Yingchang () was one of the important cities in the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

. It was situated on Lake Taal Nor in modern

Heshigten Banner Hexigten Banner (; zh, s=克什克腾旗) is a banner (Inner Mongolia), banner of Inner Mongolia, China under the jurisdiction of Chifeng, bordering Hebei province to the south. In 1690 the Battle of Ulan Butung between Qing and Dzungar Khanate ...

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

, China. The city of Yingchang was built by the

Khongirad The Khongirad (; ; ; ) was one of the major divisions of the Mongol tribes. Their homeland was located in the vicinity of Hulun Lake, Lake Hulun in Inner Mongolia and Khalkha River in Mongolia,M. Sanjdorj, History of the Mongolian People's Repub ...

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

in 1271, the same year that

Kublai Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first List of emperors of the Yuan dynasty, emperor of the Mongols, Mongol-l ...

(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. Shortly after

Toghon Temür Toghon Temür (; Mongolian script: ; ; 25 May 1320 – 23 May 1370), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Huizong of Yuan (; ), bestowed by the Northern Yuan, Northern Yuan dynasty, and by his posthumous name as t ...

(Emperor Huizong), the last Yuan emperor, lost Dadu and

Shangdu Shangdu (; lit. "Upper Capital"; ), known in the West as Xanadu, was the summer capital of the Yuan dynasty under Kublai Khan. Located in what is now Zhenglan Banner, Inner Mongolia, it was designed by Chinese architect Liu Bingzhong and served as ...

to the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

in 1368 and 1369 respectively, the Yuan remnants (referred to as the

Northern Yuan The Northern Yuan was a dynastic state ruled by the Mongol Borjigin clan based in the Mongolian Plateau. It existed as a rump state after the collapse of the Yuan dynasty in 1368 and lasted until its conquest by the Jurchen people, Jurchen-led ...

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. Luc Kwanten, ''Imperial Nomads: A History of Central Asia, 500-1500'', p.243 Ayushiridara (Emperor Zhaozong) fled north soon afterwards and later made

Karakorum Karakorum (Khalkha Mongolian: Хархорум, ''Kharkhorum''; Mongolian script:, ''Qaraqorum'') was the capital city, capital of the Mongol Empire between 1235 and 1260 and of the Northern Yuan, Northern Yuan dynasty in the late 14th and 1 ...

the capital city. The Northern Yuan once took back Yingchang in 1374, but the Ming recaptured the city in 1380.

References

{{Northern Yuan dynasty Medieval cities History of Inner Mongolia Yuan dynasty architecture Former populated places in China Chifeng