Chang’an, Capital of the Tang Dynasty
From the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty not only inherited the political and economic systems but also the cultural heritage. It is just like what the Han Dynasty did to the Qin Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, many innovations and reforms were carried out in different fields. The Tang Dynasty entered into a completely new era in terms of economic and political system, literature and art as well as social atmosphere. In the prime of the Tang Dynasty, China became the most powerful country in the world and presented the most glorious chapter in the feudal history of China.
Over decades of joint-efforts by the Han People and other minorities in China, Chang’an City was turned into a magnificent city that covered an area of 84 square kilometers, with a circumference of 37 kilometers. It served as the capital city from the Sui Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty (581AD～907AD). The construction of Chang’an City was a successful combination of the culture and wisdom of the Han nationality as well as those of the minorities in China. The success of Chang’an City should contribute to its chief architect Yuwen Kai who absorbed all the excellent elements from all the ancient capital cities since the Qin and Han dynasties. The Chang’an City set a good example for the later capital cities of China.
Chang’an City is mainly divided into three parts: Gongcheng (the royal residential area), Huangcheng (the administrative area) and Waiguocheng (the outer city area). The royal residential area was located in the middle of the northern part of the city. The administrative area was located to the south of the royal residential area. With the royal residential area and administrative area as the center, the rest part of the city was called the outer city area.
The royal residential area was the place where the emperor, his concubines and other royal family members lived. The emperor also dealt with the state affairs in the royal residential area. This area was located right in the middle outside of the outer city wall. The royal residential area was in oblong shape, which was 2,820 meters long from the east to the west; 1,492 meters wide from the north to the south; 8,600 meters in circumference. The royal residential area was surrounded by a city wall which included three parts: the middle section was the Taiji Palace; the east section was the East Palace, which was the residence of the Crown Prince; the west section was Yeting Palace, which was the residential area of emperor’s concubines and the concubines’ servants. There were two gates at the north side of Forbidden City Wall. The main gate was called Xuanwu Gate where the “The Xuanwu Gate Incident” (A palace coup took place in 626AD in the early Tang Dynasty when Li Shimin, the second son of killed his brothers outside Xuanwu Gate and then came to the throne) happened.
Within the outer city wall, the area was also in oblong shape. It was 9,721 meters long from the east to the west; 8,651 meters long from the north to the south; 3,670 meters in circumference. There was a large gate on each side of the east, the west and the south outer city walls. Right in the middle of the south city wall was Mingde Gate which had five entrances. For the other two gates, each of them had three entrances. There was a city moat outside of the outer city wall which was 9 meters wide and 4 meters deep. The outer city wall was 5 meters wide and 6 meters tall. Within the outer city wall were 11 avenues from the north to the south; 14 streets from the east to the west. The whole city was divided into 108 fangs. Each fang was a large community with all kinds of service institutions.
The area within the outer city wall was the residential area for common people. It was 9,721 meters from east to west by 8,651.7 meters from south to north, which formed a city in rectangular shape, with a circumference of 36,700 meters. There were three main gates lied in east, west and south direction respectively. Among the three gates, Mingde Gate is the largest. It consisted of five doors. The other two gates only have three doors. Outside of the outer city area, there’s a 9-meter-long and 4-meter-wide moat. The inner area of Waichengguo is surrounded by 5 meters by 6 meters’ city walls, being divided into 108 gridded sectors which are called “fang” by 11 streets from south to north and 14 streets from east to south.
Chang’an City was strictly designed in a neat formation. The layout of the city was symmetrically designed like a chessboard. The main avenues and streets directly pointed to the south, the north, the east and the west. The main streets were around 100 meters wide in each. The narrowest streets were 20 meters to 25 meters wide in each. Among all the streets, the widest was the Zhuque Avenue that was 5 kilometers long from the north to the south and 150 meters wide from the east to the west. It is 20 times wider than the Chang’an Street in front of Tiananmen in Beijing. It is the longest and widest avenue in the world from ancient time till now. In addition, the Tang Paradise and the Qujiang Lake consisted of part of the Chang’an City. The two scenic areas offered the local people and royal family with a place for entertainment. Today right at the site, people in Xi’an City have rebuilt the Tang Paradise and Qujiang Lake. The lake and the rockery stand against the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and Purple Cloud Tower in distance. They reproduce the dreamy landscape of the royal garden and become the tourist attractions in Xi’an.
Chang’an City was not only famous for its gigantic scale and neat city planning, but also because of its huge amount of buildings. Daming Palace (Greater Brightness Palace) was the most famous of all. It was 1,500 meters long from the east and the west; 2,500 meters long from the north to the south; 7,600 meters in circumference. There were altogether 11 city gates. The whole palace covered an area of 3.3 square kilometers which is 3.2 times larger than the Forbidden City in Beijing today. The Daming Palace was located in the Forbidden City to the north Chang’an City. It stood at the highest point of Longshouyuan Tableland to the northeast of Chang’an City. The Daming Palace consisted of Hanyuan Hall, Xuanzhen Hall, Zichen Hall, Hanliang Hall, Xuanwu Hall, Taiye Pond and Penglai Rockery. All these buildings form a north and south going axis in the Forbidden City. With the mentioned halls in the middle, there were Linde Hall, Sanqing Hall, Qingsi Hall, Great Fortune Hall and Dajiao Daoist Temple, Xuanyuan Temple arranged symmetrically on the two sides of the axis. The Forbidden City could also be divided into three main sections by their functions: Front Garden, Palace and
Back Garden. Many streets interlaced with one another in the palace. There were also many government departments like Zhongshu Sheng (the legislative bureau of the government), Mengxia Sheng (the examination bureau of the government), Wen (culture) Bureau and Shi (history) Bureau. Additionally, Qifeng Pavilion and Xiangluan Pavilion also located in this area. The twisted winding corridors are connected to many neighboring architectures. The imperial palace had nine gates: Danfeng gate was right opposite the Xuanwu Gate; Wangxian Gate, Fujian Gate, Yinhan Gate and Qingxiao Gate were on the two sides of Danfeng gate and Xuanwu Gate respectively. Took an overarching view of the whole palace, you would find that the city and palaces, mansions and pavilions, abbeys and temples, gates and doors were all very delicately balanced. Different architectures were scattered all over like stars in the sky. Various flowers and plants made the whole place more colorful. The huge architectures in the Daming Palace and high location on the Longshouyuan Tableland contributed to a more magnificent sight. Like what was said in a poem, “One gate after another was opened, envoys from various foreign countries paid respect to the emperor”, which vividly depicted a gorgeous and awe inspiring Daming Palace.
Hanyuan Hall site in the Daming Palace
From Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty onward, the Daming Palace became the place where the emperor of the Tang Dynasty lived and managed the state affairs. It was also the place to hold grand ceremonies. It functioned as the administration center of China for more than 200 years. If Chang’an City was the center of the world at that time, then Daming Palace was the center of the center ever since the 7th century AD. Under the reign of Xizong, Daming Palace was ruthlessly destroyed by war several times. Finally the palace was completely ruined in fi re in 896AD.Now, all the original buildings in the palace are gone except the site of palace walls and palace gates. The site of the original platform for buildings, like Hanyuan Hall, Linde Hall, Sanqing Hall, Great Fortune Hall, Danfeng Gate is still there and the platforms are from several meters to over 10 meters high. The platform still remains quite spectacular with tiers over tiers. After a long-term of excavation by many archaeologists, the outstanding outline of Daming Palace is being restored step by step. Take the main hall—Hanyuan Hall for an example, the platform of the hall is 15.6 meters high. The hall itself is 60 meters long from the east to the west; 40 meters long from the north to the south; 4 bays deep; 11 bays wide. Each bay is 5 meters long. The construction area for Hanyuan Hall is equal to the total area of Taihe Hall, Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall in the Forbidden City of Beijing. The platform of Linde Hall is 77.55 meters wide from the east to the west; 130.4 meters deep from the south to the north. The original hall covered an area of 5,500 square meters, which was 3 times larger than the Taihe Hall in the Forbidden City. It could accommodate 5,000 people for a banquet at one time. Now the Daming Palace National Heritage Park is built upon the ancient palace site with integrated functions of protection, exhibition and recreation.
The grand Chang’an City of the Tang Dynasty, with its neat layout and prosperous economy and culture, was considered the best in the world at that time. The city layout not only became the model for China in the Middle Ages, but also greatly influenced Chinese city planning after the fall of the Tang Dynasty. The pattern of Chang’an City was even introduced to the neighboring countries and regions outside China. For instance, Kaifeng City in the Song Dynasty as well as Beijing City in Ming and Qing dynasties were both laid out like Chang’an City. The Korean Silla and one of the five capitals of the State Balhae also modeled after Chang’an City. The Japanese ancient capitals, Heijokyo (today’s Nara) and Kyoto not only imitated the characteristics of Chang’an City, but also adopted the names of the palaces, the gates and the streets in Chang’an. In addition, Chinese monk Jianzhen managed to take the construction style and technologies of the Tang Dynasty to Japan. Afterwards he built Toshodai Temple in Japan according to the Ximing Temple in Chang’an City, which later became a treasure of ancient Japanese architecture. There were also other Chinese-style buildings in Japan at that time. Princess Wencheng went southwest to Tibet and took the architectural culture of the Tang Dynasty to the snow-covered highlands in 641AD. The famous Potala Palace in Lhasa is one of the architectures from that time. Apart from the visible architecture mentioned above, the Tang Dynasty spread its own culture of politics and economy to the neighboring countries and ethnic groups outside of China. Thereafter the neighboring countries and the overseas ethnic groups were all deeply impressed by the culture of the Tang Dynasty and longed for it.
Gilt bronze door knockers in the shape of animal face
When the popular Tang Dynasty becomes history, the whole world nowadays is still very much interested in this ancient capital Chang’an (today’s Xi’an)—the starting point of the Silk Road. After having seen all the ancient human civilization, British historian Arnold J. Toynbee said he would prefer to live in Chang’an rather than London if had another life. The reason can be explained why there are so many foreign visitors coming to Xi’an every year and why so many cities want to establish friendship with Xi’an since they are all fascinated by the brilliant culture of the Tang Dynasty. Now, Xi’an welcomes the distinguished leaders of all countries and governments with the customs and ceremonies of the Tang Dynasty.
