Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
“Biography of Khublai” contained in
The History of Yuan Dynasty
.) But the exact
place where he lived was intentionally ignored for the sake of his security. Now over
700 years have since passed. Over this period, people had no idea where Khublai
lived when he fi rst came to Zhongdu. Now having made careful investigations, we
discovered that he lived in a summer palace originally built for the emperors of Jin
Dynasty and their royal families, which was built on an expanse of waters on the
northeastern outskirt of the capital. This palatial residence during the Jin Dynasty
was called Taining Palace (Big Tranquility Palace) whose main building stood on an
island in the middle of the lake. The building was named the Lunar Hall, which
referred to the mythical palace on the moon. This name also suggested the scenery
here which was as beautiful as on a fairy land. Fortunately, this temporary palatial
residence outside the capital remained untouched when the Mongolian horsemen
forced into the city of Zhongdu and set fi re to the imperial palace inside the city in
1215. The construction of the city of Dadu started in 1267. According to the city
planning, the lake around Taining Palace was taken as the centre of the plane design-
ing. This lake was given the name of “the Heavenly Water Pond”.
From the planning of Dadu City, we can see clearly that on the east bank of the
Heavenly Water Pond was built the emperor's palace while on its west bank stood two
groups of palatial buildings facing each other, which were respectively inhabited by
the empress dowager and the crown prince. A small round island situated in the mid-
dle of the lake served as the link of the three palaces. A wooden bridge was put up to
connect the east end of the island and the east bank of the lake, while another wooden
bridge was built to link the west end of the island with the west bank of the lake. To
the north of the small island, a stone bridge was built to span the water between the
small island and the big island on which stood the main building of the old temporary
palatial residence—the Lunar Hall. This big island was called “Jade Flower Island”,
which was suggestive of a place where there were richly decorated jade palaces and
beautiful fl owers in blossom. The buildings around the lake were well-distributed,
around which was put up a square bulwark encircling these imperial palaces. The
bulwark actually formed the imperial city wall.
To the north of the imperial city, there was a larger lake then called Jishuitan
(the Water Storing Pond), which had previously interlinked with the Heavenly Water
Pond in the imperial city. The construction of the imperial city cut the two lakes
apart. A new canal was dug up to supply water for the Heavenly Water Pond. This
canal was named the Golden Water River in keeping with the ancient tradition.
The water of the Water Storing Pond was originally from a natural river called
the Gaoliang River. Its former course on the lower reaches supplying water for the
Water Storing Pond was perhaps fi lled up or turned into an underground river, in
the construction of the city of Dadu. So a new canal was opened up, which ran
along the east wall of the imperial city and fl ew out of the city of Dadu. This new
canal was the last part of the Grand Canal, through which the ships and boats car-
rying grain collected from South China sailed into the city of Dadu and anchored
in the Water Storing Pond. The ships and boats also transported goods from the
south. So the place on the northeastern bank of the Water Storing Pond and its
nearby streets became the most busy market-place in the city of Dadu.
