ABSTRACT
When the Ming forces sacked Dadu in 1368, general Xu Da measured and repaired parts of the old city wall. He abandoned a northern portion of the city by building a new wall some five li south of the old northern wall. This reduced the exposure of the wall to the north and helped strengthen his defences. 1 Xu Da soon moved on to confront the Mongols in the north and west, and left to his subordinate general Hua Yuanlong the task of defending and rebuilding the city. In the following years, Hua modified the Yuan palace and turned it into a new residence for Zhu Di. In 1403, when the city was named ‘Beijing’, preparation for a massive construction started. From 1416 onwards, the building of the palace complex and sub-urban altars was directed by the court eunuch Cheng Gui and the chief builder Ruan An, with emperor Zhu Di himself overlooking the project closely. 2 Centring on the same axis of Yuan Dadu, but modelled on the design of Ming Nanjing, the new palace complex was more organized in a symmetrical manner, and was larger, with extensions towards north, east and south. The southern city wall was extended one li for a longer approach to the palace on an axial way. Two large sub-urban altars were constructed to the south of the city, on the two sides of the axis.
