Dynamic Interpretation of Early Cities in Ancient China

ISBN-13: 9789811623868 / Angielski / Twarda / 2021 / 218 str.

Hong Xu

Spis treści

Introduction

Is there no capital city without a city wall?

The different designations and meanings of the term “city”

The city and the city site

The city and the capital city

The city and the outer city

The palace city and the imperial city

How did everyone say

Yu Weichao: the Eastern Zhou and the two Han dynasties as one big stage

          Xu Pingfang: the epochal change brought by the capitals from the Qin and Han dynasties

Yang Kuan: the two Han dynasty capitals without outer city

Liu Qingzhu: The form of the Qin and Han dynasty capitals and the time lag-theory

About the shape of the outer city

From the literature perspective: large city without a city wall

I. The time after the Wei and Jin dynasties – City wall and grid-pattern

The Wei-Jin period to the Sui and Tang dynasties

Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties

II. The capital cities of the Qin and Han dynasties and their environs – The domineering empires

 Chang’an in the Western Han dynasty: the distinction between inner and outer city

Inner or outer city

There is no enclosed area outside of the inner city

Orientation and axis

Tracing the origin of design ideas

The Qin dynasty capital Xianyang: with or without city wall

The Eastern Han dynasty city of Luoyang: the last capital without fortification

III. Times of Unrest – The city of the Eastern Zhou dynasty

The Inner and outer city of the Spring and Autumn period

Qufu – Capital of the Lu State

Linzi – Capital of the Qi State

Xinzheng – Capital of the Zheng State

The Inner and outer city standing side by side in the Warring States period

Linze – Capital of the Qi State

Handan – Capital of the Zhao State

Qufu – Capital of the Lu State

Xinzheng – Capital of the Han State

The lower capital of the state of Yan

Eastern Zhou dynasty Wangcheng and Chengzhou

Ji’nan – Capital of the Chu State

The Qin state capital city Yong

IV. Three Generations of Capitals

The remains of unfortified cities from the Spring and Autumn period

Eastern Zhou dynasty capital Wangcheng

Xintian – Capital of the Jin state

Ji’nan – Capital of the Chu State

Yong – Capital of the Qin State

Western Zhou Dynasty: Within the borders of the four foreign peoples

Zhouyuan

Fenghao

Luoyi

Qufu and Linzi

Yinxu: the era of cities without walls

        Huanbei City (square moat (fang hao))

Huannan Dayi

Erligang: Two Hundred Years of Royal Inner and Outer City

Zhengzhou City

Xiaoshuangqiao

Yanshi city

Capital cities in the periphery

Erlitou: The beginning of unfortified cities

Erlitou

From a city wall to ring moat

Conclusion: The Great Central Axis

Postscript

O autorze

Prof. Hong Xu is the researcher of archaeological institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. He is the director of Xiashangzhou Research Laboratory of the archaeological institute in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the team leader of the archaeological team in Erlitou site. During his Ph.D phase, His Ph.D supervisor is the famous Chinese archaeologist Mr.Xu Pingfang（徐苹芳）, and he has visited many countries and regions to learn. As a researcher, His main research direction includes the archaeology of Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasty, the archaeology of Ancient City in China, and he concerns about the formation of Chinese civilization and early country on archaeological studies.His most important work are An Archaeological Study of the Cities in the Pre - Qin Period, The Earliest China, Dynamic Interpretation of Early Cities in Ancient China, and so on.

Blurb

This book offers an archaeological study on China’s ancient capitals. Using abundant illustrations of ancient capital sites, it verifies the archaeological discoveries with documentary records. The author introduces the dynamical interpretation of each ancient capital to the interpretation of the entire development history of China's ancient capitals. The book points out that for most of the almost 2000 years from the earliest Erlitou (二里头)to the Ye city (邺城), there was an era where ancient capitals didn’t have outer enclosures due to factors such as the strong national power, the military and diplomatic advantage, the complexity of the residents, and the natural conditions. Thus an era of “the huge ancient capitals without guards” lasting for over 1000 years formed. The concept that “China’s ancient capitals don’t have outer enclosures” presented in the book questions the traditional view that “every settlement has walled enclosures”. Combining science with theory, it offers researchers of history a clear understanding of the development process of China’s ancient capitals.