Under the ground of the Kaicheng county of Guyuan city is the once-prosperous Anxi Protectorate. It's the Xanadu of the great Mongolian leader Genghis Khan when he fought against Song and Jin dynasties to reunite China. Anxi also saw the chaos between Genghis Khan's grandsons to snatch the emperor's seal.
The city is finally obliged to the third son of Genghis Khan. It's the second biggest city of Yuan Dynasty after capital Beijing until it was buried in the big earthquake in 1306.
Over seven centuries later, nothing is left but some broken tiles. But archeologists have had an idea of the location of the ancient city since 1970's. Not long after that, over 40 pieces of cultural relics of Yuan Dynasty were found there.
Three excavations have been done since 2003. It's predicted to be a nine-square-kilometer palace with six main buildings.
With only a history less than a hundred years, the Yuan Dynasty hasn't left many historical records due to its frequent wars. So the finding of Anxi will help a lot to uncover some big secrets of the Yuan Dynasty, such as where the tomb of Genghis Khan is located.
It's also during the Yuan Dynasty that Islam spread into China and many Mongolian nobles believed in Islam. Historians have different opinions on this: as some thought Islam had been brought by Arabs, while some believed it was born in China. Answers may be found in the remains of Anxi.
(CCTV.com October 8, 2006)
