Kublai Khan Builds Kaiping (Shangdu)

Timeline

1. 1252Jinlianchuan (between Hanzhou and Fuzhou) · Zhenglan BannerAfter taking charge of military and civil affairs of the Han lands south of the desert, Kublai stationed at Jinlianchuan between Hanzhou and Fuzhou, recruiting Confucian scholars like Liu Bingzhong and Yao Shu to form the Jinlianchuan secretariat, and began planning a fixed fortress on the southern edge of the steppe as a political center.
2. 1256Longgang (east of Hanzhou, north bank of Luan River) · Zhenglan BannerKublai ordered Liu Bingzhong to select a site at Longgang, east of Hanzhou and north of the Luan River, to build a city, formally commencing construction of the new city. This location linked the northern steppe with North China, facilitating governance of the princely establishment and later expansion.
3. 1259Kaiping Prefecture · Zhenglan BannerAfter about three years, the new city was completed, with a royal palace, government offices, residences, and markets, named Kaiping Prefecture. It thereafter became Kublai's princely capital, where he took the khagan throne in 1260 and which was elevated to Shangdu in 1263.