Yingchang

Yingchang (Chinese: 應昌; pinyin: Yìngchāng) was one of the important cities in the Yuan dynasty. It was situated on Lake Taal in modern Inner Mongolia.^[1]

The city of Yingchang was built by the Qongirat Mongols^[2] in 1271,^[3] the same year that Kublai Khan established the Yuan dynasty. The city was the administrative seat of the Mongol prince of Lu (鲁王). This square-walled city incorporated Chinese-like symmetry, wide axial streets from the gates led to an administrative compound in the center north area, emulating the Tang style.^[4]

Shortly after Toghan Temur, the last Yuan emperor lost Dadu and Shangdu to the Ming dynasty in 1368 and 1369 respectively, the Yuan remnants (now referred to as the Northern Yuan) established their capital at Yingchang city. After the death of Toghan Temur in this city in 1370, the Ming armies managed to capture the town of Yingchang, the last major city in Chinese borderlands still in the hands of Mongols in the same year, and thus brought to an end formal Mongol rule in China.^[5] Biligtü Khan Ayushiridara fled to Mongolia soon afterwards, thereby making Karakorum the capital city of the Mongols again.

The Mongols once took back Yingchang in 1374, but the Ming recaptured the city in 1380.

References

1. E. Bretschneider-Mediaeval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources - Geography and History of Central and Western Asia From the 13th to the 17th Century, p.162
2. Christopher P.Atwood-Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire, p.201
3. Alfred Schinz-The magic square: cities in ancient China, p.286
4. Piper Rae Gaubatz-Beyond the Great Wall: urban form and transformation on the Chinese frontiers, p.155
5. Luc Kwanten, Imperial Nomads: A History of Central Asia, 500-1500, p.243

Coordinates: 42°25′N 124°56′E / 42.417°N 124.933°E