Chang'an

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Que 闕 towers along the walls of Tang-era Chang'an, as depicted in this 8th-century mural from Li Chongrun's (682–701 AD) tomb at the Qianling Mausoleum in Shaanxi

Chang'an listen (help·info) (simplified Chinese: 长安; traditional Chinese: 長安; pinyin: Cháng'ān; Wade-Giles: Ch'ang-an) is an ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history. Chang'an literally means "Perpetual Peace" in Classical Chinese. During the short-lived Xin Dynasty, the city was renamed "Constant Peace" (Chinese: 常安; pinyin: Cháng'ān); yet after its fall in the year AD 23, the old name was restored. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, the name was again changed to Xi'an, meaning "Western Peace", which has remained its name to the present day.

Chang'an had been settled since the Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao Culture established in Banpo in the city's suburb. Also in the northern vicinity of the modern Xi'an, the tumulus ruler Qin Shi Huang of Qin Dynasty held his imperial court, and constructed his massive mausoleum guarded by the famed Terracotta Army.

From its capital at Xianyang, the Qin dynasty ruled a larger area than either of the preceding dynasties. The imperial city of Chang'an during the Han Dynasty was located in northwest of today's Xi'an. During the Tang Dynasty, the area to be known as Chang'an included the area inside the Ming Xi'an fortification, plus some small areas to its east and west, and a major part of its southern suburbs. The Tang Chang'an hence, was 8 times the size of the Ming Xi'an, which was reconstructed upon the premise of the former imperial quarter of the Sui and Tang city. During its heyday, Chang'an was one of the largest and most populous cities in the world. Around AD 750, Chang'an was called a "million people's city" in Chinese records, while modern estimates put it at around 800,000–1,000,000 within city walls.[1] According to the census in the year 742 recorded in the New Book of Tang, 362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons were counted in Jingzhao Fu (京兆府), the metropolitan area including small cities in the vicinity.[2]

Han period

A terracotta horse head from the Han Dynasty.

The site of the Han capital was located 3 km northwest of modern Xi'an. As the capital of the Western Han, it was the political, economic and cultural center of China. It was also the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, and a cosmopolitan metropolis comparable with the greatest cities of the contemporaneous Roman Empire. It was a consumer city, a city whose existence was not primarily predicated upon manufacturing and trade, but rather boasted such a large population because of its role as the political and militaristic center of China. By 2 CE the population was 246,200 in 80,000 households.[3] This population was mostly scholar gentry whose education was being sponsored by their wealthy aristocratic families. In addition to these civil servants was a larger underclass to serve to them.

Initially, Emperor Liu Bang, decided to build his capital at the center of the world, which, according to Chinese geography, was in modern Luoyang. This location was site of the holy city Chengzhou, home of the last Zhou emperors. The magical signifigence of this location would assure a long dynasty like the Zhou whom the Han sought to emulate; however, the practical strategic military value of a capital located in the Wei Valley became the deciding factor for locating the new capital. To this end it is recorded c  200  BCE he forcibly relocated thousands of clans in the military aristocracy to this region.[3] The purpose was twofold. First, it kept all potential rivals close to the new Emperor, and it allowed him to redirect their energy toward defending the capital from invasion by the nearby Xiongnu. His adviser Liu Jing described this plan as weakening the root while strengthening the branch. After having set up the necessary political structure the area of the capital was divided into three prefectures, and construction began. At its founding in 195 BCE the population of Changan was 146,000.[3] During the regin of Emperor Hui, Emperor Wu of Han a diplomat, Zhang Qian journeyed west into Central Asia. Since then, Chang'an city became the Asian gateway to Europe as the point of departure of the famous Silk Road. After the Western Han period, the Eastern Han government settled in Luoyang as the new capital. In 190 CE during late Eastern Han, the court was seized and relocated back to Changan by the notorious Prime Minister Dong Zhuo, as it was a strategically superior site against the mounting insurgency formed against him, although after Dong's death the capital was moved back to Luoyang (and later to Xuchang). By this time, many dynasties came to regard Changan as the symbolic site of supreme power and governance.

City wall

The 25.7 km long city was initially city wall was initially 3.5 m wide at the base tapering upward 8 m for a top width of 2 m.[4] Beyond this wall a 6.13 m wide moat with a depth of 4.62 m was spanned by 13.86 m long stone bridges. The wall was later expanded to 12–16 m at base and 12 m high. The moat was expanded to 8 m wide and 3 m deep. The expansion of the wall was likely a solution to flooding from the Wei River. The entire city was sited below the 400 m contour line which the Tang Dynasty used to mark the edge of the floodplain.[3]

Twelve gates with three gateways each per the ritual formulas of Zhou dynasty urban planning pierced the wall. These gates were distributed three per a side and from them eight 45 m wide main avenues extended into the city.[4] These avenues were also divided into three lanes aligned with the three gateways of each gate. The lanes were separated by median strips planted with Pine, Elm, and Scholar trees. Bachengmen Avenue was an exception with a width of 82 m and no medians.[3] Four of the gates opened directly into the palaces.

City structure

The overall form of the city was an irregular rectangle. The ideal square of the city had been twisted into the form of the Big Dipper for astrological reasons, and also to follow the bank of the Wei River. The eight avenues divided the city into nine districts. These nine main districts were subdivided into 160 walled 1×1 li wards.[3] About 50-100 families lived in each ward. Historically, Changan grew in four phases: the first from 200-195 BCE when the palaces were built; the second195-180 BCE when the outer city walls were built; the third between 141-87 BCE with peak at 100 BCE; and the fourth from 1 BCE-24 CE when it was destroyed.

The Xuanpingmen gate was the main gate between the city and suburbs. The district north of the Weiyang Palace was the most exclusive. The main market, called the Nine Markets, was the eastern economic terminus of the Silk Road. Access to the market was from the Northeast and Northwest gates, which were the most heavily used by the common people. The former connect with a bridge over the Wei River to the northern suburbs and the latter connected with the rest of China to the east. An intricate network of underground passages connected the imperial harem with other palaces and the city[5] These passages were controlled by underground gatehouses and their existence was unknown.

First Phase

In 200 BCE after marking the boundaries of the three prefectures, which comprised the metropolitan region of Xianyang, Liu Bang appointed Xiao He to design and build the new capital. He chose to site the city on ruins of the Qin Dynasty Apex Temple (formerly, Xin Palace). This old Qin palace was meant to be the earthly mirror of Polaris, the apex star, where the heavenly emperor resided. This site, thus represented the center of the earth lying under the center of heaven with an axis mundi running upward from the imperial throne to its heavenly counterpart. The ruins were greatly expanded to 7×7 li in size and renamed Eternal Joy Palace (长乐宫; 長樂宮; Chánglè Gōng). Two years later, a new palace called Endless Palace (未央宮; Wèiyāng Gōng) was constructed 5×7 li.[3] Prime minister Xiao He convinced Liu Bang that both the excessive size and multiplicity of palaces was necessary to secure his rule by creating a spectacle of power.

Second Phase

In 195 BC, his son, Emperor Hui of Han began the construction of the walls of Chang'an and finished them in September of 191 BC. The grid north of the palaces was built at this time with a 2° difference in alignment to the grid of the palaces.[3] The city remained quite static after this expansion.

Third Phase

Wang Mang began a third phase of construction which peaked on 100 BCE with the construction of many new palaces. He also added the nine temples complex south of the city, and built the park. In 120 BCE Shanglin Park which had been used for agriculture by the common people since Liu Bang was sealed off and turned into an imperial park again. In the center of the park was a recreation of the three fairy islands in Kunming Lake.

Palaces

• Eternal Joy Palace (长乐宫; 長樂宮; Chánglè Gōng) Also called the East Palace. It was built atop the ruins of Qin Dynasty Apex Temple (Xin Gōng). After Liu Bang it was used as the residence of the Empress Regent. The 10,000 m wall surrounded a square 6 km² complex. Important halls of the palace included: Linhua Hall, Changxin Hall, Changqiu Hall, Yongshou Hall, Shenxian Hall, Yongchang Hall, and the Bell Room.

• Endless Palace (未央宮; Wèiyāng Gōng) Also known as the West Palace. The official center of government from Emperor Huidi onwards. The palace was a walled rectangle 2250×2150 m enclosing a 5 km² building complex of 40 halls. There were four gates in the wall facing a cardinal direction. The east gate was used only by nobility and the north one only by commoners. The palace was sited along the highest portion of the ridgeline on which Changan was built. In, fact the Front Hall at the center of the palace was built atop the exact highest point of the ridge. The foundation terrace of this massive building is 350×200×15 m. Other important halls are: Xuanshi Hall, Wenshi Hall, Qingliang Hall, Qilin Hall, Jinhua Hall, and Chengming Hall. Used by seven dynasties this palace has become the most famous in Chinese history.

• Gui Palace Built as an extension of the harem built in 100 BCE

• North Palace (北宮 Běi Gōng) A ceremonial center built in 100 BCE

• Mingguan Palace Built as a guesthouse in 100 BCE

• Hilltop Palace (阿房宮; ē-fáng gōng)

• Jinazhang Palace Built in 104 BCE in Shanglin Park. It was a rectangle 20×30 li with a tower 46 m high. The name means palace of establishing eternal rules.

• Boliang Terrace

Sui and Tang periods

Both Sui and Tang empires occupied the same location. In 582, Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty sited a new region southeast of the much ruined Han Dynasty Chang'an to build his new capital, which he called Daxing (Great Prosperity). Daxing was renamed Chang'an in year 618 when the Duke of Tang, Li Yuan, proclaimed himself the Emperor Gaozu of Tang empire. Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty (618—907) was, along with Constantinople (Istanbul) and Baghdad, one of the largest cities in the world. It was a cosmopolitan urban center with considerable foreign populations from other parts of Asia and beyond. This new Chang'an was laid out on a north-south axis in a grid pattern, dividing the enclosure into 108 wards and featuring two large marketplaces, in the east and west respectively. Chang'an's layout influenced city planning of several other Asian capitals for many years to come. Chang'an's walled and gated wards were much larger than conventional city blocks seen in modern cities, as the smallest ward had a surface area of 68 acres and the largest ward had a surface area of 233 acres (0.94 km²).[6] The height of the walls enclosing each ward were on average 9 to 10 ft (3.0 m) in height.[6] The Japanese built their ancient capitals, Heijokyo (today's Nara) and later Heian-kyo or Kyoto, modelled after Chang'an in a more modest scale yet was never fortified.[7] The modern Kyoto still retains some characteristics of Sui-Tang Chang'an. Similarly, the Korean Silla dynasty modeled their capital of Gyeongju after the Chinese capital. Sanggyeong, one of the five capitals of the state of Balhae, was also laid out like Chang'an. Unfortunately, much of Chang'an was ruthlessly destroyed during the fall of the Tang empire and in the subsequent centuries. It never recovered, but there are still some monuments from the Tang era that are still standing.