Xíngtái

Xíngtái stands on the plain below the eastern slopes of the Taihang Mountains. Xingzhou here was the home of Liu Bingzhong, the monk and adviser who helped plan Khubilai Khan's capitals, and of Guo Shoujing, the astronomer and hydraulic engineer. In 1262 Khubilai raised the department to Shunde Prefecture, which became a circuit in 1265. Guo served the Khan in hydraulic works and prepared the Shoushi calendar, completed in 1280. The Ming adopted it, with little change, as their Datong calendar.

In 1368 the Ming restored Shunde Prefecture, ruling nine counties directly from the capital region. The Kaiyuan Temple, founded under the Tang, had been a royal temple of the Yuan. In the late 1460s the prefecture rebuilt the Qingfeng Pavilion southeast of its offices, a double-eaved hip-and-gable hall in Ming style.