Xanadu, China
Xanadu, also known as Shangdu, was a city in Inner Mongolia, China, that may be home to one of the ten surviving gargoyle clans. [1] Details about the Xanadu Clan are unavailable as yet, beyond the fact that Fu-Dog comes from it. [2]
Real World Background
The city was designed by Kublai Khan's advisor and architect Liu Bingzhdong in 1256. It would be the capital of his empire until 1271 when he relocated to what is now modern-day Beijing. Thereafter, Xanadu became Khan's summer residence.
Thanks to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1797 poem, "Kubla Khan", Xanadu is often used as a metaphor for opulence. Presumably for this reason, David Xanatos's upstate retreat is also called Xanadu. [3]
In 2012, the surviving remains of the city were added to UNESCO's World Heritage List. [4]
See Also
- Xanadu, China at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia