipei Courtesy of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China Historical background The Mongols were a parvenu nomadic power. Before Genghis Khan consolidated them under his centralized control in 1206, they were no more than a group of largely autonomous tribes, more or less unknown to recorded history.

Except for some organized hunting and the management of their herds, they had little experience of economic activity. Until a few years before Kublai’s birth, they were illiterate. They had almost no experience in statecraft prior to the establishment of the Yuan, and concepts such as the taxation of urban societies were brought to their attention by their foreign advisers, upon whom they relied heavily. Marco Polo, his uncle, and his father presenting the pope’s letter at the court of Kublai Khan, … © Photos.com/Jupiterimages The Mongols’ limited political competence contributed much to the relatively rapid collapse of their empire; Yuan control of the whole of China lasted less than a century. With a few outstanding exceptions, such as Kublai himself (whom the Mongols always called Setsen Khan, the “Wise Khan”), the rulers of the Mongols seem to have looked on power as a personal, or at most a family, possession to be exploited for immediate gain. Hence, except in areas like China where there was a firm native political tradition, they never succeeded in organizing a durable state . In China, too, everything depended ultimately on the willpower and ability of the ruler.

The Mongols had come to power in China, as elsewhere, by sheer force of arms. With that prestige to back him, relying on his dominant personality, and building on the foundations of the brilliant civilization developed in China by the preceding Song dynasty (960–1279), Kublai could maintain the illusion for a while that Mongol supremacy was firmly based. Indeed, his reign must have appeared to be a period of solid expansion and lasting achievement to his contemporaries, including Marco Polo , the Venetian traveler who became Kublai’s agent and whose book Il milione (“The Million”; known in English as the Travels of Marco Polo) is the chief Renaissance source of information on eastern Asia. Britannica Stories Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent Yet Kublai Khan at the outset of his reign was faced by an insoluble dilemma, which was given vivid expression in a memorial presented to him by one of his Chinese advisers: “I have heard that one can conquer the empire on horseback, but one cannot govern it on horseback.” In other words, to administer China the inexperienced Mongols would have to adopt Chinese methods and even live according to a Chinese pattern.

To the extent that they did so, however, they would be bound to become increasingly assimilated and perhaps lose their identity altogether. If, on the other hand, they worked through Chinese and other agents, they would become alienated from the mass of the population, which would reject them. In either case the Mongols—culturally less advanced than the Chinese, numerically overwhelmed by them, and used to a different pattern of life—could not continue to rule China for long as a distinct and privileged caste. Only the brilliance of Kublai’s personal achievement obscured that truth. Rise to power Exploring Korea and China: Fact or Fiction? Kublai Khan was the fourth son of Tolui, the youngest of Genghis’s four sons by his favourite wife. He began to play an important part in the extension and consolidation of the Mongol empire only in 1251, when he was in his mid-30s.

His brother, the emperor Möngke (reigned 1251–59), resolved to complete the conquest of China’s Nan (Southern) Song dynasty (1127–1279)—centred on Lin’an (present-day Hangzhou , Zhejiang province)—which had been planned by Genghis’s third son, Ögödei . Möngke also intended to subdue Persia, a task allotted to Kublai’s brother Hülegü . At that time Kublai was invested with full civil and military responsibility for the affairs of China. He appears never to have learned to read or write Chinese , but already he had recognized the superiority of Chinese thought and had gathered around himself a group of trustworthy Confucian advisers. A Mongol encampment, detail from the Cai Wenji scroll, a Chinese hand scroll of the Nan (Southern) … Courtesy of Asia Society Galleries, New York Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies His attitude toward government was formed under the influence of those learned Chinese, who convinced him of the necessary interdependence of ruler and ruled and reinforced his innate tendency toward humanity and magnanimity.

At home, in the fief allotted to him in the Wei River valley (in modern Gansu and Shaanxi provinces), he established a competent administration and a supply base. In the field he stressed to his generals the precepts of his mentors—the importance and effectiveness of clemency toward the conquered. That treatment of the vanquished was a great advance in civilized behaviour compared with the methods of Genghis Khan and those of Kublai’s contemporaries in Central Asia , where the massacre of the population was still the expected sequel to the capture of a city. Kublai took on the Nan Song in the flank, subjugating the Dai kingdom of Nanzhao (in present-day Yunnan province) before handing over command to his general, Uriyangqadai. In 1257 Möngke assumed personal charge of the war , but he died in 1259. When Kublai, who with another army was besieging a city, heard that his brother, Arigböge , who had been left in charge of the homeland because he was younger, was planning to have himself elected khan , he patched up a truce with the Song.

In April 1260 he arrived at his residence of Shangdu (the Xanadu of Samuel Taylor Coleridge ’s famous poem), in southeastern Mongolia . There his associates held a kuriltai , or “great assembly,” and on May 5 Kublai was unanimously elected khan, thus succeeding Möngke. Ten days later he announced his succession in a proclamation drawn up in Classical Chinese. Because primogeniture was not a recognized principle at that time, Arigböge, with some powerful supporters, held a kuriltai of his own at Karakorum (the original capital of the Mongol empire, now in northern Mongolia) and had himself declared khan, ignoring Kublai’s action. In spite of Marco Polo’s insistence that Kublai was the lineal and legitimate descendant of Genghis Khan and the rightful sovereign , there have always been doubts about that legitimacy. A legend recorded in Mongol chronicles to the effect that the dying Genghis designated the child Kublai as a future khan seems to have been contrived so as to provide retrospective justification of an act of usurpation.

Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest In 1264 Kublai defeated Arigböge in battle and forced him to submit. Arigböge died two years later, but the family feud, of which the rivalry with Arigböge was one manifestation , continued throughout Kublai’s reign. Against him were ranged those who resented the abandonment of the old ways of the steppe and the adoption of an alien, China-centred culture . The split was all the deeper because the leader of the opposition was Kaidu , who—as a grandson of Ögödei, who had been designated personally by Genghis as his successor—represented the cause of legitimacy. The throne had passed from the line of Ögödei to that of his brother Tolui in 1251 with the accession of Möngke. Kaidu never relaxed his hostility toward Kublai and remained master of Mongolia proper and Turkistan until his death in 1301. The war with Kaidu showed how decisively Kublai had identified himself with the Chinese world and turned against the world of the nomads.

Genghis had been strong and ruthless enough to compel the Mongols, always inclined to family feuds, to serve his cause. Kublai, powerful though he was, could no longer control the steppe aristocracy effectively. Unification of China Kublai’s achievement was to reestablish the unity of China, which had been divided since the end of the Tang dynasty (618–907). His accomplishment was that much greater because he was a barbarian (in Chinese eyes) as well as a nomadic conqueror. Even in Chinese official historiography, however, the Mongol Kublai is treated with respect. As early as 1260 he instituted a reign period in the Chinese manner to date his reign, and in 1271, eight years before the disintegration of the Nan Song, he proclaimed his own dynasty under the title of Da Yuan , or “Great Origin.” He never resided at Karakorum, Ögödei’s short-lived capital, but set up his own capital at what is now Beijing , a city known in his time as Dadu, the “Great Capital.” The Yuan (Mongol) empire (c.

1300), showing the extent reached under Kublai Khan. Trending Topics Opium Wars The final conquest of the Nan Song took several years. Kublai might well have been content to rule northern China and to leave the Song nominally in control of southern China, but the Song’s detention and ill treatment of envoys he had sent convinced him that the declining regime in the south must be dealt with decisively. Military operations opened once again in 1267. The Song emperor Duzong was apparently badly served by his last ministers, who are said to have kept him misinformed of the true situation, whereas many Song commanders went over voluntarily to the Mongols. In 1276 Kublai’s general Bayan captured the child Song emperor of the day, but loyalists in the south delayed the inevitable end until 1279. With all of China in Mongol hands, the Mongol conquests in the south and east had reached their effective limit. Kublai, however, seeking to restore China’s prestige, engaged in a series of costly and troublesome wars that brought little return.

At various times tribute was demanded of the peripheral kingdoms: from Myanmar (Burma), from Annam and Champa in mainland Southeast Asia , from Java (now in Indonesia ), and from Japan . The Mongol armies suffered some disastrous defeats in those campaigns. In particular, invasion fleets sent to Japan in 1274 and 1281 were virtually annihilated , though their loss was as much due to storms (the fabled Japanese kamikaze typhoons in those years) as to Japanese resistance. Kublai was never entirely discouraged by the indifferent results of those colonial wars nor by their expense, and they were brought to an end only under his successor, Temür . Marco Polo suggests that Kublai wished to annex Japan simply because he was excited by reports of its great wealth. It seems, however, that his colonial wars were fought mainly with a political objective—to establish China once more as the centre of the world. Social and administrative policy The Mongols, by themselves, were incapable of ruling China, and, though at the lower levels they made use of Chinese civil servants, posts of importance were allotted to foreigners. Of those Marco Polo is a familiar example.

Kublai instituted a “nationalities policy” under which the population of China was divided into four categories. At the top were the Mongols (menggu ren), forming a privileged military caste of a few hundred thousand. They were exempt from taxation and lived at the expense of the Chinese peasantry who worked the great estates allocated for the Mongolians’ upkeep. The foreign auxiliaries of the Mongols, natives for the most part of Central Asia , formed the second group, the semuren , persons with special status. That class furnished the higher officialdom. In addition, its members, with their worldwide contacts and their privileged status, formed a new breed of merchants and speculators. Like the Mongols, they were exempt from taxation and enjoyed preferential use of the official post roads and services. The bulk of the population belonged to the third and fourth classes, the hanren , or northern Chinese, and the nanren , or southern Chinese—the latter group also referred to pejoratively as manzi (“barbarians”)—who lived in what had been Nan Song China. The expenses of state and the support of the privileged bore heavily on those two classes.

Kublai’s continuing wars produced a heavy and useless burden, as did his showy and extravagant building operations at Dadu. Peasants were brought in as labourers, to the neglect of their farms. Food supplies in the north were inadequate for the new labour force and the unproductive Mongols, and large quantities had to be brought by sea and, when the sea routes proved insecure, along the Grand Canal . The repair and extension of the canal also demanded much labour. Kublai, in common with other Mongol rulers, was much preoccupied with religion. His reign was a time of toleration for rival religions and of economic privilege for the favoured religions. Clerics and their communities were exempted from taxation, and Buddhist temples especially were granted generous donations of land and of peasants for their upkeep. The arrogance of the many Tibetan lamas , who enjoyed a special status in Yuan China, was particularly detested by the Chinese. Such a discriminatory social policy was eventually bound to arouse strong resentment. Moreover, it was only on the surface that Kublai’s China, with its intense commercial activity, was economically strong and wealthy.

Trade was mainly carried on in the interests of a privileged foreign merchant class, not those of the community at large. The common people of China were becoming progressively poorer. The old examination system, which admitted to the civil service only men with a proper knowledge of Confucian philosophy, had lapsed, and customary restraints on absolutism and arbitrary rule, such as would have been imposed by the censorate (a body that scrutinized the conduct of officials) and a professional public service, were lacking. The Chinese literati were excluded from public office and responsibility. As a result, adventurers could attain high positions, and even an emperor of Kublai’s unique ability remained for years on end ignorant of, and unable to check, the depredations of his dishonest foreign financial advisers. The extravagant policies that Kublai had countenanced and the financial ineptitude of later Mongol emperors provoked, in the 14th century, the economically motivated uprisings that brought the dynasty down. Kublai is celebrated—mainly because of Marco Polo’s account—for his use of paper money .

Paper money had, however, been issued in China under the Song, and Kublai’s innovation was merely to make it the sole medium of exchange. Toward the end of the dynasty, an incapable financial administration stimulated inflation by the overissue of paper money, but in Kublai’s time the use of banknotes was essential. The supply of copper was too small to form a metal currency in a period of expanding trade, and in any case large quantities were diverted to the temples to be made into statues and other cult objects. Assessment Though Kublai was celebrated above all as a Chinese emperor, he also helped to form the political traditions of his own Mongol people. To him and to his adviser, the Tibetan grand lama ’Phags-pa , is attributed the development of the political theory known as the “ dual principle”—that is, the parity of power and dignity of religion and state in political affairs. That theory was turned to practical account on more than one occasion in the subsequent history of Mongolia and, for example, underlay the constitution of the theocratic monarchy proclaimed in 1911, when Mongolia recovered its independence from China . Kublai’s character is difficult to assess.

The only personal account of him is by Marco Polo , and that work is more of a panegyric than a sober appraisal. Polo presents Kublai as the ideal of a universal sovereign. Yet he does not overlook his human weaknesses—above all, an indulgence in feasting and hunting, a complicated and expensive sexual life, a failure to exercise proper supervision over his subordinates, and occasional outbursts of cruelty. Kublai’s career is noteworthy above all because of the way in which he interpreted—and finally failed to reconcile—his dual roles. Even a man of his energy, willpower, and political insight—ruling with the advantage of absolutism unfettered by the old bureaucratic apparatus of China—could not resolve the contradictions inherent in his situation. As it turned out, he became a Chinese emperor of the traditional type. China absorbed his interests and energies to the exclusion of the Mongol homeland, and for years he was actually engaged in civil war with rival Mongol princes of the steppes. Under him, China, and of course the privileged Mongols, enjoyed a brilliant spell of prosperity, but his politics, pursued with less skill by his successors, isolated the Mongols in China from their environment .

Still, it was not until some 30 years after his death that any serious uprisings against Mongol rule were to occur in China. With the collapse of the dynasty in 1368, however, the Mongols withdrew to the steppes and never again played any role of more than local importance. Kublai Khan | Mongolia and Yuan China By Kallie Szczepanski Updated October 08, 2016. Kublai Khan and his empire prompted wild flights of fancy among Europeans from the time of Marco Polo's expedition of 1271-1292. But who was the Great Khan, really? A romantic vision of Kublai Khan's realm came to Coleridge in an opium-laced dream, inspired by reading the account of a British traveler. "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground With walls and towers were girdled round And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree And here were forests ancient as the hills Enfolding sunny spots of greenery..." Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Kubla Khan , 1797 Early Life of Kubla Khan Although Kublai Khan is the most famous grandson of Genghis Khan , one of history's great conquerors , very little is known about his childhood. We do know that Kublai was born on September 23, 1215, to Tolui (youngest son of Genghis) and his wife Sorkhotani, a Nestorian Christian princess of the Kereyid Confederacy. continue reading below our video Profile of Kublai Khan Kublai was the couple's fourth son. Sorkhotani was famously ambitious for her sons and raised them to be leaders of the Mongol Empire , despite their alcoholic and fairly ineffectual father.

Sorkhotani's political savvy was legendary; Rashid al-Din of Persia noted that she was "extremely intelligent and able and towered above all the women in the world." With their mother's support and influence, Kublai and his brothers would go on to take control of the Mongol world from their uncles and cousins. Kublai's brothers included Mongke, later also Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, and Hulagu, Khan of the Ilkhanate in the Middle East , who crushed the Assassins but was fought to a standstill at Ayn Jalut by the Egyptian Mamluks . From an early age, Kublai proved adept at traditional Mongol pursuits. At nine, he had his first recorded hunting success, bringing down an antelope and a rabbit. He would relish the hunt for the rest of his life - and would also excel at conquest, the other Mongolian sport of the day. Gathering Power In 1236, Kublai's uncle Ogedei Khan granted the young man a fiefdom of 10,000 households in Hebei Province , northern China.

Kublai did not administer the region directly, allowing his Mongol agents a free hand. They imposed such high taxes on the Chinese peasants that many fled their land; perhaps the Mongol officials were planning to convert the farms into pasture. At last, Kublai took a direct interest and halted abuses, so that the population grew once more. When Kublai's brother Mongke became Great Khan in 1251, he named Kublai viceroy of Northern China. Two years later, Kublai's ordu struck deep into southwest China , in what would be a three-year-long campaign to pacify Yunnan, the Sichuan region, and the Kingdom of Dali. In a sign of his growing attachment to China and Chinese customs, Kublai ordered his advisors to select a site for a new capital based on feng shui .

They chose a spot on the frontier between China's agricultural lands and the Mongolian steppe; Kublai's new northern capital was called Shang-tu (Upper Capital), which Europeans later interpreted as "Xanadu." Kublai was at war in Sichuan once again in 1259, when he learned that his brother Mongke had died. Kublai did not immediately withdraw from Sichuan upon Mongke Khan's death, leaving his younger brother Arik Boke time to gather troops and convene a kuriltai in Karakhoram, the Mongol capital. The kuriltai named Arik Boke as the new Great Khan , but Kublai and his brother Hulagu disputed the result and held their own kuriltai, which named Kublai the Great Khan. This dispute touched off a civil war. Kublai, the Great Khan Kublai's troops destroyed the Mongol capital at Karakhoram, but Arik Boke's army continued fighting. It was not until August 21, 1264, that Arik Boke finally surrendered to his older brother at Shang-tu.

As Great Khan , Kublai Khan had direct control over the Mongol homeland and Mongol possessions in China. He was also the head of the larger Mongol Empire, with a measure of authority over the leaders of the Golden Horde in Russia, the Ilkhanates in the Middle East, and the other hordes. Although Kublai exerted power over much of Eurasia, opponents to Mongol rule still held out in his backyard, as it were. He needed to conquer southern China once and for all and unite the land. Conquest of Song China In a program to win Chinese hearts and minds, Kublai Khan converted to Buddhism , moved his main capital from Shang-du to Dadu (modern-day Beijing), and named his dynasty in China Dai Yuan in 1271. Naturally, this prompted charges that he was abandoning his Mongol heritage, and sparked riots in Karakhoram. Nevertheless, this tactic was successful. In 1276, most of the Song imperial family formally surrendered to Kublai Khan, yielding their royal seal to him, but this was not the end of resistance.

Led by the Empress Dowager, loyalists continued to fight until 1279, when the Battle of Yamen marked the final conquest of Song China . As Mongol forces surrounded the palace, a Song official jumped into the ocean carrying the 8-year-old Chinese emperor - both drowned. Kublai Khan as Yuan Emperor Kublai Khan came to power through strength of arms, but his reign also featured advancements in political organization, as well as the arts and sciences. The first Yuan Emperor organized his bureaucracy based on the traditional Mongol ordu system, but also adopted many aspects of Chinese administrative practice. After all, he had only tens of thousands of Mongols with him, and they had to rule millions of Chinese. Kublai Khan also employed large numbers of Chinese officials and advisors. New artistic styles flourished as Kublai Khan sponsored a melding of Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism. He also issued paper currency that was good throughout China and was backed by gold reserves. The emperor patronized astronomers and clockmakers and hired a monk to create a written language for some of Western China's non-literate languages.

Visit of Marco Polo From a western perspective, one of the most important events in Kublai Khan's reign was the long visit by Marco Polo, along with his father and uncle. To the Mongols, however, this interaction was simply an amusing footnote. Marco's father and uncle had previously visited Kublai Khan and were returning in 1271 to deliver a letter from the Pope and some oil from Jerusalem to the Mongol ruler. The Venetian merchants brought along the 16-year-old Marco, who was gifted in languages. After an overland journey of three and a half years, the Polos reached Shang-du. Marco likely served as a court functionary of some sort; although the family asked permission to return to Venice several times over the years, Kublai Khan denied their requests. Finally, in 1292, they were allowed to return along with the wedding cortege of a Mongol princess, sent to Persia to marry one of the Ilkhans. The wedding party sailed the Indian Ocean trade routes, a voyage that took two years and introduced Marco Polo to what is now Vietnam , Malaysia , Indonesia, and India .

Marco Polo's vivid descriptions of his Asian travels and experiences, as told to a friend, inspired many other Europeans to seek wealth and the exotic in the Far East. However, it is important not to overstate his influence; after all, trade along the Silk Road was in full flow long before his travelogue was published. Kublai Khan's Invasions and Blunders Although he ruled the world's richest empire in Yuan China , as well as the second-largest land empire ever, Kublai Khan was not content. He grew obsessed with further conquest in East and Southeast Asia. Kublai's land-based attacks on Burma , Annam (northern Vietnam ), Sakhalin and Champa (southern Vietnam) were all nominally successful. Each of these countries became tributary states of Yuan China, but the tribute they submitted did not even begin to pay for the cost of conquering them. Even more ill-advised were Kublai Khan's sea-borne invasions of Japan in 1274 and 1281, as well as the 1293 invasion of Java (now in Indonesia ).

The defeats of these armadas seemed to some of Kublai Khan's subjects like a sign that he has lost the Mandate of Heaven . Death of the Great Khan In 1281, Kublai Khan's favorite wife and close companion Chabi died. This sad event was followed in 1285 by the death of Zhenjin, the khan's oldest son and heir apparent. With these losses, the Great Khan began to withdraw from ​the administration of his empire. Kublai Khan tried to drown his sorrow with alcohol and luxurious food. He grew quite obese and developed gout , a painful inflammatory disease. After a long decline, Kublai Khan died on February 18, 1294. He was buried in the khans' secret burial grounds in Mongolia . Kublai Khan's Legacy The Great Khan was succeeded by his grandson, Temur Khan, son of Zhenjin. Kublai's daughter Khutugh-beki married King Chungnyeol of Goryeo and became Queen of Korea, as well. Kublai Khan reunited China after centuries of division and strife.

Although the Yuan Dynasty lasted only until 1368, it also served as a precedent for the later ethnic-Manchu Qing Dynasty . Sources: Polo, Marco, Hugh Murray & Giovanni Battista Baldelli Boni. The Travels of Marco Polo, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1845. Rossabi, Morris. Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988. Xanadu | Annoyz View Annoyz View Blogs about Intriguing Mysteries of the World Menu Feb5 Samuel Taylor Coleridge starts his unfinished poem Kubla Khan as “In Xanadu did Kubla Khan, a stately pleasure-dome decree…” As the poet revealed the poem was composed one night in a state of opium induced dream after reading a work containing the descriptions of Xanadu. Xanadu was originally the capital of Kublai Khan after he had conquered China. Later on, though the emperor shifted his capital to Dadu, in present day Beijing. Xanadu stayed important as it was the imperial summer city during Kublai Khan’s reign.

Coleridge saw Xanadu only in a dream after reading about it, but there was a person who actually saw Xanadu and later wrote about it. We are talking about Marco Polo, the great Venetian voyager. During Kublai Khan’s reign many Westerners were entertained in the imperial court and Marco Polo happened to be one of them. Marco Polo, The Great Navigator Marco Polo’s father, Niccolo and his uncle Matteo were voyagers too. It is learned that when Marco was born his father and uncle were on a voyage to the East. Marco met with these two important people only when he was 15 years old. After getting from their voyage, Niccolo and Matteo shared some of their travel experiences with Marco Polo. The boy was deeply impressed and wanted to become a great navigator one day. He did not have to wait long, as the seventeen year old Venetian boy set sail with his father and uncle to Asia in 1271.

Polo Borthers at the Court of Kublai Khan The Polos left not only with the trading intention, they were also carrying some letters and valuable gifts from the Pope to be delivered to Kublai Khan, the great Mongolian emperor of China. During their first visit to China Niccolo and Matteo had earned the favor of Kublai Khan. The Khan had expressed his interest in Christianity to the Polo brothers. The Polo brothers were requested to speak to the Pope on the Khan’s behalf. Kublai Khan wanted the Pope to send the Polo brothers back to China, along with 100 learned priests and holy water. Though the Pope could not fulfill Kublai Khan’s request, he sent letters and valuable gifts anyway to not offend the mighty Khan. Polos on their behalf arranged for two friars, but these holy men decided to turn back after tasting difficulty in travelling. Pleasure Dome in Xanadu It is learned that the band of Polos left Venice to travel south via the Mediterranean Sea to the Holy Land (modern day Israel and Palestine), which was then under the partial control of the Christian crusaders.

From the port city of Acre, the voyagers travelled northwards to Trebizond and then south till reaching Baghdad. They then reached the port city of Ormuz from where they travelled to the Taklamakan Desert. They crossed the Gobi Desert to reach China. In China, the Polos received warm welcome. Young Marco Polo immersed himself in Chinese culture and quickly gained the favor of the Khan, for he was a talented linguist. He was appointed a special envoy to the Yuan court, which helped the young man to travel to Asian countries such as Burma, Tibet and India. Later on, Marco Polo was appointed the tax inspector at Yanzhou and an official at the Privy Council. Marco Polo and Kublai Khan The three Polos stayed in China for nearly 17 years and during this time they had amassed a lot of wealth. When Kublai Khan reached his late seventies and his health was fading, the Polos wanted to leave China with all their wealth. But they were afraid that such a request might offend the great Khan. But Kublai Khan on hearing their request at once allowed them to leave China. But he set a final mission for the Polos.

They had to escort the Mongol Princess Kokachin to Persia on their return voyage. The return trip was less than favorable. It took two years to reach Persia and during this tenure about 600 crew members and passengers died. When the Polos finally reached Ormuz, there were only 18 surviving members in the crew. The Persian Prince who was to marry Kokachin had died in this time, so the Polos had to wait until an ideal husband was found for the Mongol Princess. The Polos left for Venice and returned on 1295. This slideshow requires JavaScript. Photos: The Legendary City of Xanadu Photos: The Legendary City of Xanadu By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | May 29, 2015 08:07am ET MORE A team of archaeologists are excavating the site of Xanadu, a legendary city that flourished between 1256 and 1368. Built by the grandsons of Genghis Khan the city served as a summer capital of China (the country was under Mongolian control). Take a look at images of the city and colorful discoveries.

[ Read full story on Xanadu findings ] Dragon head A colorful dragon head was found in a palace at Xanadu. Made of fine red baked clay, it has yellow, blue, black and white colors glazed on it. The head would have been attached to the end of a beam. Two other dragon heads like this were found in the excavations. This particular head was published in full color in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics . (Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics) Sprawling palace The palace where the dragon head was found sprawls over 9,000 square meters (about 100,000 square feet) of space. That's almost twice the floor space of the modern-day White House. The top of one of the palace's platforms is seen here in this black-and-white image. (Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics) Horse ramp Archaeologists found that a special type of ramp allowed horses and vehicles to pass through the palace. The ramp is called mandao meaning "path for the horses." Shown here, a black-and-white image of one of these ramps.

(Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics) Colorful city The artifacts the archaeologists found show some of the lively colors that would have decorated the Khan's palace. This image shows eaves and dripstones (the dripstones deflect rainwater). They are decorated in blue and yellow designs with images of dragons or birds. (Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics) Fish head Here, the remains of an artifact depicting a fish head, discovered in the palace at Xanadu. Decorated in glazed green and yellow colors the scales still survive. (Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics) Khan portrait Kublai Khan helped organize the construction of Xanadu. He became Khan in 1260, and the city eventually became his summer residence and, in essence, China's capital during the summer months. This image shows a portrait of Kublai. (Image in public domain courtesy Wikimedia) Dragons of Xanadu: Sculptures Discovered in Legendary City Dragons of Xanadu: Sculptures Discovered in Legendary City By Owen Jarus, Live Science Contributor | May 29, 2015 07:53am ET MORE A colorful dragon head made of clay was found in a palace at Xanadu.

Credit: Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics The remains of three colorful dragon heads made of clay have been discovered in a huge palace in Xanadu, a city constructed by the grandsons of Genghis Khan. The palace sprawls over 9,000 square meters (about 100,000 square feet), or nearly twice the floor space of the modern-day White House.Archaeologists have been excavating the palace, learning how it was designed and decorated. Made of fine, red, baked clay the dragon heads would have been attached to the ends of beams and used asdecoration. They "are lifelike and dynamic" and "have yellow, blue, white and black coloring" glazed on them, researchers wrote in a report published recently in the journal Chinese Cultural Relics . [ See Photos of the Dragon Heads & Legendary Xanadu ] The construction of Xanadu, known in China as Shangdu, started in 1256 at a time when the Mongol Empire, led by Möngke Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan ), was in the process of taking over China.

After Möngke Khan's death in 1259, his successor, Kublai Khan (also a grandson of Genghis), finished the conquest of China.Kublai had helped design Xanadu and when he became ruler he used the city as China's capital during the summer months. "The site is composed of a palatial district, an imperial city and an outer city, containing remains of three layers of city walls, and occupies an area of 484,000 square meters [about 120 acres]," the archaeologists wrote in their report. The palace where the dragon head was found sprawls over 9,000 square meters (about 100,000 square feet) of space. Credit: Photo courtesy Chinese Cultural Relics While Xanadu was occupied only briefly, being destroyed in 1368, it became a place of legend, its name romanticized in popular culture as awondrous exotic place where one of the most powerful rulers in the world held court. The discovery of the dragon heads, and other remains from Xanadu, paints a picture of what the site looked like.

While the dragon heads are some of the most eye-catching finds at the palace, archaeologists also discovered a type of ramp called "mandao," meaning "path for the horses" inChinesewhich allowed horses and vehicles access to the palace. These ramps "would have been strongly connected to the pastoral way of life of the Mongols," the archaeologists wrote. The ramps were important because horses and pastoral animals were an essential part of Mongolian life. Recent research suggeststhat an unusually wet climate in Mongolia helped these animals flourish in Genghis Khan's time, helping him and his successors conquer a vast amount of territory. Archaeologists also found artifacts showing more of the rich colors that would have been seen by those who set foot in Xanadu at the time. These artifacts include the remains of aclayfish head whose body "is glazed yellow and green" with "bright and lifelike" scales, the archaeologists wrote. Eave-end tiles and dripstones, "decorated with blue-and-yellow patterns in the shape of dragons or birds," were also found, the archaeologists said. Eave end tiles and dripstones form part of the roof. Aside from being decorative the dripstones helpeddeflect rainwater.

Excavations were conducted at Xanadu in 2009 by a team from Inner Mongolia Normal University, the Inner Mongolian Institute of Cultural Relics, and the Archaeology and Inner Mongolian Institute for Cultural Relics Conservation. The team's report was initially published, in Chinese, in the journal Wenwu. It was translated into English and published in the most recent edition of Chinese Cultural Relics. Follow Live Science @livescience , Facebook & Google+ . Original article on Live Science . Editor's Recommendations

Question: Who had his capital at Xanadu?
Answer: Kublai Khan