Kublai was the last Great Khan of the Mongolian Empire and the founding emperor of the Yuan dynasty. Among the brothers sharing the same mother, Kublai “was the eldest and was able and virtuous”. As his fief was a Han territory in the Monan area, Kublai began quite early to associate with monks, Taoists, doctors and interpreters providing services to him, got to know numerous men of insight and officials on the Central Plains, and was familiar with Han Chinese culture and the governance of the Central Plains.

Influenced by Han Chinese culture, Kublai built a city on the grassland in north China in 1256, and chose it for the capital called Xanadu in 1263. Liu Bingzhong, Guo Shoujing and other Han Chinese aides, who were the main builders of Xanadu, introduced nomadic culture and agricultural culture into various fields of city construction.