China is to open the ruins of Zhongdu City, of the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), to tourists after renovation, said an official with the Cultural Relics Department of Hebei Province, north China.
The ruins of the city lies at Baichengzi in Zhangbei County of Hebei province.
Built in 1307 and burned in 1358 in a military insurrection, the city was the most well-preserved one of the four capital cities of the Mongolian empire, the territory of which at that time spread all the way to Europe.
Since 1998, Chinese archeologists have excavated the ruins of a palace, a city gateway, some walls, turrets and structural articles including glazed tiles and 10 exquisite dragon-head sculptures.
The discoveries in the ruins ranked among China's top 10 archeological discoveries in 1999.
The local government plans to display the relics in an open-air museum covering some 67 hectares.
The museum will be an attraction providing vivid historic information on the Mongolian culture, and ancient China's customs, economy and military.
(People’s Daily 10/14/2000)
