An Archaeological Research On Shangdu Site Of The Yuan Dynasty

As a comprehensive archaeological research on Shangdu site of the Yuan Dynasty, this paper focuses on the plan of this city, the function of S-iguan (four areas just outside the city gates), the social life of the city that embodied by cemeteries and ceremonial sites near the city and etc. This paper contains four chapters.Chapter 1. As a preface, chapter 1 discusses briefly the local environment, climate and the history of the Shang-du area.Chapter 2 reviews the history of archaeological survey, excavation and research on the Shangdu site. In this chapter, the author pointed out that the descriptions of Italian travelers; Marco Polo (Marco Polo, the Description of the World) and Friar Odoric the Bohemian (The Eastern Parts of the World by Friar Odoric the Bohemian), on Shangdu and palace life were true. Since 1850's, Shangdu site attracted attention of the world and many diplomatic envoys to China, travelers, geographers or historians surveyed and recorded the situation of this city site. The studies of Chinese scholars started at the 1950's. The main and the most important archaeological surveys were conduct by Harada Yoshito in 1937 and Jia zhou-jie in 1973. Of all the works on Shangdu, Shang-tu( ), Yuan Shang Du (by Chen gao-hua & Shi wei-min) and Research on Yuan Shang Du are the most important.Chapter 3 discussed the architectures and plan of Shangdu. Based on the archaeological survey and mapping, this paper pointed out firstly that the triple city walls were constructed step by step in different periods. Secondly, this paper suggested the name of every city gate by reference to historical documents. Thirdly, this paper discussed the scope of Si-guan, the foundation of architecture and the distribution of Tie-fan-gan channel, especially the distribution pattern and the different function in social life of Si-guan. Lastly, this paper probed the main architectures of Shang-du, especially the palace foundations. The palace foundations could be divided into three groups: the first group (the main part Da-an-ge , Han style) located in the inner part of the city; the second group (the main part Sira Ordo, characterized by tenet) located in the western part of the city; and the third group (the main part Boyi Ordo, characterized by a series of mobile palaces) probably located in the Nan-ping Mountain. These three different groups integrated each other and characterized the style of the city plan.Chapter 4 focused on the cemeteries and ceremonial sites near the city. Based on the excavated evidences from nine cemeteries, this paper concluded that there were two differentburial types and this reflected the separately cemetery choose between the Mogul nationality and the Han nationality. In the beginning of the Shang-du construction, a lot of craftsmen of Han nationality gathered around this city. Most of them inhabited in the areas just outside the city gates and worked for the royal palace. Some Han people and Semuren were engaged in commerce or handicraft industry. The Mongolia tombs, which characterized by deep nomadism, reflected the situation that the Mongols roved around the city were administrated by different organizations and their status were also different. The Yang-qun-miao area was probably the ceremonial area of the Yuan royals. The stone statues founded in this area originated the "Lushi (deer stone) culture which popularized in the Mongolian plateau for a long time. The four ceremonial site excavated at Qui-shu-gou of this area were probably the ancestral temple of El-temur, the influential official of the Yuan Dynasty, and the living temple of El-temur himself.Summary. The foundation of Kai-ping city and the Kai-ping royal court of gan were important evident in the history of the Yuan Dynasty. As the summer capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Shang-du embodied its characteristics of incorporation between traditional Chinese city pattern and the Mongolia nomaidism. As an important part of Shang-du, Si-guan played a central role in the political, economical life of Shang-du. The cemeteries and c...