was established between 1252 and 1256 by Liu Bingzhong, a trusted advisor to Kublai Khan and a former Buddhist monk. Liu implemented a "profoundly Chinese scheme for the city's architecture", blending Confucian city planning with Mongolian steppe traditions. In 1264, Kublai Khan renamed the city Shangdu and established it as the summer capital of the Yuan dynasty.

Located in the grasslands north of the Great Wall--about 350 km north of Beijing and 28 km northwest of present-day Duolun County--Shangdu