Yingchang

43°15′17″N 116°27′42″E Yingchang (Chinese: 應昌; pinyin: Yìngchāng) was one of the important cities in the Yuan dynasty. It was situated on Lake Taal Nor in modern Heshigten Banner, Inner Mongolia, China.^[1]

The city of Yingchang was built by the Khongirad Mongols^[2] in 1271,^[3] the same year that Kublai (Emperor Shizu) established the Yuan dynasty. The city was the administrative seat of the Prince of Lu (魯王). This square-walled city incorporated symmetrical elements, wide axial streets from the gates led to an administrative compound in the center north area, emulating the Tang style.^[4]

Shortly after Toghon Temür (Emperor Huizong), the last Yuan emperor, lost Dadu and Shangdu to the Ming dynasty in 1368 and 1369 respectively, the Yuan remnants (referred to as the Northern Yuan in historiography) established their capital at Yingchang. After the death of Toghon Temür in this city in 1370, the Ming armies under Li Wenzhong managed to capture the Yingchang, one of the major cities still in the hands of the Northern Yuan, in the same year.^[5] Ayushiridara (Emperor Zhaozong) fled north soon afterwards and later made Karakorum the capital city.

The Northern Yuan 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