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It was difficult at first to find relevant search results for your query, since, in addition to being the name of an ancient city (the home of Kublai Khan's summer palace and "stately pleasure dome") Xanadu is also the name given by Ted Nelson to his pioneering hypertext system. It turns up on the Net in that context more frequently than it does in references to the location named in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem, "Kubla Khan." Locating web pages about this semi-mythic city was a challenge, until it occured to us to try a search on "xanadu and china." Among the results, we spotted a page about Kublai Khan (1215-1294) that mentioned his summer capital at Shangdu or Shang-tu (also referred to as Xanadu), where he met Marco Polo in 1275. Armed with a couple of new search terms, Shangdu and Shang-tu, we were able to find references to the Inner Mongolian city as well as a map depicting its location on a site about Marco Polo's travels. We used a new link on the bottom of Yahoo!'s results page to continue our search
at a favorite reference, Britannica.com. The Encyclopedia Britannica article about To-lun (or Dolon Nor, or Doloon Nuur, Pinyin Duolun,or Dolonnur), alternative names for Shang-tu or Xanadu, offers more information about the history and symbolic significance of this Mongol center of religion and culture. We hunted far and wide for photos of the ancient capital, but turned up few images. Instead, we'll leave you with the poet's evocative words:
And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills.
Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;
And here were forests ancient as the hills,
Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.
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