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Khanbaliq or Cambuluc (Ch: 汗八里, "Great residence of the Khan") is the ancient Mongol name^[1] for the city at the present location of Beijing, the current capital of the People's Republic of China. It was known in the Chinese language as Dadu or Tatu (大都 pinyin: Dàdū), meaning "great metropolitan" or "great capital". Under the name Zhongdu (中都, "central capital" pinyin: Zhōngdū) the city had earlier served as the capital of the Jin Dynasty, however was burned in 1215. In 1264, Kublai Khan decided to completely rebuild this city as his new capital, and it officially became the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (which was established in 1271) in 1272. Marco Polo stayed in the city in the late 1200s. After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368, the city was later rebuilt by the Ming and renamed Shuntian (順天 pinyin: Shùntiān), and later Beijing (北京 pinyin: Běijīng) - except for a short time in Republican China where it was known as Beiping (北平 pinyin: Běipíng). Beijing is also known as Peking depending upon the Romanization. Remains of parts of the ancient walls, which lie slightly to the north of the later Ming Dynasty walls, are still extant in modern-day Beijing and are known as Tucheng (土城 'earth wall').

Khanbaliq is where Kublai Khan's court was. Marco, Maffeo, and Niccolo Polo arrived there and stayed serving Khan for seventeen years.

Ming emperor Yongle commissioned the building of the Forbidden City within the walls of Kublai's Imperial city. The Forbidden City was built without the thought of expense, using imported exquisite timber. However, the cost of continually building the Forbidden City and rebuilding any buildings that had been burned down, added to the tax strain the Ming dynasty emperors placed on the civilians to support their decadent life style.

1. ^ http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9070821/Ta-tu

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