Kublai's Xanadu rises from the earth

HOHHOT: Chinese archaeologists said here yesterday they have sketched the layout of Kublai Khan's first capital, known as Xanadu in Marco Polo's Travel Notes, through a large-scale excavation.

"The most exciting findings are the layout of the moat in front of the royal capital's Mingde Gate as well as of the highest building of Muqingge," said Yang Xingyu, a senior archaeologist with the Inner Mongolia regional bureau of cultural relics.

The capital Shangdu was built in 1256 under the command of Kublai Khan, the first emperor of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), who was enthroned there four years later. It became a summer resort after the Yuan Dynasty moved its capital to present-day Beijing in 1276, and was destroyed during a peasant war at the end of the dynasty.