The Capital of the Yuan Dynasty by Chen Gaohua (review)

Often there is no clear reason a Chinese book is selected for translation into English. This is the case for the recent translation of Chen Gaohua's 陳高 華 Yuan Dadu 元大都, published in 1982 by Beijing chubanshe.¹ A reliable translation of the text as well as the notes and chronology, The Capital of the Yuan Dynasty is aimed at a knowledgeable reader. Useful end matter is included—a list of Yuan dynasty (1267–1368) emperors, Chinese units of measure used in the Yuan period, a character glossary, names of buildings in English translation and with Chinese characters, names and translated names of official titles, and an index—but only the ruler list would be useful to a general readership. The bibliography is only slightly updated to reflect relevant research of the thirty-three years since the publication of Yuan Dadu.

The forward is a translation of Chen Gaohua's own, six sentences that do not even provide the dates of the Yuan dynasty or inform a reader that it was an era of Mongolian rule. One learns only that Dadu means great capital, that it was a predecessor to Beijing, and that "Turkic" peoples called it Khanbaliq. Chapter One, "Beijing Prior to the Establishment of Dadu," follows immediately. Although the reader is informed that the history of Beijing traces to the ancient past, the subjects are post-ninth-century cities, Yanjing 燕京 of the Liao dynasty and Zhongdu 中都 of the Jin. Here one observes both the strengths and disappointments of the book. The strengths are present in every paragraph. In sixteen pages, nearly eighty primary sources on these two cities are cited, relevant passages are summarized, statistics such as the record that Liao Yanjing had a population of 300,000 are analyzed (p. 6) and declared an exaggeration, titles are translated, and poems such as one on the fall of Jin Zhongdu to the Mongols are translated as well (p. 18). Yet since the 1960s it has been known that the only way to investigate a Chinese city or building site is through a combination of primary sources and excavation reports. None of the archaeological data about the Liao or Jin predecessors to Dadu is given.

The second chapter, "The Construction of Dadu," begins with a discussion of government organization focused on the role of the group the translator calls governors (here spelled jarghuchi). It then touches on the move of the Mongol capital from Qara-Qorum to Shangdu 上都 to Dadu, Khubilai's construction of Qionghua Island 瓊華島, the Palace Maintenance and Crafts Offices, Palace of the Moon, and eventually palace- and imperial-cities. Chen then turns to water works construction. The last paragraphs of the chapter assess Dadu's population, 147,590 households according to the census of 1270. At least 100,000 households is the estimate in other sources, with the claim in 1340 that Dadu had a population of one million (p. 35). Chen presents this information but does not assess it beyond suggesting that the last number is likely to be an exaggeration. Near the end of the chapter is the statement: "The new capital was built on multiple layers of exploitation." Perhaps an appropriate statement in 1982, but one an editor might have removed in 2015.

To this point there have been four illustrations, pictures of Khubilai and Liu Bingzhong 劉秉忠 and two sites in Beijing. Finally in Chapter Three, "The Layout of Dadu," the reader finds two plans. Pictures of walls, pagodas, and gates, including Heyimen 和義門 that was tragically torn down at the peak of the Cultural Revolution, are omitted from the translation. Still, interesting facts and episodes in the city's history are included, and they are well translated. One example is the failed attempt to use reeds (wei 葦) to strengthen walls against erosive rain (pp. 39–40). Another is found in discussion of the imperial-city (huangcheng 皇城): the reader learns from the translation of a passage in Xiao...