Zhenjin, or Jingim as he is called in the Marco Polo series, is a historically mysterious character of which not much is known. Unlike his father or uncle, and most other Mongols of the period, Zhenjin was raised in a Confucian "Chinese-y way." In 1273 he was designated crowned prince, and appointed as head of the Central Secretariat, or Zhongshu Sheng, which the series leaves out in favour of portraying his father Kublai as an absolutist ruler.

Another little known fact about Zhenjin is that he died eight years before Kublai, in 1286. His son Temur would go on to be the Yuan dynasty's second ruler.