The capital of the Yuan dynasty near modern Beijing was Dadu. Also known as Khanbaliq, Dadu became the principal winter capital of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan.
Kublai ordered the construction of the new capital in 1264, and in 1271 he proclaimed it the Yuan capital. Its name, Dadu, means “Grand Capital” in Chinese, while Khanbaliq means “City of the Khan” in Mongolian usage. The city was planned on a vast scale, with palaces, markets, ceremonial avenues, and carefully organized walls.
Dadu is the direct predecessor of modern Beijing. A common mix-up is Zhongdu, the nearby capital of the earlier Jurchen Jin dynasty, which Genghis Khan destroyed in 1215. Shangdu, or Xanadu, was also a Yuan capital, but it served mainly as the summer capital. When the Ming captured Dadu in 1368, they renamed it Beiping; it later became Beijing.