The State Capital of Feng and Hao During the Zhou Dynasty
The Zhou Dynasty is the “founding stage” for Chinese history and civilization, which is testified by the fact that classics about rituals and music were originated in the Zhou Dynasty and all classical scriptures and literary works can date back to that period. All the achievements scored by Zhou People, however, were actually accomplished in the then capital of Feng and Hao.
With the founding of the State of Zhou and its gradual growth, conflicts between it and the supreme ruler, the Shang Empire, became all the more fierce. In order to advance eastward to defeat the Shang, King Wenwang of Zhou shifted the capital from Zhouyuan, west of Guanzhong Plain, eastward to Fengshui River Valley in the central Guanzhong Area, where he established the capital of Feng on the western bank of Fengshui River. Unfortunately, King Wenwang passed away from extreme exhaustion before he could launch the battle against Shang. His son, Ji Fa, therefore, inherited the throne and was known as King Wuwang in Chinese history. After King Wuwang became the ruler of the kingdom, he established the Capital of Hao on the eastern bank of the Fengshui River, opposite to the previous Capital of Feng. Henceforward, Feng and Hao became the joint state capital, which laid the basis for Xi’an to become the state capital for the coming several dynasties and Shaanxi to become the center for the Chinese civilization.
Li gui
After King Wuwang established the capital of Hao, he quickened the steps in conquering the Shang. To start with, he invited Jiang Ziya to take over the position of the top state counselor taishi and appointed Zhougong, Zhaogong, Bigong, Kangshu etc. as the important ministers. Then he tried to unite more vassals to isolate Shang. In 1046BC, King Wuwang seized the capital of Shang and later replaced Shang with the newly established Zhou, which dominated the entire Yellow River Valley with its territory stretching widely from Longshan Mountain in the recent Gansu and Ningxia Provinces to the East China Sea. Zhou was therefore the third largest kingdom after Xia and Shang in Chinese history and it was the first kingdom established in Shaanxi Province. Since the capital of Feng and Hao lay in west China, the kingdom was therefore called Western Zhou in Chinese history to differentiate it from Eastern Zhou established by King Pingwang of Zhou who moved the capital eastward to Luoyi, the recent Luoyang City in Henan Province. Later on, the king of Zhou called himself tianzi, literally Son of Heaven, to show the world he was appointed from the Heaven to express the heavenly wish and to govern the nation. Henceforward, tianzi became the moniker for emperors and rulers in the succeeding dynasties.
King Wuwang’s punitive expedition to Shang was the turning point for the prospering of the Zhou Dynasty and falling of the Shang Dynasty, and was of epoch-making significance in Chinese history. Nevertheless, lack of sufficient written records resulted in contradictory remarks about this significant historic event. In 1976, the bronze vessel Li gui was excavated in Lingkou, Lintong County, Shaanxi Province. On its inner bottom is engraved a 32-character inscription about King Wu’s divination before the battle against King Zhou of Shang, which reads King Wu held a divination ceremony at dawn on the date of jiazi (the first day of the month) to tell whether he could succeed or not and the divination turned out to be a favorable result. It is on that day the soldiers of Zhou conquered Shang and seven days later, King Wuwang awarded official titles and bronze ware to a person named Li in his garrison. To memorize the king’s award for his glorious achievement Li cast the bronze gui. The date recorded in the inscription is consistent with the records in important books of history Shangshu and Yizhoushu, which helped clarify many puzzles about the concrete date of the battle and testified the records in some ancient books about “conquering Shang in a single day”. Li gui, therefore, became the most important bronze vessel because the inscriptions on it helped unravel the centuries-old mystery about the exact date of the battle.
During the 300 plus years since King Wuwang’s defeat of Shang to 770BC when King Pingwang moved the capital eastward to Luoyi (the recent Luoyang City), the city of Feng and Hao had been the political, economic and cultural center of the then China. According to Kaogongji, an ancient written historic record, the city of Feng and Hao covered an area of about 9 square li with three gates on each side of the city wall. Nine streets intersected the city with the imperial palace in the center. To the left and right of the palace were the Ancestral Temple and Sacrificial Altar. In front of the hall stood the main hall and at the back of the palace was the downtown street. Feng and Hao constituted the first grand municipality with orderly layout in Chinese history, which set a model for city construction and layout in the following dynasties. The site was located in the recent Mawang and Doumen townships, lying on the different banks of Fenghe River in Chang’an District, Xi’an City. The site covers more than 25km2 with the downtown area of about 15km2. Up to now, around 30 remains for large-sized palaces, temples and workshops have been found. Most of the building complexes are magnificent with well-designed drainage system. Meanwhile, excavation also revealed a large batch of tombs housing various bronze ware, which showcased the city layout and living conditions in the ancient capital of Feng and Hao. The burial pit of carriages and horses is the largest well-preserved pit of the like excavated up to date and the carriages and horses in it are of great value for studies into the ritual systems, traffic & communication, warfare, metallurgy and social life of the then society.
The layout of Feng and Hao
Nearby Feng and Hao, there was an observatory called Lingtai which is situated in the recent Huxian County, Shaanxi Province. It proves to be the earliest astronomical observatory in China which provided not only astronomical data but also data for weather, earthquake and climate studies.
