The Shàngdu site in the Yuan Dynasty of China, a capital city located in the northern steppe area characterised by the nomadic life, has received great attentions from a number of travellers, historians and archaeologists. Several famous European tra...
The Shàngdu site in the Yuan Dynasty of China, a capital city located in the northern steppe area characterised by the nomadic life, has received great attentions from a number of travellers, historians and archaeologists. Several famous European travellers described vividly the city structure and civil life of Shàngdu from the Yuan Dynasty onwards. Since the begging of the modern era, a number of foreign expeditionists and historians explored Shàngdu and published research reports. From the 20th century, mainly Chinese and Japanese historians and archaeologists carried out the relatively detailed historical researches and archaeological surveys to the Shàngdu site; and published books, articles and excavation reports. More detailed and scientific archaeological investigations, mappings and excavations have been conducted since 1990s. This paper aims to progress basic discussion to the city structures of the Shàngdu site based on the previously conducted researches by expeditionists, geographers and archaeologists and the full scale investigations, which have been carried out since the late 20th century.