Which are the characteristics of Chang'an City in Tang Dynasty?

Tang Chang'an City, the Sui Dynasty called Daxing City, which was built in the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty changed its name to Chang'an City, the capital of the Sui and Tang dynasties, is the most magnificent and spectacular scale of China's history of the capital city at one time is also the world's largest city at that time. It was the grandest capital city in ancient China established by Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, reflecting the grandeur of the great unified dynasty. In order to reflect the desire to unify the world and achieve long-term peace and security, the city encompassed the ideology of heavenly timing, geographical advantage and human harmony in the planning process. "The law of heaven and earth", the emperor is honored, the hundred bureaucrats arch service. In order to accommodate a larger population as well as the migration of Jiangnan destroyed countries nobles to the real capital of the grand plan, the city will be built ahead of the Maikou, an area of 84 square kilometers, is 2.4 times the Han Chang'an City, Ming and Qing Dynasty Beijing City, 1.4 times. It was 7 times larger than the capital of Byzantine Kingdom in the same period, and 6.2 times larger than the Baghdad City built in 800 AD, which was one of the world's human cities at that time. The city of Chang'an consisted of three parts: the outer city, the palace city and the imperial city. The city prospered in all trades and had a population of nearly 500,000 at the most. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Chang'an City was repaired and renovated in many ways to rationalize the layout of the city. The establishment of the Daming Palace on the Longshou Plain enabled the ruler of the Tang Dynasty to occupy a more elevated and superior geographical position. Standing on the Longshouyuan, overlooking the city, it shows the temperament and style of the empire of a generation to rule the world.

After the capital was moved to Luoyang at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the city was demolished and its ruins were located in a large area of present-day Xi'an City in Shaanxi Province.

In 1996, the ruins of the Tang Dynasty Chang'an City in Sui Daxing were declared by the State Council of the People's Republic of China as one of the fourth batch of national key cultural relics protection units.

[edit]History

In February 581 A.D., Yang Jian abolished the Jing Emperor of the Northern Zhou and made himself emperor, establishing the Sui Dynasty. Since Yang Jian established the new dynasty by replacing the old ministers of the Northern Zhou with his own, Sui still used the Han city of Chang'an as its capital at the beginning of the dynasty. However, this was only a stopgap measure, and the old capital, which had lasted for 780 years since the rise of the Han Dynasty, was no longer suitable for the needs of the new unified dynasty. First of all, the Han Chang'an City has been a long time, the city of the Palace of decay, water supply, drainage is seriously poor, sewage is often gathered but not leaked, so that the water for domestic use is mostly polluted, the water quality of salty brine, difficult to drink. Secondly, the Han Chang'an city north of the Weihe River, due to the Weihe River from time to time north and south swing, the capital city is in danger of flooding. According to "Sui and Tang Jiajiu", "Sui Wendi dreamed of flooding without the city, which he thought was evil, and moved the capital to Daxing." Therefore, Yang Jian decided to build another new city on the south slope of Longshou Plateau in the southeast. From the second year of Kaihuang (582), under the auspices of Yuwen Kai, the palace and imperial city were built in only about a year. In the third year of Kaihuang (583), the Sui dynasty moved to the new capital, and since Emperor Wen of Sui had been named Daxing Gong in his early years, the city was named after "Daxing". After Emperor Yang succeeded to the throne, he dug a canal to connect Daxing and Yangzhou. In the ninth year of Daye (613), more than 100,000 people were mobilized to build the outer city outside the palace and the imperial city, and the general pattern of the city was basically formed.

Li Yuan raised an army and attacked Daxing City to establish the Tang Dynasty and set up the capital here, which was renamed Chang'an and changed Daxing Palace to Taiji Palace. As the terrain of Taiji Palace was low, and the temperature of Chang'an City was very high in the summer, which was unusually hot, making it "chu wet" to live in Taiji Palace, Emperor Taizong chose to build Daming Palace in Longshouyuan Highland of the Forbidden Garden in the north of Chang'an City. Later, Emperor Li Zhi of the Tang Dynasty proceeded to build a large-scale reconstruction project based on the unfinished Daming Palace. Taiji Palace was soon replaced by Daming Palace. In the middle Tang Dynasty, the construction of Xingqing Palace brought about a change in the neighborhood of Jiedongli.

The economic and cultural development of Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty was very rapid. During the Tang Dynasty, it was already one of the largest and most prosperous cosmopolitan cities in the world, with a population of about 500,000 (some sources believe that the city's population exceeded one million at the height of the Tang Dynasty). It gradually declined after the An Shi Rebellion. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao attacked Chang'an and the city was severely damaged. In the first year of Tianyou (904), Zhu Quanzhong held Emperor Zhaozong of Tang hostage and moved the capital to Luoyang, and demolished the palace and carried away the houses and trees with it. Later, the garrison of Chang'an Yu Guojun Festival Minister Han Jian that the city is sparse, not conducive to defense, so the city was rebuilt, reduced to "new city", that is, the Five Dynasties, Song, Jin, Yuan Chang'an City. The 325-year-old Sui Daxing Tang Chang'an City was then abandoned.

[edit]Layout

The Tang Chang'an City covered an area of 83.1 square kilometers, and was laid out symmetrically along a central axis, consisting of the outer city, the palace, and the imperial city. The city was crisscrossed with streets, divided into 110 Li Fang. In addition, there are large industrial and commercial districts such as the East Market and the West Market, and artificial gardens such as the Hibiscus Garden. The overall planning of the city is neat and tidy, and the layout is strict and tidy, which can be called a model of ancient Chinese capital city.

Tang Chang'an was a rectangle slightly longer from east to west and slightly narrower from north to south. According to archaeological measurements, the east-west width was 9,721 meters (including the thickness of the two city walls) between the Chunming Gate of the east wall and the Jinguang Gate of the west wall. From the south wall of the Mingde Gate to the north wall of the Xuanwumen Gate east of the north-south length of 8651 meters (including the thickness of the two walls). Comparison of the two east and west is 1070 meters long, about 35.5 kilometers in circumference, an area of 84 square kilometers. The city building is divided into three major parts: the Palace City, the Imperial City and the outer city. Palace City is located in the center of the northern part of the city, the Imperial City in the south of the Palace City, the outer city of the Palace City, the Imperial City as the center, to the east and southwest of the three sides.

Changan City (outer Kuo Cheng) open twelve gates, south center for the Mingde Gate, east and west, respectively, for the Qixia Gate and Anhua Gate; east center for the Chunming Gate, north and south, respectively, for the Yanxing Gate and the Tonghua Gate; west center for the Jinguang Gate, north and south, respectively, for the Yanping Gate and the Kayuamen; north of the middle and east respectively, and the northern wall of the Palace City and the southern wall of the Palace of Daming coincided with the western section of the middle of the Jingyao Gate, east and west, respectively, for the Fanglin Gate and the Guanghua Gate. Except for the main gate, the Mingde Gate, which has five doorways, the other gates have three doorways. According to the measurement, the site of Mingde Gate is 55.5 meters wide from east to west, 17.5 meters long from north to south, and each doorway is 5 meters wide. In particular, the north and south streets of the Mingde people in the street is as wide as 150 meters to 155 meters. The width of other streets that do not pass through the city gate is also generally between 35 meters and 65 meters, while Shuncheng Street is 20 meters to 25 meters wide. The original Mingde Gate, a pavilion-style gate building, was burned down by Zhu Quanzhong at the end of the Tang Dynasty.

Palace City is located in the northern center of Guo Cheng, the plane is rectangular, east-west length of 2,820 meters, north-south width of 1,492 meters, a circumference of 8.6 kilometers. The city is surrounded by a wall, the southern center of the opening of the Chengtian Gate (Sui called Guangyang Gate), east and west were Yanxi Gate and Anfu Gate, the northern wall in the middle of the opening of the Xuanwumen. Palace City is divided into three parts, the center for the Taiji Palace (Sui called Daxing Palace), called "Danei", the east side of the East Palace, for the residence of the Prince, the west side of the Palace is the Palace of the Palace of the Palace of the Harem, for the Harem staff of the residence. Today, Xi'an West Wutai and the north of the city outside of Ziqiang West Road, north of the railroad high school inside the hillock is one of the few ruins of the Daxing Palace City.

The Imperial City is also rectangular, located south of the Palace City, its east and west and the Palace City is long, north and south width of 1843 meters, a circumference of 9.2 kilometers. The north of the city and the palace walls are separated by a horizontal street, the remaining three sides of the five gates: the south side of the three gates, in the middle of the Jubilee Gate, on both sides of the Anshangmen and Hanguangmen; east and west side of the one, respectively, Jingfengmen and Shunyimen. The south side of the center of the Vermilion Bird Gate is the main gate, to the south through the Vermilion Bird Street and the outside of the city of Guo Mingde Gate, to the north and the Palace City of Chengtianmen opposite, constituting the city's north-south axis. There are seven east-west streets and five north-south streets in the city, with central government offices and sacrificial buildings such as the Imperial Temple and the Temple of the Gods spread out between the roads.

From the plan layout of the city, the planners strictly emphasized left-right symmetry. The whole city to the Palace City of Chengtianmen, the Imperial City of the Vermilion Bird Gate and the outer city of the Mingde Gate between the line, that is, Chengtianmen Street (also known as Tianjie) and Vermilion Bird Street for the north-south axis, which is centered on the left and right to expand. In order to highlight the status of the northern central palace, to the Chengtian Gate, Taiji Hall, two Yi Hall, Ganlu Hall, Yanjia Hall and Xuanwumen and a group of tall and majestic buildings pressed in the northern end of the central axis, to show the majesty of the majesty of the imperial power. Afterward, with the continuous addition of new halls, only to make this pattern change.

The "unity of heaven and man" is one of the core of traditional Chinese culture, and ancient Chinese city planning was y influenced by this idea, with the city on earth often being a reflection of the sky, thus making the city a symbol of the universe. The capital city where the "Son of Heaven" resides is even more so, and Chang'an City, the capital of the Tang Dynasty, a masterpiece on earth, is no exception. According to the position of the stars in the sky, the most noble Ziwei Palace in the center of the northern sky, it is extremely central to the north, east and west of the two clans **** there are fifteen stars around it. Ziwei Palace that has the meaning of the Palace, the emperor is the son of heaven, the earth's monarch and the stars in the sky should correspond to, therefore, can only be arranged in the north of the Palace in the central position. And the north side of the Wei River leaning against, from the point of view of defense, it is also safer.

Yuwen Kai combined the six slopes of Longshouyuan with the Qian Gua of the Zhouyi and made full use of the terrain to formulate a plan, which finally resulted in a metropolis that was grand in scale, well-designed, with a meticulous system and a well-organized layout.

[Edit paragraph] Palace

Tang Chang'an City, there are three major palaces, respectively, is the Palace of Taiji, Daming Palace and Xingqing Palace, known as the "three big inside". One of the "big inside" is the palace city of Taiji Palace, is the Sui Dynasty and the early Tang Dynasty, the residence of the emperor and the place of meeting. Taiji Palace east-west width of 1,285 meters, north-south length of 1,492 meters, an area of about 1.92 square kilometers. The palace is divided into three areas from south to north: the front court, the back bedroom and the garden. The main hall of the front court is the Taiji Hall (known as Daxing Hall in Sui Dynasty), surrounded by a huge court enclosed by corridors and huts, with official offices on the east and west sides. The main hall of the back bedroom is the Hall of Two Eyes, surrounded by halls such as the Hall of Ten Thousand Chuns, the Hall of Thousand Autumns, the Hall of Manna, the Hall of Divine Dragons, and the Hall of An Ren. The court is located in the last part of the palace, there are pavilions, ponds and swamps, the north of the palace wall has Xuanwumen, the famous "Xuanwumen mutiny" happened here. Because the Taiji Palace was built by the Sui emperor, so the decoration is relatively simple. When Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty succeeded to the throne, he thought it was damp and moved to the Daming Palace.

Located on the high ground of Longshou Plateau to the northeast of Taiji Palace, Daming Palace is a relatively independent castle overlooking the entire Chang'an City. The palace was built in 634 and was known as "Dongnei", where emperors from Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty onwards resided and dealt with imperial affairs. Palace for the symmetrical pattern of the central axis, the front by the Danfeng Gate, the Hall of Hanyuan, Xuanzheng Hall, Zichen Hall, etc., composed of the north-south axis of the former dynasty, the back of the Tail Liquid Pond as the center of the composition of the inner court, the distribution of the Hall of Linde, the Hall of the Three Pristine, the Hall of the Great Fortune, the Hall of the Qing Si, dozens of halls and pavilions. The entire Daming Palace east-west width of 1.5 kilometers, north-south length of 2.5 kilometers, an area of about 3.2 square kilometers, is the "three big inside" in the largest one.

Xingqing Palace is located in the eastern part of the city of Wai Kwok, was originally the early Tang Xuanzong Linzi King of the clan residence, Kaiyuan two years (714 years) renamed Xingqing Palace. Kaiyuan fourteen years (726 years) was expanded, merging the surrounding houses and monasteries, completed in sixteen years (728 years), known as "Nannei". In the thirteenth year of Tianbao (754), the palace walls and towers were built to form a small castle. At the same time also attached to the outer wall of the Kwok wall built a north to the Daming Palace, south to the Furong Garden of the entrenchment, to facilitate the palace staff to sneak around. Tang Xuanzong and Yang Guifei lived here for a long time, and after the Tang Dynasty, their status was lowered and they became the place where the emperor and the empress dowager were housed.

Xingqing Palace north-south length of 1,250 meters, east-west width of 1,075 meters, a circumference of 4.6 kilometers, an area of about 1.35 square kilometers, the size of the "three big within" in the smallest. Palace walls on all sides of the door, the main door Xingqing door in the north of the west wall. Palace to garden-based, and not according to the symmetrical layout of the central axis, so the nature of the Palace. The south is mainly dragon pool, surrounded by the government service this building, calyx Xianghui building, Shenxiang Pavilion and other pavilions and pavilions. In the north, there are Xingqing Palace, Nanxun Hall, Changqing Hall, Datong Hall and a group of palaces. The end of the Tang Dynasty Xingqing Palace was destroyed in the war, the site was transformed into a park in 1958, and the construction of the Abe Zhongmaeru Monument and so on.

[edit]Outer Kuo

There are 8 north-south streets and 14 east-west streets in the city of Outer Kuo. Both sides of the streets are equipped with drainage ditches and planted with street trees such as elm and acacia. Which leads to the south three doors and six doors connecting the east and west of the six streets is the main road, the width of the majority of more than 100 meters. The widest Zhujiao Street reaches 155 meters, is the city's north-south axis, to which it is divided, the east of the city belongs to Wannian County, the west of the city belongs to Chang'an County.

The crisscrossing roads divided the outer city into 110 boulevards (called "li" in Sui). The size of each square varied, ranging from 500-838 meters in length from north to south and from 550-1125 meters in width from east to west. Each workshop is surrounded by a wall, large workshops generally open four doors, set up a cross street, small workshops are open east and west two doors, set up a cross street, the street is about 15 meters wide. According to archaeological excavations, the cross street will be a square divided into four districts, in each district there is a small cross alley, the whole square is divided into sixteen small blocks, the distribution of residential, official residence, temple and Taoist temple. Each district is managed in a closed manner, with guards at the gates and a curfew at night.

The city of Chang'an was dotted with Buddhist temples and Taoist temples, with the General Temple, the Sovereign Temple, the Xing Shan Temple and the Xuan Du Guan occupying entire squares. Other famous Ci'en Temple (Big Wild Goose Pagoda), Jianfu Temple (Small Wild Goose Pagoda), Qinglong Temple, etc. also have a large plot of land. The archaeological process also discovered many Sui and Tang Dynasty kiln collections in the city, including 271 pieces of gold and silverware unearthed in Hejiacun (Xinghua Square), which is the largest and most valuable batch of Tang Dynasty gold and silverware unearthed since the establishment of the People's Republic of China*** and the State of China.

There are two markets in Waikuo City, the East City (Sui called Metropolitan City) and the West City (Sui called Liren City), each occupying the land of two squares. The two markets are almost identical in size, north-south length of about 1025 meters, east-west width of about 927 meters. The market is walled, with eight gates, and within it there are streets in the shape of wells and streets along the walls, dividing the city into nine districts. Each district was bordered by streets on all sides, and stores were set up along the streets, including eating and drinking establishments, jewelry stores, and handicraft workshops. Most of the commerce in Chang'an City was concentrated in these two markets, and there were some scattered commercial facilities in the other wards as well.

There were four main ditches in Chang'an, named Longshou, Qingming, Yong'an and Caoqu, which drew tributaries of the Wei River into the city from the southeast and west to provide water for living and the environment. The first three ditches were excavated in the third year of Kaihuang (583) in the early Sui Dynasty, and the canal was excavated in the first year of Tianbao (742) in the Tang Dynasty.

[edit]Characteristics

The Sui Daxing Tang Chang'an City was generally a central-axis symmetrical pattern, and was designed with reference to the layouts of Yecheng and the Han-Wei Luoyang City. During the construction of the city, the "six lines of the Qian Gua" in the I Ching were attached, and buildings with different functions were arranged according to the division of the Longshou Loess Plateau into six posts. In addition, in the edge of the city planning a garden area, not only can beautify the environment, but also can become the people's places of excursion, is a major innovation in the history of ancient Chinese cities.

The shape of Chang'an City in Tang Dynasty was a model for the construction of ancient Chinese cities, especially the capital city, which was examined and researched by many literati and scholars throughout the ages. Sheng Tang Dynasty Wei Shu's "two capitals of the new record", the Song Dynasty Song Min seek "Chang'an Zhi", Cheng Dachang's "Yong Record", Zhao Yanwei's "Yunlu Man notes", Yuan Dynasty Li Hao Wen's "Chang'an map of the record", the Qing Dynasty Xu Song's "two capitals of the city of the Tang Square Examination" and other writings, all of which are the city of Chang'an, Tang Chang'an has been systematic research and elaboration. Lv Dafang of the Northern Song Dynasty also had the layout of the Tang Chang'an City as a map carved stone, in order to perpetuate the future generations. Although only a part of this map, but still has a high reference value.

Tang Chang'an City also influenced the construction of capital cities in neighboring countries and regions. Longquanfu, the upper capital of the Bohai Kingdom, was modeled after the planning of Chang'an. Japan's Heijo-kyo, Heian-kyo, Teng-hara-kyo, Namba-kyo, and Chang-gang-kyo not only imitated Chang-an in form and layout, but also adopted the names of some palaces, gates, and streets from the corresponding names of the city of Chang-an.

Tang Chang'an City covers an area of 83.1 square kilometers, according to the symmetrical layout of the central axis, consisting of the outer city, the Palace City and the Imperial City. The city is crisscrossed with streets and divided into 110 Li Fang. In addition, there are large industrial and commercial districts such as the East Market and the West Market, and artificial gardens such as the Hibiscus Garden. The overall planning of the city is neat and tidy, and the layout is strict and neat, which can be called a model of ancient Chinese capital city.

Changan City is rectangular in plan, 9,721 meters long from east to west and 8,652 meters wide from north to south, with a circumference of 36.7 kilometers. The city wall is about 12 meters wide and more than 5 meters high, all of which are built with rammed earth version, and the wall section at the city gate is also built with a brick wall. At present, the city wall and its outer trenches have been basically destroyed, only in the north of the Xuanwumen and the south of the Anhuamen near part of the remains.