In the 10th century, when the Song had their capitol at Kaifeng, Khitan nomads established the Liao Dynasty in north.
在10世纪,宋朝的在开封建都的时候,游牧民族契丹人在北方建立了辽国
They built a capitol on the Tong Hui River, which carried more water back then and called it Nanjing, or southern capitol.
他们在通惠河上建立了都城,当时那条河水流比较大,他们称之为南京,意思是南方的首都
Logical for them, as they already had a northern, supreme capitol at Shangjing in Inner Mongolia.
对他们来说有逻辑,因为在北方已经有一个最高权力首都,在内蒙古上京
Why's Beijing the shape it is, a grid, oriented to the compass; a city of walls within walls with gates at every turn?
为什么北京城是这个形状呢,井字形的街道;按照正南正北方向规划,城墙围着墙,每个转角还有城门
Kublai Khan consolidated Mongol hegemony over the northern and western Han in 1271.
忽必烈巩固了蒙古政权,那是在1271年,打败了西部和北部的汉人
Here he is with his Christian wife who I call Chubby Chabi.
这就是他,还有他信基督教的妻子我称之为胖察必
Linked by the Silk Road to the western carnets, it was natural for KK to set up shop in Beijing.
由丝绸之路获得通往西域的通行证,由于这样忽必烈在北京开设商铺就很自然了
KK acquired the serves of a monk called Liu Bingzhong, who'd advised him to adopt Chinese law and suggested Da Yuan as dynasty name.
忽必烈经一位僧人教导,僧人名叫刘秉忠,他建议忽必烈采用中国的法制系统,提议用大元作为国号
Liu so impressed KK that he appointed him the architect for a new city, Dadu, meaning big capital.
刘给忽必烈留下的印象太深,所以忽必烈派他建造一个新城市,大都,意思是大的首都
Long versed in Daoism and Buddhism, Liu predicated his design on the principles of Chinese geomancy or fengshui.
长期受道教和佛教影响,刘秉忠将他对大都的设计基于中国占卜,也就是风水
Fengshui is a kind of, some of you may know about this or read books on it, it's a kind of Confucian tradition that really has crossed the Pacific,
风水是一种,有些人可能听说过它,或者读到过它,它是一种儒家传统它越过太平洋