Posted on 10/09/2005 9:56:09 AM PDT by wagglebee
BEIJING, Oct. 8 (Xinhuanet) -- Aerial photography has helped shed new light on the capital of Kublai Khan's empire, also known as Xuanadu in Marco Polo's Travel Notes.
The description of the metropolis Shangdu (Xuanadu) by Marco Polo some 700 years ago has somewhat been confirmed by aerial photography, Yang Lin, director of the center of remote sensing and aerial photography of China's National Museum, told Xinhua on Saturday.
"We can see the spectacular city with its scale and the density of buildings," Yang said.
The ruins have been overgrown with grass for more than 600 years. Archaeologists have taken a large number of photos of the site in Zhenglan Banner in north China's Inner Mongolia AutonomousRegion from planes flying at low altitudes in recent years.
By examining photos, archaeologists can tell the shape of the ancient site and where the relics are located at the site, according to Yang.
The capital Shangdu was built in 1256 under the command of Kublai Khan who was enthroned there four years later. It became a summer resort after the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) moved its capital to present-day Beijing and was destroyed during a peasant war at the end of the dynasty.
According to Marco Polo's Travel Notes, there were palaces made of marble in the city, with the rooms gilded and painted, and the palaces were so exquisite that people derived both visual and mental satisfaction.
"Since the capital has been dilapidated for many years, we were not clear about its layout . And because it is located in vast grassland, the inconvenient traffic condition makes it difficult to conduct archaeological research in traditional ways," said Yang.
"Through aerial photography, we can observe the remains which are difficult to be identified from ground," Yang said.
The photos show that the city is square with three concentric city walls. The outer wall was surrounded by a moat of 20 meters wide.
Inside the city, archaeologists said that they can tell remains of barns, barracks and horse stables. And relics of a dam for flood prevention have also been discovered at about two kilometers north and west of the city.
According to Marco Polo's Travel Notes, a wide road connects Shangdu and Dadu (today's Beijing) at that time, and along the road shops and merchants could be found everywhere.
This description has been proven to be true when aerial photos show remains of a wide road running from west to east at south of the city and leading to the depths of the grassland, said Yang.
"Aerial photography enables us to get new understanding of Shangdu. Combining the architecture of nomads and imperial buildings of the Han nationality, Shangdu occupies a significant status in China's history of capital construction," Yang added.
GGG Ping.
Any sign of the stately pleasure dome decree'd?
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure-dome decree:
Where Alph, the sacred river, ran
Through caverns measureless to man
Down to a sunless sea.
So twice five miles of fertile ground
With walls and towers were girdled round:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted
Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!
A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!
And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,
As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,
A mighty fountain momently was forced:
Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst
Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:
And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever
It flung up momently the sacred river.
Five miles meandering with a mazy motion
Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,
Then reached the caverns measureless to man,
And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:
And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far
Ancestral voices prophesying war!
The shadow of the dome of pleasure
Floated midway on the waves;
Where was heard the mingled measure
From the fountain and the caves.
It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!
A damsel with a dulcimer
In a vision once I saw:
It was an Abyssinian maid,
And on her dulcimer she played,
Singing of Mount Abora.
Could I revive within me
Her symphony and song,
To such a deep delight 'twould win me
That with music loud and long
I would build that dome in air,
That sunny dome! those caves of ice!
And all who heard should see them there,
And all should cry, Beware! Beware!
His flashing eyes, his floating hair!
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed
And drunk the milk of Paradise.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Great minds think alike, Ben. Of course fools seldom differ as well....
Yes . . . beware our flashing eyes and floating hair!
Nam Vet
Having just returned from a brunch heavy on bloody marys, this line, slightly repunctuated, is more applicable to this Freeper:
...he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk
ping
this site has a few pics.
*goes looking for Rush cd...
You should find this of interest.
I went to the original article...I just hate it when a published piece is about pictures but doesn't include the pictures.
Yes, very interesting. Thanks for the ping.
A place where nobody dared to go
The love that we came to know
They call it Xanadu
And now
Open your eyes and see
What we have made is real
We are in Xanadu
A million lights are dancing
And there you are
A shooting star
An everlasting world
And you're here with me
Eternally
Xanadu, Xanadu,
(now we are here)
In Xanadu
Xanadu, Xanadu,
(now we are here)
In Xanadu
Xanadu, your neon lights will shine
For you, Xanadu
The love
The echoes of long ago
You needed the world to know
They are in Xanadu
The dream
That came through a million years
That lived on through all the tears
It came to Xanadu
A million lights are dancing
And there you are
A shooting star
An everlasting world
And you're here with me
Eternally
Xanadu, Xanadu,
(now we are here)
In Xanadu
Xanadu, Xanadu,
(now we are here)
In Xanadu
Now that I'm here
Now that you're near in Xanadu
Now that I'm here
Now that you're near in Xanadu
Xanadu...
And here I thought Frankie Goes To Hollywood wrote that.
< |:)~
Keep yer powder dry.
FMCDH(BITS)
Xuanadu...theyre making one of those in New Jersey!
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