The temporary palace of Empress Dowager Xiao of the Liao Dynasty still stands in Guyuan County,Hebei.

top left: What used to be pasture land is now being brought under cultivation.

bottom left: A beautiful view of farmland in autunm

The province referred to by Marco Polo as Tenduc is the region north of the Great Wall around Hohhot in Inner Mongolia's Xulun Hoh Banner. The ruins of the Great Khan's magnificent palace in Shang-tu, where Marco Polo was received by Kublai Khan, have been discovered, but there is little left except rubble and some remains of the city walls.

Marco Polo wrote, "The Great Khan stays at Shang-tu for three months in the year, June, July and August, to escape from the heat and for the sake of the recreation it affords." This tradition of emperors and empresses having a summer residence to escape the heat of the capital had been handed down over the dynasties, and continued until the Qing Dynasty with the Empress Dowager Cixi's famous Summer Palace.

Even more grand than Shang-tu, the first capital,was the Yuan Dynasty's Great Capital at Khan-balik, today's Beijing. According to Marco Polo, the Mongolian name of Khan batik meant "the Lord's city", and was also called Taidu at that time. About this ancient capital he wrote, "The city is full of fine mansions, inns and dwelling-houses." Marco Polo

stayed as Kublai Khan's guest at Khan-bafik off and on for the next 17 years, making excursions into uncharted territories for the ever-curious ruler.

We arrived in Beijing, our last stop, in October,the same time of year that Marco Polo first entered the city.

Marco Polo left the province of Egrlgaia (present day Ningxia), and arrived at Tenduc, the capital city of Tenduc province. "This province produces.., excellent camlets of camels hair. The inhabitants live by... agriculture.,, conunerce and industry," he wrote in his book.

The ruins of the capital of Tenduc were discovered in a place called the Ancient Fengzhou Ruins east of Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. We reached Hohhot at mid-day and the next morning went to have a look at the ancient capital. The city of Tenduc has,of course, long since disappeared. Through the flat farm fields we could faintly see what was left of the foundation of the city wall, a grass-covered ridge so low even a toddler could effortlessly climb over it.

These people have no idea that they are living within the city walls of Shang-tu,the first capital of the Yuan Dynasty.

Also printed during kublai khan's reign between the years 1265 and 1294, this paper money represented 500 cashb by Chen Zhi'an)