Today standing at the desolate remains at the heart of the Plain of Golden
Lotuses, we may find it hard to imagine the prosperity of the place more than
700 years ago. The wilderness in our eyes makes a sharp contrast with the
magnificent capital recorded in the world’s history. The broken stone pillars
stand in the sunlight while fragments of pottery lie silently in the grasses.
The remains of Shangtu, like all other remains of civilizations in the world,
have a vitality hidden besides its sense of tragedy.
Here the ethnic group on horseback has played one of its highest pitches in
the history - the Kublai Khan was crowned and he ordered his army to march
south and to end the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
Shangtu was the second most important political, economic and cultural center
of the Yuan Dynasty besides its Great Capital, which is today’s Beijing.
As the wheel of history rolls the conquerors of yesterday were defeated and
their brilliant capitals were burned down to ashes. The remains, where grasses
grow, are the only clues to the legend of an international metropolis of the
13th century. Before the century various ancient ethnic groups, including
Donghus, Xianbeis, Khitans and Nuzhens, had their cattle and sheep fed at
the grassland.
In 1256 a city was built and it was then called “Kaiping Fu.” Eight years
later Beijing was built and called “Great Capital,” and Kaipingfu became “Shangtu,”
which means “Upper Capital.”Since then emperors of Yuan have been shuttling
between the two capitals.
Kublai Khan had had his tent built in the Plain of Golden Lotuses as early
as in 1251 when he administered military and political affairs at the area
to the south of the Mongolian Desert, where Hans lived, at the order of his
elder brother.
Since 1211 the plain, with a river and streams running through, has been the
summer resort of Genghis Khan. He often went there when he was commanding
the army to conquer the Jin Dynasty (1115-1234).
In 1214 it became the land of the Muhuali family, whose generals had contributed
to the founding of the Yuan Dynasty.
Forty years later Kublai, who was still a general then, did something that
great impacts the politics, economy and culture of the Yuan Dynasty and that
makes the place especially important in the history. He built the “Think Tank
in the Plain of Golden Lotuses,” which included intellectuals of all ethnic
groups.
Zi Cong, a Han Buddhist who was a member of the think tank, was assigned to
find a site for the construction of a new capital. After accurate measurements
he selected whatÕs todayÕs site. The construction kicked off
in 1956 and lasted three years.
In 1960 Kublai succeeded in struggles with his brothers, uncles and nephews
for the throne, and was crowned in the new city, which he claimed to be the
capital of Yuan Dynasty.
Thus Kublai became the first Mongolian Khan who built the political center
of his administration in the plains to the south of the Mongolian Desert,
where the Hans live, instead of in the grasslands to its north.
Kaipingfu, Kublai’s city, remained the empireÕs political center for
ten years, and then Yanjing (today’s Beijing) was built after the Mongolians
conquered the Central Plains and was called the ÒGreat Capital,Ó
and Kaipingfu became “Shangtu,” or “Upper Capital.”
The existence of two capitals catered for demands of the Mongolian aristocrats,
who couldn’t bear the heat in the summer of Beijing. It also satisfied the
military needs - the ruling Mongolians had to move the political center to
the south after they conquered the Central Plains, but they also needed a
northern center, which lied at the throat of the only entry from the northern
plateau to the southern plains.
Therefore every spring and summer Yuan emperors led their government officials,
soldiers and servants to Shangtu to hunt, to offer sacrifices to ancestors
and to meet delegations from foreign countries. They stayed in Shangtu for
almost half a year and held many of the most important events in the northern
capital. Snowy tents and white horses were then seen everywhere in the green
grassland, where golden lotuses bloom.
Shangtu was constantly expanded in the following decades until it became the
largest and most magnificent capital in the northern grassland in the Chinese
history.
Residents of the world’s metropolis included the noble and the grassroots,
Chinese and foreigners, Mongolians, Hans, Khitans, Uygurs, Koreans, Nepalese
and Italians, who live together in harmony.
The prosperity of Shangtu lasted about 100 years until it was burned down
in the farmers’ up-rise at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and almost destroyed
totally in the following wars.
In 1996 the State Administration of Cultural Heritage included Shangtu in
its list of Chinese heritages to apply for inscription on the World Cultural
Heritage List.
