Xanadu
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Xanadu (or Shangdu) was the summer capital of Kublai Khan's empire (1215 - 1294), which covered much of Asia.
The Mongolian Khans made very few changes to their country, imbibing much of the Confucianist and Taoist philosophies, and remodelling their government on the native dynasties they had defeated. However, they opened up the empire to westerners, allowing travellers like Venetian explorer Marco Polo in 1275 to report the wonders of the Eastern capital to their fellow Europeans.
The reported splendour of Xanadu later inspired Samuel Taylor Coleridge to write his great poem Kubla Khan and caused Xanadu to become a metaphor for opulence. Xanadu is remembered today largely thanks to this poem, which contains the following often-quoted lines:
- In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
- A stately pleasure-dome decree
Other meanings
The term Xanadu is widespread and used for many other subjects. Most uses of the word trace its origins to the meaning discussed above.
- Xanadu is also the fictional mansion built by Charles Foster Kane in the film Citizen Kane.
- Xanadu 2.0 is also the nickname of Bill Gates' futuristic private estate.
- Xanadu Regio is an enigmatic bright feature on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan.
- Project Xanadu was an early hypertext project.
- Xanadu (1980) is a film starring Olivia Newton-John
- Xanadu (book)
- Xanadu is a comic book series by Vicki Wyman, started in 1988
- A song by Rush on their A Farewell to Kings album.
- "Xanadu" is also the name of Mandrake's estate/home base in the old comic Mandrake the Magician
de:Xanadu ja:ザナドゥ
