Sites of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital (Xanadu )and Middle Capital

Site of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, N 42 20 52 - 42 22 13, E 116 09 50 - 116 11 40.

Site of the Yuan Dynasty Middle Capital, Hebei Province, N 41 9, E 114 42.

Site of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital

The site of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital (i.e. Northern Capital) is located on the north bank of Upper Capital River in Plain Blue Banner of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It has verified by historical documents and archaeological excavation as the authentic capital site for the Yuan Dynasty and an important epitome of the nomadic civilization of the 13th and 14th Century. In 1260, Yuan Shizu Emperor Kublai Khan founded the capital at Upper Capital. When the Yuan Dadu Capital was established at Yanjing (present-day Beijing City) in the year of 1264, the system of imperial inspection tour between the two capitals came into being. Upper Capital and Dadu (Grand Capital) became alternate capitals for the Great Yuan Dynasty and saw the 108-year reign of 11 emperors in succession. In this period the Yuan regime ruled very vast territory and thrived and became a great power, which has made it the most prosperous and splendid stage of the Mongolian Khan state and thus to inaugurate the new era of the Chinese ancient history and the world history of nomadic nations. The Upper Capital site is embraced by the vast Jinlianchuan Grassland with Upper Capital River flowing on the south and Longgang Mountain spanning on the north. The site has integrated the earth and timber structure-dominated palace and temple complex and the overall layout of traditional yurt-style building of nomadic nations, which has displayed very well the grand majesty of a highly prosperous grassland capital as an outstanding epitome featuring the amalgamation of agricultural and nomadic civilization.

The site consists of the outer city, the imperial city, the palace city and four additional satellite cities. The soundly protected palace city, imperial city and the outer city walls along with the neatly-arranged and symmetrical streets and lanes, the stylistic randomly-strewn building sites, grassland with very good ecological status, the numerous cultural relics, as well as the beautiful ecological environment has made it the most integrally preserved large scale ancient capital site in China. 

The rich cultural relics of The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site show that it is not only a valuable human cultural heritage but also one of the birthplaces of the civilization of nomadic nations. Due to its significant historical, cultural, scientific and artistic value, The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site has become an important landmark of the progress of splendid and majestic Chinese civilization and nomadic culture, which are indispensable for the history of human civilization. It, therefore, deserves the attention and care from all humankinds.

Site of the Yuan Dynasty Middle Capital

Located in Mantouying Village, Zhangbei County, Hebei Province, about 15 kilometres southeast of the seat of Zhangbei County, the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty is popularly known as the White City. Sitting on a smooth terrain, the capital is surrounded by vast grass beaches in the east, south and north, girdled by the Anguli River in the east, and backed by Mount Langweiba in the west. On June 25, 2001, the relic site of the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty was included by the State Council into the fifth group of units of key protected cultural relics at the national level.

Extending 2,900 meters wide from the east to the west and 3,110 meters from the south to the north, the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty is composed of the Palace City, the Imperial city, and the Outer City interlinking with each other in a ‘回' shape. The Palace City takes a rectangular shape 560 meters wide from the east to the west and 620 meters long from the south to the north. In the middle of each of the four rammed walls stands a gate, and a turret stands on each of the four corners. Drainages lie at the foot of the eastern, southern and western walls. The rammed walls of the Imperial City, 930 meters long from the south to the north and 770 meters wide from the east to the west, stand 120 meters beyond the Palace City and run parallel to the walls of the latter. The western wall of the Outer City no longer exists, and its eastern, northern and western walls stand 1,050, 590 and 1,570 meters, respectively, away from the Imperial City.

Some buildings of the Palace City, the Imperial City and the Outer City still stand here today, with more than 30 of them standing on the ground in the Palace City. The main palace hall, 48 meters wide from the east to the west, 98 meters long from the south to the north, and 3 meters high in remnant, stands in the center formed by the four gates. It is the chief building in the Palace City. The other buildings around this palace hall stand symmetrically on each side of the vertical axis running from the southern and the northern gate.

The area around the Middle Capital of the Yuan was known as Wangwuchadu during the Yuan Dynasty. In 1307 A. D., emperor Chengzong passed away. On May 21 of the same year, Emperor Wuzong took the throne. Ten days later, the new emperor officially decided to build palaces here and turn it into his Middle Capital. By the 12th month of the first year of the Great Yuan Dynasty (1308), the Palace City was completed and government organs were set up in the city. In the following year, the four turrets were completed. By the 11th year of the third year of the Great Yuan Dynasty (1310), the Outer City was built. On the 8th day of the first month of the Great Yuan Dynasty (1311), Emperor Wuzong died. Seeing some strange celestial phenomena, Emperor Renzong who was scheduled to ascend the throne 20 days later, ordered the abandonment of the city as his capital. In 1358, the uprising farmers burned down the palaces and turned the city into ruins. Ten years later, the Yuan Dynasty fell down.

In December 2002, the Administration of the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty established the Archive of Records of the Relics of the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty - a Key Protected Unit of Cultural Relics at the National Level.

For a long time since its abandonment, few people had ever put a finger into this ancient capital city. After the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty (1736), a few people came to the city for land reclamation. These people did not, however, settle down here permanently. Due to population growth, some herdsmen and farmers have to settle down here during the recent scores of years. Villages have appeared around the relic site, as a result. The environment of the relic city, characteristic of grassland in North China, has basically remained unchanged. In 1978, the Zhangbei-Huade Highway was built, running right through the Palace City. Since many relics were buried right under the foundation of the highway, their management and protection has become extremely difficult. In 2001, the local government invested 13 million Renminbi yuan to move the highway to the west of the Imperial City and spent another 200,000 Renminbi yuan to build a 6,400-meter metal enclosure (1.6 meters high) around the wall of the Imperial City for closed management of the key protection areas.

Between 2000 and 2001, the county government collected 700,000 Renminbi yuan to compensate farmers for returning 610 mu of tilled land into pastures. As a result, the right over the use of the 76 hectares of land inside the Imperial City was returned to the local administration of cultural relics. At the same time, the Cultural Relics Administration of Hebei Province, the Zhangjiakou City Government, and the Zhangbei County Government joined hands to collect 500,000 Renminbi yuan for the establishment of the Administration of the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty and located the administration in the southwest corner of the Imperial City for the purpose of close-hand management and protection of the site. Between 2004 and 2006, the Ancient Building Research Institute of Shaanxi Province was invited to map up the overall programme for the protection of the site and separate plans on the protection of three plots that have already been earthed.

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

As for the criterion (ii):

 The planning of the site of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital has integrated the nomadic architectural characteristics with traditional Chinese capital construction style, thus a ring-shaped, delaminated, radial planning layout was formed, which is dominated by palace and temple sites and coexisted with yurt, felt tent of traditional building of Nomadic nations. The Jinlianchuan Grassland was selected as the site where "surrounded and protected by mountains on four directions, embraced by luxuriantly green tints and auspicious landform with Luanshui River traversing on its south and Longgang Mountain spanning its north". The natural elements such as the river, mountain and grassland have been skilfully used to form a unique prairie capital defence and flood prevention system and a harmonious unification of man and the nature can be seen. These scientific plan principle and architectural features had exerted a significant impact on the construction of Yuan Dadu and the Chengde Summer Mountain Resort in the Qing Dynasty, which become an epitome of prairie capital and witness the amalgamation of nomadic and agricultural georgic civilization.

Copying the Upper Capital and the Great Capital in overall planning and original in layout, the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty is of great value both for the study of capital development in ancient China and in the Chinese history of urban planning.

As for the criterion (iii):

The rich cultural relics of The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital have provided an evidence for the cultural tradition passed down to the present day. The Yuan Dynasty founded by Yuan Shizu Emperor Kublai Khan is the most prosperous and splendid period of nomadic civilization with a vast domain, affluent state, advanced astronomy and improved technology. As the capital of such a regime, Upper Capital has no rival among all the ancient capitals. In the past 600 years, the site of The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital had been truly, completely and harmoniously coexisted with the scenic prairie. The large-scaled site and the broadly distributed relics have provided convincing evidence for the powerfulness and splendor of the Yuan Dynasty. Influenced by the Upper Capital culture, the Mongolian nomadic cultural tradition is still completely preserved in the Plain Blue Banner where the site is located. The Plain Blue Banner is chosen by the State as a location of standard Mongolian phonetics, an important location where the traditional Mongolian dairy manufacturing process has been inherited, also a major production base of yurt, the traditional Mongolian building.

Some Mongolian traditions of language, modes of production, festivals, folk customs and religious belief have been preserved in the areas around the relics of the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty. There are many place names that are transliterations of Mongolian names and many villages inhabited by Mongolians. These are the best evidence that the culture of the Yuan Dynasty still exists today.

As for the criterion (vi):

 The Upper Capital site has provided a definite material evidence for the Chinese astronomy history, institution system and great historical events. The Huihui Astronomical Observatory established at Upper Capital in 1271 is the earliest national astronomic observatory of China, which has laid a sound base for the development of Chinese astronomy. Today the high and broad foundation of the astronomic observatory is still standing on the north most of the palace city of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site. The administrative province system (in which The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital and Yuan Dadu were considered as the centre) established by Kublai Khan is still in practice in present China. The rich cultural relics of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site has provided definite and authentic material evidence for Mongolian-Yuan culture researchers from home and abroad and make it a multi-disciplinary research base for archaeology, anthropology, history, folklore, nomadic culture etc.

As one of the capitals of the Yuan Dynasty, the rise and fall of the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty influenced the course of Mongolian rule of China. In this sense, it is of great value not only for the study of the Chinese history and the formation of the Chinese nation, but also for international academic studies and for the study of the history of North Asia, in particular.

Satements of authenticity and/or integrity

The site of the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital has a long history and is located in a remote prairie. Though suffered with some natural and human-inflicted breakage to some extent, it is still well preserved. In 1999, the villages and residents were moved out of the protected zone so that the original status of The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site could be maintained. Since the year of 2000, in order to build a The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site park, a professional and continuous protection and presentation has been applied for the site with some traditional and modern science and technology following the principle of "no alteration to the original status and preservation of historical authenticity". Historical authenticity has been maintained in all respects of relic protection, such as design, material, and process. By now, the entire site pertaining to the world cultural heritage application is made up of no other than ancient city site and natural grassland except the administrative houses and the road. Rich relics both upon and under ground have been preserved at Shangdu site, which include the city walls, flood channel, palace, astronomical observatory, temple, handcraft workshops, barracks, taverns, hotel sites etc. Except for the archaeologically excavated palace site and city wall have been under protection exhibition, the majority is still sealed and protected underground of the grass-land. The original environment and historical appearance of the Yuan Shangdu site have been maintained above the ground.

The naturally environments of the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty have been kept basically unchanged. Standing on a smooth terrain, this ancient capital with rivers and lakes dot-ting around and vast grass beaches spreading to its east, south and north is a picturesque grass-land landscape. Most of the outlines of the Palace City, the Imperial City and the Outer City and the original distribution and structure of the buildings in them are visible on the ground. The foundation of the city wall of the Palace City is about 8 meters thick, and 1.5 to 4 meters high still. The turrets on the four corners still rise about 5 meters high. More than 30 sites of foundations for different types of buildings are visible in this city, revealing its original layout. What have been left of the city wall of the Imperial City are some broken earth ridges rising about half to one meter above the ground, with foundations 5-7 meters thick. The Outer City is still surrounded by walls on the east, the north and the south, with some of the walls being merely earth ridges about one meter high. The foundations of these walls are as thick as 15 meters in some sections. The architectural components unearthed from this ancient capital tell the exquisiteness of the architectural skills achieved at that time and the magnificence of the capital itself. In one word, the environments of the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty have been kept basically as authentic and integral as they were, and the relic itself can reveal the original scale, layout and architectural form of the ancient capital.

Comparison with other similar properties

The Yuan Dynasty is the unified dynasty with the vastest domain in Chinese history. In 1260, after choosing Shangdu as the capital, based on this city Yuan Shizu Emperor Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty and created the splendid Mongolian-Yuan Culture. The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site is the only integrally preserved prairie capital site with distinctive nomadic cultural features. The city buildings are conveniently and neatly arranged and the architectural layout accommodates itself with the variation of landforms. Vast open grassland is left around the giant palace for the building of Mongolian yurts. Besides, large scale hunting grounds, gardens and rivers could also be found inside the city contributing to realization of the very harmony between human and nature. The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site is the only capital city where the site has been protected and passed down along with the nomadic culture. Influenced by the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital culture, the traditional life-style and folk custom of nomadic nation have been all along preserved by the Mongols who lived around the Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site. The Yuan Dynasty Upper Capital site is the only ancient capital site that has not been overlaid by the city and houses of the descendants. With integrity in culture and intactness in environment, it is rated as the best-preserved large ancient capital city site in China and the best-preserved nomadic valuable cultural heritage worldwide.

Compared with the Great Capital and the Upper Capital, the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty stands out in the several aspects. Firstly, the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty has three layers of city walls interlinking with each other, a layout similar to that of the Great Capital but different from that of the Upper Capital, which has three layers of partial cities walls. Secondly, small in space, the Imperial City in the Middle Capital of the Yuan Dynasty is designed to house garrisons. In comparison, the imperial cities in the Great Capital and the Upper Capital are much bigger. This tells the different thought dominating the design of the Middle Capital. Thirdly, there are four gates in the city walls of the Palace City of the Middle Capital, one on each side. This is similar to the design of the Great Capital but different from that of the Upper Capital which has only three gates in its city walls except the northern wall. Fourthly, the main hall of the Middle Capital is located right in the center of the Palace City, different from that of the Great Capital, where the main hall is located in the south of the Palace City. Fifthly, the Middle Capital has characteristics of its own as far as the size of its Imperial City and the structure of the gates in its city walls are concerned. At the end, as a capital, the Middle Capital equals the Upper Capital in position, although it also functions as a temporary dwelling place of the imperial family.