Who resides there, and to prevent thieves from doing mischief
in the town.[NOTE 7]
NOTE 1. - + The history of the city on the site of Peking goes back to
very old times, for it had been [under the name of Ki] the capital of
the kingdom of Yen, previous to B.C. 222, when it was captured by the
Prince of the T'sin Dynasty. [Under the T'ang dynasty (618-907) it was
known under the name of Yu-chau.] It became one of the capitals of the
Khitans in A.D. 936, and of the Kin sovereigns, who took it in 1125, in
1151 under the name of Chung-tu. Under the name of Yenking, [given to this
city in 1013] it has a conspicuous place in the wars of Chinghiz against
the latter dynasty. He captured it in 1215. In 1264, Kublai adopted it as
his chief residence, and founded in 1267, the new city of TATU ("Great
Court"), called by the Mongols TAIDU or DAITU since 1271 (see Bk. I. ch.
lxi. note 1), at a little distance - Odoric says half a mile - to the
north-east of the old Yenking. Tatu was completed in the summer of 1267.
Old Yenking had, when occupied by the Kin, a circuit of 27 li (commonly
estimated at 9 miles, but in early works the li is not more than 1/5 of
a mile), afterwards increased to 30 li. But there was some kind of outer
wall about the city and its suburbs, the circuit of which is called 75
li. ["At the time of the Yuen the walls still existed, and the ancient
city of the Kin was commonly called Nan-ch'eng (Southern city), whilst the
Mongol capital was termed the northern city." Bretschneider, Peking,
10. - H. C.] (Lockhart; and see Amyot, II. 553, and note 6 to last
chapter.)
Polo correctly explains the name Cambaluc, i.e. Kaan-baligh, "The City
of the Kaan."
NOTE 2. - The river that ran between the old and new city must have been
the little river Yu, which still runs through the modern Tartar city,
and fills the city ditches.
[Dr. Bretschneider (Peking, 49) thinks that there is a strong
probability that Polo speaks of the Wen-ming ho, a river which,
according to the ancient descriptions, ran near the southern wall of the
Mongol capital. - H. C.]
[Illustration: South Gate of Imperial City at Peking.
"Elle a donze portes, et sor chascune porte a une grandisme palais et
biaus."]
NOTE 3. - This height is from Pauthier's Text; the G. Text has, "twenty
paces," i.e. 100 feet. A recent French paper states the dimensions of the
existing walls as 14 metres (45-1/2 feet) high, and 14.50 (47-1/4 feet)
thick, "the top forming a paved promenade, unique of its kind, and
recalling the legendary walls of Thebes and Babylon." (Ann. d'Hygiene
Publique, 2nd s. tom, xxxii. for 1869, p. 21.)
[According to the French astronomers (Fleuriais and Lapied) sent to Peking
for the Transit of Venus in December, 1875, the present Tartar city is 23
kil. 55 in circuit, viz. if 1 li = 575 m., 41 li; from the north to
the south 5400 metres; from east to west 6700 metres; the wall is 13
metres in height and 12 metres in width. - H. C.]
[Illustration: PEKING As it is and As it was, about 1290]
[Illustration: Yenking or Old Cambaluc A.D. 1290]
NOTE 4. - Our attempted plan of Cambaluc, as in 1290, differs somewhat from
this description, but there is no getting over certain existing facts.
The existing Tartar city of Peking (technically Nei-ch'ing, "The
Interior City," or King-ch'ing, "City of the Court") stands on the site
of Taidu, and represents it. After the expulsion of the Mongols (1368) the
new native Dynasty of Ming established their capital at Nanking. But this
was found so inconvenient that the third sovereign of the Dynasty re-
occupied Taidu or Cambaluc, the repairs of which began in 1409. He reduced
it in size by cutting off nearly a third part of the city at the north
end. The remains of this abandoned portion of wall are, however, still in
existence, approaching 30 feet in height all round. This old wall is
called by the Chinese The Wall of the Yuen (i.e. the Mongol Dynasty),
and it is laid down in the Russian Survey. [The capital of the Ming was 40
li in circuit, according to the Ch'ang an k'o hua.] The existing walls
were built, or restored rather (the north wall being in any case, of
course, entirely new), in 1437. There seems to be no doubt that the
present south front of the Tartar city was the south front of Taidu. The
whole outline of Taidu is therefore still extant, and easily measurable.
If the scale on the War Office edition of the Russian Survey be correct,
the long sides measure close upon 5 miles and 500 yards; the short sides,
3 miles and 1200 yards. Hence the whole perimeter was just about 18
English miles, or less than 16 Italian miles. If, however, a pair of
compasses be run round Taidu and Yenking (as we have laid the latter down
from such data as could be had) together, the circuit will be something
like 24 Italian miles, and this may have to do with Polo's error.
["The Yuen shi states that Ta-tu was 60 li in circumference. The
Ch'ue keng lu, a work published at the close of the Yuen Dynasty, gives
the same number of li for the circuit of the capital, but explains that
li of 240 pu each are meant. If this statement be correct, it would
give only 40 common or geographical li for the circuit of the Mongol
town." (Bretschneider, Peking, 13.) Dr. Bretschneider writes (p. 20):
"The outlines of Khanbaligh, partly in contradiction with the ancient
Chinese records, if my view be correct, would have measured about 50
common li in circuit (13 li and more from north to south, 11.64 from
east to west.") - H. C.]
Polo [and Odoric] again says that there were 12 gates - 3 to every side.
Both Gaubil and Martini also say that there were 12 gates.
