The Yuan Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borj-Igin clan. Borj-Igin is the last name of the imperial clan of Gengis-Khan and his successors. He placed his father Genghis-Khan on the imperial records as the official founder of the Dynasty. The senior Borj-Igids provided ruling princes for Mongolia and Ineer Mongolia until the 20th century. The clan formed the ruling class among the Mongols and some other peoples of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
Although the Mongols had ruled territories including today's North China for decades, it was not until 1271 that Kubkai-Khan officially proclaimed the Yuan Dynasty in the traditional Chinese style, imposing the name Great Yuan.
His realm was isolated from other Khan-Ates and controlled most off the present-day China and its surrounding areas, including modern Mongolia and Korea. It was the 1st foreign dynasty to rule all of China and lasted until 1368. The Yuan Dynasty is considered both a successor to the Mongol Empire and as Imperial Chinese Dynasty. In addition to Emperor of China, Kublai-Khan claimed the title of Great-Khan, supreme over the other successors Khan-Ates.
In official Chinese histories, the Yuang Dynasty bore the Mandate of Heaven, following the Song Dynasty and preceding the Ming Dynasty. The Mandate of Heaven is an ancient belief that Heaven (Tian) granted emperors the Right to Rule based on their ability to govern well and fairly. Heaven bestowed its mandate to a Just Ruler, the Son of Heaven. It depended on whether an Emperor was sufficiently virtuous to rule. It then would be transferred to those who would rule best. The fact that the ruler was overthrown was taken by itself as an indicator that the ruler had lost the Mandate of Heaven. It was also a common belief that natural disasters such as famine and flood were other signs of Heaven's displeasure with the current ruler, so there would often be revolts following major environmental events. The Mandate of Heaven did not required that a legitimate ruler had to be of noble birth, and Dynasties were often founded by people of common birth (Hang and Ming Dynasties). The Mandate had no time limitations, depending instead on the Just and Able Performance of the Ruler and his heirs.
Genghis-Khan united the Mongol and Turkic tribes of the steppes and became Great-Khan in 1206. Under the reign of Genghis' 3rd son, Ogedei-Khan, Kublai, his nephew was offered a position in Xing-Zhou, Hebei. Kubkai was unable to read Chinese but had several Han Chinese teachers attached to him since his early years by his mother Sor-Ghagh-Tani, a Keraite (one of the 5 dominant Turco-Mongol tribal confederations [Khan-Ates]) princess, married to Tolui, Genghis' youngest son. She became one of the most powerful and competent women in the Mongol Empire. She raised her sons to be leaders, and maneuvered the family politics so that all 4 sons, Mong-Ke-Khan, Hulagu-Khan, Ariq-Boke, and Kublai-Khan, went to inherit the legacy of their grandfathers Genghis-Khan. She was a Christian, spacifically a member of the Church of the East (Nestorian Christianity). As a moving spirit behind the Mongol Empire, Sor-Ghagh- Tani was responsible for much of the trade openings and intellectual exchange made possible by this position, the largest contiguous empire in World History.
Xanadu was located in what is now called Inner Mongolia, 350km/220mi North of Beij-Ing. The layout is roughly square shaped with sides of about 2200m. It consisted of an "outer city" and an "inner city" in the SouthEast of the capital which also had a square layout with sides about 1400m. The palace where Kublai-Khan stayed in Summer, had sides of 550m. At its zenith, over 100,000 people lived within its walls.
The city was designed by Chinese architect Liu Bing-Zhong from 1252 to 1256, implementing a profoundly Chinese scheme for the city's architecture. The city was named Kai-Ping in the beginning and in 1264 was renamed Xana-Du (Shang-Du). In 1369 Xana-Du was occupied by the Ming army and put to the torch and was abandoned for several hundred years. Today, only ruins remain, surrounded by a grassy mound that was once the City Walls.
The Venetian explorer Marco Polo visited Xana-Du in 1275 and dictated the following account: "... There is a very fine marble palace, the rooms are all gilt and painted with figures of men, beasts, and birds, and with a variety of trees and flowers, all executed with such exquisite art that you regard them with delight and astonishment. ... Inside the Park there are fountains and rivers and brooks, and beautiful meadows, with all kinds of wild animals (excluding such the ones of ferocious nature), which the Emperor has procured and placed there to supply food for his ger-falcons (200 in number) and hawks (in great numbers also), which he keeps there in mew. He rides through the Park with a leopard behind him on his horse's croup; and then he sees any animal that takes his fancy, he slips his leopard at it, and the game when taken is made over to feed the haws in mew. This he does for diversion.
In the Park there is another spot where there is a charming wood and he has another Palace built on cane ... It is gilt all over, and most elaborated finished inside. It is stayed on gilt and lacquered columns, on each of which is a dragon all gilt, the tail of which is attached to the column while the head supports the architrave, and the claws likewise are stretched out right and left to support the architrave.
The roof, like the rest, is formed of canes, covered with a varnish so strong and excellent that no amount of rain will rot them. These canes are a good 3 palms in girth, and 10 to 15 paces in length. They are cut across at each knot, and then the pieces are split so as to form from each 2 hollow tiles, and with these the house is roofed; only every such tile of cane has to be nailed down to prevent the wind from lifting it. In short, the whole Palace is built of these canes, which serve also for a great variety of other useful purposes. The construction of the Palace is so devised that it can be taken down and put up again with great celerity; and it can all be taken to pieces and removed whithersoever the Emperor may command. When erected, it is braced against mishaps from the wind by more than 200 cords of silk. The Khan abides at this Park that belongs to him, dwelling sometimes in the Marble Palace and sometimes in the Cane Palace for 3 months of the year, to wit, June, July and August; preferring this residence because it is by no means hot; in fact it is a very cool place. When the 28th day of [the Moon of] August arrives he takes his departure, and the Cane Palace is taken to pieces. But I must tell you what happens when he goes away from this Palace every year on the 28th of the August [Moon] ..."
In 1614, the English clergyman Samuel Purchas published: "In Xan-Du did Kublai-Khan build a stately Palace, encompassing 16 miles of plain ground with a wall, wherein are fertile Meadows, pleasant Springs, delightful streams, and all sort of beasts of chase and game, and in the middle thereof a sumptuous House of Pleasure, which may be moved from place to place."
In 1625 Purch published an expanded edition of his book, recounting the Voyages of Famous Travellers, called "Purchas his Pilgrimes." The 11th volume of this book included a more detailed description of Xana-Du.
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