Xanadu has taken many forms in modern culture, but what kind of place was the original mythical city?
Keep watching to learn the truth of the legendary city of Xanadu.
In the Western world, Xanadu conjures up all kinds of fantastical images, from the palatial
mansion in the classic film Citizen Kane to the 1980 musical fantasy Xanadu, starring singer
Olivia Newton-John. Or maybe even a continent on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Poetry lovers may
think of "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, though most of us only recall its opening lines:
"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure dome decree."
"Today, almost as legendary is Florida's Xanadu. World's largest private pleasure ground."
Perhaps most common of all, though, is the idea of Xanadu as a mysterious Eden,
a lavish, exotic city in the Far East. That would actually be closer to the truth,
or at least it may have been a version of the truth some 800 years ago.
The real Xanadu, the legendary capital of Mongol ruler Kublai Khan,
and grandson of the incomparable conqueror Ghengis Khan, was located
north of the Great Wall in Inner Mongolia in northeast China.
From the mid-to-late-13th century, during the rule of Khan, Xanadu was the capital of the
Mongol Empire. Then it became the emperor's summer capital from 1274-1364. The city,
also known as Shangdu, was known for its palaces, gardens, and waterways.
Xanadu was built by Khan's Chinese adviser Liu Bingzhong in 1256.
Bingzhong reportedly planned the city according to traditional Chinese feng shui,
the ancient practice of creating balance with the natural world in a given space.
In this case, structures and roads within the classic Chinese square
pattern were built with nearby mountains to the north and a river to the south in mind.
In other words, there was not only an attempt to establish harmony within its walls but
also a conscious effort to integrate the city into the larger landscape that surrounded it.
The city had 12-to-18-foot earthen outer walls with six towers and 10-to-16-foot inner walls
made of brick, with four towers. These structures separated the Inner city from the Outer, where the
majority of the population lived. Khan's elaborate raised palace was built in the Inner City, where
he and his entourage resided. The other distinct part of Xanadu was its enclosed hunting grounds,
which included forests, meadows, and lakes. It was here, in the Outer City, where Mongolian
people set up their tents. One intriguing aspect of Xanadu's design was that it represented a
turning point in Chinese history. It attempted to mesh two very different worlds, the traditional
culture of the Han and that of the nomadic Mongol peoples. Its location, where China's agricultural
region met the steppe's grasslands, also represents that cultural blending.
At its height, Xanadu is believed to have boasted a population of around 200,000.
That made it comparable in size to modern-day cities like Shreveport, Louisiana or Oxnard,
California. And while it's hard to imagine a "universal ruler" being crowned in Shreveport,
the city's location and importance played a critical role in countless historical events.
In Xanadu, Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled for more than a century and grew
beyond the borders of modern China to encompass large swaths of Asia. A great debate occurred
in the city over the Buddhist and Taoist religions in the legendary capital. As a result,
Tibetan Buddhism spread throughout northeast Asia and is still a cultural and religious
tradition practiced today. Venetian merchant and traveler Marco Polo visited the exotic city and
became Khan's agent. Polo's popular book, The Travels of Marco Polo, written in 1298,
contained a description of Xanadu and made the capital city famous throughout the western world.
Marco Polo famously described it as:
"A city named Shangdu, which was built by the Khan who is now in power. There
is at this place a very fine marble Palace, the rooms of which are all gilt and painted
with figures of men and 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."
Only ruins remain of this lost imperial Asian city. Xanadu is still shrouded in mystery in
many ways. However, UNESCO added it to its World Heritage List in 2012, forever cementing its place
in world history. While much of what people would have seen 800 years ago is gone forever,
some signs of the old city remain on the 25,000 hectares of the UNESCO site. This includes the
remains of temples and tombs, as well as the ruins of various waterworks and canals.
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