Under the ground of the Kaicheng county of Guyuan city is the
once-prosperous Anxi Protectorate. It's the Xanadu of the great
Mongolian leader Genghis Khan when he fought against Song and Jin
dynasties to reunite China. Anxi also saw the chaos between Genghis
Khan's grandsons to snatch the emperor's seal.
The city is finally obliged to the third son of Genghis Khan.
It's the second biggest city of Yuan Dynasty after capital Beijing
until it was buried in the big earthquake in 1306.
Over seven centuries later, nothing is left but some broken
tiles. But archeologists have had an idea of the location of the
ancient city since 1970's. Not long after that, over 40 pieces of
cultural relics of Yuan Dynasty were found there.
Three excavations have been done since 2003. It's predicted to
be a nine-square-kilometer palace with six main buildings.
With only a history less than a hundred years, the Yuan Dynasty
hasn't left many historical records due to its frequent wars. So
the finding of Anxi will help a lot to uncover some big secrets of
the Yuan Dynasty, such as where the tomb of Genghis Khan is
located.
It's also during the Yuan Dynasty that Islam spread into China
and many Mongolian nobles believed in Islam. Historians have
different opinions on this: as some thought Islam had been brought
by Arabs, while some believed it was born in China. Answers may be
found in the remains of Anxi.
(CCTV.com October 8, 2006)
