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Now there was on that spot in old times a great and noble city called Cambaluc [Beijing], which is as much as to say in our tongue "The city of the Emperor." But the Great Kaan was informed by his Astrologers that this city would prove rebellious, and raise great disorders against his imperial authority. So he caused the present city to be built close beside the old one, with only a river between them. And he caused the people of the old city to be removed to the new town that he had founded; and this is called Taidu.

Source:

Polo, Marco: The Travels of Marco Polo. Book 2, Chapter 11: Concerning the city of Cambaluc.

Further Reading:
>Now there was on that spot in old times a great and noble city called Cambaluc **[Beijing]**, which is as much as to say in our tongue "The city of the Emperor." But the Great Kaan was informed by his Astrologers that this city would prove rebellious, and raise great disorders against his imperial authority. So he caused the present city to be built close beside the old one, with only a river between them. And he caused the people of the old city to be removed to the new town that he had founded; and this is called Taidu. --- **Source:** [Polo, Marco: The Travels of Marco Polo. Book 2, Chapter 11: Concerning the city of Cambaluc.](https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Travels_of_Marco_Polo/Book_2/Chapter_11) --- **Further Reading:** * [Kublai-Khan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kublai_Khan) * [Yuan dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty) * [History of Beijing under the Yuan dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Beijing#Yuan_dynasty)

7 comments

[–] PMYA 1 points (+1|-0)

Do we know exactly what the reasoning was behind the city rebelling?
[–] Skyrock [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

It hadn't rebelled at that point. The astrologers of the Khan just told him that it would rebel in the future.

Eventually the Chinese threw off the yoke of the Mongolian Yuan dynasty and forced them out of the capital, but that was long after Kublai-Khan's death.
[–] PMYA 1 points (+1|-0)

I should have phrased that better.

Do we know the reason given by the astrologers? What sign prompted the belief that a rebellion was about to occur?
[–] Skyrock [OP] 1 points (+1|-0)

I have no idea. Marco Polo didn't go into more detail on that, and he has been the only European primary source on the area in that time. Maybe there are Chinese records on the details of the prediction.
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