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CAMBALUC

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 81 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CAMBALUC , the name by which, under sundry modifications, the royal See also:

city of the See also:great See also:khan in See also:China became known to See also:Europe during the See also:middle ages, that city being in fact the same that we now know as See also:Peking. The word itself represents the Mongol Khan-Balik, " the city of the khan," or See also:emperor, the See also:title by which Peking continues, more or less, to be known to the See also:Mongols and other See also:northern Asiatics. A city occupying approximately the same site had been the See also:capital of one of the principalities into which China was divided some centuries before the See also:Christian era; and during the reigns of the two Tatar dynasties that immediately preceded the Mongols in northern China, viz. that of the Khitans, and of the See also:Kin or " See also:Golden " khans, it had been one of their royal residences. Under the names of Yenking, which it received from the Khitan, and of Chung-tu, which it had from the Kin, it holds a conspicuous See also:place in the See also:wars of Jenghiz Khan against the latter See also:dynasty. He captured it in 1215, but it was not 6111284 that it was adopted as the imperial See also:residence in lieu of See also:Karakorum in the Mongol See also:steppes by his See also:grandson Kublai. The latter selected a position a few See also:hundred yards to the See also:north-See also:east of the old city of Chung-tu or Yenking, where he founded the new city of Ta-tu (" great capital "), called by the Mongols Taidu or Daitu, but also Khan-Batik; and from this See also:time See also:dates the use of the latter name as applied to this site. The new city formed a rectangle, enclosed by a See also:colossal mud rampart, the longer sides of which ran north and See also:south. Thesewere each about 51 See also:English m. 'in length, the shorter sides 31 m., so that the See also:circuit was upwards of 18 m. The See also:palace of the khan, with its gardens and See also:lake, itself formed an inner enclosure fronting the south. There were eleven city See also:gates, viz. three on the south See also:side, always the formal front with the See also:Tatars, and two on each of the other sides; and the streets ran wide and straight from See also:gate to gate' (except, of course, where interrupted by the palace walls), forming an oblong See also:chess-See also:board See also:plan. Ta-tu continued to be the residence of the emperors till the fall of the Mongol See also:power (1368).

The native dynasty (Ming) which supplanted them established their residence at Nan-See also:

king (" South See also:Court "), but this proved so inconvenient that Yunglo, the third See also:sovereign of the dynasty, reoccupied Ta-tu, giving it then, for the first time, the name of Pe-king (" North Court "). This was the name in See also:common use when the See also:Jesuits entered China towards the end of the 16th See also:century, and began to send See also:home accurate See also:information about China. But it is not so now; the names in See also:ordinary use being King-See also:cheng or King-tu, both signifying " capital. The restoration of Cambaluc was commenced in 1409. The See also:size of the city was diminished by the See also:retrenchment of nearly one-third at the northern end, which brought the See also:enceinte more nearly to a square See also:form. And this constitutes the See also:modern (so-called) " Tatar city " of Peking, the south front of which is identical with the south front of the city of Kublai. The walls were completed in 1437. See also:Population gathered about the See also:southern front, probably using the material of the old city of Yenking, and the excrescence so formed was, in 1544, enclosed by a See also:wall and called the "See also:outer city." It is the same that is usually called by Europeans " the See also:Chinese city." The ruins of the retrenched northern portion of Kublai's great rampart are still prominent along their whole extent, so that there is no See also:room for question as to the position or true dimensions of the Cambaluc of the middle ages; and it is most probable, indeed it is almost a See also:necessity, that the See also:present palace stands on the lines of Kublai's palace. The city, under the name of Cambaluc, was constituted into an archiepiscopal see by See also:Pope See also:Clement V. in 1307, in favour of the missionary Franciscan See also:John of Montecorvino (d. 1330); but though some successors were nominated it seems probable that no second See also:metropolitan ever actually occupied the seat. Maps of the 16th and 17th centuries often show Cambaluc in an imaginary region to the north of China, a See also:part of the misconception that has prevailed regarding See also:Cathay. The name is often in popular literature written Cambalu, and is by See also:Longfellow accented in See also:verse Combdle.

But this spelling originates in an accidental See also:

error in See also:Ramusio's See also:Italian version, which was the See also:chief channel through which Marco See also:Polo's See also:book was popularly known. The See also:original (See also:French) See also:MSS. all agree with the See also:etymology in calling it Cambaluc, which should be accented Combdluc.

End of Article: CAMBALUC

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