Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Guo Shoujing (1231-1316) was a celebrated scientist and astronomer during the Yuan dynasty.
From the early 1200s, a new wave of Mongols began to make its push for Beijing, and
this time it was truly a force to be reckoned with. In 1214-1215 Genghis Khan led his Mon-
gol forces into Zhongdu, sacking it first and finally, after a protracted and bitter battle, mak-
ing it his province. He again restored the name of Yanjing and pushed the Jin to the south.
Following through almost 50 years later, his grandson, Kublai Khan, took his turn with
the city. In 1271 he proclaimed the birth of the Yuan dynasty and claimed Yanjing as its
capital. At first he had envisaged his new capital to be by the Luan River in Xanadu, in
present-day Inner Mongolia, but in the end, like others, he thought Yanjing ideally situ-
ated between his northern homeland steppes and the sweeping North China Plain in the
