Kublai Khan - The Capital City of The Emperor

The Capital City of The Emperor

After Kublai Khan was proclaimed Khagan at his residence in Shangdu on May 5, 1260, he began to organize the country. Zhang Wenqian, a central government official and a friend of Guo, was sent by Kublai in 1260 to Daming where unrest had been reported in the local population. Guo accompanied Zhang on his mission. Guo was interested in engineering, was an expert astronomer, a skilled instrument maker and understood that good astronomical observations depended on expertly made instruments. Guo began to construct astronomical instruments, including water clocks for accurate timing and armillary spheres which represented the celestial globe. Turkestani architect Ikhtiyar al-Din (also known as Igder) designed the buildings of the city of Khagan or Khanbalic. Kublai also employed foreign artists to build his new capital; one of them, a Nepalese named Arniko, built the White Stupa which was the largest structure in Khanbalic/Dadu.

Zhang advised Kublai that Guo was a leading expert in hydraulic engineering. Kublai knew the importance of water management for irrigation, transport of grain and flood control, and he asked Guo to look at these aspects in the area between Dadu (now Beijing) and the Yellow River. To provide Dadu with a new supply of water, Guo found the Baifu spring in the Shenshan Mountain and had a 30 km channel built to move the water to Dadu. He proposed connecting the water supply across different river basins, built new canals with sluices to control the water level and achieved great success with the improvements which he was able to make. This pleased Kublai and Guo was asked to undertake similar projects in other parts of the country. In 1264 he was asked to go to Gansu province to repair the damage that had been caused to the irrigation systems by the years of war during the Mongol advance through the region. Guo travelled extensively along with his friend Zhang taking notes of the work which needed to be done to unblock damaged parts of the system and to make improvements to its efficiency. He sent his report directly to Kublai Khan.