A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation 9811939454, 9789811939457

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Qingzhu Liu

A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation Translated by Jing He

A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation

Qingzhu Liu

A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation

Qingzhu Liu Institute of Archaeology Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Beijing, China Translated by Jing He Beijing Foreign Studies University Beijing, China

ISBN 978-981-19-3945-7 ISBN 978-981-19-3946-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3946-4 Jointly published with Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. The print edition is not for sale in China (Mainland). Customers from China (Mainland), please order the print book from: Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. ISBN of the Co-Publisher’s edition: 978-7-220-11551-6 © Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publishers, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publishers, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publishers nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publishers remain neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore

Preface

As the book, A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation, is put into print, I prepared this Preface in hope to set the scene for readers to better understand my writing motif, sample selection and the research methods. The book idea traces back to a discussion at a symposium at Stanford University in 2003 when I was a visiting scholar at the university. An American scholar put forward a question to me: “There has been the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project since the 1990s. Does the project intend to set an earlier starting point of Chinese civilization?” I replied, “Chronology is the foundation for historical studies. To further scientifically segment the remote ages of China’s pre-Qin period, Chinese archaeologists and historians analyzed archaeological discoveries with new technologies. New research and discoveries allowed the advancement of chronological research of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, and brought up the level of scientific evidence for Chinese historical studies. This is an inevitable step to develop Chinese historical studies. The intension is not to set an earlier date for the onset of Chinese history”. They then argued, “Why did Chinese scholars pronounce that China had the longest history and earliest civilization in the world?” I replied, “Chinese scholars do not hold such an opinion. Many people have read from the history textbooks that the Tigris-Euphrates River system, Egypt, China, and the Indian subcontinent all have a long span of history and are acknowledged as the world’s four ancient civilizations. It is incorrect for anyone to consider ancient Chinese civilization as ‘the only’ ancient civilization in the world. It should be one of the four earliest civilizations. Although the advent of ancient Chinese civilization was later than the ones in ancient Egypt and West Asia region within the Tigris-Euphrates River system, the distinctive nature of the ancient Chinese civilization is its sustained, continuing development of Chinese culture. When the other three civilizations were replaced by Islamic culture around 600 BC, China’s civilization flourished for five thousand years”. At the symposium, this argument was not challenged and was even endorsed by some scholars from other countries. History should be remembered and respected. That is why we completed two studies: the Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project and the Project to Trace the Origins

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of Chinese Civilization and now moved into the research of the five thousand year’s un-fractured Chinese civilization. This study was conducted under mixed methods across various disciplines and collected data from archaeological evidence to match the Chinese historical documents. For example, one of the historical documents is “The Twenty-Four Histories” (dynastic histories from remote antiquity till the Ming Dynasty), which recorded China’s un-fractured civilization of five thousand years. The first book out of the series is Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji), in which the author Sima Qian documented the Chinese civilization from “Annals of the Five Emperors” in the first chapter. In the early 20th century, modern archaeological fieldwork was introduced into China between the late 19th century and the beginning of 20th century. Since then, archaeology and historical documents are combined as the two pillars for Chinese historical research. The discoveries and the follow-on research of Yin Ruins and the oracle bones, Ruins of Shang City of Zhengzhou and the Shang City of Yanshi, the Erlitou Ruins of Xia Dynasty, Wangchenggang site at Henan Province as part of Longshan Culture (Yangcheng, the capital of Yu), Xinzhai City site at Henan Province, Taosi site at Southern Shanxi Province (Pingyang, the capital of Yao), as well as ruins and sites at Zhengzhou and northeast Henan Province have provided matching evidence to historical documents including “Annals of the Five Emperors”, “Annuals of Xia” and “Annuals of Yin” within Shi Ji. The history of the mythological period of ancient China has been concretized. The combination of archaeology and historical research materialized a starting point of the sustained five-thousand-year Chinese history, which forms a favorable condition for other relevant research activities. The archaeological discoveries mainly refer to the burials, from which the cultural objects are of high importance. Physical representations of a country are mainly capital cities (including city walls, palaces, temples, sacrificial building complexes, and city gates), capital-like mausoleums, and basic national elements like national regime, state territory, and civilian traces. They are the physical evidence to probe the cultural genes of China’s continuous civilization of five thousand years. Previously, the archaeological studies, including the books of general history and dynastic history, are often presented in a chronological order from the primitive, slave to feudal societies. This book adopts a reverse order. In my view, learners gain the world knowledge from the known to the unknown and from the most recent to the oldest. The five-thousand-year Chinese culture is often demonstrated by the capital city sites, imperial cities, palaces, ceremonial buildings, and city gates. With this consideration, I began my introduction from a well-preserved site, the Forbidden City built in the Ming and Qing dynasties. I then expanded into other capital cities in a retrospective order, for example, from Dadu of Yuan Dynasty, Zhongdu of Jin Dynasty, Dongjing of Song Dynasty, Luoyang of Tang Dynasty, Chang’an of Han Dynasty, Xianyang of Qin Dynasty, Fenghao of Zhou Dynasty, Yin Ruins (also named Yinxu) of Xia and Shang dynasties to the city sites of Shang Dynasty at Zhengzhou, Yanshi, and Erlitou. It is often said, “imperial tombs resemble capital cities”. For the research of imperial tombs, I compared the structural and formation changes between different

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dynasties in a retrospective order. It started from the sites of the most recent dynasty, Qing Dynasty, with Three Tombs of Shengjing, Eastern Qing Tombs, and Western Qing Tombs, then moved onto the imperial tombs in previous dynasties of Ming, Liao, Jin and Western Xia, Song, Tang, Han, Qin (Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor), Zhou, and Shang. Such comparisons revealed how the developments were gained based on the previous models, demonstrating a continuous progression along with the same culture line dynasty by dynasty. Compared with other countries globally, China is the only country with a sustained, non-broken five-thousand-year national history. Although Chinese history was periodized by the dynasties, China as a unified entity is a national consciousness shared by various ethnic groups generation by generation, despite the power transitions between dynasties. Such national consciousness has underpinned the cultural and historical development in China. Chinese national identity has been acknowledged throughout different dynasties established and reigned by various ethnic groups. The physical representations of different dynasties are the ruins of capital cities, imperial tombs, ceremonial objects, and texts discovered in archaeological studies and projects. Now I have explained what is meant by the sustained five-thousand-year Chinese culture. This book answers the question of why the Chinese culture has been sustained for this long. We as Chinese nationals can sustainably extend the distinctive Chinese culture and traditions in the generations to come, only if we have an answer to this question. The purpose of this book is to reveal such an answer. This book discussed the core concepts of Chinese culture, “zhong” (centrality) and “he” (harmony), and the evolved concept of “zhong he” (centrality and harmony), which later on became an authority-endorsed political ideology, also interpretable as the cultural gene of Chinese people. This culture gene has survived for five thousand years because “family” is immanent in a “state” in the eyes of Chinese people. This notion of “family-like state” and “integrated family and state” is deeply rooted in Chinese people’s minds despite the ethnic groups, birthplace or locations, and dynasties. Such an ideological foundation led to the sustained development of the Chinese civilization. As indicated by the title of this book, A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation, the book contains many academic and theoretical materials. Still, I hope this archaeological book on Chinese civilizational journey is clear and easy to understand for each reader. Bearing this in mind, I chose reader-friendly wording to express complex ideas, as this book is meant for the general public. Finally, taking this opportunity, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the executive team and editor team of Sichuan People’s Publishing House, in particular, Zhang Tao as the book planning editor, as well as Chen Xin and Zou Jin as editors in charge, who have made tremendous efforts in topic selection, project approval, and editing. Taiyanggong, Xibahe, Beijing, China January 2020

Qingzhu Liu

Contents

1 Introduction: Interpreting “China’s Un-fractured Civilization of 5000 Years” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 Interpretation of “wen ming” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Interpretation of “The Starting Point” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Historical Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Archaeological Discoveries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 The Interpretation of “Un-fractured” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Genetic Heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 The Development of Chinese Family Names . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 Worship Rituals of Huang Di . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.4 Societal Dominant Culture and National Culture . . . . . . . . . 1.3.5 The Continuance of the Chinese Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4 The Interpretation of “The Carrier of Materialization” . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.1 The Capital . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.2 The Mausoleum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.3 Ritual and Ceremonious Buildings and Sacrificial Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4.4 Text—Chinese Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5 Core Philosophy—The Ideology of “zhong he” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Archaeological Discoveries and Studies About the Ancient Capitals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 The Symbiosis of the Capital City and Civilization . . . . . . . 2.1.2 Constituent Elements of a Capital City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.3 Track History of the Development of Ancient Capitals . . . 2.2 From the Forbidden City in Beijing to Ancient Capital of the Era of the Five Emperors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 Beijing City of the Ming and Qing Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 The Capital of the Yuan Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1 1 3 3 6 9 9 10 11 15 15 16 16 19 19 21 22 24 25 25 25 30 42 42 43 57

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2.2.3 Capital Cities of the Liao and Jin Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.4 Dongjing City of the Song Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.5 Luoyang City of the Sui and Tang Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.6 Daxing City of the Sui Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.7 Chang’an City of the Tang Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.8 Ye and Jiankang Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.9 Luoyang City of the Han and Wei Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.10 Chang’an City of the Han Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.11 Xianyang City of the Qin Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.12 Capital Cities in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.13 Capital Cities in the Western Zhou Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.14 Capital Cities in the Shang Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.15 Capital Cities in the Xia Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.16 Ancient Cities in the Era of the Five Emperors . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Core Philosophy: Evidence of “zhong” and “he” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 Philosophy of “zhong” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 Philosophy of “he” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Archaeological Discovery and Research of Imperial Mausoleums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Synopsis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 Civilization through the Perspective of Ancient Mausoleums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Location Selection, Layout, and Arrangement of Mausoleums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.3 Major Component Factors in Imperial Mausoleum . . . . . . . 3.2 Archaeological Findings in the Imperial Mausoleums . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 Imperial Mausoleums of the Qing Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 Imperial Mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 Imperial Mausoleums of Liao, Jin and Western Xia Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 Mausoleums of the Song Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.5 Imperial Mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.6 Imperial Mausoleums of the Wei-Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.7 Imperial Mausoleums of the Eastern Han Dynasty . . . . . . . 3.2.8 Imperial Mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty . . . . . . . 3.2.9 Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.10 Imperial Mausoleums in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (Spring and Autumn, Warring States Period) . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 Explanation of “Building Mausoleums as Capital Cities” . . . . . . . . .

65 74 77 84 86 114 121 136 181 195 215 220 237 250 260 260 271 272 273 273 273 274 280 326 326 344 360 369 375 403 418 422 435 441 456

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 The Development and Continuation of Ceremonial Buildings . . . . . 4.1.1 Ancestral Temples and the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.2 Mingtang, Biyong, the Lingtai, and the Taixue . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.3 Temple of Heaven and Temple of Earth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.4 Temple of Ancient Monarchs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2 Ceremonial Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 Bronze Sacrificial Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Jade Sacrificial Vessels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.1 Writing and the Formation of Civilization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.2 The Inheritance of Chinese Characters for 5000 Years . . . . 4.3.3 The Inheritance of Historical Documents About Chinese Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3.4 Chinese Characters Maintain the Contiguous Development of a United Multiethnic Country and China’s Un-fractured Civilization of 5000 Years . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

459 459 459 464 468 471 477 477 504 519 519 520

5 The Concept of “zhong he” and National Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Materialized Carrier of the “zhong he” Concept: Capital City and Mausoleum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Family-Country Unity and National Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 Family-Country Unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.2 National Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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530 533 533 536 537

Epilog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 539

Chapter 1

Introduction: Interpreting “China’s Un-fractured Civilization of 5000 Years”

Abstract When it comes to “civilization”, anthropology and archaeology hold that human society can be divided into three eras: savagery, barbarism, and civilization. In his work Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Friedrich Engles points out that “a state is the generalization of a civil society”. Historical documents and archaeological discoveries concerning Chinese civil society dated more than 5000 years ago. Chinese civilization of over 5000 years is featured by its “un-fractured history”, which is unique in the history of world civilization. Such consistency can be reflected in the following aspects: the Chinese genetic heritage, the development of Chinese family names, worship rituals of Huang Di, the capital and mausoleum, Chinese characters, and the core philosophy of “zhong” and “zhong he” lasting for more than 5000 years. Keywords Civilization · Un-fractured civilization · zhong he · Material carrier

1.1 Interpretation of “wen ming” What is the accurate definition of “wen ming”, a word that refers to “civilization” in the modern Chinese language, of the Chinese nation that is deemed as “un-fractured for five thousand years”? It is not the conventional meaning of civilized behavior in daily conduct, moral, and virtue or the advancement in economy and technology we can usually observe, hear, or encounter. The word “wen ming” can be found in ancient Chinese literatures written as early as before the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), for example in Yi Jing (also known as The Book of Changes or Classic of Changes) and Shang Shu (also known as The Book of Documents or Classic of History). For example, in “Commentary on Words of Text” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Wen Yan), there is a saying “‘jian long zai tian’, tian xia wen ming”, meaning “‘The dragon appears in the field’—all under heaven (begins to be) adorned and brightened”. In “Cannon of Shun” from Shang Shu, a phrase goes “jun zhe wen ming”, meaning “deep in wisdom and extensive in knowledge that shines upon the world like a light”. It is obvious that the meaning of “wen ming” as a recorded term in ancient Chinese documents is also different © Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. 2022 Q. Liu, A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3946-4_1

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1 Introduction: Interpreting “China’s Un-fractured Civilization …

from the term “civilization” in the subject of “China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years”. The term “wen ming” widely adopted in the Chinese academic realm now is introduced from the west. European anthropologists first used the word “civilization” in the 17th century when exploring the development of human society. In the 18th century, German Anthropologist Johann Gottfried Herder proposed to divide the development of human society into three stages: primitive society, barbaric society, and civil society. Similarly in 1877, American Anthropologist Lewis Henry Morgan classified the different stages of human society advancement in his work, Ancient Society, into three eras—savagery, barbarism, and civilization. Later, this theory has been further developed by Archaeologist Vere Gordon Childe, who, in his work Urban Revolution, refers the savagery era to the Paleolithic Age, the barbarism era to the Neolithic Age, and the civilization era to the period when human society started to form into states. What is the nature of civilization? Friedrich Engels points out in his work Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State published in 1884 as follows: Civilization is, therefore, […] the stage of development in society at which the division of labor, the exchange between individuals arising from it, and the commodity production which combines them both, come to their full growth and revolutionizes the whole of previous society.

Engels has accurately defined that “a state is the generalization of a civil society”. What is more, contemporary scholar Jianping Yi comments, “From the perspective of etymology, a civilization can be deemed as a nation, so to explore the origin of a civilization is to study the origin of a nation. Therefore, a civil society is, in fact, a national society”. According to the above analysis, the word “wen ming” used in this book to discuss China’s five thousand years’ un-fractured civilization is a synonym of a “nation”, an academic terminology for ethnology, anthropology, and archaeology. The civilization era is a description of the progression of the society in contrast to that of savagery and barbarism. Therefore, from the perspective of human social and historical development, the savagery and barbaric eras are primitive, whereas the civilizational era sees human race advance into a society of differentiated social classes. From an archaeological point of view, the first two eras are in line with the Paleolithic Age and Neolithic Age, while the civilizational era could be referred to as the Bronze Age and Iron Age. The different social formations between a savage or barbaric society and a civil one are evident, for they demonstrate the progress where human society transformed from a non-nation status to one that could be deemed as a “nation”. According to this analysis, the fundamental fact that distinguishes the era of civilization and barbarism is the formation of the nation; hence in the context of this book, the “exploration of the origin of the Chinese civilization” is a journey that explores and studies the formation of the Chinese nation.

1.2 Interpretation of “The Starting Point”

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1.2 Interpretation of “The Starting Point” There is a prolonged history for ancestors of the Chinese nation to live on the land of eastern Asian continent. According to the general standard of the academic realm on the formation of a human civil society, the earliest human civilization was born on the southern plain of Mesopotamia, which lies in the Tigris and Euphrates basin. It is in this region in 3500 BC that Sumerian created the first human civil society. They established a few dozens cities and states and invented the earliest pictogram system that later developed into Cuneiform 6000 years old from now. Evidence indicates that metal metallurgy was also invented in that period. From 3500 BC to 3200 BC, it is the pre-dynastic era of ancient Egypt in North Africa where Egyptian hieroglyphics were invented. Archaeologists also found Egypt’s very first copper wares there. In 3200 BC, Egypt’s first dynasty was established. Following the formation of the two-river basins and the ancient Egyptian civilization in North African, China and India have entered into social forms in about 3000 BC. The starting point of Chinese civilization is usually considered to be 5000 years ago, which could be proven by both historical document records and archaeological research discoveries.

1.2.1 Historical Documentation Chinese ancient historical documents serve an important role in studying world history attributed by the scientific and systematic nature of the records. The compilation of “national history” has started as early as two thousand years ago by Chinese historians, which, with the contribution of generations of historians, has accumulated to an incredible record of over five-thousand-years-old Chinese history, known as “The Twenty-Four Histories”. When it comes to the early 20th century, however, heated discussions over the credibility and authority of those documents arose in the Chinese academic community and soon attracted wide attention. Academics were subsequently divided into three groups according to their attitude toward the historical documents: skepticism, conviction, and evidence-based explanation. The leader of the group who holds a skeptical view about historical documents, Gu Jiegang, proposed that historical records were built up in an “accumulated” way in a wide span of time, so that it is necessary to be skeptical about the credibility of those documents, in particular, the ancient ones. This feature is not, as a matter of fact, only spotted in Chinese historical documents but shared by countries of the whole world. However, it is possible to draw historical records closer to the truth or real history through archaeological discoveries. The academic achievement in China in the recent hundred years, as a result of the combination of archaeological and historical research, has proven Mr. Gu Jiegang’s scientific assumption to be true. These archaeological discoveries have provided key scientific evidences to the

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1 Introduction: Interpreting “China’s Un-fractured Civilization …

eligibility and credibility of Chinese ancient historical documents as precious and trustworthy research materials for world history study. Based on the above analysis, and taking into consideration the research of the history and the scientific definition of “wen ming”, we can find traces in ancient Chinese documents that our ancestors had long discovered the close connections between the written characters, metal, cities (capitals), and a state. The first “general history of China”, the Records of the Grand Historian (Shi Ji), written by the historian of West Han Dynasty, Sima Qian, is an extraordinary scientific masterpiece in human history. Its first chapter “Annals of the Five Emperors” (Wu Di Ben Ji) is a faithful record of the formation of Chinese civilization, according to the modern academic realm. Ancient historian Pei Songzhi defined the historical records of emperors and feudalist lords with different terms as “Benji” and “Shijia”, respectively. As a part of “The Twenty-Four Histories”, “Benji” is about the history of monarchs who existed based on the existence of the country. For the opening chapter of Shi Ji being the historical records of the five emperors in Chinese history, it proves that the book is “a history of a country”. The “primary emperor” recorded in “Annals of the Five Emperors” from Shi Ji is named Huang Di or the “Yellow Emperor”. According to literature and documentations of the pre-Qin period, he had unified many tribes through years of wars to have established a country named “Youxiong”—the earliest form of “China”, then built the town where he was born into the capital. Huang Di is reckoned as “the humane primogenitor” of Chinese, for he is “the Father of the Nation”1 from the perspective of national geopolitics; from the standpoint of consanguineous politics, he is the ancestor of all ethnic Chinese. “The time of the Five Emperors” marked the beginning of the first independent political entity of China before Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, therefore, an undeniable history of “the Chinese”.

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Liu [1].

1.2 Interpretation of “The Starting Point”

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Portrait of Huang Di, Qing Dynasty, anounymous

The Chronology of Chinese and Foreign History (4500 BC–1918 AD), commissioned and edited by a widely-recognized modern historian Jian Bozan, divides China’s history into two parts: “the era of legends” and “the era of history”, where the account before Huang Di belongs to the former. 4550 years ago, Huang Di started the progress of Chinese civilization and took China onto the stage of world history. According to documentations, during the years of Huang Di, a man named Cang Jie invented the first written characters, and people already knew how to forge coppers. It is recorded in the “Annals of Emperor Xiao Wu” from Shi Ji that “Huang Di mined copper from Mountain Shou to forge a tripod vessel at the foot of the Jing Mountains”. Both mountains are in Henan Province of China, and as was the capital city of “Youxiong”, which is named “Xinzheng” today. The records about the invention of written characters, metallurgy, and the forming of cities in these documents fall perfectly in line with “the three elements” used by the world academic realm to evaluate whether a society has entered civilization (formation of cities, metalwares, and a writing system). They have provided scientific and historical evidence for the theory that Huang Di is the founder of Chinese civilization and the nation. The starting point of Chinese culture, as a result, could be traced five thousand years back to the era of Huang Di, which is a proof of “the five thousand years’ civilization of China”.

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1.2.2 Archaeological Discoveries Archaeology, as the other wheel of the study of history in contrast to historiography, tries to understand human history through relics and remains. Since its introduction in China at the beginning of the 20th century, a considerable amount of archaeological discoveries has been made, which has attracted global attention and significantly enriched people’s knowledge and recognition about the 5000 years’ account of Chinese civilization, especially concerning the series of significant findings in the 1950s. In 1899, Philologist Wang Yirong discovered oracle scripts from some fossils used in traditional Chinese medicine. Following him, other philologists such as Liu E, Wang Xiang, Meng Dingsheng, and Luo Zhenyu had gathered many documents and materials about oracle and made a few picture catalogs of it. In 1917, based on available materials and documentations, Wang Guowei wrote the Study of the Ancestral Kings and Nobility Appearing in the Yin Oracular Inscriptions and The following-up Study. He has investigated the names of the kings and nobility mentioned in the inscriptions and found that “most of the ancestral kings and nobility names of Shang Dynasty can be found in the inscriptions”. It has proved that “Shi Ben (the Book of Origins) and Shi Ji are authentic records of history”. Since the 1930s, China has successively discovered the remains of palaces and temples at the same place where the Yin Oracular Inscriptions were found, and the tomb of a king in Shang Dynasty on a hill in the northwest of Anyang county accompanied by bronze wares, jade wares, and over a dozen of thousands of oracle bones. These discoveries have portrayed the highly advanced civilization in China 3300 years ago and provided supporting evidence to the reliability and credibility of the “Annals of Yin” from Shi Ji. The successively discovered remains of an ancient city in Zhengzhou, Erlitou ruin in Yanshi, Wangchenggang City of Dengfeng, Yanshi City ruins, Xinzhai Ruins of Xinmi county, and Hengbei Ruins in Anyang county in the 1950s have all been considered as the heritage site of ancient capital cities in the early or middle Shang Dynasty. It gives people a reason to believe that the content recorded in the “Annals of Xia” from Shi Ji, written earlier than that of the emperor of Yin, is also trustworthy. Based on multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary researches, the “Xia–Shang–Zhou Chronology Project” believes that the remains of Dengfeng, Xinmi, and Erlitou should be the capitals of the early, middle, and late Xia Dynasties, respectively. It has also proposed that the beginning of Xia should be 2070 BC, which is the end of “the time of the Five Emperors”.

1.2 Interpretation of “The Starting Point”

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“Gong” drinking vessel to Xin the father, Shang Dynasty

Red inscriptions on an ox-bone for sacrifice, Shang Dynasty

At the end of the 20th century, the remains of a 4300-years-old Taosi City in Xiangfen, Shanxi Province, were discovered. It is commonly recognized as the “Pingyang Capital of Yao’s Kingdom” as recorded in historical documentation.

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The scripts, geared bronze wares and copper bells, and the remains of an ancient astronomy observance site found among the remains are vital. According to historical documents, Emperor Yushun, who reigned after Emperor Tangyao and before Emperor Xiayu, had built his capital in different places including “Pingyang” or the southern area of Shanxi Province, Puyang City of Henan Province, and Heze City in southwest Shandong Province. Tangyao and Yushun were the last two emperors of “the time of the Five Emperors”, with Huang Di, Zhuan Xu, and Di Ku reigned before them, which cross-references with the record about the era of Huang Di in the Chronology of Chinese and Foreign History (4500 BC–1918 AD).

Archaeological site of Xinzhai remains in Xinmi

Except for the existing archaeological discoveries in Henan Province, such as the remains of an early Shang Dynasty City and Wangchenggang of the early to middle Xia Dynasty, the Ruins of Longshan Culture have also been excavated in recent years. It lies in the place where Huang Di had established Youxiong country—the current Zhengzhou City and is called the Guchengzhai Ruins of Xinmi. It is an area of 176,000 square meters large. Around Guchengzhai, there are also a dozen other Longshan cultural heritage sites, such as Xinchai, Wuhumiao, Renhezhai, and Jinzhongzhai. Such a layout indicates that Guchengzhai should have been the central

1.3 The Interpretation of “Un-fractured”

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settlement of the culture. These discoveries are roughly in line with the era of Huang Di. Among the remains of Longshan cultural originally resided in Youxiong country on the central plains of China, archaeologist found some bronze ware relics and ruins of the copper-smelting site. To name a few: the molten copper furnace wall and copper blocks at Niuzhai remains in Zhengzhou; copper scrapes in the ash pit of Pingliangtai remains in Huaiyang; bronze ware pieces in the ash pit of Wangchenggang remains in Dengfeng; the copper crucible and ruined parts of a molten furnace wall at Meishan remain in Linru County, and the bronze wares at the Luantai remains of Luyi County. The above-discussed historical documents and archaeological discoveries are mutually conditional to the birth and formation of the Chinese civilization (the earliest starting point of the Chinese nation) being about five thousand years ago and mainly in the midstream area of the Yellow River basin.

1.3 The Interpretation of “Un-fractured” Countries and regions with five thousand years’ civilization are not rare in the world. Some places own an even more extended history, for example, civilizations of the Tigris and Euphrates basin, ancient Egypt of North Africa and the South Asian Subcontinent. However, China seems to be the only country that has a five-thousandyear un-fractured civilization. The “un-fractured” here refers to the consistency and continuance in the inheritance of both the human genetic history and the cultural, genetic history of the same country over generations.

1.3.1 Genetic Heritage According to the results of the latest genetic studies of China, there has never been a gap in the continuance of the ancient Chinese gene in East Asia for the past five thousand years (or even longer since the Ancient Epochs). The majority of Chinese in China are genetically highly similar to those who had lived in the midstream area of the Yellow River basin five or six thousand years ago. The anthropological laboratory in Fudan University has reported in their research that: The population of Han ethnic Chinese who share the same culture and language has grown over 1.16 billion (according to the demographic statistics in 2000), outnumbering any other ethnics in the world. Therefore, the progress of the spreading of Han culture has attracted wide interest in various fields. Through systematic analysis to the polymorphism of Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA of the Han ethnic groups, we found that the diffusion pattern of Han

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1 Introduction: Interpreting “China’s Un-fractured Civilization … culture matches the population expansion model, and for which male takes the dominant position.2

That means, from the perspective of consanguineous connection, the gene of the ancestor of modern Chinese in East Asia has never changed in the past tens of thousands of years, and the group gene in the last five thousand years, in particular, has been concentrated in the midstream of the Yellow River basin. Professor Li Hui and Jin Li have pointed out in the book The Evolution of Y Chromosome and the East Asian Ethnos that “About 5000 to 6000 years ago, Huaxia Ethnos was separated from the Sino-Tibetan language family group to gather at the middle and upper stream of the Yellow River basin. That is the origin of the Han ethnic group.”3 Males of this ancient group were the significant genetic contributors to modern Chinese, especially the Chinese in Southern China. In other words, the five-thousand-year un-fractured Chinese civilization was mainly founded by the ancients from the midstream of the Yellow River basin. As for the ancient minor ethnic groups living in the north and northeast regions of China, such as the Xianbei group (Northern Wei Dynasty), Khitan group (Liao Dynasty), Mongolian group (Yuan Dynasty), and Jurchen group (Jinn Dynasty and Qing Dynasty), archaeological evidence, genetic studies, and physical anthropology show that there are close genetical relations between them and with the ethnic groups living in Yellow River basin.

1.3.2 The Development of Chinese Family Names Anthroponymy is the study that analyzes the consanguinity of people through the names of human beings. China stands in an advantageous position to apply anthroponymy in studying the relationship between civilization and the people, ethnos, and civilians. Yuan and Zhang stated in their research that China is the first country that has had the system of family name or “surname”, which can be traced back to the later phase of the Neolithic Age. Surnames had first appeared in Japan in the late 5th century. Still, it was not until 1875 that the government had enacted the law of household registration, which required everyone to have a surname, that had urged all Japanese to find or make up a family name for themselves. Europe has only 400 years’ history of surnames popularization. Turkey, a country of a long and profound history at the cross point of Europe and Asia, has only made the use of surnames a legal obligation since 1935.4

2

Jin et al. [2]. Li and Jin [3]. 4 Yuan and Zhang [4]. 3

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Dunhuang Manuscript: The Catalogue of Family Names of Reign Zhenguan (partial), Tang Dynasty. A collection of China National Library. Since the Six Dynasties era, including Han and Wei, to the Tang Dynasty, people had always been looking up to the great and flourished families over small and poor ones. The influence of family name was significant. Therefore, a variety of catalogs of family names were created back then and soon became very popular. Six of them have survived history, including the above demonstrated one.

The family name system not only has a long and profound history in China but can also be categorized into a few types. Statistics show that “among the top 200 popular surnames in current China, about 10% originated from the Jiang (姜) family group of Yan Di (the Flame Emperor), while 89% derived from the Ji (姬) family group of Huang Di”. It means that 99% of Chinese people in today’s world are the descendants of Yan Di and Huang Di.5 This provides adequate evidence for the fact that the civilization created and passed on by Chinese people since the later phase of the Neolithic Age has been well maintained without any fractures through the past five thousand years.

1.3.3 Worship Rituals of Huang Di It has been recorded in ancient Chinese literature that “The critical matters of a country are the worship rituals and weapons” (“The Thirteenth Year of Duke Cheng’s Reign” from Zuo Zhuan), in which “worship rituals” refer to the ceremony for offering sacrifices to heaven and earth and the ancestors. The record is evidence that the sacrifice ceremony is an “important matter” of the country. It was an etiquette event, an essential element of the Chinese civilization. As shown in historical literature, Huang Di established a state named Youxiong and called himself “the son 5

Liu [5].

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of heaven”. In Chinese history, emperors of China saw themselves the son of the “supreme god” (or “Emperor of Heaven”), therefore “the son of heaven”. Huang Di had built ceremonial facilities and started the tradition of the highest leader of a country organizing ritual activities to worship “the supreme god”. According to Song Dynasty documentation “Lushi”, “Huang Di had established his country at Youxiong, where he built ritual and ceremonious buildings to receive celestial beings and spirits of all kinds and listening to people’s appeals”. Huang Di’s successors Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Tang Yao, and Yu Shun had inherited these rituals while adding Huang Di onto the worship list, too. It is written in the book Bamboo Annals that “When Huang Di passed away, one of his ministers named Zuo Che made a statue of him from wood and led all the lords and the royal court to worship it.” This activity had been passed down to Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties following the era of the five emperors. In the Chapter “Speeches from the Kingdom of Lu” in the book Discourses of the States, the worship to Huang Di was deemed as “the important sacrifice ceremony of a country”, which means it was an action of the country by the highest leader. Since then, different dynasties of China had all kept the ceremony in their own styles as recognition to the identity of Huang Di, Yao, Shun, and Yu being the founder of the Chinese civilization. Such ceremonies have endured five thousand years till the present day. It is a reflection of the sense of identity to China or the Huaxia ethnicity of all ethnic Chinese. It is not only the identity of people living in the central plains of China but also of the ethnic groups named “Dong Yi (the Eastern Barbarians)”, “Xi Rong (the Western Barbarians)”, “Nan Man (the Southern Barbarians)”, “Bei Di (the Northern Barbarians)”, and “Si Yi (the Four Barbarians)” once existed in history. For example, “Shao Hao”, a sub-ethnos of the “Dong Yi” group, was recorded in the book of origins Shi Ben that “Shao Hao is the son of Huang Di”. The ethnos of Qin resided in the land of the “Xi Rong” group saw themselves “descended from Emperor Zhuan Xu”. Fu Hong, a descendant of “Xi Rong”, claimed that his ancestors were “the line of the Youhu family and have been the Chief of Xi Rong for generations” (“The Story of Fu Hong” from Book of Jin). People of Chu originated from “Nan Man” ethnos had recorded in “The Biography of Chu State” from Shi Ji about their ancestors being “the offspring of Emperor Zhuan Xu” who is the grandson of Huang Di. The Hundred Yue Tribes of the same ethnos had written in “The Biography of Goujian, the King of Yue” from Shi Ji that their ancestors were “the descendants of Emperor Yu and offsprings of a concubine of Emperor Hou of Xia’s (Shaokang) son”. Since Emperor Xia Yu is the offspring of Huang Di, it is evidence that the Hundred Yue Tribes are of close blood connection with the family group of Huang Di.

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As for the Xiongnu group in the north, they called themselves “the offspring of the Emperor Hou of Xia’s family, named ‘Chun Wei’” (“The Account of the Xiongnu” from Shi Ji). The Classic of Mountains and Seas (also known as “Shan Hai Jing”) has clearly stated that “Shi Jun is Huang Di’s grandson, from whom comes Bei Di (北狄)”. It was also recorded in “Shi Ben” that the family of Di (the Chinese character “翟” here was an alternative to “狄” and they are both pronounced as “di”) was “the line of the family of Huang Di and had been living in the land of Di for generations”. The Xianbei ethnos of Northern Wei Dynasty from Daxing’anling Prefecture also claimed themselves as the descendants of Huang Di. According to the “Annals of Wei” from History of Northern Dynasties, “the ancestor of Wei was descended from Huang Di whose family name is Xuanyuan. Huang Di’s son was named Changyi, whose younger son was appointed to manage the northern region where there were mountains named ‘the Great Xianbei’, after which the younger son named his own people”.

Public sacrifice ceremony held in remembrance of Huang Di at the Huang Di Mausoleum. As recorded in Shi ji, sacrifice ceremony held at the Mausoleum of Huang Di could be traced back to the “Spring and Autumn period”. Since then, it has become an essential event in the historical records of every period and dynasty. It was resumed by the People’s Republic of China in 1980, since when the public sacrifice ceremony has become a grand cultural celebration. The above picture was taken on the ceremonial day in 2009.

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Gao Kaijun stated in the book About the Chinese Nation—A Study on the Origin, Formation and Development of the Chinese Nation Based on Geographical Features and the Rise and Fall of the Great Wall that Khitan and Mongolians who, respectively, built the Liao and Yuan dynasties were both originated from the Xianbei group in Han Dynasty. Therefore, leaders of every dynasty since the medieval times from Han and their local minor ethnic authorities have all recognized themselves as the descendants of Huang Di, such as the many politicians of the countries established by minor ethnic groups during the “Sixteen Kingdoms” period. For example, in the Northern Wei era, Emperor Ming Yuan sent envoys to Qiaoshan Mountain in the second year of Reign Shenruin (415 AD) to “offer sacrifices of beef, lamb and pork to the temple of Huang Di and Tang Yao … In the year of Yimao, the emperor climbed up to the temple of Emperor Shun on Li Mountain in Guangning to offer sacrifices of beef, lamb and pork for worship in person” (“Annals of Wei” from History of Northern Dynasties). In the sixteenth year of Reign Taihe (492 AD), Emperor Xiaowen of the same era had offered sacrifices to Yao, Shun, and Yu at temples of various places. Emperor Taiding of Yuan Dynasty had issued an Emperor’s Order to protect the mausoleum temples of Huang Di, and each year of the dynasty, there would be envoys sent by the royal court to offer sacrifices to Yao, Shun, and Yu. Jurchen Nobility Wanyan Hainu of Jinn Dynasty claimed his ethnos to be “the descendant of Huang Di”. The book of “Biography of the Founding Ancestor” from Draft History of Qing described the ethnic group of Qing Dynasty as “the left clans of the Jurchen”, in order words, the “Heishui Jurchen” group of Jinn Dynasty, in fact, belongs to the same ethnos of the “Machus Jurchen”, which are both “the descendant of Huang Di”. The worship of Huang Di had increased in the Qing Dynasty. In addition to the traditional ceremonies held in the temple of all previous great emperors in the capital city, the emperor of Qing would also send commissioners to the Mausoleum of Huang Di to offer sacrifice, usually three times a year with occasional events ad hoc. Such ceremonies held at the Temple of Huang Di in Qing Dynasty were arranged with solemn and complicated rituals, which were massive in scale and frequent. After moving the capital from Shenyang to Beijing, Emperor Shunzhi sent special envoys to offer sacrifices at the Mausoleum of Huang Di in the eighth year of his reign (1651 AD). Ever since, Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, and Daoguang had successively held nearly thirty ceremonies there. Except for regular worship, additional sacrifices to Huang Di were also organized for critical events such as coronation, quelling the rebellion, natural disasters, and a year of abundance. Emperor Kangxi had sent commissioners to offer sacrifices on behalf of him at the Mausoleums of Yan Di and Huang Di sixteen times in his reign. The worship ceremony at the temple of previous great emperors in the capital of Ming and Qing dynasties has brought the un-fractured five thousand years’ Chinese civilization to its climax.

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1.3.4 Societal Dominant Culture and National Culture From the era of the five emperors to Qing, the last dynasty in China, there had been over a dozen different political regimes. Their political culture has been passed on through the five thousand years and becomes a cultural gene of Chinese civilization. The primary cultural gene of a civilization, however, should be the national culture, or in other words, the dominant societal culture. The materialization of such culture can be seen in the country’s layout design, for example, “place the state capital at the center of the land”, “place the imperial palace at the center of the capital”, and “place the royal temple at the center of the imperial palace”. Also, the state capital and imperial palace should be built with “four gates on the four directions”, and the main gates of the capital and imperial palace should both “be built with three lanes”. They reflect the core Chinese philosophy of “zhong” (the center) and “zhong he” (centrality and harmony) as well as the ideology of “family-country unity” and “country supremacy”.

1.3.5 The Continuance of the Chinese Characters It is accepted by most of the academic realm that Chinese characters emerged about five thousand years ago. Many marks and signs found on objects of the later or the last phase of Neolithic Age had already acquired the core feature of written characters, for example, the scripts found on the earthenware pieces at the Dinggong Ruins in Shandong Province. They are defined as the early form of Chinese characters by some scholars. Later discoveries, such as the characters on the potteries found at the Taosi City remains of 4300 to 3900 years old in Xiangfen County of Shandong Province, are still being used today. The Chinese characters found in oracles at the Ruins of Yin was already of a mature form. After that, characters used in inscriptions found on the bronze ware of West Zhou Dynasty, on potteries and books of alliance on thin jade pieces of the East Zhou Dynasty, and writings on the bamboo and wooden slips, as well as silk manuscripts, had already evolved into more mature styles named as “large seal script”, “small seal script”, and characters of “the Six Kingdoms”. After the First Emperor of Qin (Qin Shi Huang) had united the various ethnic groups to be an empire with centralized state power, he ordered a national policy about the unification of characters. It is an extraordinary and significant contribution recorded in Chinese history, which had maintained the unity of China and enhanced the cohesion of the Chinese nation. Because of this policy, the various types of ancient Chinese characters were unified to be the small seal script, which had evolved into the standard scripts of “Hanli (the clerical script)” and “Kaishu (the regular script)” of Han and Tang dynasties and are still in use today. They are the most outstanding representatives of the un-fractured Chinese civilization. It is a rare, if not the only example, that the characters and writing system created five thousand years ago can

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be so well maintained with remarkable consistency that they are still used as the standard official writing system of the nation today. The ancient Chinese literature and documentation written with Chinese characters are also unique to the world history, among which the “The Twenty-Four Histories” is recognized as the one and only complete collection of official documentation of the history of a nation in the world commissioned by the emperors through the past five thousand years. It is one of its kind and powerful evidence for the un-fractured Chinese civilization.

1.4 The Interpretation of “The Carrier of Materialization” The carrier of materialization of the Chinese civilization is mainly demonstrated by cities, metalwares, written characters, etiquette rituals, and sacrificial vessels. City (capital city) is the “platform carrier” of a country; metal tools are the material foundation for productivity development and surplus value, privatization and the division of labor in society; a writing system is the indispensable hardware of complicated social and national activities; etiquette rituals and the sacrificial vessels mark different social classes. The sacrificial vessels are also the unique historical icon of Chinese civilization.

1.4.1 The Capital The form of a country is the concentrated manifestation of civilization, while the capital city exists in symbiosis with the country. The capital is the center of the political ruling, economic management, military instruction, and cultural and etiquette activities; it represents the country in a nutshell, therefore the most important material carrier of civilization. Engels pointed out in his book Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State that: It is not without reasons why tall and great walls were put up around the new defended cities: their trenches were built into tombs of the clan system while their towers and buildings were already entering the era of civilization.

The metaphor Engels used has vividly explained how the emergence of the capital city has sent the concept of the country and the primitive society to the “history museum”. A well-known British archaeologist Colin Renfrew has stated even more clearly in his great work Archaeology: Theories, Methods and Practice that:

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The early form of a national society was a unique cluster of towns and cities, among which the cities were the essential components. A city is typically the centre of extensive population habitation (normally with a population of over 5000) with elementary public buildings such as temples and administration centres. The cluster was commonly seen with obvious classifications, in which the capital city was at the top and centre position with subordinate or regional centres surround by local villages.

Records about capital cities are commonly seen in ancient Chinese documentations. For example, it is written in “Li Yun” from Book of Rites that, at the beginning of civilization, “the great way of the past is gone, and the world has become the private asset of one family. People love only their own families and look after only their own sons and daughters; selling and buying goods, as well as paying labour just in exchange for their own benefits. Kings and nobility made it a ruling ritual to pass their position and fortunes on to their younger generation and built strongholds, walls, trenches and rivers for defence”. It says in “Records of Sacrificial Rituals in the Rural Areas” from Book of Han (Han Shu · Jiao Si Zhi) that “In the reign of Huang Di, he built five strongholds and twelve towers”. In Shi Ben, Zhang Shu has quoted from the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue as a reference that “Gun built strongholds to protect the king and walls to guard the people. That was the beginning of a city.” Since the birth of Chinese civilization, consistent cultural features can be found in capital cities of all different eras through the five thousand years. No matter the capitals of the era of Huang Di, Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, or those of Qin, Han, Wei, Jinn, and the Southern and Northern dynasties, and all through Sui, Tang, Song, Liao, Jinn, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, they all shared the same principle in location selection, plan of layout, and design of shapes and styles. It was deemed as the indicator of the political legitimacy of the state leader. Such consistency was very rare in world history and a unique feature of the un-fractured Chinese civilization.

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“Map of the Capital City” in The New Maps of the Three Rites, published by Tong Zhi Tang in the twelfth year of the reign of Kangxi, Qing Dynasty. The New Maps of the Three Rites has quoted the explanation of “capital city” as recorded in “Record of Trades” from Rites of Zhou (Zhou Li · Kaogong Ji) that “Craftsmen design the capital to be a square shape of nine li on each side (about 4500 m6 ). There will be three gates on each side of the city wall. Inside the city, there are nine straight roads stretching north and south and another nine extending east and west. Each road is as wide as to accommodate nine carriages side by side. On the left side (east) of the city, there will be the ancestral temple of the ruling house; on the right side (west), there will be the altar for the gods of earth and harvest. In front of the imperial palace is where the emperor handles state affairs while behind it is where the markets are”. This map was further explained by Jia Gongyan in Tang Dynasty that “The size of the capital is measured by ‘zhang’ and ‘chi’,7 where there are twelve gates in total representing the twelve branches in the sexagenary cycle. The gates are named after the ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches. All latitude and longitude roads in the city accommodated nine ‘gui’. One gui refers to one pair of carriage wheel tracks. The width of a carriage is six chi and six cun,8 adding another seven cun on both sides, the total width is eight chi; therefore, nine gui equals to seventy-two chi or twelve steps according to the measurement of the Qin Dynasty. On each side of the capital city, there are three gates; three roads are connected to each gate. Men enter from the right gate while women enter from the left; carriages enter from the gate in the middle. Roads from south to north are of longitude while those from east to west are of latitude; the imperial palace will be built at the centre of the longitude road in the middle”.

6

Ancient Chinese measurement unit of length. One li is about 500 m. Ancient Chinese measurement unit of length. One chi is about 16.95 cm; 10 chi equals to 1 zhang. 8 Ancient Chinese measurement unit of length. One cun is about 3.333 cm; 10 cun equals to 1 chi. 7

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1.4.2 The Mausoleum Ancient Chinese society had a dual sociocultural system, which is divided into the “socioculture of the living” and the “socioculture of the dead”. The material carrier of the latter is the tomb, funeral rituals, and relevant remains. Tombs of the emperor are called the “mausoleums”, which according to Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals of the pre-Qin era, were built like the capital city. In other words, the mausoleums of Chinese emperors were designed according to the capital city as an epitome of it. The oldest mausoleum discovered in China is the tomb of a king in Shang Dynasty on the northwest hill of Anyang County. Most of the design and cultural elements of the mausoleums of the following eras including Zhou, Qin, Han, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties have already been discovered and studied. Though their owners belonged to different local ethnic groups residing at varied places, the supreme rulers of various Chinese dynasties had inherited and passed on the mausoleum culture as a component of the national culture, making it a material carrier of the un-fractured Chinese civilization.

1.4.3 Ritual and Ceremonious Buildings and Sacrificial Vessels Ritual and ceremonious buildings and sacrificial vessels are two material carriers of unique Chinese historical and cultural character. The buildings were designed on the basis of the ancestral worship tradition and the philosophy of “heaven-earth-man” (which believes that the existence of “man” comes from “heaven” and “earth”) of the Chinese civilization. Ritual and ceremonious buildings mainly include the ancestral temple of a ruling house, alter for the gods of earth and harvest, the Bright Hall (or “Mingtang Hall”), the Biyong tunnel, Lingtai (or “the heavenly terrace”), the Temple of Heaven, and the Temple of Earth. Sacrificial vessels for ritual ceremonies mainly involve ding (usually a tripod cooking vessel), gui-tablet (an elongated pointed tablet of jade), and bi-disk (a doughnut-shaped piece of flat jade).

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“Map of the Bright Hall” in The New Maps of the Three Rites, published by Tong Zhi Tang in the twelfth year of the reign of Kangxi, Qing Dynasty. The shape and style of the Bright Hall were recorded in “Record of Trades” from Rites of Zhou, “The Bright Hall” from Dadai Book of Rites and A Theory of the Bright Hall (or Mingtang Yueling Lun) written by East Han Dynasty scholar Cai Yong. The design of the Bright Hall in The New Maps of the Three Rites was based on the description of Kaogong Ji.

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The Lifang Ding, Shang Dynasty. A collection of the British Museum. It is also known as the “Yinguang Square Ding” with a rectangle-shaped body and square-shaped narrow rim. There is a pair of standing handles on the rim and one wing on each of the four corners of the body. The bottom of the vessel is flat with four legs. The upper part of the body is carved with a dual-bodied dragon with curved and zigzagged lines; the gap around the curves of the dragon is filled with round scroll patterns. The lower part of the four body sides is carved with three rows of nipple-shaped nail pattern; the upper part of the four legs is carved with beast head relief

1.4.4 Text—Chinese Characters Text, as a type of metaphysical culture, is different from cultural spirit in the way that it is visible and materialized. Written texts of Chinese civilization started from marks and signs carved on the earthenware of the later Neolithic Age, following which there had been oracles, large seal script, small seal script, clerical script, and so on. Though some texts were carved onto objects when some were written, Chinese characters passed down through generations are consistent in the past five thousand years. Just as some scholars stated, Though we can still view from the ancient remains the cuneiform of Babylon, hieroglyphics of Egypt and the Harappan text of ancient India at museums and historical ruins, they are dead texts of the past. Chinese characters, on the other hand, are the only writing system of the four great ancient civilizations survived time without any interruption and is still in use today … The 22 alphabets invented by the Phoenicians had first been developed into Latin by the East Roman Empire. They then changed into Greek by the West Roman Empire until eventually evolved through the long years of the Middle Ages to become the various European languages in the Renaissance era.9

Ink copy of the Qin Dynasty small seal script inscriptions on Yishan Stele. “Inscriptions on Yishan Stele” was carved in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of the First Emperor of Qin (219 BC) during his journey to the east. It is the oldest stele of Qin Dynasty. The inscriptions celebrate the great union of land, the abolition of the enfeoffment system, and the establishment of the administrative structure with prefectures and counties as the extraordinary achievements of the emperor. It is written in the standard official small seal script as unified by the emperor. 9

Wang [6].

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1 Introduction: Interpreting “China’s Un-fractured Civilization …

The Chinese characters unified by the First Emperor of Qin have fuelled up the liveliness of the incredible consistency and unification of the Chinese nation.

1.5 Core Philosophy—The Ideology of “zhong he” The ideology and spirit of “zhong he” have a long history in China. It was almost born at the same time as Chinese civilization. “Zhong he” contains two aspects: one is “zhong” (centrality), and the other is “he” (harmony): The core element of China (“zhong guo” as the name in Chinese) is “zhong”. It means the centre point of east, south, west and north. It is the root of everything. China was born from “zhong”—our ancestors believed that it is vital to find “the centre” of a country, and the capital should be built “at the centre” which was the central plain of east Asia; they even included the character “zhong” in the name of the country. Back then, the word “zhong guo” referred to the country sits at the centre of the world, overseeing the regions on the east, west, south and north. Therefore, the imperial palace must be placed in the centre of the capital city while the Great Main Hall for State Affairs that symbolizes the power of the country must be built in the centre of the palace.10

“Zhong” and “he” are dialectically unified. From the perspective of culture, in the term “diversity in unity”, “unity” refers to “zhong” and “diversity” refers to “he”, where “unity” is the core of the idea; from the perspective of politics, “unity” means the sense of identification to the country, the Chinese nation, and the history and culture of China. The general political unification represented by “zhong” and the spirit of inclusiveness and tolerance summarized by “he” is the ultimate core of the culture that has enabled the five-thousand-year un-fractured Chinese civilization.

10

Liu [1].

1.5 Core Philosophy—The Ideology of “zhong he”

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“Maps of the nine domains (Jiufu11 )” in The New Maps of the Three Rites, published by Tong Zhi Tang in the twelfth year of the reign of Kangxi, Qing Dynasty

The ideology of “zhong he” has a profound influence on the history and culture of China. From the idea of “a unified family thrives” believed by civilians to the state policy of pacification through marriage with different ethnic authorities, the idea is deeply embedded in the thoughts and behaviors of the Chinese people. Just to name a few—Emperors Gaozu, Hui, Wen, and Jing of Han had all married daughters of the royal family to Chanyus of the Xiongnu Empire; Princess Xijun of Emperor Wu of Han’s royal family line was married to the king of Wusun; the royal court maiden Wang Zhaojun in Han Dynasty was married to Chanyu Huhanye; Princess Honghua, the niece of Emperor Taizong of Tang, was married to the king of Tuyuhun Kingdom; Princess Wencheng of Emperor Taizong of Tang’s royal family line was married to Songtsen Gampo of Tibetan Empire; the daughter of Emperor Dezong of Tang, Princess Xian’an was married to Tun Baga Tarkhan of Uighur Khanate. The religious thoughts of “Three-in-one” combining Confucius, Taoism, and Buddhism is also a demonstration of the belief about “harmony and unity is the most precious” in Chinese civilization.

11

Jiufu: The Nine Domains, or “Jiufu” in Chinese, refers to nine geographic areas regionalized by distance to the capital city in ancient China.

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1 Introduction: Interpreting “China’s Un-fractured Civilization …

References 1. Liu Q (2015) The national worship ceremony is also the sacrifice offered to the country 《国祭 ( 也是祭国》 ). Guang Ming Daily, 7 Sept 2015 2. Jin L, Li H, Wen B et al (2004) Genetic studies proves the diffusion of Han culture originates from population expansion 《遗传学证实汉文化的扩散源于人口扩张》 ( ). Nature 431:302–304 3. Li H, Jin L (2015) The evolution of Y chromosome and the East Asian ethnos 《Y染色体与东 ( 亚族群演化》 ). Shanghai Science and Technology Publishing House, Shanghai, p 120 4. Yuan Y, Zhang C (2002) Chinese surnames: population generics and distribution 《中国姓氏: ( 群体遗传和人口分布》 ). East China Normal University Publishing House, Shanghai, p 1 5. Liu W (2013) Building the holy ground of the Chinese origin to pass on the Huaxia civilization 《建设华人寻根圣地 ( 传承华夏历史文明》 ). In: Zhang X, Liu W About Huang Di and Chinese family names《黄帝与中华姓氏》 ( ). Henan People’s Publishing House, Zhengzhou, pp 230–231 6. Wang N (2011) Chinese characters and its cultural circle 《汉字与汉字文化圈》 ( ). Guang Ming Daily, 7 Jan 2011

Chapter 2

Archaeological Discoveries and Studies About the Ancient Capitals

Abstract Archaeological discoveries have proved that an ancient capital is the center of the political ruling, military instruction, economic management, and cultural and etiquette activities; it represents the core of a nation’s culture, therefore is the most important material carrier of civilization. Ancient capitals consist of city gates, palaces, ancestral temples, government offices, ritual and ceremonial buildings. The construction of the capital city follows the principle that the inner city should be in the middle of the country, while the palace stays at the center of the capital city. From centrality derives the concept of “zhong he”, i.e., the capital city and the palace should have gates on all sides, representing the “four sides” of the country that surround the center. The “zhong he” concept of culture is manifested by all the capital cities, from the Forbidden City in Beijing of the Ming and Qing dynasties to capital cities of the Yuan, Jin, Song, Sui, and Tang dynasties, such as Luoyang in the Han and Chang’an in the Western Han dynasties. Keywords Capital · National culture · Construction concept

2.1 Synopsis 2.1.1 The Symbiosis of the Capital City and Civilization A country is the summary of a civilized society. The “emergence of civilization” could be seen as the alternative of the “formation of a country”, they are the same by nature. Since a country cannot stand without capital, the critical city becomes the main symbol and critical material carrier of civilization. Thus, we say that the capital city is born with and in symbiosis with the civilization.

© Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. 2022 Q. Liu, A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3946-4_2

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The capital is the “governmental platform” of a country, the idea of which is universal regardless of time. Civilizations of different origins in the world have their uniqueness but also similarities, one of which is the coexistence of the capital city and civilization. Based on the study of capital cities—the leading material carrier of culture, we can see the uniqueness of each civilization. To prove whether a place had a civilization in the remote ages there must be records of its capital cities written by historians and ruins of cities with features of a capital discovered by archaeologists. All civilizations have their unique history of development which have shaped and are still influencing the progress of human history. These civilizations are all best demonstrated with their capital cities without exception. That’s why countries tend to apply for their well-maintained ancient capital cities the credential of “World Cultural Heritage”. For example, the Acropolis of Athens of ancient Greece, the ancient city of Rome, Heijokyo in the Nara Period of Japan, the ruins of old Kyoto in the Heian Period of Japan and Thebes of ancient Egypt, as well as in China, the ruins of Yin in An’yang County, Weiyang Palace of capital Chang’an of Han Dynasty, the imperial palace of Luoyang of Northern Wei, Daming Palace of capital Chang’an of Tang Dynasty, Shangdu of Yuan Dynasty and the Forbidden City of Qing Dynasty in Beijing. The ancient mausoleums in China, such as the Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and the ones for emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties, have also been recognized as “the World Cultural Heritage” for the exceptionally unique Chinese historical and cultural characteristic of “building the tomb in the form of a capital city”. Although the ancient capitals of China, as an epitome of the country, might have changed in aspects of politics, culture and customs, international relationships, and science and technology according to different historical periods, the core elements have never or rarely become different. That is what we call “the gene of culture”. It is such a gene that has built the foundation of the “un-fractured” Chinese civilization. To extend on that, for example, the design of shape and style of ancient Chinese capitals is changing. In general, the creation of the capital city began from a “singlecity” system in the era of the five emperors and evolved into a “dual-city” system containing both the city and the palace area in Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties. The latter system had been kept till Wei and Jin dynasties for the capital city of Luoyang, after that, the capital of the Northern Wei dynasty had developed a “triple-city” system which is divided into the palace, the inner city and the city. This system has been inherited by Beijing city in Ming and Qing dynasties. Nonetheless, the idea of “place the capital city at the center of the country” and “place the imperial palace at the center of the capital” had become increasingly firm and polished. The full commencement of “zhong” was to not only build the capital in a position considered as the “center” of the country but the imperial palace and the Great Main Hall for State Affairs in the palace were also placed at the center of the city and the palace respectively. It has also influenced the design of capital and palace gates, as in “each gate was accompanied with three roads” and each road in the

2.1 Synopsis

27

capital was built with three lanes. They have developed the philosophy of “zhong” to a wider and deeper extent, making it the strongest cultural gene of the Chinese civilization. From the perspective of Geospatial Sciences, placing the capital at the “center” of a country isn’t ideal or very “scientific”, however, as an ideology, it has been kept through time. The city of Beijing, as a capital city of eight-hundred years’ history in China, was endorsed as “the center of the world” by Jurchen Prince of Hailing of Jin Dynasty when selected as his capital, confirming the legibility of the Jin Dynasty’s inheriting the cultural gene of the Chinese nation. Based on archaeological discoveries, the concept of “placing the capital at the center” and “seeking the center” of a capital should have sprouted before the Chinese civilization was formed. In addition to Emperor Yu and Shun’s “seeking the center” as recorded in “Baoxun” (meaning admonition) from the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, from the 45th tomb at Xishuipo ruins of Puyang County of Henan Province in 1987, archaeologists have found a dragon and a tiger made of clamshells placed on the left and right side of the tomb owner and seven stars of the “Northern Dipper (Beidou)” under his feet. It is a vivid demonstration that the Chinese ancestors were already “seeking the center” 6400 years ago and that such cultural tradition has always been an inseparable part of Chinese history. The significance of the capital city to a country is such that the selection, design, and construction of it were defined as an “essential affair of the state” in historical documentation. It was directly in charge by the supreme leader and overseen by senior ministers of the court (i.e. the Chancellor), under the guidance of whom the central government would set up a special authority and appoint officials to be responsible for the construction work (including the mausoleum “built according to the capital”). For example, when West Zhou overtook Shang Dynasty, the king chose Luoyang as the capital. As recorded in the inscriptions on a three-thousand-year-old bronze ritual vessel of West Zhou named “He Zun”, the king decided “to live here and make it the center of the world”. The vessel was discovered in Baoji City of Shaanxi Province in 1963. For the construction of the capital, the central government had set up a special job called the “Chancellor of Constructions” to be in full charge of the work. The position had been in the government structure as early as Zhou Dynasty. The information of the title can be found in inscriptions on bronzewares of the same era such as the “Mian Zhi-drinking vessel”, “Yang Gui-ritual vessel”, “San Family Plate”, “Si-kong Gui-ritual vessel” and “Shao Shu Shanfu Fu-food and ritual vessel”. The position was also recorded in the Rituals of Zhou. The ancient central government system had set senior positions called the “Three Councillors” or the “Three Chancellors”, as recorded in the “Table of Ranks of Nobility and Imperial Governmental Positions— Part I” from Book of Han (Han Shu · Baiguan Gongqing Biao Shang). The positions were explained as “the Chancellor of Wars is responsible for matters to do with astronomy; the Chancellor of Masses is responsible for the matters to do with the

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people; the Chancellor of Constructions is responsible for the matters to do with earth. Together, they are called the ‘Three Councillors’”. The “Three Chancellors” were, by name, “the Chancellor of Wars”, “the Chancellor of Masses” and “the Chancellor of Constructions”. In Qin Dynasty, the central government set up a position called “Shaofu” overseeing the construction of the capital and imperial palace. The title of the post was changed to be the “Director of Imperial Manufactories” in West Han period. It was in charge of “the civil engineering works of the ancestral temple of the royal family, the main hall of the royal palace and houses of the nobility, and the mausoleum”. Emperor Cheng of Han had changed the “Censor-in-chief” to be the “Grand Chancellor of Constructions”.

Yang Gui, West Zhou Dynasty. The collection of the Forbidden City museum. The Gui vessel has a small mouth, round puffy body, round foot and three short and curled legs. There is one ring on each of the two handles. The lip of the vessel is missing. Scalariform patterns can be seen on the main vessel body with curved and hooked Qiequ patterns derived from animal elements visible around the neck and the round foot. There is a beast head relief on the round foot at each connecting point with the short leg. There are inscriptions of 10 lines and 107 characters inside the vessel body, which records the detailed duties of the “Chancellor of Works”, the alternative of “Chancellor of Constructions”. It says that the Chancellor of Works has the right to preside over the legal proceedings and make judgments. The inscription is an important document to understand the governmental and legal system of West Zhou.

The Painting of Epang Palace (partial), Qing Dynasty, anonymous. The collection of Freer Gallery of Art in America. The picture was painted according to the description in “The Rhapsody Poetry About Epang Palace” written by the Tang dynasty poet Du Mu. It has combined the blue-and-green landscape style and architectural drawing to recreate the magnificent Epang Palace that “covered a land size of about three-hundred li where the buildings almost blocked the view of the sky and sunlight. It was built starting on the north side of Lishan Mountain, then turned west and went all the way to Xianyang City. River Wei and Fan gently coursed their way into the palace walls. At every five steps, there stood a storeyed building, and at every ten steps, a pavilion; winding corridors meander like a ribbon, and ‘the projecting eaves turning high up like birds’ bills. Each block of the

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structures possessed its vantage of ground, but they were all ingeniously interlocked together, or one set against another. Some were domed, and others were curved. The courts were like so many cells in the beehive; and of the lofty eave-drippings who can tell how many millions they were! The long bridge is lying upon the waves; how can the dragon come without clouds? The roofed causeway is stretched in the air; how can the rainbow appear without having a clearing-up sky? Both the high and the low are shrouded in the mists, and it is hard to distinguish the east from the west’1 ”.

The construction of Epang Palace was decided by the First Emperor of Qin himself in his later years. As written in “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji, the emperor thought the scale of the palace in capital Xianyang was too small for all the national and governmental activities, therefore decided to build a new palace in the beautiful imperial garden on the south bank of River Wei. The first project was “the Front Hall of Epang”. When Emperor Gaozu of Han established Han Dynasty, he chose Luoyang as the capital at first, but later, regarding the location of the capital, there had been heated debate and discussions inside the royal court. In the end, Emperor Gaozu had to consult the head of the think-tank Zhang Liang, someone who can “devise strategies within a command tent and assure victory a thousand miles away”, and finally decided on Chang’an as the capital of Han. He had then promoted the garrison soldier Lou Jin who proposed the plan to be the lord of Fengchun and gave him the royal surname “Liu”. Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved the capital back to Luoyang and ordered the Chancellor of Constructions Mu Liang to build the imperial palace for him. Emperor Yang of Sui made the decision to rebuild capital Luoyang and appointed the Director of the Department of Imperial Affairs Yang Su and the Director of Imperial Manufactories Yuwen Kai to oversee the construction works. In the past, senior officials would also manage some essential construction projects in the capital. For example, in the twentieth year of the reign Zhenguan (646 AD), capital Chang’an of Tang Dynasty launched a plan to construct the northern palace gate, for which the emperor appointed the Chancellor of Constructions Fang Xuanling and the Directorate of Imperial Manufactories Yan Lide to be in charge. In Chronicles of the Great Jin it says that for constructions in the capital of Jurchen Jin, the Prince of Hailing had “ordered the Left and the Right Chancellors, Zhang Hao and Zhang Tonggu, respectively, and the Director of the Department of Imperial Affairs Cai Songnian to manage and hire all kinds of craftsmen and workers necessary to build the palace and houses in Beijing”. The design and construction of Khanbaliq of Yuan Dynasty were assigned to Chancellor Liu Binzhong for general management by the emperor. Liu was a politician in the early Yuan Dynasty and an important counselor to Kublai. He was appointed as the Grand Guard who also participated in the work of Department of Imperial Secretariats.

1

Quoted from Kekenet.com [1].

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2.1.2 Constituent Elements of a Capital City The title of a “capital city” contains two elements—it is the “head of a country” and a “city”. In Chinese history, “cities” were born to meet political demands, the earliest form of which in China was built in contrast to the large residential clusters (or villages). What the ancients meant by “build cities to protect the king” is to create a wall to separate the city from the outside in order to protect the safety of the king (ruler of the country). To enhance the security and safety of guards, the trough where they dug earth to build the wall would be subsequently made into a trench around the wall, which became the second barrier for safeguarding, or “the moat” as we usually call it. The capital city is a geospatial platform for ruling and managing state affairs. In order to keep a good connection with the world outside, the capital must have a gate built according to the form and configuration that attain the need. There must be a bridge built on the moat outside the city against the gate and roads connecting the entrance inside the city. In general, the city gate and roads inside form the transportation network of the capital. The transportation network inside a city is a crucial indicator of the functional division of the city. Based on demand, there should be a palace area for the ruler’s political activities, blocks of government buildings for managing state affairs, sites for ritual and ceremonious buildings to maintain social principles. There should also be a place to store weapons and for military facilities to safeguard the city, a storage district for goods and food that supply the daily livelihood of the capital and residential areas for civilians working in the capital as well as marketplaces and handicrafts workshops. The city wall, moat, city gate, roads, palace, government buildings, ritual and ceremonious buildings, garage for weapons, residential areas for nobility and civilians, marketplaces and district for handicraft workshops mentioned above are the constituent elements of a capital city.

2.1.2.1

The City Walls and the Moat

The walls of the capital city are both a facility of defense and a symbol that differentiates the geospatial platform of national politics from the rest of the country. Engels once pointed out that “Once villages turned into a city, in other words, when they built a moat and a wall for defense, the regime of the village is upgraded into the one of a city”. As the symbol of civilization, cities are classified into different levels. For instance, the scale of city walls and the moat were different between the capital city of a kingdom and the central city of its feudatory states in the Kingdom Age of the enfeoffment system. Such difference could also be seen between the capital city of an empire and the main city of its “prefecture”, “province”, “district”, and “county” in the Empire Age. They were strictly specified and regulated according to the political level of the city.

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31

The northeast corner of the city wall and the moat of Xi’an. The city wall of Xi’an is also named the Ming Dynasty wall of Xi’an city. It is the largest and best reserved existing ancient city architecture in China. The construction of the wall and the moat began in the third year of the Hongwu Emperor Taizu of Ming (1370 AD) and were built in the eleventh year of the reign Hongwu (1378 AD). The wall of Xi’an was built strictly as a strategic system of “defense”, of which the thickness is more significant than the height, solid and strong like a mountain. The top of the wall is wide enough for chariots to run and soldiers to practice in numbers. The wall is 12 m tall with the top width being 12–14 m and the bottom width being 15–18 m and a 13.74-thousand-meter perimeter. There are four gates on the wall, namely the East Changle Gate, West An’ding Gate, South Yongning Gate, and North An’yuan Gate.

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A bird-eye view of the barbican outside the Gate of China on the wall of Nanjing City. There are three barbicans connected with four arched gates built to the Gate of China. They are laid next to each other in a parallel manner like the shape of character “目”. Every barbican has a gate and a roller shutter. The main barbican structures consist of the main building of the Gate of China and two to four side city gates. Each gate had a double-leaf door wrapped with iron and heavy roller shutters that can be lowered from the top and raised from the bottom. Inside the gates, there is a latch croze for locking the gate tightly with a huge wooden latch. There are in total twenty-seven soldiers’ caves on the wall, which can accommodate up to three thousand people.

With the development of human history, the regime of capital cities is also changing. As an indispensable component of a defense facility of the capital, the city wall may have various attachments built to it in different eras, such as the horsehead walls attached to the outside of the wall for defense enhancement and broadening the horizon, and the barbican outside the city gate. The majority of Chinese ancient capital cities were built with walls. From studies of archaeology, history and construction, the walls of ancient Chinese capitals (referring to the walls build with earth before the Ming Dynasty) should be built by the ramming method. Other scholars believe they were made by the packing method, which requires relevant scientific evidence through experiments.

2.1.2.2

The Gate of the City

The gate of a city is an iconic architecture with great significance both to the capital and other cities. Chinese people see the residential place as a direct and immediate reflection of the economic condition and social position of a household, and the gate of which extracts the essence of those characteristics, thus the unique part of the

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33

house. By calling the gate or door of a house the “door face”, the importance of it is apparent to the Chinese, as they consider the gate of a building as if the face of a person.

The spectacular Tian’anmen Gate of the capital city Beijing

The iconic architecture of the ancient capital is the gate of the city and the imperial palace, especially the main gates. They are the timeless representations of the country and the historical tradition of Chinese civilization. There is a popular song that every Chinese household knows called “I Love the Tian’anmen Gate of Beijing”, in which the Tian’anmen Gate, in fact, resembles China, the country. Given the cultural and historical characteristics as stated above, the direction and number of the city and palace gates, the number of roads connected with the gates, and the geospatial relation of the gates and rads with the main palace buildings have become the crucial material carrier of the core national values. Such traditions and history could be traced back to the beginning of the Kingdom Age about four thousand years ago and have been passed on by each following generation.

2.1.2.3

Roads and City Divisions

Roads are the most basic and standard facility for daily life that can be seen in cities and villages. They are the foundation of transportation, hence deemed as the skeleton or framework of a city. Nevertheless, the roads in ancient Chinese capitals were different from the ones in regular cities. Such differences were decided by the

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particular geospatial form of the capital. Roads in the capital city also, of course, served as the foundation of transportation, but they contain implications of stringent social classification. Therefore, the streets of ancient Chinese capitals were endorsed with specific political characteristics. The social classification of the roads in the capital was not “born with” the city but developed with the advancement of society and political consolidation of the country. Take the streets directly connected with the city gate of Chang’an city of Han Dynasty as an example: The street was divided into three lanes, the middle of which was for the emperor, who represents the country, and the two on the left and right sides of which were for officials and civilians. Such arrangement emphasizes the principle of “zhong”, implying that the country is supreme and above everything else. The main roads in ancient Chinese capitals also served as the borderline of different functional zones. That’s where the “nine-longitude-and-nine-latitude” concept of roads was from as recorded in “Record of Trades” from Rites of Zhou. The evolution history of ancient Chinese capitals has demonstrated that the complexity of the road system is developed in synchronization with that of the division of zones for different functions. The “central axis” of the capital manifested in the form of roads is the essence of the Chinese ancient capital design. It had begun nearly four thousand years ago in the Kingdom Age in the form of having “dual-axis” in the city and eventually become the “single-axis” system (the central axis) in the Empire Age. The central axis of the capital city is the best epitome of the philosophy of “zhong he” in ancient China.

2.1.2.4

The Imperial Palace

The imperial palace was the essential platform for state political activities and the primary demonstration of geopolitics. The famous architecture archaeologist Yang Hongxun believes, The imperial palace symbolizes the power of the king (or emperor). No matter to which country, it is a special type of architecture. The construction of a palace integrates the civil engineering experience of the people and the formalized rules and regulations of the royal court. In China, it is an epitome of the extraction of traditional rituals and laws, etiquette and order, and culture and traditions. No other buildings can be a better resemblance of the dominant ideology, history and tradition of the society at the time-being than the imperial palace. There is a famous foreign saying that ‘architecture is the book of stones.’ When the society has become the past, the architectures born of it will be left to tell its stories, among which palaces are the best representation of the culture they were built by. By understanding the architectural history of palaces, we could have a vivid picture of how the conscious and form of dominant ideologies in the ancient society had evolved.2

2

Yang [2].

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35

The Painting of the Shengchun Poems About Capital Beijing, Qing Dynasty, Xu Yang. This was the work of the royal court artist Xu Yang of Qing Dynasty in the thirty-second year of the reign of Qianlong Emperor (1767 AD). It was a picturized reflection of the content in the twenty Chunsheng Poems written by the emperor himself. All the twenty poems were included in the painting. The origin of this artwork was stated at the bottom right corner by Xu Yang. The picture had adopted a bird-eye view for composition and combined the Chinese traditional cavalier perspective and the European linear perspective to recreate a panorama of Beijing city. The painter started from painting the street connecting Zhengyang Gate and went all the way through to the Forbidden City, Jingshan Mountain, the West Imperial Park, and Qionghua Island until finally stopped at the Temple of Heaven. He also included everything on the route into the picture so that the Beijing city of a few hundred years ago is fully and vividly recreated and recorded on paper, leaving precious image documentation for the later generations. This painting is a crucial document for the study of Beijing city in Qing Dynasty.

In the Kingdom Age, the palace and the ancestral temple of the ruling house formed the “dual-system politics” of a country. In contrast, in the Empire Age, the imperial palace had become the main material carrier of national politics, sharing

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more duty of political culture than the ancestral temple. That is due to the state geopolitics being regarded as more important than the consanguineous politics in the Chinese civilization of the Empire Age. The imperial palace in the capital of the Empire Age was also named as the “Purple Palace” or “Ziwei Palace”. Ancient Chinese astrologists divided the planets and stars into Three Enclosures, where the middle enclosure contains fifteen stars and is named “the Purple Palace”. The Purple Palace is where the Emperor of Heaven lives. The Weiyang Palace in the capital of the West Han Dynasty was also called “the Purple Palace”. The main structure of the imperial palace is the Great Main Hall for State Affairs.

2.1.2.5

The Government Offices

The central government offices in the ancient capital city were the political platform for conducting specific national political ruling, military instruction, economic administration and cultural etiquette activities. They had evolved and developed, from the Kingdom Age to the Empire Age, to become more focused on the political functions and increasingly important, the segmentations of duty has also become more specific and detailed. Starting from Capital Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty, the central government had built an “inner city” around the imperial palace, which was later called the “imperial city”. The development of capital cities from adopting the “dual-city” system as in the palace and the city to the “triple-city” system as in the palace, the imperial city (inner city) and the city is a genuine reflection of the development of history. The emergence of the “triple-city” system was the result of enhanced power and control of national government offices, which in turn reflects the strengthening of state geopolitics and the further maturity of national politics.

2.1.2.6

Ritual and Ceremonious Buildings

In order to maintain the reign, the ruling class in the past would build many ritual and ceremonious buildings near the capital city. Since they can facilitate the consolidation of the political power of the ruling house, maintain the national structure of social classification and promote the philosophy of “zhong he” (the integration of heaven and earth and the unification of family and country), all through the Chinese history, every ruling class had attached great importance to them and largely enriched the variation of such buildings.

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The altar for the gods of earth and harvest in Beijing Zhongshan Park. Beijing is said to have “nine altars and eight temples”. The nine altars refer to the Temple of Heaven, the Temple of Earth, the altar for crops (Qigu Tan), the altar of the morning sun (Zhaori Tan), the altar of the evening moon (Xiyue Tan), the altar for Taisui, the Temple of Agriculture, the altar for the god of silk (Xianchan Tan), and the altar for the gods of earth and harvest. These were the places where the emperors of Ming and Qing dynasties offered sacrifices and held ritual ceremonies. The eight temples, on the other hand, refer to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, the Fengxian Hall for Ancestral Worship, the Chuanxin Hall, the Shouhuang Hall, the Lama Temple (Yonghe Palace), the Tangzi Temple for Sacrifice, the Confucian shrine, and the temple for the great emperors in history. The altar for the gods of earth and harvest is located in the current Zhongshan Park. The picture shows the altar made of the five-colored earth and the Zhongshan Hall (or the shrine for worship). Sun Yat-Sen’s coffin used to be kept here temporarily in 1925. The shrine was renamed as “the Zhongshan Hall” in 1928.

The ritual and ceremonious buildings in ancient Chinese capitals mainly included the imperial ancestral temple, the altar for the gods of earth and harvest, the Bright Hall, the Biyong tunnel, the Heavenly Terrace, the Temple of Heaven (round-shaped), and the Temple of Earth (square-shaped). Religious buildings were not included, which was a major difference from the ancient capital culture in the western world. In the ancient time of the West, the temple of God (or cathedrals) stood in an equal position with the palace. In certain aspects, the religious temple or the church in the capital city obtained an even higher authority over the palace (the national political platform). From the un-fractured five-thousand-year history of Chinese civilization, one can see the clear progress of the shaping and enhancement of the idea of “country”, the very essence of which was best demonstrated by the evolvement of the ritual and ceremonious buildings.

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Residential Area for Nobility and Civilians

Due to the varied financial conditions and political positions of the residents of the capital city, the scale and distribution area of residential houses were very different. Those who were rich with higher political rankings usually lived close to the imperial palace and the imperial city. In contrast, those who were poor or with low political rankings often lived far away from the palace and the imperial city. For example, houses of the nobility of Han Dynasty spread around the north gate and the east side of Weiyang Palace. They were called “the top residential area near the northern palace gate” and “on the eastern side of the palace”. The nobility and senior officials’ houses in Tang Dynasty were mainly arranged on the east and west of the imperial palace as well as the inner city while civilians resided further away from the inner city. Although the location of residential houses varied according to their financial and political conditions, the principle of “zhong he” as reflected in the layout of the houses was mainly the same. Taking the central axis of the house as an example: The main room (or central room) is built in the middle of the north side of the house courtyard, opposite the front gate. The line connecting the main room and the front gate forms the central axis of the courtyard, emphasizing the prominent and respected position of the head (or elders) of a household for they lived in the main room. Rooms of the east and west wings of the house were symmetrically built on the two sides of the south–north central axis of the yard, as a reflection of the ideology of “he”. The idea of “zhong” and “he” was organically integrated into the dwelling house, which is the epitome of the same concept adopted in the capital construction.

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The traditional Chinese courtyard house has passed on the commitment of applying the “zhong he” philosophy in dwellings

2.1.2.8

The Axis of the Capital City

The axis is the core cultural gene of ancient Chinese capitals. It demonstrates the philosophy of “zhong” which refers to the ideology of putting the benefit of the country in the supreme center of everything. Such a principle acts as a powerful guarantee to the five-thousand-year un-fractured Chinese civilization.

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The Yangshan coordinate point of the central axis of Beijing

The axis of ancient Chinese capitals develops alongside time. From the “dualaxis” of the Kingdom Age to “the central axis” of the Empire Age, the concept of “zhong” was concentrated in and demonstrated by the axis of the capital city. In the Kingdom Age, state politics was a dual-system as the combination of consanguineous politics and geopolitics. Therefore, the axis of the capital was also a “dual-system”. Entering the Empire Age, the focus of state politics had gradually shifted to geopolitics while consanguineous politics resigned to the supportive role, which promoted the formation of the “central axis” of the capitals. Such a single system had had its basic form established in the Luoyang capital city of Northern Wei Dynasty, which was a demonstration of the advancement of the ideology of “country”. It is evidential that the cohesion and sense of national identification of China have been increasing through the five-thousand-year civilization history. The transformation of the capital axis design from the “dual-system” to the “single system” was based on the cultural gene of “the unification of family and country”. Substantial archaeological evidence shows that the layout of the traditional house courtyard in

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China was consistent with that of the imperial palace where the head of the household was designed to live in the main structure of the house that usually is the middle of the courtyard. This is the same as the Great Main Hall for State Affairs being placed in the middle of the palace. The idea of stressing the central axis of the capital and house in ancient China was embedded in the strong recognition of the national identity of the people.

Schematic diagram of the central axis of Beijing city. The central axis of Beijing city in the Ming and Qing dynasties had the Great Main Hall for State Affairs as the coordinate point and stretched south through the palace, the imperial city and the front gates of the capital city (the Meridian Gate, Tian’anmen Gate, Zhengyang Gate, and Yongding Gate) and north through the northern palace gate, the Jingshan Mountain to reach the Bell and Drum Tower. The linear distance of the whole central axis was about 7.8 km.

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2.1.3 Track History of the Development of Ancient Capitals The track history of the ancient Chinese capitals was mainly in line and in sync with the development of the un-fractured civilization of China. Capital cities were becoming increasingly complicated, which, as the epitome of the country they represented, were closely correlated with the evolvement of the country. The changes and development of a country can be reflected by the evolvement of state administrative organizations, with which the key changes of ancient capital design had coincided. The “design of ancient capitals” mentioned above refers to the single-, dual-, and triple-city systems adopted by the capital cities through history. From the tribe countries in the era of the five emperors to the kingdoms in the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, the area of a country had been enlarging while the state mechanism was becoming more complicated. As the central administrative platform, the capital must develop accordingly with the advancement of the country. Such a pattern was reflected by the transformation of the single-city system to the dual-city system and the triple-city system along with the development of history from Xia, Shang, and Zhou to the Qin and Han dynasties as well as the later dynasties such as Ming and Qing. The composition of the ruling synergy of a country had also changed from a system of shared importance between consanguineous politics and geopolitics, in the Tribe Country Era and the Kingdom Age, to one that geopolitics took the dominant position while consanguineous politics served as a supportive role in the Empire Age. The geospatial location of the imperial palace and the ancestral temple of the ruling house had also changed significantly. The ancestral temple once placed inside the imperial city of the Kingdom Age was moved out of it in the Empire Age, leaving only the imperial palace as the main structures of the imperial city. The Empire Age had the Great Main Hall for State Affairs in the palace as the center of both the capital and the imperial city, which demonstrates that the country was the “center (zhong)” of the world under its ruling. The insist of the grand unification of a country that has the ideology of “zhong” as its core is materialized and passed on to generations through the layout and design of the capital city, which is another material carrier of the core cultural gene of the un-fractured Chinese civilization.

2.2 From the Forbidden City in Beijing to Ancient Capital of the Era of the Five Emperors Ancient Chinese capital cities are the critical material carriers for studying and explaining the un-fracture Chinese civilization; therefore, understanding the history of their development is crucial. Given the long-lasting Chinese culture, the older the history is, the vaguer people’s memory and recognition of it becomes. The epistemology of science is to explore the unknown based on the known, so is the science of history. Thus, this book is going to discover and discuss the history of ancient

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Chinese capital development by backtracking from the latest examples to the oldest known ones in order to explore the unknown based on the known.

2.2.1 Beijing City of the Ming and Qing Dynasties The Ming Dynasty Beijing city was built on the foundation of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, Khanbaliq, in the fifteenth year of the Period of Yongle (1417 CE). The majority of it had been maintained in the Qing Dynasty with only a few changes.

2.2.1.1

The Forbidden City

The Forbidden City was built facing the south of Beijing in the eighteenth year of the Yongle Period of Ming (1420 CE) and had been the imperial palace for the royal family of both the Ming and Qing dynasties. The imperial palace is the political center of the ancient capital and a symbol of the country, which is why it has still been attracting a large population of visitors each year in the 21st century. In terms of the number of visitors annually to the museums in China, the Forbidden City museum stays undoubtedly at the top. Such a phenomenon is a tribute to the country’s history and culture as identified and admired by the Chinese people. The Forbidden City of Beijing is a widely known icon of China and has been included in the very first batch of the “Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level” list approved by the National Congress of the People’s Republic of China. It is also among the first range of the “World Cultural Heritage” as announced by UNESCO in 1987. The supreme position of the Forbidden City in China and the world is earned by the precious nature of it being an outstanding extraction of Chinese history and culture.

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Schematic floor plan view of Beijing in Ming and Qing dynasties. In Qing Dynasty, the southern area of Beijing was arranged as the “outer city”, whereas the northern area was the inner city. The two areas were divided by the street stretching east and west outside the Zhengyang Gate. There were three city gates built parallelly on the south wall of the outer city, the middle of which was Yongding Gate. It was not only the main front gate of the outer city but also that of Beijing city. It stood at the other end of the south–north street connecting the south gate of the inner city—Zhengyang Gate. East to the south–north street, there sits the Temple of Heaven while on the west side, there is the Temple of Agriculture.

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In the middle of the inner city of Beijing built the imperial city, of which the front gate—the well-known Tian’anmen Gate was first built in the fifteenth year of the Yongle Period of Ming. It was named as “Chengtian Gate” in Ming, same as the famous palace gate of the imperial palace of Chang’an capital of the Tang Dynasty. It was changed to be “Tian’anmen” in the eighth year of the Shunzhi Period of Qing and has become a symbolic architecture of China. The Chang’an Street stretching east and west in front of Tian’anmen Gate is thus called “the first street of China”. There is one gate on each side of the wall of the Forbidden City, namely the Donghua Gate (east), Xihua Gate (west), the Meridian Gate (south), and the Gate of Divine Prowess (north). The Meridian Gate is the front gate and the first gate to enter the imperial palace. Between the Meridian Gate and Tian’anmen, it is named “Duanmen”. On the two sides of the south–north street connecting Tian’anmen and the south palace gate—or the Meridian Gate—there is the imperial ancestral temple on the east and the altar for the gods of earth and harvest on the west. Together, they formed the tradition of having “the ancestral temple on the left and the altar for gods of earth and harvest on the right” as recorded in Rituals of Zhou. The Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City is built with three lanes and two watchtowers, but there are two additional lanes on the left and right side of the gate, forming, in fact, five lanes in total. The standard configuration of “one gate with three lanes” set for capital and imperial palace gates (especially the main gate of the palace) in the ancient time had been modified in the Tang Dynasty when the front gate “Mingde” of Chang’an and the front gate “Danfeng” of Daming Palace were built with five lanes. Ever since then, most of the gates of the capital and imperial palace in the following dynasties had adapted to the “one gate with five lanes” configuration. To view from the outside, the Meridian Gate of the imperial palace of Beijing seems to have only three lanes, but there are two “side gates” with one lane connecting to each built on the side of the left and right lanes of the front gate, hence the gate is built with five lanes in total.

Façade of the Meridian Gate. The Meridian Gate was first built in the eighteenth year of the Yongle Period of Ming. It was rebuilt in the fourth year of the Shunzhi Period of Qing (1647 CE) and renovated again in the sixth year of the Jiaqing Period of Qing (1801 CE). The gate consists of two sections, one on top of the other. The lower section is a 12-m-high abutment, on which there are three gates with one side gate beside the left and right gate each, forming the commonly referred

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structure of “three main lanes with two side lanes”. The five gates all had their unique purpose. The central gate was for the access of the emperor only but with two exceptions: one is for the marriage sedan chair or carriage of the empress to enter the palace on the emperor’s wedding day; the other is for nominees of the top, second and third position in the highest-level imperial examinations to exit the palace after the exam result was announced. The east lane was for the access of ministers and officials while the west lane was for nobility and lines of the royal family. The two side gates were only to be open for big events.

The Forbidden City was once called “the Purple Forbidden City”, which is the common name used by Chinese civilians to refer to the imperial city or palace in the ancient time.

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Schematic floor plan view of the Forbidden City. The width of the Forbidden City is 753 m, and the length is 961 m. The wall surrounding the palace is 10 m high.

The center of the southern part of the palace is formed by three important halls, namely the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony, and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. They belong to the outer court of the palace where state affairs were administrated. The northern part of the palace is the inner court, including the emperor’s bed chamber and facilities for entertainment and activities. Such layout is following the principle of “front for state affairs and back for residence”. The eastern side of the imperial city is called the “outer east section” where the Palace of Peace

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and Longevity is the main building; the west side is called the “outer west section” where the Palace of Compassion and Tranquillity is the main building. Such model of the imperial city could be found in the Wei and Jin dynasties, at the Luoyang capital of Northern Wei and the capitals of the Sui and Tang dynasties. The most important structure of the Forbidden City is the Hall of Supreme Harmony. It is the main hall of the “Three Great Halls” of the palace or, in other words, the “the Golden Throne Room” as to how the civilians called it. The Hall of Supreme Harmony was at first named as “the Hall of Serving the Heaven’s Order” or “the Hall of Imperial Supremacy”, and then changed to its current name by the Emperor Shunzhi of Qing in the second year of his reign (1645 CE). The name was derived from the “The Tuan Commentary of the Heaven Hexagram” from The Book of Changes (Tuan Zhuan · Qian Gua · Zhou Yi): The way of heaven changes according to nature’s rules, giving all lives their unique ability and length of life, and ensuring the supreme harmony of all seasons and weathers to nurture everything on the earth. Such is the righteous way of heaven.

Hall of Supreme Harmony. The Hall of Supreme Harmony is also known as “the Golden Throne Room”, one of the three great halls of the Forbidden City of Beijing. It was built in the eighteenth year of the Yongle Period of Ming but had been damaged in a few fire accidents. The existing Hall of Supreme Harmony today was the renovated version in the thirty-fourth year of the Kangxi Period of Qing (1695 CE). It has a hip-roof with double-layered eaves and sits on a ring of white marble steps of three levels. The hall is painted with colored dragon patterns. It has a facial width (length) of 60 m, a throat (width) of 33 m, and a total construction area of 2377 m2 , which is the largest building of the highest hierarchy in the Forbidden City.

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As the Great Main Hall for State Affairs, the Hall of Supreme Harmony is placed in the center. It is also on the highest ground and at the forefront of the palace out of the three. It sat at the very heart of the Forbidden City and used to have the top vertical length among other buildings of the court and Beijing city. Being positioned at the “forefront” means there is no other structures in front of it other than the palace gate (from the façade of the hall to the south, there are successively the Gate of Supreme Harmony, the Meridian Gate, Duanmen, Tian’anmen, Zhengyang Gate and the south gate of Beijing city Yongding Gate). The concept of having the Great Main Hall for State Affairs at the foremost position of the imperial palace could be traced back to the Qin and Han dynasties as reflected by the naming of it. In particular, Emperor Qin Shi Huang named the main hall of Epang Palace as “the Front Hall”, which was also the name given by Emperor Gaozu of Han to his main hall in Weiyang Palace after moving the capital to Chang’an. The Hall of Supreme Harmony together with the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony further up in the north form the “Three Great Halls” of an ancient palace and is a critical historical tradition of the Chinese ancient capital design. The name of the Hall of Central Harmony came from “Doctrine of the Mean” from Book of Rites where it says: The central position is the prime foundation of the world; harmony is the common rule that all things follow.

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Hall of Central Harmony. The Hall of Central Harmony was in between the Hall of Supreme Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony. It is the place for the emperor to rest and greet administers before attending a great even in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The hall is 19-m tall and of square shape with a pyramidal roof and four-cornered single eave. The roof is covered by yellow glazed tiles, and the tented rooftop is made of a copper ball gilded with gold. There are gates on each of the four sides of the hall, with the façade having 12 partition doors decorated with complicated latticework and the east, north, and west sides having four partition doors each. There are one stair steps on the left and right side of the hall each and three stair steps on the front and back of the hall each. The middle stair of the three at the front and back were carved with the royal relief pattern of a dragon among clouds while the step stones and the drooping belt stone are carved light scroll grass patterns.

Hall of Preserving Harmony. The Hall of Preserving Harmony was at first named as “Jin Shen Dian (Palace of Prudence)” and then changed to be “Jianji Palace” in the forty-first year of the Jiajing Period of Ming (1562 CE). It was not until the second year of the Shunzhi Period of Qing that the hall was given its current name. “Preserving harmony (Bao He)” was quoted from the The Book of Changes meaning “to keep one’s spirit and mind concentrated and unified to maintain the harmony of all things under heaven”. The hall has a facial width (length) of about 53 m and a throat (width) of 37 m with the construction area being 1240 m2 and a height of 29.5 m. It adopts the East Asian hip-and-gable roof with dual-eaves which is covered with yellow glazed tiles. On each corner of the dual-eaves, there is a row of nine small statues of celestial beasts. The upper eave is built with complicated seven-layered dougong structure while the lower built with five-layered dougong structure.

Both the name of the Hall of Preserving Harmony and the Hall of Supreme Harmony are derived from “The Tuan Commentary of the Heaven Hexagram” from The Book of Changes (Tuan Zhuan · Qian Gua · Zhou Yi). The “Three Great Halls” is an extraction of the traditional Chinese philosophy of “zhong he”.

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North to the Forbidden City lays the Jingshan Mountain while on the west there is a district of royal lakes and parks made of “the northern sea”, “the central sea”, and “the southern sea”. The “northern sea” together with “middle sea” here, in fact, was once called the “Taiye Lake” of Khanbaliq in the Yuan Dynasty. However, it wasn’t built in Yuan but with an even longer history. Islands as the dwellings for “deities” and “celestial spirits” were also built in the middle of the “seas”, including “Yingzhou”, “Penglai”, and “Fangzhang”. Such “seas” in the palace remind us of the “Lake of Four Seas (Sihai Chi)” built in the north of the imperial palace of Chang’an in the Tang Dynasty.

2.2.1.2

The Old Summer Palace (Yuanming Yuan)

The northwest area of Beijing city used to be the district for imperial gardens and parks. It contains “three hills and five gardens” which include Changchun Garden, the Old Summer Palace, Qingyi Garden on Wanshou Hill, Jingming Garden on Yuquan Hill, and Jingyi Garden on Xiangshan Hill. Except that the summer palace was a formal royal palace in the summer, the other four were more of royal mansions for the occasional, temporary stay of the royal family. Some structures or courtyards of the “Forty Scenes of the Yuanmingyuan”, such as those named as “Hall of Rectitude and Honor”, the governmental office court “Qinzheng Qinxian”, the Emperor’s Private Residence, the “Jade Terrace of Paradise Island” as well as the great red gate, the halls of preserving harmony and supreme harmony of the summer palace, and the “Platform of Receiving Heavenly Dew”, were designed according to the configuration of an imperial palace.

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Schematic floor plan view of the Old Summer Palace. The Old Summer Palace is also called the “The Three Gardens of Perfect Brightness”, which consists of the Garden of Perfect Brightness, the Garden of Eternal Spring and the Garden of Elegant Spring. The total area of the palace was 3.5 km2 and contained over 150 scenes, which earned it the title of “Garden of the Gardens”. Every summer, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty would move to live here to avoid the heat and manage state affairs and matters of politics and military instead of the imperial palace, hence the “Summer Palace”. During the period of Emperor Qianlong, artists of the royal court Shen Yuan and his colleagues had painted the “Forty Scenes of the Yuanmingyuan”, leaving later generations the precious account of the gorgeous scenery of Yuanming Yuan. The two painting copies on the right are the “Hall of Rectitude and Honor” and the governmental office court “Qinzheng Qinxian”.

The court area of the Summer Palace started from the Great Screen Wall at the south and extended toward the north through the central axis where the Great Palace Gate. The second palace gate, the Hall of Rectitude and Honor and the Emperor’s Private Residence (Jiuzhou Qingyan) is laid out one after another. North of the palace court area is the “Jiuzhou” scenery district, where nine islands representing “the unification of the nine continents to create a harmonious world” lay. The emperors of Qing had been living and working in the Summer Palace for over 140 years in total. The grand scale and magnificent scenery of it reminds us of Huaqing Palace and the Huaqing Hot Spring Bath of the Tang Dynasty built at the foot of the Lishan Mountain east to the Chang’an city, as depicted in the well-known long poem “Song of Everlasting Regret” of the famous Tang poet Bai Juyi. The Old Summer Palace is, in fact, the “second forbidden city” of the Qing Dynasty Beijing.

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“The Hall of Rectitude and Honor” in the Forty Scenes of the Yuanmingyuan, Qing Dynasty, by Shen Yuan and Co.

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“Qinzheng Qinxian (Diligent and Talented Government)” in the Forty Scenes of the Yuanmingyuan, Qing Dynasty, by Shen Yuan and Co.

2.2.1.3

Chengde Mountain Resort

Another summer palace in the Qing Dynasty—the Chengde Mountain Resort— locates on the west bank of the Wulie River in Chengde City of Hebei Province. The area size of it is 560 ha. The resort was built during the Period of Emperor Kangxi and Qianlong. The reason for it being classified as a “palace” is that the scale and design of layout as in “front for state affairs and back for residence” is the same as the imperial palace in Beijing. It has the Meridian Gate, the main palace gate, and the Hall of Simplicity and Piety similar to the Great Main Hall for State Affairs of the Forbidden City. They formed the central axis of the summer palace from the palace

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gate to the main hall and called “the frontcourt”; it also has a “backcourt” in which the main structure is the Hall of Cooling and Refreshing Water for residence. Most of the other facilities in Chengde Mountain Resort are parks and gardens, which is very similar to the Palace of Benevolence and Longevity and Jiucheng Palace near the capital of the Sui and Tang dynasties. The only difference is that the emperors of Qing called it a “mountain resort” instead of “palace”. To trace further back in history, we could find another palace of the same purpose in the West Han Dynasty named the “Palace of Sweet Spring (or Ganquan Palace)”. It was one of the four great palaces in capital Chang’an (Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, Jianzhang Palace, and Ganquan Palace in that era). As for the ritual and ceremonious buildings of Beijing city in the Ming and Qing dynasties including the imperial ancestral temple, the altar for the gods of earth and harvest, the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth, they assemble the essence of such buildings of ancient China. The core ethos of the Qing Dynasty ruling house was the Jurchens from the northeast region of China, whose descendant Nurhaci had established the Later Jin Dynasty, which is commonly referred as “the former Qing Dynasty”. It is called the Later Jin in order to differentiate from the Jin Dynasty between the later Song and Yuan dynasties. When Nurhaci’s son Hong Taiji succeeded the throne, he changed the name of the dynasty as “Qing”. In 1644, Emperor Shizu of Qing Fulin succeeded the throne. He named the reign as “Shunzhi” and chose Beijing as the capital city. Although the ruling house of Qing was from a minor ethnic group in northern China, the design and construction of their capital, a symbol of the state culture, had fully inherited the configuration and regulation of the Ming Dynasty, as the integration and inheritance of such culture.

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Painting of Chengde Mountain Resort, Qing Dynasty, by Leng Mei. A collection of the Forbidden Palace Museum. The rightmost side of the scenery in the painting includes the Wulie River and part of the mountain areas in the east while the leftmost side stretches to the Xiling Mountain area. From the starting hall of “Pine Rustling from All Gullies” all the way to the north, the surrounding elegant mountains and the main buildings and natural scenery of the extended lake area and meadow area rolls out in front of our eyes, demonstrating the excellent summarizing ability and artistic skills of Leng Mei. It is a painting of profound historical and artistic value. The green mountains in the picture embrace the resort that hides under the shadow of woods; a stream of clear spring flows from the mountain in the background into the palace, filling up the wavy lake and nourishing the blossoming lotus flowers; willow trees, pavilions, chambers, halls, and towers are built along the bank and on the islands according to terrain either scattered or gathered.

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2.2.2 The Capital of the Yuan Dynasty 2.2.2.1

Khanbaliq

In the tenth year of the reign of Genghis Khan (the third year of the reign Zhenyou of Jin, 1215 CE), Mongolian armies invaded the city Zhongdu of Jin and took control of it. They changed the city name to be “Yanjing” and built Daxing Governor House on the Yanjing Road. In the first year of the Yuan Dynasty (1264 CE), the emperor decided to set Yanjing as its capital and changed the name back to Zhongdu. However, he gave up the city in the fourth year of Yuan (1267 CE) and found a new place in the northeast suburb area to build the capital. The Yuan Dynasty had officially established its rule in the central plain in the eighth year of Yuan (1271 CE), and in the ninth year (1272 CE), it had changed the name of the capital city as “Khanbaliq”. The main coordinator of the project was Liu Binzhong, under whose administration Yeheidie’erding instructed the actual construction work of the capital. Participants who had monitored the process included Zhao Binwen, Zhang Rou, Zhang Honglue, Duan Tianyou, Yesubuhua (Mongolian), Gaoxi (Jurchen), Yang Qiong, and so on. Khanbaliq had consisted of the outer circle of the city, the imperial city, and the imperial palace. West to the imperial city was the Taiye Lake and the imperial gardens and parks. The capital city was divided by the south–north axis (where north to the Drum Tower was divided by the central vertical axis of the city while south to which was divided by the central axis of the imperial palace and its extension), the east side of which belongs to Daxing County while the west side belongs to Wanping County. Such urban management system that divides the capital into the east and west administrative districts along the south–north central axis of the city was believed to have existed in the Sui and Tang dynasties. It is known that the Chang’an capital city of Tang was administratively and geospatially divided into “Wannian” county in the east and “Chang’an” county in the west by the city’s south–north central axis the great “Zhuque Street” or “the Street of the Scarlet Bird”.

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Schematic floor plan view of Khanbaliq. The two-dimensional shape of Khanbaliq was nearly a square. The east, west, south, and north city walls were of 7590 m, 7600 m, 6680 m, and 6730 m length respectively. There were in total 11 gates on the city walls, among which three were on the eastern, western, and southern walls each and two on the northern wall. Inside the imperial city, the palace was located on the east, which was also called the “inner imperial city” or “the inner east (dong nei)” or “the great inner place (da nei)”. West to the imperial palace, there was the Taiye Lake, west to which there were two smaller palaces named “Xing Sheng (prosperous and wise)” and “Long Fu (great blessings)”, which were integrally called “the west inner place (xi nei)”. North to the imperial palace was the royal garden. The east–west width of the imperial palace was about 740 m while the south–north length was around 947 m. The scale of size was similar to the Beijing Forbidden City Palace of the Ming and Qing dynasties. There were six gates on the four sides of the palace walls, among which the main palace gate on the south “Cong Tian” was built with five lanes according to the configuration of the royal palace. There were two watchtowers outside the main gate and connected to form a “凹” shape, namely “the watchtower gates (que men)” of “the Sanchu Que” which means the triple-set watchtowers (one main watchtower with two side ones, also named “San-duo Lou” in the “Records”). The two watchtowers were also named as “the two observers”

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as recorded in the important Yuan Dynasty literature titled Records Compiled after Returning from the Farm (Chuo Geng Lu) and “the corner towers” in the book of A Record of the Imperial Palace Legacy of Yuan. The eastern and western palace gates were named “Donghua Gate” and “Xihua Gate” respectively, built with three lanes each. The northern gate “Houzai Gate” had only one lane.

The central axis of Khanbaliq stretched south- and northward, on which the architectures aligned successively from south to north were the main capital city gate “Li Zheng”, the main imperial city gate “Ling Xing”, the main palace gate “Cong Tian”, “Daming Gate”, the “Daming Hall”, “Yanchun Gate”, “Yanchun Pavillion”, “Yude Hall”, “Chenqing Hall”, “Houzai Gate”, the “Red Houzai Gate” of the imperial city and all the way to the “Central Terrace”.

Ruins of the old Khanbaliq wall

Yuan was a state political power built by the Mongolian ethnic group in northern China. Though still Nomadic, when they broad the stage of the supreme political power of China (the capital city) as a member of the Chinese nation, the Mongolians inherited the accumulated philosophy of capital construction from all the previous Chinese dynasties and reflected it in every detail of Khanbaliq. The name of city gates of Khanbaliq is an obvious demonstration of the recognition of the Chinese tradition, history and culture of the rulers of Yuan. All the 11 city gates were named in the traditional Chinese style with profound historical and cultural connotation. Some scholars have researched and found that the names are all adapted from the commentaries for elements in the 64 hexagrams as recorded in “The Book of Changes”—the “king of all books”.

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2.2.2.2

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The South City Wall

The center gate: The name “Li Zheng” means “follow the righteous way”. It was adapted from a statement in “The Tuan Commentary of the Trigram of Flame” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Li Gua · Tuan Zhuan) which says that “Both the sun and the moon shine according to the righteous way of the world, only then the world is enlightened and civilization is born”. The gate on the east: The name “Wen Ming” which means “civilized” was adapted from a statement in “The Tuan Commentary of the Trigram of Great Possessing” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Dayou Gua · Tuan Zhuan) that “the nature of it is strong in virtue and civilized”. The gate on the west: The name “Shun Cheng” which means “representing the will of heaven” was adapted from a statement in “The Tuan Commentary of the Trigram of Earth” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Dayou Gua · Tuan Zhuan)” that “Great is the kun (Earth) hexagram! All things owe their existence to kun, since it represents the will of Heaven” (according to “the Later Heaven arrangements of the eight trigrams”, “kun” is in the southwest).

2.2.2.3

The East City Wall

The center gate: The name “Cong Ren” means “pursuing benevolence”. It was adapted from the meaning of a statement in “Commentary on Words of Text” from The Book of Changes that says “A man of virtue, embodying benevolence, can preside over others”. The gate on the south: The name “Qi Hua” means “growing together in order and neatly”. It was adapted from a statement in “Commentary on Divination” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Shuo Gua Zhuan) that says “(all things) grow in order together in the direction of Xun (wind), which refers to the southeast position” (according to “the Later Heaven arrangements of the eight trigrams”, “xuan” is in the southeast). The gate on the north: The name “Guang Xi” means “bright and prosperous”. It was adapted from a statement in “The Tuan Commentary of the Trigram of Mountain” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Gen Gua · Tuan Zhuan) that says “The gen (mountain) hexagram means to stop … (only in this way) can its way be bright and smooth” (according to “the Later Heaven arrangements of the eight trigrams”, “gen” is in the northeast).

2.2.2.4

The West City Wall

The center gate: The name “He Yi” which means “conform with righteousness” was adapted from the meaning of a statement in “Commentary on Words of Text” from The Book of Changes that “Bringing benefits to all, he is able to conform with righteousness”.

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The gate on the south: The name “Ping Ze” means “smooth and lawful”. It was adapted from a statement in “The Xiang Commentary of the Trigram of Humbling” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Qian Gua · Xiang Zhuan) that says “Nothing will be unachieved as long as one strives forward while staying modest since that keeps one away from violating the laws and rules”. The gate on the north: The name “Su Qing” implies a sense of coldness and intensity.

2.2.2.5

The North City Wall

The gate on the east: The name “An Zhen” means “peace and righteousness”. It was adapted from a statement in “The Trigram of Arguing” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Song Gua) that says “Failed the lawsuit and go back to one’s original state; if making peace with oneself and following the righteous way, one can have good luck and be blessed”. The gate on the west: The name “Jian De” means “vigorous with virtue”. It was adapted from a statement in “The Xiang Commentary of the Trigram of Heaven” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Qian Gua · Xiang Zhuan) that says “Just as heaven keeps moving forward vigorously, a man of virtue should strive continuously to strengthen himself” (according to “the Later Heaven arrangements of the eight trigrams”, the “qian (heaven)” hexagram is in the northwest).3 The form and configuration of the main palace gate “Cong Tian” as in “one main gate with five lanes” and two watchtowers were significantly influenced by the “Yingtian Gate” of the Jurchen palace in Zhongdu city, the main palace gate “Xuan De” of Song imperial palace in the capital city Dongjing and the main gate “Danfeng” of Daming Palace in capital Chang’an of Tang. The form and configuration of the Meridian Gate of the Forbidden City, on the other hand, could be traced back to the “Cong Tian Gate” as discussed here, which is evidential that such principles were handed down from one stem. The Daming Hall structures were a rectangle courtyard with the long side pointing south and north and enclosed by long corridor-shaped halls and rooms on the four sides. On each corner, there was a tower. In the center of the south side built the Daming Gate. “Daming Hall is the formal official venue for the coronation, New Year’s celebration, emperor’s birthday celebration and meetings for state affairs” (quoted from Records Compiled after Returning from the Farm). The royal garden was built north to the palace, south to which there sat the Houzai Gate, north to which there was the Red Houzai Gate, and west of which laid the Taiye Lake. There were walls built around the garden. The Taiye Lake is located west of the imperial palace, which is what we know as “the north sea” and “the central sea” today. The size of the lake is about 80 ha. The Jurchen Jin had built a Daning Palace near it. The Qionghua Island in the middle of the lake was renamed “Wansui Hill” or “the Hill of Longevity” in Yuan. The round 3

Xia [3].

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islet was once called “Yingzhou” but is now named as “Tuancheng (the round city)”. Most of the architecture was gathered on Wansui Hill and the round islet. The rulers of Yuan attached great importance to the ritual and ceremonious buildings in Khanbaliq. At the beginning of the fourth year of the reign of Zhongtong of Yuan (1263 AD), the emperor built an imperial ancestral temple in the old capital Yanjing. Then he made another imperial ancestral temple inside the Qi Hua Gate and the altar for the gods of earth and harvest inside the Ping Ze Gate. In the twelfth year of Yuan (1275 AD), Kublai set up an altar for gods of heaven and earth at about seven li (around 3500 m) outside the capital southeast of Lizheng Gate. In the ninth year of the reign of Dadeng of Emperor Chengzong of Yuan (1305 AD), the “Temple of Heaven” had been officially built in the southern suburb area of Khanbaliq outside the current Yongding Gate of Beijing. The position of the temple concerning the capital city of Yuan could be referred to that of Chang’an city of Tang. The official educational institutions in Khanbaliq were the Imperial Academies, including the “Mongolian Imperial Academy” and the “Hui’s Imperial Academy”. In the Yuan Dynasty, the imperial academies were combined with the Confucian Temple (called the “temple academy” and “academic palace”). They formed the configuration of “temple on the left and academy on the right” (meaning the Confucian Temple was built on the east side of the imperial academy). The Khanbaliq Confucian Temple was built in the tenth year of the reign of Dadeng of Yuan (1306 AD), in which the statue of Confucius was set up for worship. The famous philosopher and scholar were endowed with the title “Dacheng Zhisheng Wenxuan Wang” by the Yuan emperors, which means “the Great Saint of Education and Teaching”, and offering sacrifices to remember and worship this great saint had become one essential component of the state rituals. In the first year of the reign of Zhida of Yuan (1308 AD), the imperial academies were built which had later become the Directorate of Education and the Confucius Temple.

2.2.2.6

Shangdu City of Yuan

Before the construction of Khanbaliq, Kublai had already ordered Chancellor Liu Binzhong to build a city on the north bank of the Lightening River at the east of the Plain Blue Banner Town of Dundahot of Xilingol League in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and named it as “Kaiping”. In the first year of the reign of Zhongtong of Yuan (1260 AD), Kublai ascended the throne of Khan in Kaiping city (the officially known “Emperor Shizu of Yuan”) and established the name of reign “Zhongtong”. In the fourth year under the rule of Kublai Khan, Kaiping was promoted to be Shangdu (also known as “Shangjing” and “Luanjing”) conducting the administrative and political duty of a capital city. The capital was moved to Khanbaliq in the eleventh year of Yuan (1274 AD). Since then, all the emperors of Yuan would move to Shangdu for a temporary stay from April to August or September to escape the summer heat. They would process state affairs, issue political orders, organize meetings with princes and ministers, hold hunting events, sacrificial rituals,

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and coronation ceremonies. Therefore, Shangdu had become the “summer capital” of Yuan.

Schematic floor plan view of Shangdu of Yuan. Shangdu consisted of the outer city, the imperial city, and the imperial palace. The imperial city was built in the southeast of the outer city, while the palace was located slightly on the north of the center of the imperial city. The outer city was square-shaped with each side being 2220 m long. The imperial city was also square-shaped with the side length being 1400 m. There were gates built on each side of the imperial city, among which the south gate “Mingde” was connected with a 25-m-wide royal street stretching north through the imperial palace, forming the central axis of both the imperial city and palace. The shape of the palace was nearly square with the south–north side length being 605 m and the east–west side length being 542 m. The south, west, and east sides of the palace were all built with a gate in the middle of the wall. The “Yutian Gate” on the south was the main access to the imperial palace. The eastern and western gates of the palace were named “Donghua Gate” and “Xihua Gate” respectively. The vertical street inside connecting Yutian Gate was the central axis of the imperial palace. The Da’an Hall built on this central axis was the Great Main Hall for State Affairs of Yuan—the foundation of

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which was also nearly square-shaped with the east–west side length being 33 m and south–north side length being 34 m.

The form and configurations of Shangdu had, in many aspects, inherited the capital design tradition in ancient China that “sees square shape as more supreme”, so that the outer city, the imperial city and the palace were all built with square or near-square shape. Both of the southern gates of the four imperial city gates and that of the three palace gates were set as the main gate. The central axis of Shangdu can be seen clearly. It is obvious that many of the traditional cultural elements of ancient Chinese capitals demonstrated by Khanbaliq had already been applied in the construction of Shangdu.

2.2.2.7

Zhongdu City of Yuan

As a product of the political power struggle among Yuan’s royal court, Zhongdu city had taken reference to the design of Khanbaliq and built in the form of a “matryoshka set” of cities including the outer city, the imperial city, and the imperial palace. The two-dimensional shape of Zhongdu was very similar to that of Shangdu and Khanbaliq, except there was one gate built in the middle of each side of the palace like Khanbaliq but different from Shangdu (where there was no gate on the northern wall of the imperial palace). The main structures of the Zhongdu imperial palace were placed on the central axis, and the overall layout of the palace was similar to Khanbaliq but different from Shangdu.

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Model of the imperial palace of Zhongdu city. The imperial palace of Zhongdu of Yuan was built roughly at the center of the outer city. It was a near-square shape of approximately 600-m side length. There were gates on all the four sides of the palace, of which the south gate was built with two watchtowers and three lanes. The imperial city was 928 m long (south–north) and 779 m wide (east–west) with a perimeter of 3414 m. The south gate of the imperial city was also built with three lanes. The outer city that surrounded the imperial city was 3088 m long (south–north) and 2994 m wide (east–west) with a perimeter of 12,164 m.

By comparing the form and design of Zhongdu, Shangdu, and Khanbaliq of Yuan, it is evident that Zhongdu city, as an icon of political nature, had considered the inheritance of the capital culture as a critical asset in the political struggle.

2.2.3 Capital Cities of the Liao and Jin Dynasties 2.2.3.1

Shangjing of Liao

Liao Dynasty was established by the Khitans, a tribe that originated from the prestate clan of Yuwen of Xianbei ethnicity. Abaoji (the founding ancestor of Liao) had proclaimed himself emperor in the first year of the reign of Shence of Liao (916 AD), whose throne was overthrown by the Jurchen Jin in the fifth year of the reign of Baoda of Liao (or the third year of the reign Tianhui of Jin, 1125 AD). Liao had successively built “five capitals” (Shangjing, Dongjing, Zhongjing, Nanjing, and Xijing), of which Shangjing was the state capital, and the other four were the temporary capitals that

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served as the local political center of each region. It is recorded in “Records of Geography” from History of Liao that: Emperor Taizong of Liao endowed the imperial capital with the name ‘Shangjing’, promoted Youzhou to be ‘Nanjing’ and changed the original Nanjing city to be ‘Dongjing’. Emperor Shengzong of Liao built ‘Zhongjing’ city. Emperor Xingzong of Liao promoted Yunzhou as ‘Xijing’ city. Thus, the five capitals have been made.

Schematic floor plan view of the ruins of Shangjing of Liao. The adjacent north and south subcities of Shangjing of Liao each had 7 gates, where 2 gates were built respectively on each of the east and west sides and 1 on each of the south and north sides; there was one shared gate on the wall between the two subcities. The configuration of gates of Shangjing was similar to the standard of a prefecture or county capital.

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Bird-eye view of the South Pagoda of Shangjing of Liao. The South Pagoda locates on the north of Longtoushan Mountain about 2.5 km from the ruins of Shangjing of Liao. According to The Epitaph of Dongtou Gongfeng Official Wang Shifang of the second year of the reign Qiantong of Liao (1102 AD) and the Ink Inscribed Urn of the first year of the reign Tianqing (1111 AD) found near the site, Longtoushan Mountain was named as the Stone Basin Mountain in Liao, and the Kaiwu Temple was built around the South Pagoda. The pagoda is 25.5 m high. The meru seat (foundation seat of the statue of Buddha) is 3.8 m long on each side. It is multieaved with eight corners and seven stories, a typical Buddhism pagoda of the Liao Dynasty. Presently, only some reliefs on the first story could still be seen, including the eight great coffin towers. On the eight facets of the pagoda, there used to be embedded with various kinds of statue reliefs. However, most of them are lost during the prolonged years, with only 21 statues endured the time and collected in the Liaoshangjing Museum.

The ruins of the Shangjing city of Liao lies in the south of today’s Lindong Town of Balin Left Banner of the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region. It consists of two cities sitting next to each other on the south and the north, divided by a wall inbetween. The northern city was the “imperial city” where the palace and government buildings were. It was the political center of the capital. The southern city was named “Hancheng (the city of Han)” which mainly was for residence and commercial and industrial activities. Most of the residents there were Han ethnicity, hence the name. “Records of Geography” from History of Liao records: In the first year of the reign of Tianxian, the emperor won the war against Balhea. Upon return, he ordered to extend the outer city and build a palace, endowing it with the name ‘Tianzan (Praising Heaven)’. He built three great halls, namely ‘Kaihuang’, ‘Ande’ and ‘Wuluan’ … Emperor Taizong of Liao announced to the tributary clans that he would follow the configuration and specification of the Hans to handle state affairs at the Hall of Kaihuang

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2 Archaeological Discoveries and Studies About the Ancient Capitals and set Chengtian Gate as the venue for ceremonies. He then changed the name of the royal capital to be Shangjing … the northern side of it was the imperial city … inside which there was the imperial palace. The southern gate of the palace was named ‘Chengtian’ which was a storeyed architecture; the northern gate of the palace was named ‘Donghua’ and the western one ‘Xihua’.

It is clear that the design and construction of Shangjing of Liao “followed the configuration and configuration of the Hans”. In fact, the imperial city should have been a double set of cities with the inner one being the palace and the outer the imperial city. The palace (“the great inner place” or “da nei”) was built at the northcentral position of the imperial city. It was located on higher terrain and arranged with palace buildings of great importance, such as “the three great halls”, of which the “the Hall of Kaihuang” was Liao’s Great Main Hall for State Affairs. There was one gate built on the east, west, and south wall of the palace each, among which “Chengtian Gate” (the gate on the south) was the main palace gate and was built with gatehouses. Each gate was a doorway to the palace. The above record of the design and configuration of Liao capital is a faithful reflection of Liao’s inheriting the traditional culture of the ancient Chinese capital. The “dual-city system” of Shangjing of Liao was designed to fulfill the special purpose of state administration by the Khitan leaders in the early days of the establishment of state power. It was a development based on the old capital form and design of the Warring States Period and Qin and Han dynasties. Archaeological discoveries show that such layout existed in some Han dynasty city ruins, except that they were not separated into two cities but only two sections adjacent south and north in one city divided by an “artery”. Such form could be referred to Chang’an city in the early days of West Han, which was divided by a straight main road connecting the east and west city gates “Ba” and “Zhi” into the southern and the northern sections. The ancestral temple, governmental institutions, the imperial palace (Weiyang Palace), arsenal, the shrines for Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Huidi of Han, and the Changle Palace (whose northern border was believed to be on the south of the road) were all arranged in the southern section. In contrast, the north side of the main road was the central downtown area for commercial activities, industry and residential areas. Similar designs were found at the ruins of the prefecture capital cities of Han. For example, the Yin City remains of Gaomi city in Shandong Province which also obtains a southern and northern division. The southern division was for governmental buildings, while the north was for residence, business, and industry. They were separated by the main road.

2.2.3.2

Shangjing of Jin

Jin was an ancient Chinese Dynasty established by the Jurchens. Jurchen was originated from the Mohe ethnicity in the Sui and Tang dynasties, which, to trace further back, was the Wuji people of Southern and Northern dynasties, the Yilou of Han and Jin dynasties and the Sushen in the pre-Qin period. The main origin of the Jurchens

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was the Heishui Mohe clan. The Mohes had once built the “Longquan Fu” palace in the capital “Shangjing” of Balhea in the Tang Dynasty. In the first year of the reign of Shouguo of Jin (1115 AD), Wanyan Aguda proclaimed himself emperor and established the Jin Empire, endowing it with the name of “the Great Jin”. His successor, Emperor Taizong of Jin, Wanyan Sheng had overthrown Liao and invaded the Song Empire. The third generation, Emperor Xizong of Jin, had renamed the capital as “Huining Fu Shangjing”.4 The capital name “Shangjing of Jin” might be related to the “Longquan Fu palace of Shangjing” built by their ancestors in the Tang Dynasty but is also possible to be of the influence of the capital “Shangjing of Liao” established by the Xianbeis. The Shangjing of Jin locates at Baichengzi of Acheng District in Harbin City of Heilongjiang Province today.

Schematic floor plan view of Shangjing of Jin. Shangjing of Jin consists of two cities that are adjacent north and south with a two-dimensional view like the “L” shape. The north–south length of the northern city is 1828 m; the east–west width of it is 1553 m. The east–west size of the southern city is 2148 m; the south–north width of it is 1523 m. A total number of 8 city gate ruins were found on the site. The imperial city was built on the west side of the southern city (which was then also called “the palace city” or “da nei”, for that is what it actually was), of which the south–north length is 645 m, and the east–west width is 500 m.

4 Regarding the time when Huining Fu Shangjing was built, there are two theories. One claims that it was during the reign of Emperor Xizong of Jin, which could be referred to the third chapter of or Collection of Documents Concerning Alliances Sanchao Beimeng Huibian 《三朝北盟会编》 ( with the North During the Three Reigns) written by Xu Mengxin titled Zhengxuan Shangzhi San 《政宣上帙三》 or Chapter Three of Volume One of the Records of Zhengxuan), Shanghai: Shanghai ( Classics Publishing House, 2008; the other argues that it was in the sixth year of the reign Tianfu (1122 AD), which could be referred to the second chapter of Dajin Guozhi Xiaozheng 《大金国志 ( 校证》or The Corrected Records of the Jin Empire) initially written by Yuwen Maozhao and edited with corrections by Cui Wenyin, Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1986.

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A bronze sitting dragon recovered from the ruins of Shangjing of Jin

On the central axis inside the imperial palace of Shangjing of Jin there are the remains of 5 palace halls, among which the first four halls were found with the foundation of left and right corridors. As the very first capital city of the Jin Empire, Shangjing of Jin was “built of extremely rough form and configuration” as recorded in Chronicles of the Great Jin that “though it tried to mimic the form and configuration of the Northern Song Empire capital ‘Bianjing’, only about twenty to thirty percent of that was achieved”. From the perspective of the form of having a northern and a southern city, Shangjing of Jin should have followed the form of the capital of Liao, different from the Tang and Song capitals. The two cities of Shangjing of Jin were also built according to their specific functions, of which the southern city was the political center, and the northern city was for residence and urban economic activities. The role of the northern and the southern cities of Shangjing of Jin is opposite to Liao, but their layout is the same by nature.

2.2.3.3

Zhongdu of Jin

In the first year of the reign of Zhenyuan (1153 AD), the Prince of Hailing, Wanyan Liang, ordered to move his capital to Yanjing. Since the character “yan” was considered a name that had been used by various states and inappropriate to be the name

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of his capital, Wanyan Liang had thus changed it to be “Zhongdu”. In the view of Prince of Hailing, Yanjing sits at the center of the country, so he commented that “Yanjing is the center of heaven and earth” (as recorded in Chronicles of the Great Jin) and renamed it accordingly, as “Zhongdu” means “the central capital”. After Tang, the economic center of the country had gradually moved from the central plains to the southeast region of China. Therefore its capital, as the center of the country, had also moved from the west to the east alike. The Northern Song Empire set its capital Dongjing at Kaifeng and unveiled the new era since the end of the medieval era of China. One main difference of the new age is that the ethnicities living in northern China, as an indispensable component of the Chinese nation, began to take part in the state political battle with full power. That had led to the Northern Song Empire that had long been suffering from “accumulated inadequacy and weakness” in politics and military being replaced by the Great Jin. Though as the ruling house of Jin, the Jurchens were originated from the “white mountains and black waters” (the Changbai Mountain and Heilongjiang River in northern China), their prosperity was built upon the way from the Greater Khingan Range and Mongolian Plateau to the south. Suppose the Prince of Hailing saw Mongolian Plateau as the birthplace of Jin, in which case, it is reasonable for him to claim “Yanjing is the center of heaven and earth” since Yanjing is indeed in the middle of the land between the very north of China and the South Sea (where, in the Qin and Han period, China had established “Nine Counties of the South Sea” including the South China Sea and the northern area of Indo China Peninsula). That is probably why the state capital of China has always been Beijing (“Yanjing” in the ancient time) since Medieval China till the end of imperial China, and from Zhongdu of Jin to Khanbaliq and the Beijing city of Ming and Qing. As recorded in Chronicles of the Great Jin, the construction of Jin’s Zhongdu was: (The Prince of Hailing) was very pleased and ordered the Left and Right Chancellors Zhang Hao and Zhang Gutong as well as the Zuochen Officer of Department of Imperial Affairs Cai Songnian to organize and deploy craftsmen and builders of all kinds to build the palace in Yanjing.

Prince of Hailing’s moving capital to Yanjing and renaming it as “Zhongdu” indicates that the capital of Jin has acquired the legitimacy of being a capital of “China”, because it is the supreme rule and regulation of each Chinese dynasties to “place the capital city at the center of the country”. The Zhongdu of Jin consisted of the capital city, the imperial city and the palace. The imperial city was located in the central-west of the capital city while the palace was built in the middle of the imperial city, together they formed “a form of triple-set cities”.

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Schematic floor plan view of Zhongdu of Jin. The flat view of Zhongdu of Jin is nearly squareshaped with the east–west side being 4750–4900 m long and the south–north side being 4510 m wide. Originally, there were 12 gates on the city wall with 3 on each side of the city. Later, one more gate was built on the north side of the city, adding up to 4 city gates on the north. There was 1 gate built on each side of the imperial city and the palace. The central axis of the capital was strictly defined. It placed the “Da’an Hall”—the Great Main Hall for State Affairs as the base point and, from south to north, went through successively “Fengyi Gate”, “Xuanyang Gate (Danfeng Gate)”, “Yingtian Gate” and “Da’an Gate” to “Da’an Hall”. From there it stretched further north through “Xuanming Gate”, “Renzheng Gate”, “Zhaoming Gate”, and “Gongchen Gate” to arrive at “Tongxuan Gate”. This axis that went through the whole city was in the middle (slightly toward the west), on which the capital city, imperial city, the main palace gate, and the Great Main Hall for State Affairs were all built.

All united empires in Medieval China had built the capital in the form of “triple-set cities” that had 12 city gates, where the central axis was laid out south–northward, on which the main gates of the capital, the imperial city and the palace were built. The Great Main Hall for State Affairs was also built on the central axis. It will be evident that, by comparing the layout, form and configuration of Zhongdu and Shangjing of Jin, the latter did not have the essential elements of the capital of a united empire, but the former had. Capital is the epitome of the politics of a country; therefore, the supreme ruler of Jin saw the construction of Zhongdu as a significant matter of the empire. To the ruler of Jin who originated from a relevantly less-developed

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region, to unite and rule over the more developed “inland”, they must adopt the more advanced politics and culture of the inland. Such a mindset had driven Zhongdu of Jin to “develop more toward and become more like” the Chinese nation. A Song Dynasty geographer and politician Fan Dacheng had pointed it out in his work (A Travel Diary Record on Horseback to Jin) that Jin “tried very hard to build their state regime by learning from that of the Han Chinese, sometimes even radically”. His words can be fully reflected by the archaeological findings at the ruins of Jin.

Lotus Lake Park—the heritage site of the Taiye Lake of Zhongdu of Jin

From the form and configuration of Khanbaliq and Beijing city of Ming and Qing, it is fair to say that the influence of Zhongdu of Jin is multifaceted: First, according to the Records Compiled after Returning from the Farm, Khanbaliq of Yuan “has an imperial palace of a nine li and thirty steps perimeter (about 4545 m)”; according to the Geography Book with Pictures of the Jin Dynasty (Jing Tu Jing), the perimeter of the imperial palace of Zhongdu of Jin was also “nine li and thirty steps”. The scale of both capitals was about the same. Both cities were of near-square shape except Zhongdu of Jin was smaller than Khanbaliq; Second, Zhongdu of Jin had 12 city gates originally, whereas Khanbaliq had 11, one gate less on the northern city wall than the former. Other than that, there were 3 gates on the east, west, and south side of both cities. Third, Khanbaliq was a form of “triple-set cities”, the imperial city and palace in which was arranged at the central-west instead of the north. Such a layout is in line with Zhongdu of Jin.

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Fourth, the central axis of Khanbaliq and Zhongdu of Jin were both south–north oriented and went through the main gate of the imperial city and the palace, the Great Main Hall for State Affairs, and other main structures. Fifth, the ruler of Zhongdu of Jin named the imperial lake as “Taiye” and arranged it in the west of the palace inside the imperial city. Khanbaliq also built a “Taiye Lake” and positioned it at the west side of the imperial palace. Besides, the ruler of Yuan had also built the Qionghua Island, islet and Xishan Terrace in the lake, which was a tradition of the ancient Chinese capital to place the symbol of sacred mountains in the Taiye Lake. The Ming and Qing Beijing city has inherited such form but only changed the name of “Taiye Lake” to be “the northern sea”, “the central sea” and “the southern sea”. From the above-stated aspects, we can tell that Zhongdu of Jin was a factor of significant importance to the development of the capital of Beijing. It was not only the very first “state-level” capital established in the location of the current Beijing, but also had profound influence on Khanbaliq and Beijing city of Ming and Qing, the latter of which had had the essence of the capital culture of ancient China. Capital is the core cultural element of the history and civilization of the Chinese nation. The Jurchen Jin Dynasty and its successor the Qing Empire established by the Manchuria Jurchens have both made an indispensable contribution to the development of the ancient Chinese capital of collected cultural essence!

2.2.4 Dongjing City of the Song Dynasty Kaifeng City had first become a capital during 742–701 BC under the decision of Duke Zhuang of Zheng and was named Qifeng. It had been the capital of Wei during the Warring States Period and Later Liang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou during the period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms and to the Northern Song and Jin dynasties, hence the name of “the capital of seven dynasties”. From 960 to 1126 AD, the Northern Song Empire established its capital at Kaifeng city (the present Kaifeng city of Henan Province) and named it “Dongjing”. The capital had inherited the design of “triple-set cities” of the Later Zhou Empire in the form of an outer city, an inner city, and an imperial palace. There were 12 gates on the outer city wall with 3 on each side. The city gates were categorized into the main entrance and the side gates, outside of which were a barbican. Connected to the main city gate was the imperial street. The main city gates included the middle entrance on the south named “Nanxun”, the “Xinzhen Gate” on the west, “Fengqiu Gate” on the north and “Xinsong Gate” on the east. The main gate was built with a square fortification and a barbican which formed “linear double gates”. The inner city was built in the middle of the outer city with 12 gates around it (including 2 watergates). There were 3 gates on each side. The main entrance of the inner city was the middle gate on the south—Zhuque Gate (the Vermilion Bird Gate).

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Schematic floor plan view of Dongjing City of Song. The flat view of the outer city is a rectangle with a shorter east–west side and longer south–north side, of which the perimeter is 29,120 m. The flat view of the inner city is near square with the perimeter being 11,550 m. The east and west wall of the imperial palace is 690 m long each; the south and north wall of it is 570 m each, and a perimeter of 2520 m.

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Painting of the propitious cranes, Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Ji. A collection at Liaoning Provincial Museum. According to the postscript on the left-hand side written by Emperor Huizong of Song Zhao Ji, the piece of artwork depicts the propitious scene on the 16th day of the first lunar month in the second year of the reign of Zhenghe (1112 AD) when a group of cranes gathered on top of the Duan Gate, among which two landed on the ornament on the roof ridge. The painting shows only the roof ridge of Duan Gate and the corner of the watchtowers on the two sides but mainly focuses on the group of cranes gathers on the top. It projects a mysterious and auspicious atmosphere in the sense of solemnity. Duan Gate was another name for “Xuande Gate” of Dongjing of Song. This painting can be cross-referenced with the image on the Bell of Grand Imperial Procession.

The imperial city was built about in the middle of the outer and inner cities with a two-dimensional view of near-square shape. It was built with 6 gates, of which 3 were on the south and 1 on each of the other three sides. The main gate of the imperial city was the middle one of the three—“Xuande Gate” (also known as “Danfeng Gate”, “Zehngyang Gate”, and “Qianyuan Gate”). On the Bell of Grand Imperial Procession collected in Liaoning Provincial Museum, there is the carved image of Xuande Gate connected with five lanes on the inside and two watchtowers on the outside. It is the material evidence of the existence of Xuande Gate. Of the imperial palace, the southern section was for dealing with state affairs while the northern section was for residence and leisure. The north of the palace was the imperial garden. North to Xuande Gate was the Great Main Hall for State Affairs—the Daqing Hall.

A picture of Xuande Gate carved on “Lubu Chime”, an imperial regalia of Song

Dongjing, the capital of the Song Dynasty, plays a critical role in the history of ancient Chinese capital development. It has cast of significant impact on various aspects of capital construction in China through the later dynasties.

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Firstly, Dongjing of Song has changed the tradition of building the inner city (the imperial city) and the imperial palace in the north of the capital that had been passed on since Han and Wei dynasties’ Luoyang capital city to a new arrangement. Instead, the palace and the inner city were positioned in the middle of the capital, the real geospatial “center”. Such a change has more accurately realized the philosophy of “zhong” and had a profound influence on the later generations. Secondly, Dongjing of Song had formed a geospatial “double center” of the inner city and the imperial palace of the capital, which had further stressed the core position of the palace to the city. It is a faithful reflection of the further enhancement and deepening of the philosophy of “zhong” in the state political life. The supremacy of the royal family and state government has, hence, been made prominent.

Artwork “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” (partial), Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Zeduan. A collection of the Forbidden Palace Museum. Along the River During the Qingming Festival is a 24.8 cm wide and 528.7 cm long colored skill painting. It was painted on a long scroll with cavalier perspective, recording the vivid scene of the Northern Song Empire capital city Dongjing in the 12th century and the life of people of different classes. It is the witness of the prosperity of the Northern Song Dynasty and a faithful record of the economic situation of the Northern Song city.

Thirdly, there were gates built on each side of the wall of the outer and inner cities and the palace of Dongjing, taking the philosophy of “he” of the capital culture to the ultimate level. Fourthly, the design of the form and configuration of capital Dongjing of Song had been an essential model of reference to the Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties.

2.2.5 Luoyang City of the Sui and Tang Dynasties In the first year of the reign Daye of Sui (605 CE), Emperor Yang of Sui made the decision to build his capital “dongjing” at Luoyang city. He assigned this great state engineering project to be managed by the Chancellor of Imperial Affairs Yang Su, the Head of Department of Chancellors Yang Da and the Director of Imperial Manufactories Yuwen Kai. Luoyang had been kept as the capital in the Tang Dynasty with only a few changes to the name of certain buildings with some refurbishment. These works were also assigned to senior officials, for example, in the twentieth year of the reign Zhenguan of Tang, the emperor organized the construction of the northern watchtower (the northern palace gate). He also appointed the Chancellor of Constructions Fang Xuanling and the Director of Imperial Manufactories Yan Lide to be in charge. Other examples of such include the project of building the main palace gate “Yingtian” and

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that of the main imperial “Hall of Qianyuan” on the old site of the Qianyang Hall of the Sui Dynasty.

Schematic floor plan view of capital Luoyang of Sui and Tang. The length of the east, west, south, and north city wall of Luoyang of Sui and Tang were respectively 7312 m, 6776 m, 7290 m, and 6138 m.

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Schematic floor plan view of the imperial palace and the imperial city of Luoyang in Sui and Tang dynasties. The imperial city was 725 m wide south–north and 2100 m long east–west. The imperial palace was 2100 m long east–west and 1840–2160 m wide south–north.

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Palinspastic map of the walled district system “Lifang” of Luoyang of Sui and Tang

In the first year of the reign Sisheng (684 CE), Empress Wu Zetian dethroned Li Xian and enthroned Li Dan (Emperor Ruizong of Tang) as the new emperor and changed the title of Luoyang from “Dongdu (meaning “capital in the east”, the same as “Dongjing”)” to “Shendu (capital of god)”. In the first year of the reign Tianshou (690 CE), Empress Wu Zetian changed the state name “Tang” to be “Zhou”. Thus Luoyang had become the capital of Zhou accordingly and welcomed its most glorious time in history. The heritage site of Luoyang city of Sui and Tang is at the urban area of today’s Luoyang City. The flat view of Luoyang of Sui and Tang was near-square shaped. There were 3 gates on the east and south city wall each, and 2 gates on the north city wall with no gates on the west side of the city. All city gates were built with three lanes. “Dingding Gate” was the main city gate. The imperial city and the imperial palace were built in the northwest side of the capital while the walled residential district “Lifang” was arranged in the east and the south. River Luo flowing from the west to the east had divided the capital into two parts adjacent north and south

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to each other. South to River Luo was fully arranged with residential communities and markets, whereas the north side of the river was arranged from west to east with the imperial palace, the imperial city, Hanjia Granary Town, the East Town (“Dong Cheng”) for governmental institutions and the Lifang district successively.

Restored ancient “Dingding Gate” of Luoyang

The imperial city (also known as the “Taiwei City” meaning the “City of Supreme Palace”) located in the northwest of the capital, of which the flat view was a rectangle with the long side being east–west oriented. There were 3 gates on the south side of the imperial city, of which the main gate was named “Duan Gate” and the two side gates on the east and the west were named “Zouye Gate” (the left side-gate) and “Youye Gate” (the right side-gate) respectively. Inside the imperial city arranged were the central governmental institutions including the main hall for handling state affairs, the Department of Chancellors, the Office of Imperial Kitchen, and the Censorate. Due to the geographic movement of River Luo toward the north, the southeast side of the imperial city was destroyed. The imperial palace (also known as the “Purple Forbidden City”) was positioned at the north of the imperial city and the northwest corner of the capital. The flat view of the palace was near-square shaped. There were 3 gates built on the south side of the imperial palace, the middle of which was the main gate—“Yingtian Gate” (also named as “Zetian Gate”). The side gates on the left and right were called “Mingde Gate” and “Changle Gate”, respectively.

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Palinspastic image of the heritage site of Yingtian Gate of ancient Luoyang city. The ruins of Yingtian Gate show that the abutment foundation is 55-m long east–west-ward and 25-m-wide south–northward. In the middle of the abutment were three doorways of 5 m wide each. The east and the west side of the abutment were built with a fort tower each. Their foundation were squareshaped with a side length of 18 m. Stretching southward from the fort towers there were a turret flying gallery, the end of which was built with a watchtower.

Jiuzhou Lake Heritage Site Park. The heritage site of Jiuzhou Lake locates in the northwest area of the imperial palace. It is 205 m long east–west and 130 m south–north. There are the ruins of five islands in the lake.

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The Great Main Hall for State Affairs of the imperial palace was named respectively as “Qianyang Hall” (in Sui Dynasty), “Qianyuan Hall” (during the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang), “Bright Hall” (during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian), and “Hall of Hanyuan” (during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang). Successively from south to north along the central axis of the palace, there were “Yingtian Gate”, “Qianyuan Gate”, “Bright Hall”, “Zhenguan Hall”, “Huiyou Hall”, “Taoguan Park”, and “Xuanwu Gate”. Empress Wu Zetian had also built a “Hall of Heaven” in the north of the Bright Hall. On the east side of the imperial palace, there was an enclosed area called the East Town (“Dongcheng”), the two-dimensional view of which is a rectangle with the longer side orienting south–north. The width of the town is 620 m, and the length of it is 1450 m. It had accommodated some of the main central governmental institutions such as the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the Office of Imperial Kitchen, the Court of the Imperial Stud, the Court of the Imperial Clan, the Court of the Imperial Regalia, the Court of State Ceremonial, the Directorate of Water Resources, and the Director of Imperial Manufactories. North to the East Town was the state granary—the Hanjia Granary Town, built with 4 gates on the town wall. So far, architectures have already discovered the remains of 287 granaries on the granary heritage site and estimated that there should be about 400 in total. Granary holds an extremely critical economic position in the social life of ancient China. It had been made especially clear by the design and layout of the ancient capitals. According to current archaeological documentation, the discovery of the earliest large-scale granary so far locates next to the palace of the Taosi City ruins. They are believed to be the state granary built inside the capital of the Taosi period. When Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han, ordered to build capital Chang’an, he had listed the state granary—“the Supreme Granary” in the first batch of key engineering projects among Weiyang Palace, the Great Main Hall for State Affairs—“the Front Hall”, the eastern watchtower, the northern watchtower, and the state arsenal. The supreme granary and the state arsenal at Luoyang city in the Eastern Han Dynasty were both built in the northeast area next to the Northern Palace on the west. Since the middle term of Eastern Han, the Northern Palace had become the main imperial palace. The state arsenal of capital Chang’an of Han was found built next to Weiyang Palace on the east. Known that and the position of the state arsenal and the supreme granary in capital Luoyang of Eastern Han (later than Han), we can reasonably infer that the supreme granary of capital Chang’an of Han was possible to be arranged near Weiyang Palace just like the state arsenal. The state granary of capital Luoyang of Northern Wei was built east to the imperial palace. The supreme granary of capital Chang’an of Tang was constructed north to the Yeting Palace of the imperial palace. Every dynasty since medieval China had also considered the state granary as a key asset of the imperial ruling, such as the “Northern Supreme Granary” in Khanbaliq. Besides, there were other granaries built in the capital, and to ensure the adequate storage of these granaries, the ancient rulers had even ordered to build canals that directly connected with the granaries of the capital city. The state granary in Ming

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and Qing was the “Nanxin Granary” (southern new granary), which was built based on the Northern Supreme Granary of Khanbaliq. Luoyang of Sui and Tang was such an important imperial capital that it had significantly influenced the construction of the capital of You Prefecture (“Youzhou”), Yun Prefecture (“Yunzhou”), Yi Prefecture (“Yizhou”), Balhea, Suyab in many aspects, and the imperial capitals of Japan such as Fujiwara-kyo, Naniwa-kyo, Heijo-kyo, Nagaoka-kyo and Heian-kyo. Luoyang, as an ancient capital, had been in the key position of the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese capitals. First, the main gate of the imperial palace in the ancient capital was normally where important national ceremonies and activities were held. It is an icon of the country. Therefore, the inheritance of the configuration and specification of the main palace gate usually symbolizes the legibility of an ancient dynasty. The archaeological discovery of Yingtian Gate shows that, on the one hand, it had directly inherited the design of geospatial position and the configuration and specification of the main palace gate—“Changhe Gate” of the previous capital Luoyang of Northern Wei which had inherited those from Former Wei (also known as “Cao Wei period”); on the other hand, the configuration and specification of Yingtian Gate was inherited by the main palace gate “Xuande Gate” of capital Dongjing of Song which had passed those down to the main palace gate of Zhongdu of Jin, Khanbaliq of Yuan and Beijing of Ming and Qing. Second, by studying capital Luoyang of Sui and Tang, we understood that the central axis of ancient Chinese capitals always had the Great Main Hall for State Affairs on the basic point and stretched through the main gate of the palace, the imperial city and the outer city. The main gate of the outer city was determined by the position of the Great Main Hall for State Affairs and the main gate of the imperial palace. Third, the discovery of the ruins of Hanjia Granary Town has demonstrated the critical position of the state granary to the ancient capital and its unique characteristic in the five-thousand-year un-fractured Chinese civilization. At present, Hanjia Granary Town is the only state granary remains that has been discovered and excavated in large scale on the ancient capital heritage sites in China. It is the material evidence of vital importance to the “state granary” of the Chinese civilization.

2.2.6 Daxing City of the Sui Dynasty In the second year of the reign Kaihuang of Sui (582 AD), Emperor Wen of Sui moved the capital to a new site in the southeast of the old Chang’an capital of Han. Since the emperor Yang Jian used to be endowed as “the Duke of Daxing Prefecture” by the ruler of the former dynasty—Emperor Ming of Northern Zhou, he named the new capital as “Daxing City”. The construction of the new capital was overseen by the Left Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat Gao Jiong who was appointed as the “General Director” of the project. The Left Mentor to the Heir Apparent Yuwen

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Kai was appointed as the “Assistant Director” of the project. The Director of Imperial Manufactories Liu Long, Chancellor of the Ministry of Constructions Helou Zigan, vice-ministers of the Court of the Imperial Treasury Shang Longyi and Gao Longcha had also participated in the project. They were not only in charge of organizing the general planning, design, and construction of the capital but had also participated in the design of many buildings. The layout of Daxing city had mainly followed the key features of Luoyang city of Northern Wei and Southern Ye city of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi but with improvements in a variety of areas. Capital Daxing consisted of the imperial palace, the imperial city, and the outer city, which were built successively from the palace to the outer city. The imperial palace was built in the middle of the northern side of the capital, named as the “Daxing Palace City”, of which the Great Main Hall for State Affairs was named “Daxing Hall”. The imperial city of Sui was built next to the palace in the south. All the central governmental institutions were arranged there. Such design had further ensured the safety and security of governmental institutions, improved work efficiency, and provided convenience for the emperor to control and instruct the central government departments. The imperial city built between the palace and the walled residential areas in the capital was also crucial to assuring the safety and security of the palace. The outer city was divided into a lot of rectangles by a number of vertical and horizontal streets. The rectangles were called “Fang” or “Li”. The southeast and southwest corners of the imperial city were built with one market each, both the size of one rectangle. The former was named “Duhui Market” and the latter “Liren Market”. Divided by the wide south–north oriented street between “Zhuque Gate” on the south imperial city wall and “Mingde Gate” on the south outer city wall, the east side of the city was under the administration of Daxing County, and the west side belonged to Chang’an County. Imperial gardens including the Daxing Garden and the Hibiscus Garden along River Qu were built in the north and the southeast of Daxing city respectively. In Linyou County, the far northwest suburb area outside the capital built a bleak palace with the nature of a summer palace named the “Palace of Benevolence and Longevity (Renshou Palace)”. The name was derived from a statement in the ancient literature about “man of benevolence lives a long life”. The construction of the bleak palace began in the thirteenth year of the reign Kaihuang of Sui (593 CE). Emperor Wen of Sui ordered the Right Vice Director of the Imperial Secretariat Yang Su to take charge of the project and the Director of Imperial Manufactories Yuwen Kai to design the palace and monitor the construction. When the palace was built, Emperor Wen of Sui would go and stay there every spring until wintertime. The most extended stay he had at the Palace of Benevolence and Longevity was one and a half years. The reign name of Emperor Wen of Sui being “Renshou” may be related to the palace.

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Schematic floor plan view of the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity and the Palace of Benevolence and Longevity of Sui

2.2.7 Chang’an City of the Tang Dynasty Tang Dynasty had kept Daxing of Sui as its capital but renamed it to be “Chang’an”. The ruler of Tang had also changed the Palace of Daxing to be the “Palace of the Hall of Supreme Ultimate” (or “Taiji Palace”), and that of the Great Main Hall for State Affairs “Daxing Hall” to be “The Hall of Supreme Ultimate”. In the first year of Tang, this immense capital city had seen large-scale renovation and new development. The Chang’an city of Tang based on the capital of Sui had further grown to be a spectacular city of grand scale and exquisite layout. The total area size of the city was 84 km2 .

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Roads and streets in the capital were wide and straight, arranged neatly in alignment with accurate orientation. There were in total 25 streets interacross each other, just like the grid on the Go board with each square space being a residential district called “fang” or a marketplace. The whole city was divided into 109 rectangular “fangs” and 2 marketplaces, the layout of which is precisely described by poet Bai Juyi that “Hundreds of thousands of households are arranged like the grid on the Go board; all streets are aligned orderly like the lanes cutting through vegetable beds.” Chang’an capital of Tang consisted of the outer city, the imperial city, the imperial palace, Daming Palace and Xingqing Palace. On the northern border of the capital was the western imperial garden while the southeast corner of it built the Qujiang Lake. The main street of the outer city was the “Zhuque Street”, east of which belonged to Wannian County while west of it belonged to Chang’an County. There was one market built in each county, namely the eastern and the western markets.

Schematic floor plan view of the heritage site of Chang’an city of Tang. The flat view of capital Chang’an of Tang has a near-square shape that is 9721 m long east–west and 8651 m wide south– north. The imperial city was built in the central-north of the capital, which was 2820 m long

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east–west and 1843 m wide south–north. The imperial palace was arranged in the very north of the capital, adjacent south to the imperial city. The palace was 2820 m long east–west and 1492 m wide south–north.

Palinspastic view of Mingde Gate. The façade of Mingde city gate of Chang’an of Tang was 55.5 m long and 18.5 m deep with five 5-m-wide and 18.5-m-long doorways. The walls between the doorways were 2.9 m thick.

The east, west, south, and north city walls of Chang’an of Tang were built with 3 gates on each. Mingde Gate was the main city gate, which was built with five doorways, but only the east end and the west end doorways were found with the ruts of cartwheels, which means carts and carriages were organized to access the city through these two doorways. Judging by the tracks, each doorway was wide enough to allow two carts to pass through parallelly. The two doorways on the sides of the central doorway should be for pedestrians. The central doorway was specially built for the usage of the emperor. Mingde Gate is the only main gate of ancient Chinese capitals excavated so far that were built with five lanes. The only gate of matching configuration in Chang’an city of Tang is the main gate of Daming Palace—Danfeng Gate, which was also built with five lanes. There were 11 streets stretching south and north and 14 streets extending east and west inside the capital. The 3 vertical main roads connecting the three gates on the south city wall and the 3 horizontal streets going through the six gates on the west and the east city walls respectively were the arteries of the capital city. They were called “the Six Streets”, among which only the horizontal street connecting Yanping Gate and Yanxing Gate in the south was 55 m wide, while the rest were over 100 m wide. The Zhuque Street connecting Zhuque Gate of the imperial city and Mingde Gate of the capital, in particular, was 155 m wide. The street, “Zhuque (the

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vermilion bird)”, was named after the main gate of the imperial city. The imperial Zhuque gate was built in the south against the main access of the palace “Chengtain Gate” in the north. Therefore, people call the street between the two gates the “great street of Chengtian Gate” (also known as “the Street of Heaven”). The Street of Heaven and Zhuque Street formed the south–north artery and also the central axis of the capital. The people in Tang Dynasty had also named the east and west side of Zhuque Street accordingly as “the left street” and “the right street”, or “the two streets” to represent the two sides of Zhuque Street. Due to the vital position of the street, the Tang government had specially set up two official posts to manage it, titled “the Left and Right Street Officers”. The imperial city located inside today’s Xi’an City, the flat view of which is a rectangle with walls on the east, west, and south. The north side of the imperial city was separated from the imperial palace by a “horizontal street”. There were 3 gates built on the south side of the imperial city and 2 gates on the east and west side each. The imperial city was divided into several sections by 5 east–west oriented streets and 7 south–north oriented streets inside it; each of the sections was arranged with different governmental institutions and other buildings. The Street of Heaven went from the south through to the north of the imperial city was its central axis, which, together with the other two south–north oriented streets connecting the two gates on the east and west sides of the main imperial city gate, divided the inner city into three broad sections in the east, middle, and west. The middle section of the imperial city was for the central governmental institutions; the east area was for the governmental institutions that belonged to the Eastern Palace for Crown Prince and some imperial agencies; the west section was for imperial agencies and institutions. The southern area of the east and the west sections were respectively built with the imperial ritual and ceremonious buildings such as the Imperial Ancestral Temple and the Grand Shrine.

2.2.7.1

The Palace of Supreme Ultimate, the Easter Palace for Crown Prince and Yeting Palace

The imperial palace was built in the north of the imperial city, including the Palace of Supreme Ultimate, the Eastern Palace for Crown Prince and Yeting Palace. The Palace of Supreme Ultimate located in the middle of the east and west of the imperial palace where the main palace buildings were. The Eastern Palace for Crown Prince and Yeting Palace was built opposite to each other on the east and the west sides of Taijing Palace respectively. There were 3 gates on the north imperial palace wall, from west to east of which were the “Xuanwu Gate”, “Anli Gate”, and “Zhide Gate”. Xuanwu Gate was vital, for that was where the Imperial Army stationed. It was also closely involved in several significant political events of the royal court in Tang Dynasty, where the famous “Xuanwu Gate Incident” in the history and the breath-taking event of Li Longji destroying Empress Wei’s palace coup happened. It had always been the heavily guarded place by the imperial army in Chang’an city of Tang.

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There were 5 gates on the south imperial palace wall, the middle of which was the main palace gate “Chengtian Gate”. It was on the south of The Palace of Supreme Ultimate and the north of Zhuque Gate and Mingde Gate even further on the south. Chengtian Gate was where the major national ceremonies were hold when the emperor would attend in person and walk up to the gatehouse of it. It was called the “public court (wai chao)” or “grand court (da chao)”. The “public court” was mainly for the administration of ceremonial activities, including coronation, change of reign name, the canonization of the crown prince, national amnesty, military parade, New Year’s Eve celebration, winter solstice celebration and other important occassions. It was also used for receiving tributum, meeting foreign envoys, and holding large royal feasts and parties. The “Horizontal Street” on the south of Chengtian Gate was used as the plaza for the events mentioned above. From the east to the west outside Chengtian Gate arranged respectively were the imperial court, the Lung Stone and the Dengwen Drum, the latter two of which were a large lung-shaped red stone and a drum outside the court for people to beat and file complaints. The remains of Chengtian Gate locates in the south of Lianhu Park of Xi’an City today.

Schematic floor plan view of the imperial palace of Chang’an of Tang. The two-dimensional view of the palace is a rectangle that is 2820.3 m long east–west and 1492.1 m wide south–north with a perimeter of 8600 m and an area size of 4.2 km2 . The east–west width of The Palace of Supreme Ultimate was 1287 m, and the south–north length of it was 1492 m. It was built at the center of the imperial palace court. From the east to the west on the southern imperial palace wall, there were 3 gates built parallel to each other, respectively named as Yong’an Gate, Chengtian Gate, and Changle Gate. Chengtian Gate was the main access of The Palace of Supreme Ultimate, in the north of which there were Jiade Gate and then the Gate of Supreme Ultimate in the further north. Through the Gate

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of Supreme Ultimate, you can access to the courtyard where the Hall of Supreme Ultimate was. The Eastern Palace for Crown Prince was 830 m wide east and west and 1492 m long south and north. It was divided into “three columns” from east to west, among which the middle column was the central axis with the east and the west columns laid on each side symmetrically. Yeting Palace was 702 m wide east and west and 1492 m long south and north.

The Palace of Supreme Ultimate was originally the Daxing Palace of Sui, which was called “the Great Inner Place” at the beginning in Tang and renamed as “The Palace of Supreme Ultimate” in the first year of the reign Shenlong of Emperor Zhongzong of Tang (705 CE). Tand Dynasty had built three royal palaces in total, namely The Palace of Supreme Ultimate, Daming Palace, and Xingqing Palace. They were collectively called “the three greater inner places”. Walls were built on the east and the west borders of The Palace of Supreme Ultimate, separating it from the Eastern Palace for Crown Prince and Yeting Palace. It was named after the main architecture of the court “The Hall of Supreme Ultimate”.

Beaten-cob base of “Xuanwu Gate” of the Palace of Supreme Ultimate

The Palace of Supreme Ultimate was the political center of the Early Tang period. Emperor Gaozu of Tang—Li Yuan and Emperor Taizong of Tang—Li Shimin had reigned there. Though since Emperor Gaozong of Tang, the rulers of Tang Dynasty had moved their throne to Daming Palace and Daxing Palace, all the essential ritual activities were still held in The Palace of Supreme Ultimate, such as the coronation ceremony and the canonization of empress and crown prince. Emperor Gaozong and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang even paid regular visits to it every five days. It is obvious that the vital political position of the Palace of Supreme Ultimate had been maintained. As the main hall of the imperial palace, the Hall of Supreme Ultimate was where the emperor held royal court meetings on the first and the fifteenth day of the lunar month, listening to reports and giving orders about state affairs. Thus,

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it was also named as “the central court (zhong chao)” or “the daily court (ri chao)”. Outside the east and the west corridors of the Palace of Supreme Ultimate arranged were central governmental institutions for the consultation of the emperor, including the Department of Chancellors, the Office for Secretariat Drafters, the Institute for the Advancement of Literature, the Imperial Library of History, and the Department of Imperial Secretariats. These institutions were responsible for drafting orders and editing works for the emperor, facilitating the ruler in handling daily state affairs. North to the Hall of Supreme Ultimate was Liangyi Gate, behind which laid the Liangyi Hall. It was where the emperor handled daily state affairs and made critical decisions for the country, named “the inner court (nei chao)”. The buildings arranged on the east and west sides and the back of Liangyi Hall were the imperial bed chambers in the palace, including Lizheng Hall, Baifu Hall, Chengqing Hall (also known as Chengqian Hall), Ganlu Hall, and Shenlong Hall. The imperial bed chambers were built with large scale, for example, the “Qinqin Building” in the courtyard of Baifu Hall was built with seven hundred rooms in one project in the first year of the reign Dazhong of Tang (847 CE). The Eastern Palace was the residential place for the crown prince. It located on the east of the Palace of Supreme Ultimate, hence the name. The emperors of Sui and Tang, such as Yang Yong, Yang Guang, Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Zhi, had all lived there once when they were the crown prince. In particular, Li Shimin had ascended the throne in Mingde Hall, the main hall of the Eastern Palace. Yeting Palace was built in the west of the imperial palace, of similar size as the Eastern Palace. It was where the maidens and eunuchs of the royal court lived. South of the palace set the Ministry of Internal Affairs, an institution responsible for managing the internal affairs of the royal court. It had five bureaus, including the Yeting Bureau that managed the registration and record of maidens and eunuchs; Gongwei Bureau that guarded the arrangements of curfew in the imperial palace; Xiguan Burau that handled sickness, death and injuries of the royal maidens and eunuchs; Neipu Burau that was in charge of the transportation facilities and regulations inside the imperial palace, and Neifu Burau that managed the daily necessities of the imperial palace such as the supply of curtains, lights and candles. The nature of work of the Ministry of Internal Affairs determined that it must be placed inside the imperial palace and as part of Yeting Palace. According to the “Map of Chang’an City” drawn by Lü Dafang of Tang, in the north of Yeting Palace was the Supreme Granary. It is recorded in Appendix on Metals and Stones (Jinshi Xubian) of two “Hedi millet cellar bricks” (“Hedi” is a government procurement system for food supplies) excavated in the northwest area of Xi’an City. They are carved with information about the food tributed to the government by food agencies of Tang in the fourteenth year (640 AD) and the twenty-twelfth year (648 CE) of the reign Zhenguan. Based on Lü Dafang’s “Map of Chang’an City” we know that the east and west width of the Supreme Granary was the same with Yeting Palace, which was 702 m, and the south and north length of the granary was at least 600 m. During the High Tang Period, the maximum amount of food storage in the Supreme Granary was four or five million tams (about 240– 300 million kg) which is rather impressive. These foods were mainly the supply for

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the royal family, all the officials of the central government and the great demand of the military. Therefore, the rulers of Tang had attached great importance to the management of the state granary and placed the administrative authority of it inside the imperial palace. The Supreme Granary might not be able to accommodate all the granaries in Yeting Palace. Still, since they were critical to the country, additional granaries would be built near the imperial palace. According to the “Record of Royal Residences and Capitals throughout History” or Li Dai Zhai Jing Ji, the Supreme Granary in Chang’an of Tang was: located in the northwest of the forbidden palace and connected with the old Chang’an city of Han through Zhongwei Bridge, with each side of which being thirteen li long (about 6500 meters).

In recent years, the ruins of many large granaries of Tang were discovered in the southeast side of the Chang’an city of Han and southwest side of the imperial palace site of Chang’an of Tang. They could be part of the Tang Supreme Granary.

2.2.7.2

Daming Palace

In the eighth year of the reign Zhenguan (634 CE), Emperor Taizong of Tang invited his farther—the Emperor Emeritus Li Yuan to spend the summer in Jiucheng Palace. However, Li Yuan felt rather disgusted by Jiucheng Palace due to it being the place where Emperor Wen of Sui passed away and insisted not to go. Therefore, Emperor Taizong built Yong’an Palace in the northeast of Chang’an of Tang for his father to stay in summer. The name “Yong’an” was adapted from the good wish of being “forever safe and well”. In the ninth year of the reign Zhenguan of Tang (635 AD), Yong’an Palace was renamed as “Daming Palace”. Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, had suffered from Rheumatism due to the humidity of the Palace of Supreme Ultimate. He considered Daming Palace, which was built by his father for his grandfather, as in a much better geographical position since it “leaned against the highland in the north with a good view of the dry land in the south”, so decided to move the imperial palace to Daming Palace.

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Schematic floor plan view of the ruins of Daming Palace. The perimeter of Daming Palace was 7628 m, and the area size of it was 3.2 km2 . There were 11 gates built around Daming Palace, among which 5 were in the south, 3 in the north, 1 in the east, and 2 in the west. The floor plan of Daming Palace shows that the central axis of the palace was formed by architectures including Danfeng Gate, Hall of Hanyuan, Hall of Xuanzheng, Hall of Zichen, Taiye Lake, and the structures on the south and north of Xuanwu Gate. Other imperial structures were laid out on the east and the west sides of the central axis. Taiye Lake was divided into the east and the west sections, of which the west lake was the essential one. The remain of the west Taiye Lake shows a near oval-shaped floor plan view with an east–west length of 484 m and south–north width of 310 m. The area size of the west lake was about 140,000 m2 with a depth of 3–5 m. The east Taiye Lake was a near circle shape with a south–north length of 220 m and an east–west width of 150 m. The area size of the east lake was about 33,000 m2 . Moreover, there was a Penglai Hall 60 m away from Hall of Zichen on the south bank of Taiye Lake. The northwest side of the hall was built with a gallery passage leading to a circled gallery around Penglai Lake. On the east of the west Taiye Lake, there is an east–west oriented channel connecting the east Taiye Lake. The channel is 110 m long and 3 m deep. The east of the east Taiye Lake is also connected with a channel, which should be the drainage channel of Taiye Lake. The water intake of Taiye Lake is on the northwest side of it.

The main gate of Daming Palace was Danfeng Gate, the middle one of the five gates on the southern palace wall. It was the largest in scale among all the gates

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of Daming Palace. The ruins of Danfeng Gate located in the south of Gexin Street, Erma Road of Xincheng District of Xi’an City today. The function of Danfeng Gate was the same with Chengtian Gate of Taiji Palace. Since the Mid Tang period, it had been where important national events were held, such as the coronation ceremony, change of the reign title, National Amnesty and feasts and parties for receiving guests and envoys. The main gate was built with five doorways. It is the only imperial palace gate with five lanes archaeologically discovered in the ancient capitals of China. According to the nature of the architectures, Daming Palace can be divided into two large sections on the south and the north. The area on the south was arranged with offices and halls for handling state affairs while the area on the north was for residence and imperial gardens. The two sections were roughly separated by Taiye Lake. The forefront area of the southern section was built with the “grand court”—Hall of Hanyuan. The middle area of the section was for the “middle court”. It located on the north of the grand court and had the main architecture as the Hall of Xuanzheng. The area at the back or in the north of the southern section was the “inner court”, of which the main architecture was the Hall of Zichen. Hall of Xuanzheng was built 300 m away north to Hall of Hanyuan. It was also called the “Hall of Audience” where the “middle court” was. 35 m north to the Hall of Xuanzheng was Zichen Gate, 60 m north to which located the Hall of Zichen where the main hall of the “inner court” was. The Hall of Xuanzheng was 50 m deep south–north. The Hall of Hanyuan served as the Great Main Hall for State Affairs of Daming Palace. The name was derived from the good wishes of the terms “hanhong (allinclusive) guangda (develop and shine)” and “yuan heng li zhen (primal, prosperous, beneficial, steadfast)”. Thus, it was also named the “Daming Palace”, in which “Daming” means “great and bright”, containing the same connotation of the two terms.

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Palinspastic image of Danfeng Gate. The ruin of Danfeng Gate is 74.5 m long east–west and 33 m wide south–north, built with five doorways. The shape, form, and scale of each doorway are mainly the same. The width of them is 8.5 m, and the length of which is 33 m. The walls between each doorway are 3 m thick. The style of Danfeng Gate should be of the lintel.

Heritage site of the Hall of Hanyuan

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Palinspastic image of the heritage site of the Hall of Hanyuan. The two-dimensional view of the foundation of the hall is a rectangle that is 55 m long east–west and 20 m wide south–north. It consists 11 rooms east–west and 4 rooms south–north, with a depth of 5 m for each room. There was a stone fence built around the abutment, carved with dragon heads as decoration. The east, west, and north side of the hall were built with the fenced footpath. On the southeast and the southwest corner of the hall were the Xiangluan and Xifeng Pavilions aligned symmetrically opposite to each other. The two pavilions were arranged about 30 m south to the Hall of Hanyuan, of which the form, configuration, and size were roughly the same. They were believed to have been originally the left and the right watchtowers of the hall, but only the central tower and the side towers are left. Two turret flying galleries were connected the two pavilions with the Hall of Hanyuan.

The remains of the Hall of Hanyuan locates along the south of Longshouyuan field (meaning the dragon head field) 300 m in the south of Hanyuan Hall Village in Xincheng District of Xi’an City today. The site is at the highest point of Longshouyuan, about ten meters above the surrounding land, therefore, was described in Records of Chang’an City as leaned against the highland in the north with a good view of the dry land in the south, from which the Zhingnanshan Mountain can be observed clearly like the palm of a hand, and the residential districts and markets of the capital city can be overseen.

The Hall of Hanyuan locates 610 m precisely in the north of Danfeng Gate, in-between was the “Courtyard of the Hall of Hanyuan” as recorded in historical documentation, in other words, a massive-sized square in front of the Hall of Hanyuan that stretched south toward Danfeng Gate. The main structures of the Hall of Hanyuan include the abutment platform, the hall, the eastern and the western pavilions, the dragon tail (Longwei) passages and the square in front of the hall. The hall was built along the terrain of Longshouyuan,

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of which the abutment platform was constructed in three levels, namely the upper, middle, and lower levels. The middle and lower levels are both built on the natural earth platform of Longshouyuan, whereas the upper-level platform as the foundation of the hall was made of packed earth. There had been controversy over the road going up to the Hall of Hanyuan, but recent archaeological discoveries have provided an answer to it. According to the ruins excavated, the Dragon’s Tail Passages were not built right against the hall on the south. Instead, they started at the front square from the bottom of the eastern and the western abutments. The two ends of the passages went up the slopes at the inner side of the abutment of the two pavilions through the lower-, middle-, and upper-level platforms to arrive at the main access of the hall. The dragon tail passages on both sides of the hall were, in fact, two south–north oriented stairs built parallelly on the east and the west. Each stair was about 70 m long with the shape of a long dragon, hence the name “dragon tail passage”. They were the stairs that the ministers and officials went up to meet with the emperor in the hall. Between the Hall of Hanyuan and the dragon tail passage, there were another three levels of platforms, among which the lower and the middle platforms were 5 zhang (about 15 m) of height each while the upper platform was 2 zhang high. Between each level of the platforms built were stair steps made of white marble. Around each platform, there built the marble fence. The form and configuration of the dragon tail passages had direct influence on the Shangjing Longquan Fu palace of Balhea and the Taikyokuden of Heijo-kyo in Japan. The Hall of Hanyuan together with the Hall of Xuanzheng and the Hall of Zichen on the north formed “the three great halls” of Daming Palace. The northern section of Daming Palace was arranged with imperial bed chambers and gardens, of which Taiye Lake sits at the center. Taiye Lake was first ordered to be built in the first of Tang’s reign, which was also named as “Penglai Lake”.

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Present view of Taiye Lake of Daming Palace

Penglai Island in Taiye Lake

The bank of Taiye Lake was strengthened with packed stones. Historical literature shows that there were three islands in the lake, the foundation of one of which still stands in the center of the lake, namely Penglai Island. The foundation is 7.8 m high. Archaeological excavation has found the remains of the artificial hills, pavilions, and

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footpaths built on the island in Tang. About a hundred meters west to Penglai Island, another of “the three islands” recorded in documentations was found. The straight length of it is 70 m south–north, and the width of it is 50 m east–west. Legends tell that Emperor Qin Shi Huang went to the shore of the East Sea of Penglai in Shandong Province to seek for the pill of longevity, based on which “Penglai Lake” had been used to stand for sacred lakes and the vast sea. The sacred mountain in the sea, as the legend goes, was named Penglai Mountain. There was circled galleries built around Taiye Lake and, during the reign of Emperor Xianzong of Tang, over four hundred corridor-shaped halls by the lake.

2.2.7.3

Jiucheng Palace

Jiucheng Palace was located on Tiantai Mountain on the western border of Linyou County. It was originally the Palace of Benevolence and Longevity in Sui Dynasty. In the fifth year of the reign Zhenguan of Tang (631 AD), ministers of the court proposed to build a bleak palace for escaping the hot summer. Since the country had just ended a civil war, and the border was still rattled with conflicts and battles, the royal court was tight in both labor and finance. In order to solve the dilemma, Emperor Taizong of Tang went for a compromised plan, which was to refurbish and enlarge the Palace of Benevolence and Longevity and rename it as “Jiucheng Palace”. In the second year of the reign Yonghui of Tang (651 AD), Emperor Gaozong of Tang had renamed Jiucheng Palace to be “Wannian Palace”, the palace of ten thousand years. It was not until the second year of the reign Qianfeng of Tang (667 AD) since the palace named had been changed back to “Jiucheng”. Jiucheng Palace was built after the form and configuration of the imperial palace of the capital around Tiantai Mountain. Even the name of some architectures was the same, for example, the northern gate of Jiucheng Palace was also named as “Xuanwu Gate” precisely like that of the imperial palace in Chang’an. In front of the main access “Yongguang Gate” of Jiucheng Palace stood a stele imprinted with “The Foreword and Inscription about Wannian Palace” written by Emperor Gaozong of Tang, Li Zhi, in the fifth year of the reign Yonghui (654 AD). Jiucheng Palace was built with the Great Main Hall for State Affairs and imperial bed chambers as well as an Easter Palace for the crown prince.

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A painting of Jiucheng Palace mimicking the style of Zhao Qianli, Qing Dynasty, by Sun You and Ding Guanpeng

Inside Jiucheng Palace, there is the famous stele of “Inscription about the sweet spring water of Jiucheng Palace”. Chancellor Wei Zheng wrote the content of the inscription and its preface while the great calligrapher Ouyang Xun wrote the header and content of the stele in Seal script.

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Jiucheng Palace and its imperial garden were surrounded by walls. Emperors of the Early Tang era, especially Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong of Tang, had loved to spend the most of the year in Jiucheng Palace. The palace was described to be at a place that “has no humid steam but with pleasant breezes and tranquil coolness” in the season of “burning air and floating fire” and reckoned as “a wonderful place for cultivating the physical and spiritual health”. When the emperor moved to stay in Jiucheng Palace, the Empress and concubines would accompany him. The Yunv Pond in the south of Jiucheng Palace was said to be the bath place of Empress Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong of Tang when they stayed at the palace for the hot summer. Since emperors would need to deal with state matters during the stay, the Crown Prince and the main ministers of the royal court would have to accompany the emperor to stay at Jiucheng Palace, too. The wall that surrounded the outer circle of Jiucheng Palace was built along the terrain of the mountain, serving the function as a city wall. Between the outer circle wall and the palace was the forbidden imperial garden and some essential imperial buildings, of which the remains are discovered.

2.2.7.4

Huaqing Palace

Huaqing Palace sits at the foot of Lishan Mountain 25 km away from Xi’an City in the east. The name of the mountain originates from the Lirong ethnicity who had lived there back in history. Another theory is that the name of the mountain (south to Lintong County) came from its shape resembling a horse and color being dark grayish-green. This color is called “li (骊)” in the traditional Chinese color system, and the character of which has a radical on the left that means “horse (马)”. Lishan Mountain owns a range of sharp peaks and cliffs that look like layers of misty clouds from afar; therefore, it has also gained a poetic name of “the Mountain of Splendor”. The land where the mountain is used to belong to the Lirong City of Zhou Dynasty; in the year of 231 BC, Wei State offered Lirong City as a gift to the Qin Empire, the latter then changed it to be the City of Li. Also, as historical records reveal that “since the First Emperor of Qin had ascended the throne, he ordered to build his mausoleum in Zhishan (郦山) Mountain” and built a city at “Li (丽)”, hence “Lishan Mountain” is also known as “Zhishan Mountain”. In the early Tang period, Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong often bath at the “Wentang” hot spring at Lishan Mountain. In the eighteenth year of the reign Zhenguan of Tang (644 AD), Emperor Taizong ordered the General of Left Imperial Army Guard Unit (“zuotun wei”) Jiang Xingben and the Major-General of Imperial Manufactories Yan Lide to be in charge of the construction project at Lishan Mountain. They had built a large number of imperial halls and chambers, forming the initial foundation and scale of a bleak palace. The emperor endowed it with the name “Wentang Palace” (palace of hot water). In the second year of the reign Xianheng of Tang (671 AD), Emperor Gaozong of Tang renamed it as “Wenquan Palace” (palace of hot spring). In the sixth year of the reign Tianbao of Tang (747 AD), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang changed the name of Wenquan Palace to be “Huaqing

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Palace”. At the same time, he had ordered to expand the palace further, excavated more hot springs and built many luxurious baths. Along with the project, a large number of imperial chambers, governmental buildings and houses for princes and nobility were built near Lishan Mountain. Walls were also put up around Huaqing Palace. Huaqing Palace and Chang’an city of Tang were connected with a “bilevel corridors”. During the most prosperous Tang period, Huaqing Palace had already become the top-ranking bleak palace near the capital. In recent years, archaeologists have carried out large-scale excavation project and investigation to the ruins of Huaqing Palace, through which the position of the related structures have been confirmed. These include the outer circled wall of the imperial garden, the palace wall, the Zhaoying town city of Tang, and some buildings inside the palace. Huaqing Palace consisted of the palace area, Lishan imperial garden and Zhaoying town city. Zhaoying town city was where the accompanying ministers and officials resided when the emperor stayed at Huaqing Palace. Huaqing Palace was divided into three districts, which were the eastern, the middle and the western districts. The east district was where the emperor and his empress and concubines resided, took a bath, threw feasts and parties, and entertained. The middle section was arranged with the main architectures of the palace—the Front Hall and the rear hall, where the emperor handled state affairs and held state activities. The western district had accommodated structures such as the Guolao Imperial Court of Medicine, the Temple of Ten Great Ancestral Emperors of Tang (“Temple of Shisheng”), and the Sixteen Large Baths. East of the palace was built with a park for entertainment, and the west of it was a zoo for rare and exotic birds and animals and an imperial garden. The main archaeological discoveries at the ruins of Huaqing Palace are the sites of 9 hot spring bath and hall remains the remains of water inlet and drainage facilities and a range of relics related to the sites. In addition, the ruins of the Pavilion of Royal Study, the Operatic Circle, and some small baths have also been excavated.

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Today’s Huaqing Palace

Huaqing Palace was built in the north, facing the south and along the terrain of the mountain. There was one gate on each of the four sides of the palace wall—the primary access of Huaqing Palace was Jinyang Gate on the north, outside of which was built a moat. There was a bridge built over the moat, named as “Wangxian Bridge”. Buildings in front of the bridge on the left and the right were called the Military Academy—they were, in fact, the station for the imperial guards of Huaqing Palace. At the back of the bridge, there were the left and right courts. Behind the courts built was the Institute for the Advancement of Literature. The southern gate of the palace was named Zhaoyang Gate. Since there was a road connecting it into the mountain, it was also named “the Gate of the Mountain”. The road led to the Pavilion of Chaoyuan up in the mountain and was specially built for the emperor. The eastern gate of the palace was Kaiyang Gate, and the western one was named Wangjing Gate. Outside the western palace gate in the south, there was a storied building called “Wangjing”, through which one can climb up to the mountain peak. It was possibly where the name of the western gate originated.

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Tricolor strigidae unearthed from the site of Huaqing Palace

The main architectures of Huaqing Palace were mainly located on the east behind Jinyang Gate. The Hall of Flying Frost was the emperor’s bed chamber, behind which were the Lotus Bath, the Royal Bath and the Hibiscus Bath dedicated to the emperor and empress. West to the hall was the Temple of Seven Great Emperors and the Operatic Circle. North to the hall was the Yaoguang Building. The hot spring bath pools in Huaqing Palace were gorgeous and spectacular. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang’s Lotus Bath, for example, had a perimeter of a few zhang (a bit more or less than ten meters) and the materials of which were carefully selected and procured from Fanyang Prefecture by General An Lushan. The inner side of the pool was laid with fine white stones that were carefully polished until they looked like shiny and smooth jade. On the white stones were carved with vivid pictures of fish, dragons, ducks, and geese as well as pure and graceful lotus. Each side of the bathing pool was built with multilayered stone seats. There were two white stone urns of connected body and two separate opens on the top. In the opens of the urns, two lotus seed pods carved with white stone stuck out, from which the hot spring flew into the pool. There were another 6 cross-shaped wooden water outlets in the pool and two drainage ditches by the side of the pool.

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The Hibiscus Bath was also known as “the Bath Endowed to Concubine Yang”. Since the stones were carved with pictures of begonia, the bath was also named as “the Begonia Pool”. The Hibiscus Bath located in the southwest of the Lotus Bath, slightly small in scale than the latter. The shape of Hibiscus Bath was designed to be a large begonia. There were two rows of stone benches built at the inner side of the pool. The bottom of the bath was paved with black flagstones while the inner side of the pool was carved with striped patterns. The source of hot spring of Hibiscus Bath is located 70 m away from the pool on the north, connected by a water channel.

Remain of the Lotus Bath

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Remain of the Royal Bath

The bath for the crown prince and concubines were collectively built in the west of the Hall of Flying Frost in a designated area, namely the “Sixteen Large Baths”, which included the Bath for Crown Prince, Shaoyang Bath, Shangshi Bath, Yichun Bath and so on. On the south of all the imperial baths was the Hall of Bamboo Shoot. In addition to the imperial bathhouses inside Huaqing palace, some nobility had also built their own baths and houses nearby, for example, the Yang’s family, where Lady Yang, the most adored concubine of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, was from, had built a magnificent large-scale mansion and many luxurious bath pools in the east of Huaqing Palace.

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The Pavilion of Chaoyuan was built south of the palace and on the northern peak of the mountain. It was also called “the Pavilion of Coming Sage”. It was located at “the steepest spot” among all structures of Huaqing Palace on Lishan Mountain. The pavilion was built in the style of Taoist temple. In the south of the pavilion, there was the Spring of Red Clouds of chilled spring water and precious trees. There was also the Temple of Lord Lao Zi nearby, where a jade statue of Lao Zi (whose name was Li Dan) was accommodated for worship. East to the Pavilion of Chaoyuan was built with a Bell Tower, a Tower of Jiegu Drum, the Hall of Eternal Life, and the Hall of Bright Pearl. The Pavilion of Chaoyuan and the Hall of Eternal Life were the main architectures of the group mentioned above of structures. The emperor of Tang would work in the pavilion and fast and bath in the Hall of Eternal Life. In order to balance the power between Taoism and Buddhism, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang built the Temple of Stone Urn halfway up the eastern ridge of Lishan Mountain in the year of the reign Kaiyuan (713–741 AD). It was said that there was a fall west to the temple. The years of the constant impact of the fall created a basin in the rocks, making it into an urn shape. Therefore, the place was named “the Stone Urn Valley”. Accordingly, the temple built there was named “the Temple of Stone Urn”, inside which there was a white jade statue of Buddha made by “the Sage of Sculpture” Yang Huizhi and famous sculptor Yuan Jia’er and offered as a tribute to the emperor by Fanyang Prefecture. The widely respected artist Wang Wei had painted the mural of landscapes for the temple. Beyond the northeastern corner of Huaqing Palace, there were the Tower of Wind (or “Guanfeng Tower”) and the Pavilion of Chongming. Near the Tower of Wind built were the Platform for Horse Dance, the Court for Cockfight and the Pavilion of Pleasant Spring (or “Yichun Pavilion”), and some other architectures. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang often took Lady Yang with him to climb up the tall towers and look over the grand natural scenery of Lishan Mountain and the spectacular palace. What’s more, south to these halls and pavilions and on the northeast side of Kaiyang Gate, there was a “sports court” for ball games and other sports activities. Among all the emperors of Tang, Emperor Xuanzong had paid the most visits to Lishan Mountain and stayed there the longest. He usually moved to Huaqing Palace every October and went back to Chang’an in the spring of the next year. As written in the famous long poem “Song of Everlasting Regret” by Tang poet Bai Juyi that She bathed in glassy water of the warm-fountain pool, Which laved and smoothed her creamy skin when spring was cool. Upborne by her attendants, she rose too faint to move, And this was when she first received the monarch’s love. Flowerlike face and cloudlike hair, golden-headdressed,

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In lotus-flower curtain she spent the night blessed. She slept till sun rose high, for the blessed night was short, From then on the monarch held no longer morning court.5

The verse could be seen as a faithful record of the luxurious and wilful life of Emperor Xuanzong and Lady Yang in Huaqing Palace. The great Tang poet Du Fu had witnessed the shocking contrast between the life of debauchery of the ruling class and the devastating struggling in poverty and hunger of the civilians when traveling past Lishan Mountain in the fourteenth year of the reign Tianbao of Tang (755 AD). He then wrote down the widely recited verse of criticism in his poem that “wine and meat rot behind vermilion gates while at the roadside people freeze to death”. Due to the loosened administration and laziness of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang in his later years, riots and chaos arose. It was recorded by Bai Juyi in his poem that “But rebels beat their war drums, making the earthquake And ‘Song of Rainbow Skirt and Coat of Feathers’ break. A cloud of dust was raised over city walls nine-fold; Thousands of chariots and horsemen southwestward rolled”.6 An Lushan’s Rebellion had put an end to the prosperous period of Tang and pushed Emperor Xuanzong and Lady Yang from Huaqing Palace that “Through a few dozen of warm chambers hot spring flows, Where in the air sophisticated aroma swirls, and the channel spring water ripples”7 to the abyss of history.

2.2.7.5

Ritual and Ceremonious Buildings of Chang’an of Tang

The Round Altar (Temple of Heaven) in Chang’an was first built in the tenth year of the reign Kaihuang of Sui (590 AD) and was kept in use through Tang Dynasty. The heritage site of the altar locates on the campus of today’s Shaanxi Normal University in the southern suburb of Xi’an City, 950 m away in the west of the Mingde Gate ruin. The Round Alter is a tall round-shaped platform of four levels rammed with packed earth. Around each level, there are twelve stairs built (leading to the next level). The stairs built on the exact south are the widest, for they were designated to be the passage of the emperor when offering sacrifices to heaven. The twelve stairs are arranged according to the position of the twelve sexagenary hours. There was white powder painted on the surface of the altar so that it appeared to be white from 5

A version of the translation by Xu Yuanchong to the original verse, quoted from Translators.com.cn (http://bbs.translators.com.cn/cat71/48552《长恨歌》 经典翻译(杨宪益,戴乃迭vs许渊冲) on the 1st September 2020, accessed at 11:23 a.m. The original verse of the poem is “春寒赐浴华清 池, 温泉水滑洗凝脂。侍儿扶起娇无力, 始是新承恩泽时。云鬓花颜金步摇, 芙蓉帐暖度春宵。 春宵苦短日高起, 从此君王不早朝。” 6 The translation of another verse from the Tang poem “Song of Everlasting Regret” also by Xu Yuanchong quoted from the same website as above stated. 7 A translation by one of the translators of this book, Wang Yujia, of a verse in the poem “Hot Spring • Miscellanea of Seven Poems Written in the Reign Kaiyuan” 《开元杂题七首 ( ·汤泉》) written by Tang Dynasty poet Lu Guimeng (陆龟蒙).

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the outlook. Through investigation around the altar, archaeologists have found the remains of a wall. According to the regime of Tang, on the winter solstice day of each year, the emperor shall “offer sacrifice to worship the supreme god of heaven at the Round Alter”. All through Tang Dynasty, there had been seventeen emperors who had hold sacrificial rituals at the Round Alter of Chang’an. Despite the remote history of heaven worshiping held in the varied ritual and ceremonial buildings as recorded in historical documentation, the remains of the Round Altar of Chang’an of Tang is the earliest and best-preserved ancient round alter in China. It is also the only round altar comprehensively excavated by Chinese archaeologists so far. The present tourist hotspot of Beijing, the Temple of Heaven, is a development based on the Round Alter of Chang’an of Tang.

Schematic view of the layout of ritual and ceremonious buildings in Chang’an of Tang

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Heritage site of the Round Alter of Change’an of Tang. The vertical length of the Round Alter is 8.12 m. The diameter of its bottom is 53 m. The diameter of each of the four levels of the altar from bottom to top are 54, 40, 29, and 20 m successively. The height of the levels is between 1.5 and 2.3 m accordingly. Stairs of each level are about 2–2.4 m wide, except the ones on the exact south, which are between 3.1 and 3.45 m wide. The wall around the altar forms a circle shape with the perimeter being 73–80 m.

The Directorate of Education of Tang was of similar function with the Imperial College of Han. The name of “Imperial Academy” was first endowed by Emperor Wu of Jin Dynasty in the second year of the reign Xianning (276 AD), where “imperial” or, literally in Chinese, “the descendants of the nobility (guo zi)”, was used to name the academy began. In the fifth year of the reign Zhenguan of Tang, Emperor Taizong had first set up the Directorate of Education in Chang’an. It was located in the walled district “Wuben Fang” in the capital, close to the southeast side of the imperial city. The Directorate of Education was the highest educational institution of Tang, to which the Tang government had attached great importance, and Emperor Taizong of Tang paid frequent visits. The scale of Directorate of Education in Tang was large. There had been about 1200 new halls and chambers built for the institution in one project during the reign of Emperor Taizong. The institution was divided into six academies, namely Guozi Academy, Tai Academy, Simen Academy, the Academy of Law, the Academy of Calligraphy, and the Academy of Mathematics. Each academy had set up customized courses and modules according to its academic feature. Teachers of the Directorate of Education were titled as “Doctor”, “Teaching Assistant”, and “Head of Teaching”.

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The primary teaching materials in the institution were the classics of Confucian. The internationally well-known Classic of Filial Piety on Stone Tablets and Classics Engraved on Stone Tablets in the Reign Kaicheng of Tang were originally made to be stone textbooks for the Directorate of Education. They used to be exhibited in the directorate in Wuben Fang district of Chang’an and now safely preserved in the Stele Forest of Xi’an.

“Classics Engraved on Stone Tablets in the Reign Kaicheng of Tang” kept in Xi’an Stele Forest

Tang Dynasty marks the climax of development in the history of China. As the epitome of the dynasty, Chang’an city of Tang had witnessed the inheritance and advancement of the un-fractured five-thousand-year history of China. First, the layout and the form and configuration of Chang’an of Tang had brought the Chinese philosophy of “zhong he” to a new level and stage. The spirit of “zhong” was demonstrated by the formalization of the central axis in the capital, which had changed from being slightly west to the south–north central line of Luoyang capital in Northern Wei to being exactly on the center line. The central axis of Chang’an of Tang started from Mingde Gate and went straight north through Zhuque Gate. The axis went further north through Chengtian Gate, the Gate of Supreme Ultimate, and the Hall of Supreme Ultimate, forming a central axis stretching north and south.

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The central point of the axis was the Great Main Hall of State Affairs (the Hall of Supreme Ultimate), a unique feature of the capital. Second, both Mingde Gate and Danfeng Gate were built with five doorways, different from all the other city or palace gates. The design has emphasized the uniqueness of the main entrance, a resemblance of the supremacy of “the country”. Third, the imperial palace of Daxing of Sui or Chang’an of Tang was divided into three sections from east to west. Among them, the middle section was the Palace of Supreme Ultimate (Palace of Daxing) where the Great Main Hall of State Affairs— the Hall of Supreme Ultimate (Daxing Hall) located; the east section was where the Eastern Palace for Crown Prince was, and the west section was for Yeting Palace. Such layout and form and configuration of the imperial palace had had profound influence to the later capitals of China. Fourth, the “Lake of Four Seas” including “the east sea”, “the west sea”, “the south sea” and “the north sea” in the imperial garden at the north of the imperial palace of capital Daxing of Sui or Chang’an of Tang was developed from the Taiye Lake initially built in the imperial palace of Jianzhang under the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. The variation is consistent in terms of demonstrating the geospatial concept of “the ocean” in the imperial garden. It is a concept that has been followed by Chinese people in the past. Fifth, the concept of a “Summer Palace” as a definition raised in the contemporary period emerged relevantly late. The Summer Palace of Tsar Peter the Great is known to be built quite early in history which was in 1704. Before 1860, the Western world called Yuanmingyuan Palace of Beijing “the Summer Palace”; after the UK and France Army burned it down during the Opium War, the Western world began to call it “the Old Summer Palace”. It had long been a tradition in China to build a bleak palace or temporary imperial palace near the capital. Some of them were also used in the summer, such as Liangshan Palace in the northwest of Xianyang city of Qin and Ganquan Palace in the northeast of Chang’an of Han. The definition of a summer palace should include two elements: On the one hand, a summer palace must meet the fundamental demand of an imperial palace. In other words, it should have all the main architectures and the features of the layout and the form and configuration of an imperial palace; on the other hand, a summer palace is dedicated to the staying in hot summer. According to this definition, the bleak palaces and temporary imperial palaces that can be categorized as a summer palace near the ancient capital are the Palace of Benevolence and Longevity of Sui, Jiucheng Palace of Tang and Huaqing Palace. The latter two palaces had had a significant influence on the later generations. The Chengde Mountain Resort and Yuanmingyuan Palace are two typical summer palaces in ancient China that have extracted the best essence of all Chinese palaces.

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2.2.8 Ye and Jiankang Cities The ruins of Ye (or Yecheng, meaning the City of Ye) are located in Santai Village, 17.5 km southwest of Linzhang County, Hebei Province. It contains the sites of two cities, the Northern Ye and the Southern Ye. The Northern Ye was one of the five capital cities of the Former Wei Dynasty, before the states of Later Zhao, Ran Wei, and Former Yan made Ye capital of their respective dynasties. The Southern Ye was the capital city of the Eastern Wei Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty. Jiankang was made capital by six different dynasties: East Wu, East Jin, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen.

2.2.8.1

Northern Ye and Southern Ye

The Northern Ye city is shaped like a horizontal rectangle, surrounded by walls on all sides. Within the walls, lies “Zhongyang Gate Road”, the widest road and central axis of the city, connected to “Zhongyang Gate” to the south and the palace area in the center of the north. The “Tongjue Garden” is located in the northwest, with “Wenchang Hall” to the east and joint by the “Ice Well Terrace”, the “Bronze Bird Terrace”, and the “Metal Tiger Terrace” to the west. Large-scale gardens including “Xuanwu Garden” and “Lingzhi Garden” are situated on the outside of the city. Spacious residential wards were established in the city where people of different groups, professions and social classes inhabit different areas. In 534, Gao Huan, the Emperor of Northern Qi commissioned Gao Longzhi to lead the construction of the Southern Ye city, where its northern wall bordered the southern wall of the Northern Ye city. In fact, the ruins of the Southern Ye city discovered in the archaeological site used to be the inner city, with “Zhuming Gate Road” stretched along the central axis from north to south. In the upper-middle of the city lay the ruins of a walled-in palace area, where sites of large-scale structures were found evenly distributed along the central axis. A back garden is located in the north of the palace area. A few sites of rammed earth structures were discovered in to the south of the Southern Ye city ruins. As described in the Record of Ye (Ye Zhong Ji), the Southern Ye city is The Department of Imperial Affairs and the government offices consist of hundreds of officials who from the director and deputy directors to the officials in the twenty-eight lower divisions, located to the south of the imperial palace gate.

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The “Zhuming Gate” is equipped with a pair of watchtowers (or “Que”). The watchtowers by the Southern Ye city gates are similar in configuration and specification to those by the eastern gates of Capital Chang’an of Han Dynasty and the outer watchtowers by the eastern gate in the south of the former capital city of State Lu during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.

Schematic floor plan view of Zhuming Gate. The ruins consist of abutments, doorways, short walls stretching southward and gate towers. The short walls are 80 m long from north to south and 20 m wide from east to west. The foundations of the gate towers, built on the southern end of the short walls, are square-shaped with 15 m long on each side. There are three doorways, of which the middle one is 5.4 m wide and the rest is 4.8 m wide.

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Schematic floor plan view of the ruins of Ye. The northern Ye city is 2400–2620 m long from east to west and 1700 m wide from north to south. There are seven gates built in the northern Ye city, three of which being on the southern side, with the middle gate called Zhongyang Gate (also knowns as Yongyang Gate), the eastern gate called Guangyang Gate, the western gate called Fengyang Gate. The only gate in the middle of the eastern wall is Jianchun Gate. Two gates are found on each side of the palace city on the middle part of the northern wall, of which the eastern one being Guangde Gate and the western being “jiu men”, meaning “Stable Gate”. Jinming Gate is the only gate in the

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middle of the western wall. Six streets are found after exploration: one east–west orientation street with three streets on its southern side, and two north–south orientation streets on its northern side. The east–west orientation length of Zhongyang Gate Street is 730 m and the north–south orientation width is 17 m. The southern Ye city is 2800 m wide from east to west and 3460 m long from north to south. Surrounding the city is a moat of 20 m wide and 1.8 m deep. The Zhuming Gate Street is 38.5 m in width. The ruins of the palace city are 620 m wide from east to west and 970 m long from north to south.

Large-scale ruins of an important Buddhist temple have been discovered outside of the Southern Ye city in recent years. According to the Record of Royal Residences and Capitals throughout History: Since the relocation of the capital during the Xinghe Era, people of all classes from everywhere flocked to the Southern city, with neighbourhoods were overflowing with people. Over four hundred residential areas (known as “fang”) were built. Though the names and whereabouts of most of those residential areas remained unknown, some were noted, such as the East Market in the Eastern Outer City and the West Market in the Western Outer City.

In the north of the Southern Ye city stood the palace. To the south of the palace were the central government offices, and ritual and ceremonial buildings such as the ancestral temple of the ruling house and other government offices and the altar for the gods of earth and harvest. According to the reference mentioned above, the East Market and West Market were located in the “Eastern Outer City” and the “Western Outer City” respectively, which were likely references for the eastern and western sections of the Southern Ye city outskirt. The Ye city has a significant impact on five thousand years of continuous history of China in ways such as follows: First, the Northern Ye city was built in the ninth year of the Jian’an Era (204) by Cao Cao, a famed politician, military strategist and writer in Chinese history. He spent his life as one of the greatest politicians in pursuit of a unified China. He led the construction of the “Baigou” waterway and the operation in the “Great Wall Area” in the north, in order to solidify his “Great Unification” ideology. According to the layout of Cao’s capital, platforms of state power, such as the palace, government offices and high-society residences, were strictly separated from other facilities such as civilian residences and markets. This was to highlight the capital as the center of politics and government. Moreover, the central axis in the Northern Ye city embodied the philosophy of “State above all” and could have influenced the central axis of the Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty. The Northern Ye city has enhanced the political function of capitals at a state level and highlighted the philosophy of “zhong (the center)”. Second, since the fall of Cao’s state of Former Wei, the Northern Ye city was declared capital during the Sixteen Kingdoms period by the states of Later Zhao, Ran Wei, and Former Yan. The Ran Wei regime was established by a Han Chinese named Ran Min. While the other two were established by Shi Le, the Xiongnu emperor of Later Zhao, and Murong Huang, the Xianbei Prince of Former Yan respectively. Despite being the political epitome of several ethnic powers, the Northern Ye city

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managed to maintain the same city planning, which reflected that Chinese ethnic groups have shared a common national identity.

Eaves tile “Long live the great Zhao” · Sixteen Kingdoms period

Third, when the states of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi constructed the Southern Ye city, which borders the Northern Ye city to the north, they followed the layout of the Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty which highlighted the philosophy of “zhong”. They improved on the layout which further reflects the philosophy of “zhong”, paving the way for the elevated philosophy of “zhong he (the center plus the four directions)” as featured in the layout of the Chang’an capital of Tang Dynasty (or the Daxing capital of Sui Dynasty).

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2.2.8.2

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Jiankang

The Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, including Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, proclaimed themselves legitimate successors of traditional Chinese culture to legitimize their regimes when China was divided into states. Even the politicians of the Northern Dynasties recognize that the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties had preserved the “legitimate” Chinese culture. Hence city planning with Chinese “national culture” drew high attention from both Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Schematic floor plan view of Jiankang

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Ruins of Stone City in Nanjing. Built on the seventh year of King Wei’s Reign of Chu (333 BC), the Stone City is 3000 m long. On the sixteenth year of the reign Jian’an of Eastern Han (211 AD), Sun Quan of Wu relocated his capital to Moling (now known as Nanjing) and built a new city named “The Stone” over the original Jinling city site in Mount Stone on the next year. The new city stood on a strategically crucial location over the Yangtze River and had been an ever-contested area, hence also named as “shi cheng hu ju”, meaning “The tiger-crouching Stone City”.

The Jiankang was the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, comprised of the outer city, the inner city (or the “Capital City”), and the palace (or “Taicheng”). The walls of the Outer City were made of bamboo. Hence the outer walls and gates were known as the “Fence (Fan Li)” and the “Fence Gate (Li Men)”. The south fence gate was the front gate of the Outer City, next to the “State Gate”. The Inner City was located in the center-north of the Outer City, with walls made of bamboo as well, until they were replaced with rammed earth in the second year of the Jianyuan Era of Qi Dynasty (480). The main entrance to the Inner City was the south gate called “Xuanyang Gate”. The north–south running imperial street was joined by the south gates of the Outer City and the Inner City at both ends, and the ancestral temple and the altar for the gods of earth and harvest on each side. The palace was divided into the north section, which was the Rear Palace, and the south section, which was the administrative division that centers around Taiji Hall. The main entrance to the palace was the south palace gate, named Dasima Gate. In order to carry on and continue the “city culture” as the national culture, Sun Quan was so inspired by the “Three Terraces” of the Northern Ye city, that build the Stone City in the west of Jianye city (renamed “Jiankang” in the

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Eastern Jin Dynasty), according to historical documents. The construction of the royal gardens of Jiankang in the Eastern Jin Dynasty was also influenced by the gardens in the north of Luoyang in the Wei and Jin dynasties. In fact, the construction of the royal garden landscapes in the Jiankang of the Eastern Jin Dynasty was influenced by the landscape of Luoyang during Wei and Jin dynasties. Even the gates of Jiankang were likely named after those of Luoyang during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, such as the gates of Xuanyang, Kaiyang, Jianchun, Ximing, and Qingming (written as “清明” in Jiankang, and as “青明” in Luoyang). As the capital of six dynasties, Jiankang also had a certain impact on the capitals of the Northern Dynasties in the Central Plains. For example, Luoyang of the Northern Wei Dynasty also contained a road along the central axis. Important central government offices were distributed along the axis in a symmetrical manner. Though the outer city walls of the capital of the Southern Dynasties were made of fences, much of the city layout remained the same, including the “triple-city” system, the central axis road, and the traditional placement of the ancestral temple (on the left) and the altar for gods of earth and harvest (on the right). Moreover, the palace stayed in the center of the capital, while the Great Main Hall for State Affairs stayed in the “central” and “forefront” position. Even during times of national divide, the layouts of capitals remained largely consistent, despite being ruled by different ethnic groups in different locations.

2.2.9 Luoyang City of the Han and Wei Dynasties 2.2.9.1

Luoyang of the Eastern Han Dynasty

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the character “Luo” in the name “Luoyang” was written as “雒”, which was usually reserved for describing the capital at the time. The character was changed to “洛” in the Han and Wei dynasties. Luoyang of the Eastern Han Dynasty was located 15 km east of the present-day Luoyang City. It remained the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty for 196 years, ruled by twelve emperors, from Emperor Guangwu who decided on Luoyang as capital in 25 AD, to Emperor Xian who was the last emperor of the Dynasty. Records suggest that Luoyang of Eastern Han was built with twelve city gates, which used to contain “three lanes per gate”, according to archaeological findings. It is stated in the Record of Luoyang (Luo Yang Ji), as referenced in the Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era (Taiping Yulan) that:

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All main roads in the city, especially the ones leading to the palace gates, were divided into three lanes. The middle lane was the imperial lane, separated from the outer lanes by cob walls as high as four ‘chi8 ’ on both sides.

The Southern Palace, Northern Palace, and Yong’an Palace (or “Palace of Eternal Safety”) were located inside the city. Since Emperor Guangwu made Luoyang capital, the Southern Palace had been used as the main palace of the city, with central government offices located to the southeast. When Emperor Ming of Han came to power, he launched a large-scale campaign to build the Northern Palace and other structures such as the main palace gate, “Zhuque Gate (or Gate of the Vermillion Bird)”, and the main hall, Deyang Hall. To the northwest of Northern Palace was the imperial garden, Zhuolong Garden. Outside of the palace, the warehouse and armory sat north–south opposite of each other, in the northeastern corner of the capital. According to the “Annals of Emperor Guangwu” from Book of Later Han Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu constructed the ancestral temple and altar for the gods of earth and harvest in Luoyang, during the second year of the Jianwu Era (26 AD?). Though the location of the temple and altar remain unclear, it is possible that they were positioned in a way called “Zuo Zu You She”, in which the temple is on the left, and the altar is on the right.

8

Ancient Chinese measurement unit of length. One chi is about 16.95 cm.

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Schematic floor plan view of Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty. The plan view of the capital is rectangle-shaped with the length of the eastern, western, southern, and northern wall being 4200 m, 3700 m, 2460 m, and 2700 m respectively. The north–south orientation length of the southern palace is 1300 m, and the east–west orientation width is 1000 m. The northern palace is 1200 m wide from east to west and 1500 m long from north to south. The plan view of the ruins of the armory is near-square shaped, stretching 199 m from north to south and 142–186 m from east to west. Encompassed by the walls, the courtyard houses multiple structures ruins. “Taicang”, meaning “the Great Granary”, includes two courtyards running from east to west: The two-dimensional shape of the western courtyard is a rectangle, which is 70 m wide from east to west and 100 m long from north to south; the two-dimensional shape of the eastern courtyard is a square that is 50 m on each side.

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Layout of sacrificial building complexes in Luoyang of Han and Wei dynasties

The most important sacrificial building complexes in Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty were Lingtai (or “heavenly terrace”), the Bright Hall (or “Mingtang Hall”), and the Biyong tunnel. The three were commonly known as “San Yong” or the “Three Sacrificial Spaces”. Lingtai was used as an observatory to study astral science. However, ancient Chinese astronomy was more than the study of astronomical phenomena. In fact, “Treatise on Celestial Offices” from Shi Ji and “Treatise on Astronomy” from Book of Han (Shi Ji and Han Shu are both from “The Twenty-Four Histories”), were concerned with the relationship between “heaven and man”, discussing national politics through astronomy. As the “son of heaven”, the emperor would study celestial phenomena at Lingtai from time to time, when he would “observe the bond between heaven and man, and the dynamics between Yin and Yang”. Lingtai was built in the Guangwu Era of Eastern Han Dynasty and continued to serve its purpose in the Former Wei and Western Jin dynasties, until it was finally destroyed at the end of Western Jin. Located in the city’s outskirt, Lingtai was situated on the west side of the road that led to Pingcheng Gate, and 80 m to the east of Bright Hall. The historic site of Lingtai was discovered in the area of present-day Zhugedang-Gangshang Village and Dajiaozhai, Dianzhuang Town, Yanshi City. In the center of the site is a tall, square-shaped platform with a base made of rammed earth, covering a square area with a side length of 50 m. There were two levels of

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platforms around the base of the platform. The lower level was a corridor, surrounded by pebbles to disperse water. On the upper level, 5 rooms stood abreast of each other on each side, decorated with brick floors and painted walls. The walls on the east, west, south, north were painted in blue, white, vermilion, and black respectively, which reflects the corresponding relationship between the “five directions” and “five colors”. This is because the rulers of Han Dynasty believed that the four directions were governed by the “Four Gods”, each with a corresponding color. The top of Lingtai was the place to observe astronomical phenomena, because it was “flat and without structures”. The buildings surrounding Lingtai were government offices for astronomy. A structure hidden 2 m into the alcove of the inner wall was discovered on the west side of the second floor of Lingtai. According to historical documents, it may be the “secret room” where the famous Chinese astronomer Zhang Heng invented an astronomical instrument—the armillary sphere. The armillary sphere and seismoscope, designed and made by Zhang, were possibly kept in the “secret room”, because Zhang was in charge of observation at Lingtai as the Imperial Astronomer (or “Taishiling”).

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Floor plan view of Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty (restored). Walls are built around the “lingtai”, meaning “the heavenly terrace”, making it a courtyard in the shape of a near square, with the length of east–west orientation being 220 m and the width of north–south orientation being 200 m.

Eaves tiles depicting the “Four Gods” from in the site of the ancestral temple

The Bright Hall was located on the west side of the road that led to Kaiyang Gate, while the Biyong tunnel was on the east side. The Bright Hall was approximately 1000 m from Pingcheng Gate in the west, and 150 m from the Biyong tunnel in the east. The Bright Hall was a sacrificial building where ancient Chinese rulers used to worship and make offerings to their ancestors and Heaven. Emperors held sacrificial ceremonies in this hall to worship the proverbial “Five Emperors”. The Bright Hall of Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty was built in AD 56, during the first year of the Jianwu Zhongyuan era, under Emperor Guangwu. It continued to serve its purpose

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until the Northern Wei Dynasty. The historic site of Lingtai is located in presentday Zhugedang-Gangshang Village, Dianzhuang Town, Yanshi City. According to the chapter on “Gu River” from Shui Jing Zhu, the Bright Hall was designed to be “round on top and square in the bottom”.

Floor plan view of the ruins of the Bright Hall. The plan view of the “mingtang” (also known as “Hall of Distinction”, it was the central hall of the ancient royal and imperial palace, where important ceremonies were held), enclosed by walls, is a square shape with 400 m long from north to south, 415 m wide from east to west and a total area of 160,000 m2 . The foundations of the main structure in the Bright Hall are located on the center of the courtyard, resembling a near circle in a two-dimensional view.

The site of the Biyong tunnel is located in the east of Zhugedang-Gangshang Village, Dianzhuang Town, Yanshi City. In 1931, 278 AD the Biyong stele of Western Jin Dynasty, also known as the Stele Commemorating the Three Visits to the Biyong tunnel by Emperor Longxing of the Great Jin and the Second Visit by the Crown Prince was discovered here. It was discovered in the southern section of the foundation. In the middle of all the four sides of the foundation stand a group of buildings composed of a twin-set of watchtowers and a gate. The watchtowers and gates on the four sides were similar in style.

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Taixue (or the Imperial College) of the Eastern Han Dynasty was established in 29 CE, the fifth year of the Jianwu Era under Emperor Guangwu. At that time, “officials, from the general down to those with a salary of six hundred dan,9 send their children to study here, and they gather at the ceremonial banquet in the month of Xiangshe10 every year, which is the norm” (“Account of Confucian Scholars” from Book of Later Han Dynasty). This shows that most of the students at Taixue are the children of officials, proving Taixue was highly valued by society, which also led to a sharp increase in the number of students to more than 30,000. In 175 CE, the fourth year of the Xiping Era, the famous scholar Cai Yong carved a collection of Confucian literature on the stones outside the gate of Taixue, after he personally reviewed the works, mainly the “Six Classics”, in an effort to promote healthy development of the school. The stone-carved scriptures are now known as the famous “Xiping Stone Classics”. The stones used to stand in the back of Taixue, where “from then on, Confucian students and some people would come to study and copy [the texts]?, arriving in more than a thousand carriages every day, blocking the streets and alleys”. Taixue was destroyed during the Dong Zhuo Rebellion at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and then rebuilt by Emperor Wen of Western Wei on the same site as that of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in 224 CE, the fifth year of Huangchu Era. Another series of stone-carved literature was created during the Zhengshi period (240–249), aptly named the “Zhengshi Stone Classics”. They are known as the “Stone Classics in Three Fonts” or the “Stone Classics in Three Styles” because of the three different calligraphy styles. All the stone-carved classics, from the ones that stood beside Taixue in the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Former Wei Dynasty, to those of Guozijian, the imperial academy mentioned in the section on Chang’an of Tang Dynasty, played an important role in the promotion and preservation of Chinese history and culture.

9

dan, a unit of weight used in ancient China, can be used to measure salary in terms of grain weight. Xiangshe, an ancient Chinese ritual involving archery and consumption of alcohol, specifically for the occasion when local officials select up-and-coming scholars for recommendations.

10

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Floor plan view of Taixue and the surrounding archaeological sites (Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty)

The historical site of Taixue consists of two sections of ruins from the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Northern and Southern dynasties. One part is located in the north of the Biyong tunnel, covering an area that is 200 m long from east to west, and 100 m wide from north to south. It mainly contains the ruins from the Eastern Han Dynasty. The other part is 100 m to the northeast of the previous section. It stretches 150 m wide from east to west, and 200 m long from north to south, surrounded by walls and lined with houses tens of meters long. Many Taixue textbooks, including the Stone Classics, were unearthed here.

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Remnant of the Xiping Stone Classics (unearthed in the Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty archaeological site)

Lingtai, the Bright Hall, the Biyong tunnel, Taixue, and other ritual complexes in the southern suburb are the most valuable among the ruins of Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty, while the city itself also bears significance for two reasons:

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First, Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty is an example of how the orientation of ancient Chinese capitals had shifted. Luoyang was different from Chang’an of Han Dynasty, largely because they face different directions. Until the end of the Western Han Dynasty, Chang’an of Han Dynasty used to face the east. Moreover, the main gates of the capital city and the palace (Weiyang Palace) were east-facing as well. On the other hand, Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty faced the south, along with south-facing entrances such as the main gate of the capital city (Pingcheng Gate), and the main palace gate. Second, the ritual building complexes discovered in Luoyang of the Eastern Han Dynasty, such as Lingtai, the Bright Hall, the Biyong tunnel, and Taixue, fill in the “gaps” in archaeological studies. The ritual buildings of the ancient Chinese capitals are valuable vessels of knowledge, which contains 5000 years of non-stopping cultural development. The archaeological discoveries of Lingtai, the Bright Hall, the Biyong tunnel, and Taixue in Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty correspond with historical records, and vice versa. It undoubtedly had a significant impact on academic research, by filling in the “gaps” in Chinese cultural heritage, thus restoring the “non-stopping” lineage of Chinese history.

2.2.9.2

Luoyang of Wei and Jin Dynasties

Fifteen kilometers east of the present-day Luoyang city, stood the capital Luoyang of Former Wei, led by Cao Cao. Roughly the same size as Luoyang City of Eastern Han Dynasty, the Former Wei capital had quite a different layout from that of the Eastern Han capital. In the early years of the Former Wei Dynasty, a palace known as the “Luoyang Palace” at the time, was built on the site where once stood the North Palace of Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Ming of Former Wei, Taiji Hall, and Changhe Gate were built on the same foundation, where Deyang Hall and Zhuque Gate used to stand, next to the North Palace of Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty. Taiji Hall was the main hall of the imperial court. To the south stood Changhe Gate, the main entrance to Luoyang Palace. Changhe Gate used to face Xuanyang Gate to the south. Between the gates lie Tongtuo Street, or “Bronze Camel” Street. As the city’s north–south central axis, the street got its name when Emperor Ming of Former Wei placed a bronze camel statue on it. When the Western Jin Dynasty took over Luoyang, it remained a capital and maintained the same city layout. The ancestral temple and the altar for the gods of earth and harvest still stood on the east side and west side of the Xuanyang Gate Street in the capital. Following Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty, Luoyang of Wei and Jin dynasties continued to develop the same large-scale ritual building complexes such as the Biyong tunnel, Taixue, the Bright Hall, and Lingtai. Historical documents record that Emperor Ming of Former Wei built Yuanqiu (or Circular Mound) on Weisu Mountain, south of Luoyang. Archaeological findings indicate that Yuanqiu was located 25 km south of Luoyang, on the west side of the north–south axis, between Dagu Pass and Pingcheng Gate of Luoyang. In the present day, a 50-m-high and pyramid-shaped platform with a bottom radius of 500 m, called

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“Yusu Grain Pile” stands near Nansonggou Village, Licun Township, Yanshi City. On top of the platform, there used to be the Temple of Yu the Great, hence the name “Yu Su Grain Pile”. It is actually the ruins of Yuanqiu of Luoyang, from the Former Wei Dynasty. This should be the site of the oldest ritual Circular Mound (for making offerings to heaven) that we can confirm archaeologically, which is older than the Yuanqiu of Chang’an in the Tang Dynasty. The ruins of Luoyang of Wei and Jin dynasties have offered us some valuable historical insights: Ancient Chinese capitals went from a “multipalace” layout to a “single-palace” layout; the early concept of a central city axis in ancient Chinese capitals had formed, which further strengthened the philosophy of “zhong” (or “center”); the main hall of the imperial court in the ancient Chinese capital began as the sleeping chambers of ancient emperors, known as “Luqin” in the Zhou Dynasty, then graduated to “Qiandian” (or the “Front Hall”) in the Qin Dynasty, and became known as “Taiji Hall”, meaning the “Hall of the Supreme Principle”, during the Former Wei Dynasty. The Taiji Hall of Former Wei had a profound influence on not only ancient Chinese capitals but also ancient Japanese capitals. The name “Taiji Hall” (or “Taijidian” in Chinese) was adopted into Japanese as “Daigokuden”, which is the name for the main halls of many ancient Japanese capitals.

2.2.9.3

Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty

In AD 493, the 17th year of the Taihe Era in the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang from Pingcheng (now Datong City) and rebuilt it on the basis of Luoyang of Wei and Jin dynasties. Located 15 km east of present-day Luoyang City, the ruins of Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty consist of the palace, the inner city, and the outer city.

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Floor plan view of Luoyang (Northern Wei Dynasty). 1. Taiji Hall, 2. Changhe Gate, 3. Yongning Temple, 4. Lingtai, 5. Bright Hall, 6. Biyong Tunnel, 7. Taixue, 8. Jinyong city, 9. Yuanqiu. The palace city is 660 m wide from east to west and 1398 m long from north to south. The east–west orientation width of the inner city is 2460–2820 m and the north–south orientation length is no shorter than 3510–3895 m. The northern wall of the outer city is found 850 m to the north of the inner city, the eastern wall is located 3500 m to the east of the inner city, the western wall is situated 3500–4250 m to the west of the inner city, while the southern wall stands at the northern bank of the ancient Luo River which is 1000–1500 m to the south of the present Luo River. The Changhe Gate is the main gate of the palace city while the Taiji Palace is still the Great Main Hall for State Affairs of Northern Wei. The foundations of Taiji Palace are 100 m long from east to west and 60 m wide from north to south. The central government offices, temples, the nobles’ houses, ancestral temples of ruling houses and altars for the gods of earth and harvest are distributed on the eastern and western side of the Bronze Camel Street built between the Changhe Gate and the Xuanyang Gate.

Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty was a sizeable city that stretched “20 li1 from east to west, and 15 li from north to south”. The three east–west roads within the outer city traversed the whole capital, connected to the gates on the east and west walls of the inner city. The three main roads might have led to the three gates on the east wall and the other three gates on the west wall of the outer city. No remains of gates were

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found on the north wall of the outer city. According to historical records, 320 (some say 323) wards, known as “lifang”, were built in the outer city. Surrounded by walls, the “lifang” wards were square-shaped areas, with two streets joined at the central crossing on the inside, and four gates located respectively on each wall. Residential areas were divided according to the identities of the inhabitants. Within the outer city, the west side was the residential area of Xianbei royalties and nobles. The east side was inhabited by the Han Chinese bureaucrats and civilians. The south side was the residential area for foreigners and ethnic minorities from the nearby areas. “Dashi” (or the “Big Market”) was located in the west of the outer city, while “Xiaoshi” (or the “Small Market”) was on the east side. On the south side, Sitong Market, which means “extended in all directions”, was a market for trading international goods. The difference in market size and variety of products were heavily influenced by the residents near the markets. Some of the most valuable archaeological discoveries in recent years were Taiji Hall and Changhe Gate, the main palace gate, in Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty. Judging by the ruins, Changhe Gate modeled after that of the Former Wei. Changhe Gate and Taiji Hall serve as the base points of the city’s central axis. The foundation of Changhe Gate contains the oldest discovered ruins of a palace watchtower.

Floor plan view of the site of Changhe Gate (main palace gate of Luoyang, Northern Wei Dynasty). The Changhe Gate foundations are 40 m long from east to west and 24 m wide from north to south. The palace gate consists of three doorways, with each of the doorways being 4.8 m wide and 8.6–8.8 m long. Two watchtowers are built symmetrically on the eastern and western sides in

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front of the doorways, forming a “triple-set watchtowers”. The distance between two watchtowers is around 40 m with each watchtower being 19 m long and 6 m wide.

Historical site of Yongning Temple of Luoyang

Taiji Hall in Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty is the remains of the oldest main hall of the imperial court, ever discovered in China. The discoveries and findings from Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty have inspired us in the following ways: First, the political philosophy of “zhong” (or “center”) in ancient capital layouts had reached a new stage when the Northern Wei Dynasty made Luoyang capital. At the time, ancient Chinese capitals evolved from a “dual-city” system (palace and outer city) to a “triple-city” (palace, inner city, and outer city), which made the political status of palaces even more prominent. Meanwhile, the city boasted the first central axis road that is fully corroborated by archaeological discoveries, which further highlighted the “central” political concept in the ancient Chinese capitals. The Former Wei Dynasty had created a new city layout in Luoyang, which had a profound impact on the development of ancient Chinese capitals. Inspired by the layouts of Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty, and Luoyang of Wei and Jin dynasties, The Northern Wei invented the “triple-city” system, established the north–south central axis road, and finalized the designs of the main palace gate and the main hall of the imperial court. Iconic elements such as the “triple-city” layout, the central axis road, and the design of the main palace gate, and the main hall of the imperial court,

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would be featured in countless capitals to come, until the end of Beijing of Ming and Qing dynasties. Second, Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty is integral to China’s five thousand years of non-stopping cultural development, thanks to its influence on how various Chinese ethnic groups identified with traditional Chinese culture and political culture as a “Chinese Nation”. The Northern Wei Dynasty was founded by the Xianbei people, who identified with the traditional Chinese history and national culture. A prime example would be their dedication to the construction of the capital. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, the palace and inner city of Luoyang were modeled after the palace and outer city of Luoyang, during the Wei and Jin dynasties. The main hall of the imperial court remained Taiji Hall, and the main palace gate was still Changhe Gate. The city layout of the Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty was conceived long before Emperor Xiaowen and his predecessors arrived in the capital. In AD 398, the first year of the Tianxing Era, the Northern Wei moved its capital to Pingcheng and built a square-shaped capital city. In the city, they “constructed a palace and houses, built the ancestral temple, and erected the altar for the gods of earth and harvest”. As recorded in “Biography of the Founding Ancestor” from Book of Wei, “the outer city is established that stretches 20 li”. After Emperor Xiaowen took office, he renovated Pingcheng, where he built the Bright Hall, and remade the ancestral temple into the Imperial Ancestral Temple (or Taimiao). He based his plan on previous capitals including Ye, Luoyang, and Chang’an, then built numerous complexes. According to the Record of Royal Residences and Capitals throughout History, Emperor Xiaowen had “built Taiji Hall, the East and West Halls, and the Main Hall (or Chaotang), as well as a pair of watchtowers outside the palace gate; and Qianyuan Gate, Zhongyang Gate, Duan Gate, and east and west side gates on the palace walls; and Yunlong Gate, Shenhu Gate, and Zhonghua Gate. All decorated with watchtowers”. By comparing Pingcheng and Luoyang of the Northern Wei Dynasty, we can see that ancient Chinese dynasties and ethnic groups had adopted the same national and cultural identity.

2.2.10 Chang’an City of the Han Dynasty If Xianyang city of Qin dynasty was the last capital city of the Kingdom era (still serving as the capital city after Emperor Qin Shi Huang established Qin dynasty), then Chang’an city of Han dynasty could be regarded as the first capital city built in the Han dynasty in the Imperial era.

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Plan view of the ruins of Chang’an city of Han dynasty. The plan view of Chang’an city of Han dynasty is close to a square in shape, with walls on the east, south, west, and north sides being 6000 m, 7600 m, 4900 m, and 7200 m respectively and a perimeter of 25,700 m. The area of the site is measured at 36 km2 . The plan view of Weiyang Palace is close to a square in shape, with its east and west walls being 2150 m long and its north and south walls being 2250 m long. Weiyang Palace, the Chinese largest palace within a city ever, has a perimeter of 8800 m and an area of 5 km2 , roughly one-seventh of the size of Chang’an city. Changle palace is 2280 m long in the east wall, 3280 m long in the south wall, 2150 m long in the west wall and 3050 m long in the north wall. It has a perimeter of 10,760 m and an area of 6 km2 , about one-sixth of the size of Chang’an city. The rammed earth foundation site of Fanzhai ruins is 116 m (E–W) by 197 m (N–S). South of the site sits three layers of stair steps aligning from the east to the west. There are three ruins of halls aligning from the north to the south over the foundation site. The southernmost hall is 100 m (E–W) by 56 m (N–S), the middle hall is 43 m (E–W) by 35 m (N–S), and the northernmost hall is 97 m

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(E–W) by 58 m (N–S). The ruins of Luozhai are 420 m (E–W) by 550 m (N–S). The foundation of the palace is 76.2 m (E–W) by 29.5 m (N–S). The plan view of the North Palace site, an accurately calculated square, is 1710 m (N–S) by 620 m (E–W). Outside the western part of the city lies the Jianzhang Palace, a 2130 m (E–W) by 1240 m (N–S) rectangular-shaped site that is wider on the east–west side. The 200 m (E–W) by 320 m (N–S) Front Hall site of Jianzhang Palace is 10 m higher on its northern part than the southern part.

Han dynasty is a very important historical phase, featuring a centralized state dominated by Han people and united of multiethnics, establishing the foundation of “China”. The so-called Han culture, Han people, Han nationality, and Chinese characters are closely related to the Han dynasty. Han dynasty got its name because Liu Bang was granted the title of “King of Han”. According to “Annals of Emperor Gaozu of Han” from Shi Ji, Xiang Yu praised himself as the Hegemonial King of West-Chu (Xi-Chu Bawang), governing nine counties including Liang and Chu, and making Peng city the capital. He promoted Pei Gong (Duke of Pei, namely Liu Bang) as the King of Han, governing Ba, Shu and Hanzhong and settling in Nanzheng city.

According to Commentary on “Annals of Emperor Gaozu of Han” from Shi Ji, “Hanzhong County is named after Han River”. It is possible to infer that the “King of Han” was named after Hanzhong County, which was named after the Han River. The Chang’an City of Han dynasty is the historical epitome of the Western Han dynasty. The understanding Chang’an City of Han dynasty is undoubtedly very important to explore the materialized carrier of China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years. Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han, selected Luoyang as the capital. While later, a heated discussion started in the imperial court on the location of the capital. Finally, Emperor Gaozu of Han accepted the suggestions of Zhang Liang (a strategist and statesman who lived in the early Western Han dynasty), and selected Chang’an as the capital city. Besides, he promoted Lou Jing, the proposer, as Fengchunjun, and surnamed Liu. The guiding idea of the construction of Chang’an City of Han dynasty was in line with what chief minister Xiao He said, “only magnificent palaces could present the dignity and greatness of the emperor!” In other words, the capital city spells the greatness and the supreme authority of emperors to the public, which has later become a long-standing historical and cultural tradition of Chinese civilization. The site of Chang’an city of Han dynasty is located in present-day Hancheng Road, Liucunpu Street, and Sanqiaozhen Street, Weiyang District, Xi’an City, Shaanxi Province. There were three gates in each direction of Chang’an City in Han dynasty, with a total of 12 gates. Each gate was established with three panes. The scale of gates differs due to different widths of the partition wall, ranging from the maximum of 14 m to the minimum of 4 m. The width of the partition wall reached 14 m of Xi’an Gate and Bacheng Gate, and the width narrowed down to 4 m of Xuanping Gate, Zhicheng Gate, and Heng Gate. Xi’an Gate and Bacheng Gate were located opposite the South Gate of Weiyang Palace and the East Gate of Changle Palace respectively. The width

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of gates opposite the Palace Gate was about 52 m. Chang’an City of Han dynasty not only had different gate sizes, but also different shapes and styles. For example, there were watchtowers on both sides of the East Gate, while no watchtowers outside the South, North, and West Gate. The excavated sites of the watchtowers of Xuanping Gate and Bacheng Gate make a great contribution to the understanding of the gate layout of Chang’an City of Han dynasty. Sites of watchtowers of Xuanping Gate were located at both sides of the Gate. South Watchtower and North Watchtower were 17 m away from the North Road and South Road respectively. The watchtower measured 25 m from east to west and extended 35 m from south to north. The west end connected the city wall on the east side. Sites of watchtowers of Bacheng Gate were located at both sides of the Gate. South Watchtower and North Watchtower were 20 m away from the North Road and South Road respectively. The watchtower measured 10 m from east to west and 35 m from south to north. The west end connected the city wall on the east side.

Plan view of Bacheng Gate

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Ruins of Bacheng Gate of Chang’an city of Han Dynasty

Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, Jianzhang Palace, and Ganquan Palace were regarded as the four major palaces of Chang’an in Western Han dynasty. Besides, there were Beigong Palace, Gui Palace, and Mingguang Palace inside Chang’an City of Han dynasty.

2.2.10.1

Weiyang Palace

According to Annals of Emperor Gaozu of Han” from Shi Ji, Weiyang Palace was constructed under the supervision of chief minister Xiao He. He ordered to establish the East Watchtower, North Watchtower, Front Hall, Arsenal, and Taicang.

According to “The Treatise on the Five Elements” from Book of Han (Han Shu · Wu Xing Zhi), the East Watchtower suffered several fires in Western Han dynasty. “On 2nd June, 173 BCE, the East Watchtower of Weiyang Palace was badly damaged by the fire”. “On 21st August, 145 BCE, the East Watchtower of Weiyang Palace suffered the fire”. The site of East Watchtower of Weiyang Palace was next to the east wall of the site of Weiyang Palace. Weiyang Palace was surrounded by palace walls, which formed a palace city. Palaces, the main buildings inside the palace city, were classified into various types according to their functions. According to documents, the Front Hall was the main hall of the court. Palaces of imperial concubines included Jiaofang Hall, which was the main palace, Yeting Palace, etc. The Front Hall was located in the center of the palace complex.

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Most residences of imperial concubines were in the north of the Front Hall. The Front Hall was located in front of other palaces, which might be the reason why it was called “Front Hall”. In Western Han dynasty, major activities, such as the emperor ascending the throne, issuance of the imperial edict, the emperor’s marriage, the reception of courtiers’ greetings, emperor’s birthday celebrations, and the emperor’s funeral, were held in the Front Hall of Weiyang Palace. The Front Hall in the center of the palace complex was the main building in which emperors dealt with state affairs. Chief minister Xiao He decided to build the Front Hall on Longshoushan Mountains for two reasons. First, it would make the Front Hall more majestic, mirroring the “great dignity” of the emperor. Second, the site selection could save great money and manpower. It was quite necessary in the early years of Western Han dynasty, which just ended the war lasting for several years.

Plan view of the ruins of Weiyang Palace

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Image of the restored Front Hall of Weiyang Palace. The 400 m (N–S) by 200 m (E–W) by 15 m in height large foundation of the Front Hall ruins sits solemnly in the site of Chang’an city of Han Dynasty, rising gradually from the south to the north with three platforms on its lower, middle, and upper parts. The main building on the middle platform is the core building of the Front Hall.

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Ruins of the Front Hall of Weiyang Palace

The Front Hall was the main building of Weiyang Palace, and was 990 m, 1060 m, 860 m, and 890 m away from the East, West, South, and North palace walls respectively. Such layout is believed to be related to the concept of “center oriented” of ancient emperors. The site of the Front Hall of Weiyang Palace is the largest, best-preserved and most representative site of rammed earth palace complex dating back to early ancient China. Facing the north, the main gate of Front Hall was the South Gate, which was about in the center of the south of the Front Hall. The site measured 46 m from east to west, and extended 26 m from south to north. The gate might be the “Wangluzhuniao Gate” recorded in the literature. Slopes running toward the palace could be found in the east, west, and north of the Front Hall. The South Wall was established on both sides of the South Gate. There were closed corridors on both east and west sides of the middle and north part of the Front Hall. A square lay between the South Gate and the Front Hall, measuring 150 m from east to west and extending 50 m from north to south. The Front Hall was a large palace complex and comprised of three major palaces, namely South Palace, North Palace, and Center Palace. Magnificent courtyards lay in between them.

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Ruins of Jiaofang Hall of Weiyang Palace. Jiaofang Hall, located 360 m to the north of the Front Hall of Weiyang Palace, is truly a “rear palace” both geographically and semantically (rear palace also means the Imperial Harem in Chinese). To the south of the Jiaofang Hall is the Main Hall, a rectangular-shaped rammed earth foundation that is 50 m (E–W) by 30 m (N–S) and covers an area of around 1500 m2 . The foundation is encircled with a paved corridor that is further connected by an apron. The Main Hall is located in the north and faces the south, south of which is two east–west aligned staircases to the palace with a distance of 23.5 m between them. All these specifications suggest the high level of the palace.

Residences of imperial concubines were called “Rear Palace (Imperial Harem)”. In the Pre-Qin period, the imperial harem was named according to the relative orientation of the palace to the main hall of the imperial palace. Residences of imperial concubines were named “Beigong Palace (North Palace)” since they were located in the north of the main hall of the imperial palace. Generally speaking, south is regarded as the front and north rear. Because the main hall of the imperial palace and Beigong Palace faced south, the main hall of the imperial palace was called “Front Hall” in Qin dynasty, coupled with “Rear Palace (Imperial Harem)”. Jiaofang Hall, the residence of the empress, was located in the north of Weiyang Palace. So was Yeting Palace, the residence of imperial concubines. Jiaofang Hall was the main palace of Rear Palace, so was definitely larger and closer to the Front Hall than residences of Lady of Handsome Fairness and imperial concubines with lower ranks. The confirmation of the location of the site of Jiaofang Hall and references to the historical sources allow us to infer the location of Yeting Hall. Jiaofang Hall should be in the southernmost part of Rear Palace. Yeting Hall should be in the north of Jiaofang Hall, approximately in the southeast of Shiquge site and Chengminglu site, the south of Tianluge site, and the east of Shaofu or the site of its affiliated offices.

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Changle Palace (The Palace of Lasting Joy)

In Chang’an City, Changle Palace was an important palace city second only to Weiyang Palace. Changle Palace was rebuilt on the ruins of Xingle Palace of Qin dynasty. Therefore, Record of Royal Residences and Capitals throughout History stated, “Changle Palace is actually the Xingle Palace of Qin dynasty”. Xingle Palace already existed during the reign of King Zhao of Qin, who ordered to build the famous Wei Bridge to facilitate the transportation between Xianyang Palace and Xingle Palace. According to documents, Emperor Qin Shi Huang built many buildings in Xingle Palace, such as Daxia Palace, the famous 12 Giant Bronze Statues, which was placed in front of Daxia Place later, Hongtai (Wild Goose Terrace), ponds and the wine pool. According to the literature, there were even trees hung with meat, which was quite similar to the scene of “making a pond of wine, hanging the trees with meat” described in the reign of King Zhou of Shang. Emperor Wu of Han dynasty followed suit, boating in the wine pool, building a waterside pavilion in the north of the pool, and making a huge iron cup holding the wine to “entertain” guests and envoys. When the emperor granted the wine, guests and envoys could not pick the huge iron cup up, so had to lower their head and drink wine from the iron cup, which was quite ironic and just like cattle drinking water. The laughing stock has been passed down to now. It was recorded that there were about 3000 onlookers, reflecting that the scale of the wine pool and waterside pavilion was quite large. In the early Western Han dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of Han decided to make Guanzhong the capital. In 202 BCE, Liu Bang ordered to rebuild Changle Palace on the site of an earlier palace, the Xingle. Just over a year, with the completion of Changle Palace, Liu Bang ordered “the chief minister to move and take up office in Chang’an” (“Annals of Emperor Gaozu of Han” from Shi Ji). Since then, Emperor Gaozu of Han had dealt with state affairs in Changle Palace. Liu Bang held the enthronement ceremony in the Front Hall of Changle Palace, experiencing the dignity and majesty of an emperor for the first time. In his later years, the main project of Weiyang Palace, the officially built imperial palace, was completed. After Liu Bang’s death, his son Liu Ying, Emperor Hui of Han, moved to Weiyang Palace. Weiyang Palace had since then became the imperial palace throughout Western Han dynasty, and Changle Palace became the residence of Empress Dowager. Till then, the pattern of “Weiyang Palace for the emperor, and Changle Palace for Empress Dowager” was formed. Nevertheless, Changle Palace still played an important role during Western Han dynasty. Especially when consorts interventions occurred, Changle Palace became the political center. Emperor Hui of Han lived in Weiyang Palace, but he frequently went to Changle Palace to “report daily work” to Empress Dowager Lü, who made final decisions on major events. The rebellion of the Seven States took place during the reign of Emperor Jing and the political situation was in danger. The brilliant Emperor Wu of Han argued in the court for the issue Tian Fen imprisoning Guan Fu. In the late Western Han dynasty, political turmoil intensified and the struggle for political power was extremely fierce. The imperial jade seal, the symbol of rulership,

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was kept by Empress Dowager in Changle Palace. Wang Mang announced himself as the emperor, and threatened Empress Xiaoyuan to give him the imperial jade seal. Empress Xiaoyuan refused to obey his order and threw the imperial jade seal out of anger. The imperial jade seal was broken with a crashed corner. All these incidents confirm the significance of Changle Palace in Han dynasty. Changle Palace was located in the southeast of Chang’an City. It was adjacent to the East City Wall and South City Wall of Chang’an City. Anmen Street and Qingmingmen Street were on the west and north sides. The palace city site covers present-day villages of Gelaomen, Tangzhai, Zhangjiaxiang, Luozhai, Jiangwudian, Chazhai, Fanzhai and Leizhai, Weiyanggong Street and Hancheng Road, Weiyang District, Xi’an city. According to the historical sources, Changle Palace should have four palace gates in each direction, the same as Weiyang Palace. The current archaeological exploration only found three palace gates, namely the East, West, and South Palace Gate. The North Palace Gate still needs to be explored. The overall terrain of Chang’an City in Han dynasty presented a descending shape, high in the south and low in the north, so was the overall terrain of Changle Palace. According to the law of palace site selection, palaces would be built on the high terrain within the palace city. Therefore, the main buildings of Changle Palace should be located in the south of Changle Palace. Since the early Chang’an City of Han dynasty “facing east”, the east part was regarded as the front and superior to the west part. Therefore, palaces located in the south were more important than those in the north, and those in the southeast were more important than those in the southwest in Changle Palace complex. According to the archaeological data of Changle Palace site, major roads running north–south in the palace were located in the south of the east–west roads in the palace city. The palace complex could be divided into three parts, namely the southeast part, southwest part, and northwest part. The northwest part was distributed in the north of east–west major road in Changle Palace, and the southeast part and southwest part were in the south of the road. The largest southeast palace complex site was located in the southeast of Fanzhai Village. This palace complex was adjacent to the South Palace Gate of Changle Palace in the west and the east of north–south road of east–west major road of the palace city. “Wei River” from Shui Jing Zhu stated that “Mingqu (Ming Ditch) of Chang’an City passes Han Gaozu’s Changle Palace on its east … Bronze statues once stood in front of the Hall. To its west were the Changxin, Changqiu, Yongshou (Hall of Eternal Life) and Yongchang Halls. Northeast of the Hall was a pond.”

The large-scale Changle Palace complex discovered in Fanzhai Village was in the southeast of Changle Palace, and Mingqu was in the north. Several sites of the large building complex of Han dynasty were found in the west of the building complex. According to its scale, shape, and style, it is speculated to be the site of the Front Hall of Changle Palace. In the late 1970s, archaeologists excavated a building foundation (Structure No. 1) in the west of Changle Palace, which is the north of Luozhai Village in Hancheng

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Road. Palace buildings were enclosed in the courtyard. The south wall of the courtyard was protruding in the middle part, seeming to be the site of South Gate. The palace was surrounded by ambulatory corridors, paved with square brick tiles. Outside the corridor, the pebble was employed to drain the water away. Some scholars believe it was the residence of Empress Dowager, Changxin Palace. Gilt Bronze Human-Shaped Lamp excavated from the Han tombs in Mancheng might be the gift from Empress Dou, formally Empress Xiaowen (was already Empress Dowager Dou) to her relative, Dou Wan, wife of King of Zhongshan of the Western Han dynasty. Changle Palace had become the residence of Empress Dowager since Emperor Hui of Han moved to Weiyang Palace. Changxin Palace in Changle Palace was the main palace of Empress Dowager. At that time, “Changxin” was the way of referring to Empress Dowager. Emperor Cheng of Han favored the consort Zhao Feiyan, who occupied the palace. The concubine, Ban Jieyu had to serve Empress Dowager in Changxin Palace to survive. Therefore, she wrote the poem, “once served the Emperor and now being abandoned, stay in Donggong Palace (Changle Palace) and serve Changxin to get survival. Had to work and serve all day till my death”. Changqiu, Yongshou, and Yongchang Halls were also residences of Empress Dowager. Jiaofang Hall was the residential palace for the Empress while Emperor Gaozu made Changle Palace the imperial palace. In recent years, several sites of the buildings of Changle Palace have been excavated, such as Structure No. 2, Structure No. 4, Structure No. 5, and Structure No. 6, which were located in the northwest of Changle Palace. Structure No. 5 was the Ice Storage Room, located in the northeast of present-day Luozhai Village, Hancheng Road, Weiyang District, Xi’an. Heatproof is required for ice storage. The south-facing wall of the house is affected the most by the heat, while the north-facing wall is affected the least. In summer, the south-facing wall is more affected by the heat than the east-facing wall of the house. Therefore, the thickness of the walls of the Ice Storage Room varied. The south-facing wall was the thickest, followed by the west-facing wall, and the north-facing wall was the thinnest. There was an east–west drainage ditch in the center of the Room, measuring 25 m from east to west, extending 0.19 m from north to south. The drainage ditch was connected with the outdoor underground drainage pipeline. Ice Storage Room was to supply food. In Zhou dynasty, the person in charge of “Lingyin” (Ice Storage Room) was called “Lingren” (ice man). “Lingren” was designated by the court for ice gathering and storage. Each December of the Chinese calendar, “Lingren” collected and transported the ice from rivers to Ice Storage Room, the amount of which equaling three times the amount used by the royal family. Before summer, they had to check containers, Jian. “Lingren” was also responsible for offering containers for ice storage for the royal to prevent food from deteriorating due to heat, thereby food safety guaranteed. Besides, “Lingren” had to prepare enough ice to preserve the body during the Emperor’s funeral. During the midsummer, “Lingren” needed to prepare enough ice for the Emperor to rewards officials against the midsummer heat.

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Ruins of the Ice Storage Room in Changle Palace. Plan view of the Ice Storage Room is a 27 m (E–W) by 6.7 m (N–S) rectangle in shape.

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Drainage system of the Changle Palace ruins

Daxia Hall was an important palace in Changle Palace complex. It might be one of the political hubs in Changle Palace. After the collapse of Qin dynasty, the 12 Bronze statues in front of Xianyang Palace, the imperial palace of Qin dynasty, were moved to the front of Daxia Hall. Bell Room was the “bell hanging room of Changle Palace”. Han Xin, contributed greatly to the founding of Western Han dynasty and the Marquis of Huaiyin, was killed there by Empress Dowager Lü. Changle Palace boasted many palaces, beautiful ponds and gardens, secluded waterside pavilions, and spectacular pavilions. In 220 BCE, Emperor Qin Shi Huang ordered to build the Hongtai (Wild Goose Terrace), with the height of 40 zhang, in Xingle Palace. A pavilion was built on the terrace, on which Emperor Qin Shi Huang frequently shot wild geese flying high above. Therefore, the terrace was named Hongtai (Wild Goose Terrace). In the early Western Han dynasty, Changle Palace was built based on Xingle Palace. Hongtai (Wild Goose Terrace) still stood majestically in Changle Palace. In 191 BCE, Hongtai (Wild Goose Terrace) was destroyed by fire. The eaves tile carved both with the flying goose and characters of “Fei Hong Yan Nian” (the flying goose represents longevity) unearthed in Chang’an City should be the relics of Hongtai.

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Eaves tile “Fei Hong Yan Nian” (the flying goose represents longevity)

In the late Western Han dynasty, Weiyang Palace was seriously damaged by the war, while Changle Palace survived and was well preserved. Therefore, Emperor Gengshi made Changle Palace the imperial palace as soon as he moved from Luoyang to Chang’an City. During the turbulence of the agrarian uprising known as the Chimei (Red Eyebrow) Rebellion, Emperor Gengshi fled to Gaoling County, northeast of Chang’an City. After Emperor Liu Penzi took the throne, he made Changle Palace the imperial palace. During Eastern Han dynasty, Changle Palace was well preserved but was destroyed and abandoned after Eastern Han dynasty.

2.2.10.3

Jianzhang Palace

The Mid-Western Han dynasty was the heyday of Han dynasty. At that time, Chang’an City was crowded with large palace buildings, and there was no room for another building. In 104 BCE, Bailiangtai Terrace, next to the North Watchtower of Weiyang Palace, was destroyed by fire. A wizard called Yong suggested to Emperor Wu of Han that if a building was destroyed by fire, then another larger and more magnificent building should be built to suppress the fire devil according to the customs in

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Guangdong. Taking it as an excuse, Emperor Wu of Han ordered to build Jianzhang Palace, which was of greater scale and larger than Weiyang Palace. The site of Jianzhang Palace was located in the west of Chang’an City of Han dynasty, covering present-day Gaobaozi, Dibaozi, and Shuangfeng Villages, Nursery of Taiye Pond, Boliang, and Meng Villages in Sanqiao Street, Weiyang District, Xi’an. The main building of Jianzhang Palace was the Front Hall, west to the center of Jianzhang Palace, located in present-day Gaobaozi and Dibaozi Villages. There were four palace gates on each side of Jianzhang Palace. South Palace Gate was the main gate of the palace, and called “Changhe Gate”, also known as “Tianmen” (Gate of Heaven), that is, the palace gate of Ziwei Palace on Heaven. A pair of watchtowers with the height of 25 zhang stood outside East and North Palace Gate respectively, decorated with the gilt-bronze phoenix, thus being called “Feng Que” (Phoenix Watchtower). The pair of Phoenix Watchtowers (“Shuangfeng Ques”) outside the East Palace Gate is the most well-known, located in the east of present-day Shuangfeng Village. The name of the village is derived from the pair of Phoenix Watchtowers.

Twin Phoenixes Watchtowers of the Jiangzhang Palace ruins. There is a distance of 53 m between the two watchtowers. The well-preserved west watchtower is 11 m high and 17 m long in the bottom perimeter. The east watchtower, in a relatively bad shape, is 6 m high and 5 m long in the bottom perimeter.

The so-called Shuangfeng Ques (two Phoenix Watchtowers) were actually a pair of sites of the watchtower standing in the east and west. The ancient folk song, “a

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pair of watchtowers stand in the west of Chang’an City, two bronze peacocks on top of them”, was about the Shuangfeng Ques. Shuangfeng Ques were located 700 m to the east of the Front Hall of Jianzhang Palace. The major road running north–south lied between Shuangfeng Ques. The Front Hall of Jianzhang Palace was southwest of the watchtower. According to the routine, the gate should be located behind the watchtower within the palace. In other words, there should be a gate facing north in the south Shuangfeng Ques of Jianzhang Palace. Since Shuangfeng Ques were located in the east of Jianzhang Palace, thereby they should be the north-facing East Palace Gate of Jianzhang Palace, which was very rare. Taiye Pond was 450 m to the northwest of Front Hall of Jianzhang Palace, covering an area of 151,600 m2 . To pray to the gods, Emperor Wu of Han built a high platform in Taiye Pond as well as three artificial hills representing three sacred mountains of Yingzhou, Penglai, and Fangzhang. Taiye Pond earned the name due to its large scale (San Fu Huang Tu). According to archaeological findings, building a pond inside the palace city was started in Western Han dynasty. Since then, the word “pond” was passed down to generations. Taiye Pond symbolized the vast sea. Archaeologists found a huge fish-shaped stone sculpture dating back to Western Han dynasty, with a length of 4.9 m and a diameter of 1 m. The fish-shaped stone sculpture was assumed to be the Stone Whale nearby Taiye Pond, with a length of 3 zhang and a height of 5 chi.

High-platform foundation of Taiye Pond. The high-platform foundation of Taiye Pond is 60 m (E–W) by 40 m (N–S) and has a height of 8 m.

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Fish-shaped stone sculpture unearthed from the ruins of Taiye Pond in Jiangzhang Palace

Taiye Pond was a symbol of the vast sea. The emperor built it inside the imperial palace, showing that the palace city was the epitome of the country. The palace city had four gates in each direction, symbolizing that the whole world was inside the palace city, and that even rivers, lakes, the vast sea and the ocean, with Taiye Pond as the symbol, were all inside the palace city.

2.2.10.4

Ganquan Palace

The site of Ganquan Palace was located in present-day Liangwudi, Chengqiantou, and Dongjia Villages, Tiewang Township, Chunhua County, Shaanxi Province. Ganquan Palace was named after the local Ganquan Mountain. Originally, Ganquan Palace was small, with a circumference of only about 5 km. Emperor Wu of Han ordered to expand it to a large scale, with a circumference of 9.5 km, consisting of 12 palaces and 1 storied building. There were four palace gates in each direction, called “Sima Gate”. Front Hall was the main building of Ganquan Palace, also called “Ganquan Hall” or “Zi Hall”. Front Hall was located in the center of Ganquan Palace.

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Plan view of the Ganquan Palace ruins. The plan view of the Ganquan Palace is a rectangular shape with 5668 m in perimeter and an area of 148.6 m2 .

Emperors of Western Han dynasty, especially Emperor Wu of Han, traveled to Ganquan Palace, north of Chang’an City, to avoid the summer heat each May, and stayed there the whole summer. Till August, they would travel back to Chang’an, the capital city. Many foundations of the terrace could be found in the site of palace city. The foundation of “Tongtian Terrace (Terrace toward Heaven)”, recorded in historical documents, might also be there. The eaves tile carved with characters of “Ganlin”, brick tiles with pottery inscriptions of “Gan”, “Ganju”, and “Jugan” were unearthed from the site of Ganquan Palace, confirming it was the site Ganquan Palace.

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Brick tile with the characters “Ganlin” discovered in the ruins of Ganquan Palace

2.2.10.5

Beigong Palace

Beigong Palace was named since it was located in the north of Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace. Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han ordered to build it in the early Western Han dynasty. Emperor Wu of Han ordered to expand it. The site of Beigong Palace was located in present-day Caojiapu, Zhoujiapu, Shijiazhai, and Jiangwudian Villages, Liucunpu Street and Weiyanggong Street, Weiyang District, Xi’an. The North Gate and South Gate, facing each other, was 7 m wide from north to south, and 12 m long from east to west. There was a road, south of the site of South Gate, toward Zhichengmen Street. The dog-legged stair could be found between Beigong Palace and Weiyang Palace. Empress Dowager Fu often went to Weiyang Palace from Beigong Palace through the dog-legged stair to request an honorific title. There were Front Hall, Shou Palace, Shenxian Palace, and Crown Prince Palace in Beigong Palace.

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Southern kiln ruins of the North Palace ruins

Shou Palace and Shenxian Palace were palaces dedicated to the gods, and various ritual activities to worship gods were held there. These palaces were secluded and mysterious. For this reason, the emperor cultivated a large number of private slaves, chariots, and horses in Beigong Palace to avoid public criticism. Beigong Palace was palaces of imperial concubines, most of which were unappreciated or not favored by the emperor. They were either deposed or forced to retreat to the palace. Since Shou Palace was built to worship the gods, the Emperor thought deposed imperial concubines could “cultivate virtue” here. Empress Dowager Lü died in the early Western Han dynasty, and then the power of consorts was deposed. Empress Xiaohui was deposed in Beigong Palace. Emperor Ai died, Empress Dowager Zhao (Zhao Feiyan) was deposed and retreated to Beigong Palace. Therefore, some scholars believe that Beigong Palace might be palaces of unappreciated concubines. Taizi Palace (Crown Prince Palace) was in Beigong Palace, which was naturally a building related to the Crown Prince. Inside Taizi Palace, there was Jia Temple. The Frescoes Hall was inside Jia Temple. According to the legend, there was the fresco of Hariti in the Frescoes Hall in Beigong Palace. According to religious superstition, it is assumed to be a delivery room especially for imperial concubines.

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Mingguang Palace

Mingguang Palace was built in 101 BCE. According to San Fu Huang Tu, Mingguang Palace “was behind Changle Palace, and north to Changle Palace”. After the palace was completed, the Emperor selected and gathered 2000 beauties, aging 15–20, from Yan and Zhao (today’s Hebei) as the maid in the imperial palace. The maid had to be sent away from the palace once aged 30 and would be replaced by another beauty. During the reign of Wang Mang, Mingguang Palace was renamed Anding Palace.

2.2.10.7

Ritual and Ceremonious Buildings in Chang’an City of Han Dynasty

Ritual and ceremonious buildings were an important part of Chang’an City, the capital of Western Han dynasty. Except for a few built inside Chang’an City in the early Western Han dynasty, most ritual and ceremonious buildings were located outside the city, the majority of which was in the southern suburbs. Since the 1950s, archaeologists have carried out large-scale exploration and excavations on the site of ritual and ceremonious buildings in Chang’an City of Han dynasty. Archaeological excavation of the site of ritual and ceremonious buildings in the capital city of Western Han dynasty was carried out the earliest and achieved the most fruitful results. According to the historical sources, ritual and ceremonious buildings in southern suburbs in Chang’an City of Han dynasty included the ancestral temple of a ruling house, She Ji, the Bright Hall (mingtang 明堂, or Hall of Distinction, the central hall of the ancient royal and imperial palace, where important ceremonies were held)—Biyong tunnel, heavenly terrace, the Temple of Heaven, etc.

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Distribution map of ritual constructions in the southern outskirt of Chang’an city of Han Dynasty

Taishanghuang Temple (Retired Emperor Temple), Gao Temple (Temple of Emperor Gao of Han), Emperor Hui Temple (Temple of Emperor Hui of Han) were built in early Western Han dynasty in Chang’an City of Han. They were all located in the capital, but outside the palace city. According to the historical sources, Taishanghuang Temple, worship of the father of Liu Bang, was located to the north of Changle Palace, south of Xiangshi Street. Gao Temple, worship of Liu Bang, Emperor Gao of Han, was located to the east of Anmen Street, southwest of Changle Palace, in

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present-day Dongye Village, Weiyanggong Street, Weiyang District, Xi’an. Emperor Huidi Temple (Temple of Emperor Hui of Han) was located to the east of Weiyang Palace, west of Anmen Street, south of the Arsenal, and west of Gao Temple, also known as “West Temple”. Emperor Wendi Temple (Temple of Emperor Wen of Han), known as “Temple of Gucheng”, is located to the west of present-day Yuxiang Gate and the north of Daqing Road in the western suburbs of Xi’an. There were two differences between Temple of Gucheng and Gao Temple as well as Emperor Hui Temple. First, Temple of Gucheng was the “Ziwei Temple” during the reign of Emperor Wen. Second, Gao Temple and Emperor Hui Temple were both located inside Chang’an City, while Temple of Gucheng was built outside Chang’an City. The largest site of the ancestral temple complex excavated is the “Jiu Temple (Nine Temple)” built by Wang Mang in the south of Chang’an in 20 AD. The site of the ancestral temple complex was located around 1 km south of the South Grate Wall of Chang’an City of Han dynasty, lying between Xi’an Gate and Annan Gate of Chang’an City of Han dynasty. The ancestral temple complex consisted of 12 buildings, one of which was on the southernmost side, and the courtyard was surrounded by a separate wall. The courtyard presented a square shape, with a side length of 1400 m. The small courtyard in the south and the large courtyard were 10 m away from north to south. The small courtyard was located in the middle of the horizontal direction of the large courtyard. Each group of buildings consisted of the central building, the bounding wall, four gates, and wing-rooms alongside corners of the bounding wall. There were turrets on corners of the courtyard. There were four gates on the north and south side respectively, and three gates in the east and west respectively, with a total of 14 gates. Sites of 11 ancestral temples, with almost the same shape, style, and scale, in the courtyard were distributed in three rows from north to south. There were four sites of individual ancestral temples lying in the northernmost and southernmost row respectively. There were three sites of individual ancestral temples lying in the middle row, staggered between four sites in the northernmost and southernmost rows. Each site of ancestral temple building had a courtyard surrounded by the bounding wall, with a width of 3.8–5 m. The courtyard presented a square shape, with a side length of 270–280 m. There was a gate in the middle position of the bounding wall in each direction. Four gates enjoyed the same scale, shape, and structure. The site of gate consisted of the doorway and private schools on the left and right. The major ancestral temple building was located in the center of the courtyard. The major building presents a symmetrical square shape, with a side length of 55 m. The floor plan of the center of the major building illustrated a high terrace, similar to the shape of the Chinese character “亞”.

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Image of the restored “Wang Mang Jiu Miao” (the Nine Temples of Wang Mang)

Plan view of the No. 3 temple of “Wang Mang Jiu Miao” (the Nine Temples of Wang Mang) ruins

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Plan view of Guanshe constructions ruins. The large courtyard is 600 m (E–W) by 570 m (N–S), while the small square-shaped courtyard has a side length of 273 m. The ruins of the early structures are 240 m (E–W) by 60–70 m (N–S).

In the late 1950s, archaeologists excavated the site of Guanshe in the western part of the ancestral temple complex in the southern suburbs of Chang’an City of Han dynasty. The site included buildings built earlier and later. The latter one had two courtyards, presenting the shape of the Chinese character “回”. There was a gate set up in the middle part of the bounding wall in each direction of the large courtyard. The small courtyard was located slightly south of the center of the large courtyard. There was a gate set up in the middle part of the bounding wall in each direction of the small courtyard. The site of buildings built earlier was located in the northeast within the bounding wall of the large courtyard, presenting a rectangular rammed earth platform. Excavators believe that the site of buildings built earlier was Guanshe built in early Western Han dynasty based on the site of Guanshe built in Qin dynasty, and that the site of buildings built later was the site of Guanshe built during the reign of Wang Mang. The Chinese believe that Sheji is of great significance, representing the country, state, and political power. The old saying goes like “ancestral buildings on the left and ritual and ceremonious buildings on the right”. For a long time, “She” (the God of the Earth) and “Ji” (the God of the Five Grains) were collectively referred to as “Sheji” (the State), which could be regarded as ritual and ceremonious buildings in

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terms of ancient architecture. In fact, in Western Han dynasty, “She” and “Ji” were different ritual and ceremonious architectures. According to Origins of Chinese Characters (Shuo Wen Jie Zi), “She, the God of the Earth; the character consisting of Shi and Tu (soil)”. It could be found that “She” was closely related to the land. Some scholars believe that “She” refers to land worship to show respect to “Earth Mother” during the pre-historic period. Such custom has been passed down to generations. From the perspective of modern botany, “Ji”, literally meaning the millet, belongs to Panicum miliaceum. Millet was the most important food crop in northern China in ancient times (mainly the Yellow River basin, North China, and southern Northeast China), ranking the top among “Five Grains”. Researches on remains of ancient crops in Qinghai, Gansu, Shaanxi, Henan, Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, southeastern Inner Mongolia in Yellow River basin, and Xiliao River basin find that millet was the main crop in these areas, which is precisely the core area of China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years. Therefore, the millet becomes the representative of Chinese food in ancient times. Food is the first necessity of the people, thereby the millet being of the utmost importance of the Chinese in ancient times. In ancient times, sacrificial rites to “She” and “Ji” were carried out separately. Guanshe and Guanji were two different buildings in Western Han dynasty. Because “She” is the God of the Earth and “Ji” represents the God of the Five Grains. They are different, but an organic relationship can also be found between them. “Ji” (millet) ranks first among all grains. The land breeds all grains. Without the land, there would be no gains. “She” is the God of the Earth, relying on which, food and clothing exist and people get survived. In ancient China, agriculture was the foundation of the state. The land is the essential precondition. “She” represents the worship of land. Besides, ancient China stressed agriculture and restrained commerce, and emphasized that agriculture was the foundation of the state. Therefore, after the collapse of Qin and Han dynasties, “She” and “Ji” were collectively referred to as “Sheji”, representing the State. Ceremonious architectures “Sheji” currently preserved in the Forbidden City of Ming and Qing dynasties are the typical representatives of “Sheji Culture”. In the 1950s, archaeologists discovered a large site of the architectural complex in the southern part of the site of Chang’an City of Han, that is, today’s Datumen Village in the western suburbs of Xi’an. The site consisted of the main building, the courtyard surrounded by the bounding wall and the circular ditch channel. The main building was located in the center of the site, surrounded by square courtyards with a side length of 235 m. There was a gate set up in the middle part of the bounding wall in each direction of the courtyard. There were the wing-rooms alongside corners of the courtyard. The courtyard was surrounded by a round circular ditch channel. The main building was built on a square terrace, on the top of which there was a round rammed earth foundation with a diameter of 62 m. The main building was built on the round rammed earth foundation, following a north–south axis. The floor plan of the main building was similar to the shape of character “亚” with a side length of 42 m. The “Taishi”, also known as “Tongtian Wu (Room toward Heaven)”, was a square rammed earth terrace in the center of the main building.

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The academic realm holds two views on the specific nature of the site of buildings. Some believe it was Biyong tunnel of Western Han dynasty. Others believe it was the combination of the Bright Hall and Biyong tunnel. Actually, the ancients had already stated, “Bright Hall is actually another name of Biyong tunnel”. The Bright Hall in Zhou dynasty was the main hall of the imperial palace, and also the ancestral temple of a ruling house. According to “Treatise on Rituals” from Book of Song, Book of Zhou states: “Qing Temple is also known as the Bright Hall, the main hall of the imperial palace”. The ancients believed that the river surrounding the Bright Hall was Biyong tunnel. Therefore, above-mentioned archaeological discoveries found in ritual and ceremonious buildings complex in the southern suburbs of Chang’an City of Han dynasty should be “the Bright Hall–Biyong tunnel”. The Bright Hall–Biyong tunnel served as a sacred place for the Emperor to perform rituals and indoctrination in Han dynasty.

Image of the restored Bright Hall–Biyong Tunnel construction ruins. The ring ditch tunnel is 368 m (E–W) by 349 m (N–S) with a depth of 1.8 m and a width of 1.8–2 m. The rectangular-shaped large rammed earth platform is 206 m (E–W) by 205 m (N–S) with a height of 1.6 m. The small square-shaped rammed earth platform in the center is 17.4 m (E–W) by 16.8 m (N–S).

The Chinese believe firmly in Heaven and Earth. The wedding is one of the most important events in the life of a person. The Chinese called it “Baitang” (worship the Heaven and Earth), showing the significance of Heaven and Earth. The ancient Chinese people regarded “Heaven and Earth” as sacred gods, and rulers of the state

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attached great attention to Heaven and Earth, so the ritual and ceremonious buildings were regarded as the important symbol of national etiquette. Kuang Heng and Zhang Tan in Han dynasty said, “the most important affairs of the Emperor is to obey the order of Heaven, and the most important ritual is to worship the Heaven in the suburb”. (“Records of Sacrificial Rituals in the Rural Areas” from Book of Han). Ritual and ceremonious buildings to worship Heaven and Earth in ancient China were the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth, originally known as “Southern Suburbs”, holding the Heaven Worship Ceremony, and “Northern Suburbs”, holding the Earth Worship Ceremony. Sacrificial activities to Heaven and Earth have a long history in ancient times. According to the records of “The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices” from Shi Ji, during the reign of the Emperor Qin Shi Huang, he held the Heaven Worship Ceremony in Ganquan Mountain, Yunyang, which had become the customs. Emperors in the early Western Han dynasty followed the customs. Emperor Wen of Han ordered to build “five temples in Weiyang” at the intersection of Wei River and Ba River in the northeast of Chang’an City to worship Heaven. Emperor Wu of Han held the Heaven Worship Ceremony back in Ganquan Mountain, Yunyang. In 32 BCE, Emperor Cheng of Han ordered building palaces in southern suburbs, also known as “Tianjiao”, holding worship ceremonies nearby the capital city. The ancient Chinese believed the sky was a round dome, so the place holding the Heaven Worship Ceremony was usually chosen or deliberately built onto a round rammed earth terrace, known as the Temple of Heaven at that time. It was regarded as a symbol of Heaven to hold the worship ceremony. According to the historical sources, the Temple of Heaven in the southern suburbs of the capital city of Western Han dynasty, with the height of 2 zhang, and the circumference of 120 steps, was located to the south of Chang’an City, near today’s Zhoujiaweiqiang (bounding wall of Zhou Family) in western suburbs of Xi’an. The Han Xuechi sacrificial site in the Yong Mountain, dating back to Qin and Han dynasties, excavated in Chang’an City of Han and its environs (Yong City governed by You Fufeng) in recent years, is the earliest known site of the Temple of Heaven. It is located on the terrace between the east of present-day Xuechi Village and Gounan Village, Liu Township, Fengxiang County, Baoji City, Shaanxi Province. It was 12 km southeast from the site of Yongcheng, with a total area of 4.7 million m2 . A total of 3200 altars, venues, roads, sites of sacrificial pits was excavated.

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Ruins of the Xuechi sacrificial site in the Yong Mountain in the Qin and Han Dynasty. The ruins of the Temple of Heaven are 5.2 m high and 50 m long in bottom perimeter. The “Zhi” (the trough surrounding the temple) has a diameter of 31 m, a width at the top of the trough of 5 m, a width at the bottom of the trough of around 4.1 m and a depth of 1.5 m.

Jadeware unearthed from the ruins of the Xuechi sacrificial site in the Yong Mountain in the Qin and Han Dynasty

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The site of the Temple of Heaven was a rammed earth construction, located on an elliptical terrace with a diameter of 60–80 m, surrounded by the ditch, which was called “Qian” according to historical records. The site was constructed in Western Han dynasty. According to “The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices” from Shi Ji and “Records of Sacrificial Rituals in the Rural Areas” from Book of Han, the above-mentioned rammed earth terrace and auxiliary facilities were “Zhi”, namely the fixed venue holding the Heaven and “Five Legends” Worship Ceremony. Most excavated were horse and chariot pits and burial pits for livestock (horses, cattle, and sheep) from this site. Han Xuechi sacrificial site in the Yong Mountain was a national heaven worship site built on the original Qin “Zhi” in the suburbs of Yong City under the order of Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu of Han, in the early Western Han dynasty. It was also known as “Bei Zhi”. It can be regarded as the earliest remains of the materialized carrier of heaven worship during the non-stopping five-thousand-year development of Chinese civilization. Of course, heaven worship activities should have a long history. Such heaven worship ritual lasted throughout history. The Temple of Heaven in Beijing has been described as a masterpiece of heaven worship architecture and landscape design.

2.2.10.8

Shanglin Imperial Park

Shanglin Imperial Park, the imperial palace garden of Chang’an City of Han, boasted the largest scale, complete settings, and the greatest influence. After the emperor of Qin moved the capital to Xianyang, Shanglin Imperial Park was then built on the south bank of Wei River, which was still served as the imperial park in Western Han dynasty. Because Shanglin Imperial Park of Qin occupied a large area, emperors in early Western Han dynasty allowed farmers to cultivate crops in it. The large-scale expansion of Shanglin Imperial Park started in 138 BCE. After the expansion, Shanglin Imperial Park reached Jiaodai in Lantian to the southeast, the northern foot of Zhongnan Mountain to the south, vicinity of Zhongnan Township, Zhouzhi County to the southwest, and extended beyond Wei River in the north, covering imperial resorts of Qin and Han dynasties in Xingping and Xianyang. It was said that Shanglin Imperial Park occupied 400 li and could accommodate a thousand war-carriages and ten thousand horsemen. Bounding walls and 12 gates were built to better manage it. At that time, Shanglin Imperial Park was developed into a complex including palaces, government offices, ponds, and gardens. There were more than 70 palaces and 36 gardens. Many eaves tiles carved with characters of “Shanglin” were excavated from the site of Shanglin Imperial Park. “Palaces” recorded in historical documents in Shanglin Imperial Park included Changyang Palace, Wuzuo Palace, Huangshan Palace, Dinghu Palace, Putao Palace, Zhaotai Palace, Xuanqu Palace, Dogtai Palace, etc. All these palaces were influential in Western Han dynasty. Some were for the rest during the imperial hunt; some were built especially for honorable state guests; some were the residence of imperial concubines. Archaeologists conducted archaeological exploration and excavation of

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some palaces and temples, thus having a preliminary understanding of its coverage and cultural significance. For example, the site of Changyang Palace is located 50 m west of presentday Zhuyuantou Village, Zhongnan Township, Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province. The major buildings complex of the site covers around 200,000 m2 . Dragon-pattern hollow bricks, deformed sunflower-patterned eaves tiles, and different types of eaves tiles with cloud patterns were excavated from the site. Some are basically the same as hollow bricks of Qin and eaves tiles of Qin unearthed from the Qin Xianyang city site. A large number of brick and tiles have been unearthed from the site. Most of them could date back to Western Han dynasty and have their characteristics. For example, eaves tiles with Four Gods design, including eaves tiles with the Vermilion Phoenixes design, eaves tiles with the Black Tortoise and Serpent design, and eaves tiles with the White Tiger design, were excavated. Moreover, hollow bricks with Four Gods design, such as hollow bricks with the Azure Dragon pattern and hollow bricks with the White Tiger design were discovered. They were mostly unearthed from sites of the ancestral temple and the mausoleum. Eaves tiles and hollow bricks with Four Gods design unearthed from the site of Changyang Palace might be relics of the ancestral temple. Eaves tiles carved with characters like “Jin Pu” (land for planting flowers and vegetables in the imperial garden) and “Han Bing Tian Xia” (the state is unified under the Han dynasty) unearthed from the site are relatively important. Jin Pu was a part of Shanglin Imperial Park, providing vegetables, fruits, flowers, and plants to the Royal. Eaves tiles carved with the characters “Jin Pu” were excavated from the site of Changyang Palace in present-day Zhouzhi County and Aozi Village in Hu County, where might be the location of offices of two Ministers of Jin Pu.

Distribution map of the Shanglin Imperial Park and the palace buildings of the Qin and Han Dynasty

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Painting of Shanglin Imperial Park, Ming Dynasty, anonymous. There are numerous versions of the Painting of Shanglin Imperial Park, most of which, claiming to be a work of Qiu Ying, were made by Suzhou painters in Ming and Qing dynasties with similar composition and tones. Sima Xiangru’s Ode of Shanglin Imperial Park (Shanglin Fu), by which this painting was inspired, was made as tribute to Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty in a flamboyant style, praising the splendor of the Shanglin Imperial Park and the magnificence of the imperial hunting scene. In this painting, detailed depictions of the mythological beasts from land and sea, and exotic flowers and plants highlighted the Emperor’s supreme power, while rigorous descriptions of spectacular palaces and massive entourages of imperial courtiers underlined the Emperor’s immense influence. Everything ranging from the entourage, horses, trees, and mountains, was designed and painted exquisitely with bright colors, breathing life into the grand scene of the imperial hunting in the Shanglin Imperial Park.

Another example is the site of Huangshan Palace discovered in the northwest part of present-day Hou Village, Tianfu Township, about 10 km southeast from Xingping city. The site, north to Wei River, measured 1 km from east to west, measured 500 m from north to south, and covered about 500,000 m2 . The lamp-stand of Bronze Lamp was carved with “Hengshan Palace”. “Hengshan” was an alternative spelling of “Huangshan”. Besides, eaves tiles carved with “Huangshan” were excavated. The excavation of these two relics verified that it should be the site of Huangshan Palace, correcting the long-standing belief that Huangshan Palace was located 30 li west of Xingping. Two eaves tiles with Kui (a one-legged monster in fable) and phoenix design, with the diameter of 76.5 cm and height of 57 cm, 8 eaves tiles with cloud and thunder pattern, with the diameter of 51.2 cm and height of 38 cm, were excavated from the site of Huangshan Palace. Eaves tiles with similar specifications were mostly unearthed in large-scale imperial buildings in the past.

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Eaves tiles carved with characters like “Jin Pu” (land for planting flowers and vegetables in the imperial garden) discovered from the ruins of Changyang Palace

Eaves tiles carved with characters like “Huang Shan” (Mount Huang) discovered from the ruins of Huangshan Palace

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Half-circled eaves tiles carved with a dragon-shaped pattern discovered from the ruins of Huangshan Palace

Eaves tiles carved with characters like “Ding Hu Yan Shou Gong” (Palace of Longevity in Dinghu) discovered from the ruins of Dinghu Palace

For another example, archaeologists discovered a large-scale site of buildings of Han Dynasty, 100 m south from present-day Jiaodai Village, Jiaodai Township, Lantian County, Shaanxi Province. The site covered about 30,000 m2 . Archaeologists

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found ruins of the palace wall from the 7 sites of palace buildings excavated. Among the large number of unearthed building relics, eaves Tiles carved with characters “Ding Hu Yan Shou Gong” and “Ding Hu Yan Shou Bao” were relatively important. According to “The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices” from Shi Ji, “the next year Princess Wencheng died, the Emperor (Emperor Wu of Han) was seriously ill in Ding Hu (Ding Lake). The witch doctor made every attempt but could not heal the Emperor”. Most towers, pavilions, and waterside pavilions in Shanglin Imperial Park were located around Kunming Lake. As Sima Qian described, Kunming Lake was “surrounded by various temples and pavilions”. The well-known Yuzhang Temple, also called Kunming Temple, is located about 1 km northwest of Wan Village, Doumen Street, Chang’an District. Baiyang Temple was on the east bank of Kunming Lake, near today’s Mengjiazhai Village. Xiliu Temple was on the south bank of Kunming Lake, west of present-day Shixiakou Village, Doumen Street, Chang’an District. Shuyu Temple was located southwest of Chang’an City, west of today’s Hu County. Bowang Temple was located 5 li south of Fu’ang Gate of Chang’an City, which was one of the temples of Bowang Palace of Crown Prince Li of Emperor Wu of Han. There were many palaces and temples in Shanglin Imperial Park, each with different structures and functions. They were connected by paved paths and dog-legged stairs. If compared various palace buildings in Shanglin Imperial Park as shining stars, Kunming Lake was like a bright moon in the starry sky. Kunming Lake originated from the Jiao River, Zhongnan Mountain. Kunming Lake accommodated both warships to train sailors and various boats to amuse the emperor. Kunming Lake, an integral part of imperial gardens and parks, ensured the water supply for the capital, Chang’an City, and served as a transportation hub between the capital and Guandong. In the Mid-Western Han dynasty, Emperor Wu of Han announced the start of construction on a large scale, thereby Beigong Palace and Shanglin Imperial Park were expanded and Gui Palace, Mingguang Palace and Jianzhang Palace were newly built. Therefore, water consumption in the capital, Chang’an City, increased dramatically. Sufficient water sources are the essential condition to maintain the prosperity of the capital city. With the expansion of the capital city and the increase in population, not only the water consumption increased, but also the food demand. Canal transportation was the simplest and most convenient way to transport grains from Guangdong to Guanzhong, thus becoming the major method to ensure the food supply. Water is a must for canal transportation. The construction of Kunming Lake solved the problem.

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Plan view of the ruins of the Kunming Lake of the Han Dynasty. The ruins of the Kunming Lake are about 4250 m (E–W) by 5690 m (N–S) with a perimeter of around 17,600 m long and an area of 16.6 km2 . The site is located in a hollow that is 2–4 m lower than its surrounding area, expanding from Mengjiazhai and west of Wan Village in the east to Zhang Village and east of Mayingzhai in the west, spanning from north of Xiliuyuan in the south to south of Beichangjiazhuang in the north.

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The legend of Cowherd and Girl Weaver originated from the charming imagination of Kunming Lake of the ancient Chinese. Kunming Lake was compared as the Milky Way, on the left of which lived the Cowherd and Girl Weaver on the right. Shipo Temple, Shiye Temple and the stone statues of the Cowherd and Girl Weaver built next to Kunming Lake verified the long history of the legend. There are Shipo Temple and Shiye Temple located north of Changjia Village and nearby the cotton and wool manufacturing factory in Domen Street, Chang’an District. They might be built by later generations, but the stone statues of Cowherd and Girl Weaver enshrined are precious relics dating back to Western Han dynasty. Interestingly, the stone statue of Cowherd is enshrined in Shipo Temple, while the stone statue of Girl Weaver is enshrined in Shiye Temple.

Stone sculpture of the Cowherd of the Han Dynasty near the ruins of the Kunming Lake

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Stone sculpture of the Weaver Girl of the Han Dynasty near the ruins of the Kunming Lake

Stone statues of Cowherd and Girl Weaver are two large round stone carvings made of igneous rocks. They were made in 121 BCE when Emperor Wu of Han ordered to build Kunming Lake. The history was even longer than the stone carvings of Huo Qubing’s tomb. Therefore, this is one of the earliest known large-scale stone carvings. In addition to Kunming Lake, there were many other lakes in Shanglin Imperial Park, such as Chu Lake, Mi Lake, Niushou Lake, Kuai Lake, Jicao Lake, Dongbei Lake, Xibei Lake, Danglu Lake, Taiyi Lake, Lang Lake, Baizi Lake, etc. They were scattered between palaces and temples, enhancing the charm of Shanglin Imperial Park. These lakes had their own characteristics. For example, there were three decorative jade trees made of coral, offered by Zhao Tuo, King of Nanyue to the emperor of Han. The decorative tree was 1.2 zhang high, with 462 branches. It was extremely spectacular, especially at night when it gave off flickering flashes of light. It was known as “Fireworks Tree”. Every 7th day of the 7th month of the Chinese lunar calendar when the Cowherd and Girl Weaver met, large-scale activities would be held nearby Baizi Lake. People fastened colorful ribbons, sang and danced to have fun, prayed for happiness, and made best wishes.

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As an imperial garden, Shanglin Imperial Park also accommodated many rare birds and beasts to amuse the emperor, high officials, and nobles or for imperial hunting. Most of the 36 gardens of Shanglin Imperial Park were located in the west and north of Shanglin Imperial Park. Officials in charge of affairs and superintendents of Shanglin Imperial Park were called “Langguan”. Shanglin Imperial Park was of great scale. According to records, there were 30,000 officials, servants, and court eunuchs, 300,000 horses, and animals such as deer, tigers, bears, rhinos, and pandas. These animals were kept and managed in different gardens, and officials such as “Ling” and “Wei” were responsible for registering. Different animals were domesticated and managed by people of different positions or titles. For example, people who managed the deer were mostly court eunuchs, servants, and poor people whose household income was lower than 5000 Qian. Names of many buildings in Shanglin Imperial Park were related to animals kept in the garden, such as Bailu Temple, Zhonglu Temple, and Lu Temple. Whether they were different names of one temple, or different temples, they should be related to the deer (“lu” in Chinese pinyin). For example, Zouma Temple, Hujuan Temple, Yuniao Temple, Quan Terrace, Shizi Lot, and Zhi Lot, should all be related to animals. Rare birds and animals in Shanglin Imperial Park include native Chinese animals, as well as exotic tributes such as lions and ostriches. Ancient Rome had the world-famous Colosseum, but the “Colosseum” built by the Royal in Shanglin Imperial Park of Han dynasty was rarely known. The Emperor even appointed specific officials to be responsible for the “Colosseum”.

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A painting on the brick tiles depicting the Beasts Fighting Scene in Shanglin Imperial Park of Western Han

The first “Colosseum” appeared in Qin dynasty. King Zhao of Qin once forced the envoy, Zhu Hai, sent by Wu Ji, Prince of Wei, to fight with the tiger in the “Colosseum” of Shanglin Imperial Park. In Han dynasty, the tall and magnificent “Colosseum” was built to watch animal fighting. Colosseum was the place for animal fighting as well as the farm for animals. Types and quantities of main beasts and birds must be registered in the Record of Beasts and Birds. In Han dynasty, animals involved in animal fighting were not limited to tigers, but also bears and wild boars. Professional warriors included specially trained warriors and imperial concubines from home and abroad. In addition to watching for amusement and animal fighting, beasts and birds in Shanglin Imperial Park also served as the following three functions. First, the Emperor would hunt in Shanglin Imperial Park every autumn and winter. At that time, Shanglin Wei, officials in Shanglin Imperial Park, would chase beasts and birds into the hunting ground for imperial hunting.

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Second, in Western Han dynasty, the customs of lavish funerals prevailed, especially the Emperor, who wanted to bring all things to the world after death. Rear beasts and birds, to amuse the Royal, naturally belonged to funerary objects. As recorded in “Biography of Gong Yu” from Book of Han, a large number of “birds, beasts, fish, turtles, cattle, horses, tigers, leopards, and poultry” were buried in Maoling, the mausoleum of Emperor Wu of Western Han dynasty. Skeletons of pandas and rhinoceros were excavated from Nanling, the tomb of Empress Dowager Bo. These rare birds and animals were from Shanglin Imperial Park. Skeletons of camels were also found in Pingling, the mausoleum of Emperor Zhao of Han dynasty. Third, lions, ostriches, and rhinos carefully raised in Shanglin Imperial Park were the testimony of friendly exchanges between Western Han dynasty and neighboring regions and countries, demonstrating the virtues of the Emperor of Han dynasty. In addition to various rare beasts and birds, there were plants of various shapes and forms from all over the world in Shanglin Imperial Park. When Emperor Wu of Han dynasty expanded Shanglin Imperial Park, more than 3000 kinds of precious fruit trees and exotic flowers were offered from various regions, such as the Hanhai Pear in Hulun Lake and Beier Lake, the Wangmu Jujube near Kunlun Mountain, walnuts and Qiang plums from the Western Regions, and Man plums from southern region. They were all planted in Shanglin Imperial Park. Plants are the decoration of the earth. All kinds of plants were planted in Shanglin Imperial Park, making it extraordinarily beautiful. Randomly scattered trees, various flowers, verdant grass, winding corridors, elegant temples, and glorious palaces made Shanglin Imperial Park a fairyland. Some buildings were named after plants in Shanglin Imperial Park, such as Putao Palace (Grape Palace) and Fuli Palace (Lychee Palace). Shanglin Imperial Park was both an imperial park and a royal manor. The land owned by the Royal in Han Dynasty was called “Gongtian” (state-owned land), which was mostly distributed in the capital city and its environs. In addition to palaces, ponds, gardens, and hunting grounds for the Royal, there were a large number of fertile lands in Shanglin Imperial Park. All these lands were Royal Gongtian, serving as either the cultivated land or the pasture. The Empress bred silkworms in Shanglin Imperial Park and the Emperor plowed in the capital city every year, demonstrating that farming and sericulture were attached great importance.

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Excavation site of Zhaolun’s mint ruins

A clay mother-mold for the inscription of “Zhong Guan” (an official in charge of the mintage) discovered from the ruins of Zhongguan

“Wu Zhu” (a unit of currency used in the Han Dynasty) released by “Shanglin San Guan” (three office departments in Shanglin Imperial Park)

There were coin casting office departments and Moneta in Shanglin Imperial Park, represented by “Shanglin San Guan” (three office departments in Shanglin Imperial Park). Emperor Wu of Han reformed the coinage system in 113 BCE. Local coinage was no longer permitted, and the central government became the only

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legitimate authority to make coins. Sites of coin casting factories were found in the site of Shanglin Imperial Park, such as present-day Wotouzhai Village in Chang’an District, Haohan Temple in Sanqiao Street, Weiyang District, and Zhaolun Village in Dawang Town, Hu County. Among them, the Zhongguan site located in Zhaolun Village, Dawang Town, Hu County is particularly important. For Chang’an City of Han dynasty, Shanglin Imperial Park had the following three functions. Above all else, Shanglin Imperial Park strengthened the safety of Chang’an, the capital and the imperial palace. Most palaces in Chang’an City were located in the south and west part. The southern and western region outside Chang’an City was included in Shanglin Imperial Park, making it the imperial garden of the imperial palace—Weiyang Palace. The general public could not get access to the south and west side of Weiyang Palace, thus enhancing the safety of these two sides. In the north of Weiyang Palace stood Gui Place, Bei Watchtower Mansion, and Beigong Palace, and in the east stood Changle Palace, making Weiyang Palace strongly fortified. Second, the expansion of Shanglin Imperial Park alleviated the shortage of palaces in Chang’an City, the capital. With the expansion of the royal family and bureaucrats of the Han dynasty, buildings inside Chang’an City couldn’t satisfy the demand. Therefore, Shanglin Imperial Park became the supplement. Many major events of the royal and the government were held there. And even some government offices were established there. For example, Emperor Xuan of Han met envoys of Xiongnu and other state guests, and held large-scale cultural activities at Pingle Temple. Emperors of Han received Chanyu, the leader of Xiongnu, at Putao Place. The emperor frequently visited Changyang Palace, Wuzuo Palace, Dinghu Yanshou Palace, and Yichun Palace. Third, Shanglin Imperial Park in Chang’an City of Han dynasty had far-reaching influence. The main palace in Luoyang City of Eastern Han dynasty and Luoyang City of Sui dynasty was still named as “Shanglin Imperial Park”. Their location toward the capital was similar to that of Shanglin Imperial Park of Han dynasty toward Chang’an City, the capital of Han dynasty. Imperial parks outside Yebei City and Yenan City, as well as the Imperial Garden of Chang’an City of Tang dynasty, were served as both the amusing park and the protective frontier of the capital city and imperial palaces, the same as Shanglin Imperial Park of Han dynasty. Even Kunming Lake in the Summer Palace of Qing dynasty was named after Kunming Lake of Shanglin Imperial Park of Han dynasty. As a capital city in the Age of Empire, Chang’an City of Han dynasty inherited and developed the capital culture of the Pre-Qin period, and influenced the future development of the capital culture after the Qin and Han dynasties. Chang’an City of Han dynasty served as a connecting link between the preceding and the following, manifesting in the following aspects. First, there were three gates set up in each direction of the capital city. Each gate was established with three panes. The main road connecting the gate had three functions. Second, the floor plan of the imperial city—Weiyang Palace and the Bright Hall–Biyong tunnel, ancestral temples, and other ritual and ceremonious buildings

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presented the shape of the square, indicating the concept of “square being honorable”. Such layout made it possible to set up gates in each direction of the capital city, the imperial palace, ancestral temples, and the Bright Hall, thereby highlighting the concept of “harmony”. Third, the gate was set up in each direction of Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace, Jianzhang Palace and Ganquan Palace, which was the earliest design for the imperial palace in ancient China. Fourth, the Front Hall was located in the center of the imperial palace, which is the earliest example that the main hall was located in the “center, high and front position”. The Front Hall was located in the center of Weiyang Palace, while other palaces and offices were built around or behind it. Such layout greatly influenced succeeding dynasties. For example, the Front Hall of Nangong Palace and Hall of Beigong Palace in Luoyang City of East Han Dynasty, Wenchang Hall in palaces complex of Yebei City, Shenlong Hall of Taichu Palace and Chiwu Hall of Zhaoming Palace of Jianye City of Cao-Wei Dynasty, Taichi Hall of Jiankang City of Jin Dynasty, of Luoyang City of Northern Wei Dynasty, of Yenan City of Eastern Wei and Beiqi Dynasty, of Daxing City of Sui Dynasty, of Chang’an city of Tang, Hanyuan Hall of Daming Palace, Qianyuan Hall of Luoyang City of Sui and Tang Dynasty, Daqing Hall of Dongjing City of Northern Song Dynasty, Huangji Hall (Taihe Hall) of Beijing City of Ming and Qing Dynasty, all these main halls were located in the middle of the east and west of the palace complex. Located to the south of the main hall was the main palace gate. There would be no buildings in between them, or only several “gates” along the axis from north to south. Fifth, the layout of “three halls” in front of the Front Hall of Weiyang Palace had a far-reaching influence on the layout of “three halls” in the following dynasties. For instance, Taiji Hall, Liangyi Hall, Ganlu Hall of the imperial palaces complex in Chang’an City, Hanyuan Hall, Xuanzheng Hall and Zichen Hall of Daming Palace, Daqing Hall, WendeHall and Zichen Hall of the imperial palaces complex in Dongjing City of Northern Song dynasty, Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall, and Jinshen Hall in Nanjing City of Ming dynasty, Huangji Hall, Zhongji Hall, Jianji Hall (renamed as Taihe Hall, Zhonghe Hall, and Baohe Hall respectively in Qing dynasty) of Beijing City of Ming dynasty, the layout of these palaces followed the same pattern. Sixth, the axis of the capital, starting from the Front Hall located in the center of the imperial palace and extending alongside the vertical direction to ancestral temples and Sheji outside the North Palace Gate and Xi’an Gate first appeared in the Chang’an City of Western Han. Such layout was officially formed in the late Western Han dynasty, presenting the far-reaching influence of the layout of the capital city in the following two thousand years. The layout of the ancestral temple and Guanshe found in ritual and ceremonious buildings in southern suburbs of the Chang’an City of Han is the earliest known layout of “ancestral buildings on the left and ritual and ceremonious buildings on the right”. According to “Record of Trades” from Rites of Zhou, it had been believed that the layout of “ancestral buildings on the left and ritual and ceremonious buildings on the right” already existed in the pre-Qin period for a long time. However, archaeological findings do not support the statement. It

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would definitely take a time to become an important layout of the capital city, and sometimes it might take a long time. The layout of “ancestral buildings on the left and ritual and ceremonious buildings on the right” of ritual and ceremonious buildings in the southern suburbs of the Chang’an City of Han could actually date back to Qin and Han dynasties. Between Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace, east of the site of Guanshe, stood the temple of King Zhao of Qin and temples of other kings of Qin. Taishanghuang Temple, Gaozu Temple, and Huidi Temple in the early Western Han dynasty were all located in the east of Weiyang Palace. These findings indicated that the layout of “ancestral buildings on the left and ritual and ceremonious buildings on the right” should have already appeared in Qin and Han dynasties. Seventh, changes of ancestral temples’ positions revealed that they were moved from inside the imperial palace city or palace complex (including ancestral temples) in the early period of Warring States to outside the imperial palace or capital city in the middle and late period of Warring States and Qin dynasty. In the early Western Han dynasty, ancestral temples were located outside the imperial palace but inside the outer city. During the period of Emperor Hui and Emperor Wen of Han, positions of ancestral temples followed the layout of the Qin dynasty, that is, outside the outer city. During Wei and Jin Period, ancestral temples were established outside the imperial palace but inside the outer city, the same as the early Western Han dynasty. Since the layout of “three layers of cities”, consisting of the imperial palace, inner city and outer city, in Luoyang City of Northern Wei dynasty appeared, most ancestral temples were established outside the imperial palace but inside the inner city. Generally speaking, such layout of palaces and ancestral temples was always followed throughout the feudal society in ancient China. Changes in the location of ancestral temples indicated changes in the significance of ancestral temples to the capital city as well as the hereditary system to the state political system.

2.2.11 Xianyang City of the Qin Dynasty In 383 BC, Duke Xian of Qin moved the capital from Yong to Liyang. Then, in 350 BC, Duke Xiao of Qin relocated the capital to Xianyang. The move to Xianyang was the first of a series of events, which led to Qin conquering the other six kingdoms. As the capital of the dynasty that unified China, Xianyang of Qin Dynasty is historically and culturally significant to the 5000 years of non-stopping development in China. It is the last capital of the kingdom era, and the first capital of the imperial era, which started with Qin. Xianyang of Qin Dynasty had retained much of the traditional characteristics from the kingdom era, and featured innovative designs from the imperial era. Xianyang was a part of the capital cities named Feng and Hao of Western Zhou Dynasty. It is located in the south of Jiucheng Mountain and the north of the Wei River. The south side of mountains and the north side of rivers were called the “yang” side, which made up the name “Xianyang”. The site of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty is located in the area of present-day Yaodian Town, about 15 km east of Xianyang City,

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Shaanxi Province. It faces Wei River in the south and Xianyang Plain in the north. According to “Annals of Qin” from Shi Ji, “in the 12th year (under the rein of the Duke of Xiao), construction began in Xianyang. Watchtowers were built. [Then] Qin moved the capital [there]”. Qin officially moved the capital to Xianyang in 349 BC, which is 13 years into the reign of the Duke of Xiao. The first construction projects at that time were the palace and imperial residences. The imperial residences were later expanded when King Huiwen of Qin took reign. As recorded in “The Treatise on the Five Elements” from Book of Han, “King Wenhui had just made Xianyang capital. [He] expanded the imperial residences. [The city] borders Wei River in the south and Jing River in the north”. Since then, the succeeding Qin rulers (including King Wu, King Zhao, King Xiaowen, and King Zhuangxiang) were committed to the development and expansion of Xianyang, until Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of Qin succeeded in unifying the nation. As the capital continued to expand, Xianyang City kept on growing on the north bank of Wei River, until it took over the south bank as well. Facilities were built to keep up the social development in the capital. These facilities mainly include Xingle Palace, Zhangtai (Palace), several temples, Ganquan Palace, and the Imperial Forest Park, which formed the North Palace and South Palace complexes of Xianyang. This “double-palace” system had already existed in Luoyang during the Warring States Period. After Qin Shi Huang unified the nation and established the Qin Empire, he expanded the Xianyang on a larger scale to keep up with the new demands. As written in “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji: Every time a state was conquered, Qin would copy the state’s palace, and build it on the north slope of Xianyang, next to Wei River to the south. From the Yong Gate to the east, where Jing River and Wei River merged, palaces, houses, annexes, and pavilions were interconnected by hanging galleries (called “fudao”). Qin continued to commission large-scale constructions, including Xin Palace (or “Jimiao”) and the Ganquan Main Hall, to the south of Wei River. At the time, Qin Shihuang believed that there was little room for development in Xianyang’s northern section above Wei River. He planned to move the inner city, the palace, and the main hall of the imperial court to the south bank, in the later period of his reign. In 212 BC, construction finally began for the main hall of the famous Epang Palace, located in the middle of the Imperial Forest Park, south of Wei River. Since Epang Palace was never completed when Qin Shi Huang was in power, he would “listen to state affairs, make decisions and give orders to the officials, all in Xianyang Palace”. Following his predecessor, the second emperor of Qin would continue to use the capital’s northern section as the political center, until he was eventually forced to commit suicide in Wangyi Palace. The site of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty is located in present-day Weicheng District, Xianyang City. The site ranges from Changling Station in the west, to Bojiazui Village in the east; from the remains of Chengguo Canal in the north, to Caotan Farm in the south of Xi’an City (which used to be the north bank of Wei River in the Qin Dynasty, and about 3275 m north of the ruins of Chang’an of Han Dynasty). There is a large number of palace ruins discovered in the archaeological site of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty, most of which are located between Niejiagou and Jijiagou,

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on the Xianyang Plain. Some remains of walls were found surrounding the palace ruins, which suggests that they are the ruins of Xianyang Palace of Qin. Seven large-scale rammed earth building sites were discovered in the palace complex ruins. In the 1970s and 1980s, the first, second, and third palace ruins were unearthed in the west section of the palace complex. These palace ruins have retained characteristics of both the era of kingdoms and the era of empires. They were the largest, best-preserved, and most content-rich palace ruins, created with the highest specifications, even when compared to other imperial or royal palace ruins that date back to the Warring States Period and the Qin Dynasty. The ruins of Palace No. 1 of Xianyang Palace (hereinafter referred to as “Palace Ruins 1”) is located on the Xianyang Plain, about 200 m north of present-day Niuyang Village, Yaodian Town, Xianyang City. The ruins are divided into two parts by Niuyanggou.

Floor plan view of the geolocation of the ruins of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty. The ruins of capital Xianyang of Qin are 7200 m long from east to west and 6700 m wide from north to south.

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Floor plan view of the ruins of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty. The palace is a near-rectangle in plan view with an east–west orientation length of 843–902 m and a north–south orientation width of 426–576 m.

Palace Ruins 1 of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty

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Floor plan view of Palace Ruins 1 of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty. The “n”-shaped imperial palace site No. 1 is 130 m long from east to west and 45 m wide from north to south, with the concave area of the “n” shape being 20 m wide from north to south. The plan view of the hall (F1) is a near square, in which the interior room is 13.4 m long from east to west and 12 m long from north to south, with two gates on each of the northern and southern sides and one gate on the east.

Diagram of the restored Palace No. 1 of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty

So far, only the east half of Palace Ruins 1 has been excavated. The center of the foundation is a high rammed earth platform, with various structures built around it. On top of the high platform is the main building of the palace, a hall (F1, see above), to the east of which is the hallway (F2). To the south of the hallway is a living chamber (F3). To the west of the hall are ramps going north and south respectively. You can exit the hall via the south doorway and take the ramp to the platform above the ground level of the hall, on the west side of the hall. In the center of the hall (F1), there is a central column and pilasters on the four walls. The cut section of the pilasters is square, with a side of 35 cm. The foundation stone is placed under the column. Some scholars have suggested that the famous story about the attempted assassination of the Qin Emperor by Jing Ke, might have taken

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place beside the central pillar. According to “The Account of the Assassins” from Shi Ji, “Jing Ke chased the [then] King of Qin, and the King of Qin walked around the pillars”. The ground of the hall (F1), painted with vermilion, is smooth, flat, and hard. This is the “soil covered with vermilion” mentioned in historical documents. This is the remains of the earliest use of the “red carpet” in palace buildings in Chinese history. Palace No. 1 is a complex built on a high platform that combines several building units into one. Reasonable designs were incorporated to ensure the proper functions, passages, lighting, drainage, and structural integrity is in place. The floor plan highlights the difference between primary and secondary areas, with a flexible layout, uniform but not rigid. Based on the high platform, the large and small houses are located above and below the platform bases, intertwined with high and low structures. This large-scale, high-platform building, with multiple levels and pavilions, is the most typical and representative ancient high-platform building known so far. It proved that many aspects of building techniques, which were thought to be developed in the Han Dynasty, actually date back to an even earlier time, in the middle of the Warring States Period or the Qin Dynasty. The ruins of Palace No. 2 of Xianyang Palace of Qin Dynasty (hereinafter referred to as “Palace Ruins 2”) are located in the northwest of the palace complexes, about 93 m southeast from Palace Ruins 1. The site is 127 m from east to west, and 32.8– 45 m from north to south. It is also a high-platform building. 18 vertical pottery tubes were found on the ground of the cloister and courtyard. The pottery tubes were all straight and cylindrical, with a single section and wide edge, 17–19 cm in diameter and 67–69 cm long. Undisturbed charcoal remains were found in the pottery tubes. It is speculated that the pottery tubes in these corridors may be used for holding flagpoles, which have not been discovered in other palace ruins of Xianyang Palace. Palace Ruins 2 are the largest palace ruins that have been excavated in the palace complexes of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty. It may be an important building for handling government affairs. The ruins of Palace No. 3 of Xianyang Palace of Qin Dynasty (hereinafter referred to as “Palace Ruins 3”) are located in the north of present-day Niuyang Village, Yaodian Town, Xianyang City. Palace Ruins 3 are 123 m long from east to west, and 60 m wide from north to south. The main structure is in the center of the platform base, with houses built on all sides under the platform base, where the indoor floor is painted with vermilion. There is a cloister built outside the four rows of houses below the foundation, with a drainage system outside. On the west side of Palace Ruins No. 3 was a long, north–south corridor, which was 32.4 m long and 5 m wide. The east and west of the corridor are rammed earth sill walls, the remains of which are 0.2–1.08 m tall. The pilasters of the east and west sill walls were symmetrically placed, with 13 and 9 pilaster holes remaining respectively on either of the walls. The ground was blue-gray, smooth, flat, and hard. There is a threshold groove at the north end of the corridor, and buildings outside the threshold groove, with stepping stones outside the door. On the east and west walls of this north–south corridor, were murals with an abundance of contents. They are the first series of murals ever discovered in a palace

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from the Qin Dynasty. There are 9 sections of the north–south corridors, each painted with a piece of the murals. The murals were mainly paintings of horse-drawn carriages ceremonies, buildings, and ears of wheat. The long, scroll-like murals found on the east and west walls of the corridor are the oldest and best-preserved ancient murals of the highest-standard, ever discovered in the ruins of ancient Chinese palaces. A total of 162 fragments of murals were also unearthed in other parts of the west side corridor of Palace Ruins 3. A large number of murals fragments were also discovered at Palace Ruins 1 and Palace Ruins 2. More than 440 pieces were found at Palace Ruins 1, and 39 pieces were unearthed at Palace Ruins 2. The murals mainly contain depictions of human characters, horse-drawn chariots, buildings, animals, plants (flowers), mythological beings, geometric patterns, and so on. Although there have been early records of murals in ancient Chinese palaces, people only began discovering them rather recently. The murals, found at the Xianyang Palace of Qin Dynasty, filled the gaps in this regard and offered plenty of research materials on the history of Chinese art and ancient architecture.

Floor plan view of Palace Ruins 2 in Xianyang Palace of Qin Dynasty. The east–west orientation length of the imperial palace site No. 2 is 127 m and the north–south orientation width is 32.8–5.5 m.

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Painting of Chariot Horses (Sima Tu), mural, unearthed in Xianyang Palace of Qin Dynasty

Hollowed brick (a book of rubbing) decorated with dragons and phoenixes, unearthed in Palace Ruins 3, Xianyang Palace of Qin Dynasty

Diagram of mural placements in the corridor of Palace Ruins 3, Xianyang Palace of Qin Dynasty

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The South Bank, or “Weinan”, meaning “south of River Wei”, is a specific geographical term used in describing locations within Xianyang of Qin Dynasty. It refers to the area opposite the north bank of Wei River, particularly the south section of Xianyang of Qin Dynasty. According to historical records, the South Bank used to boast an array of architectural highlights in the Qin Dynasty, such as the South Palace (namely, Ganquan Palace), Zhangtai, various temples, Epang Palace, the Imperial Forest Park. To quote from “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” (from Shi Ji), “the many temples, Zhangtai, and the Imperial Forest were all located on the South Bank”; “… thus Xin Palace was built on the South Bank. Xin Palace was renamed ‘Jimiao’ (Temple of the Utmost) after ‘Tianji’ (the Utmost of the Sky, referring to the North Star)”; “… thus the Court Palace (Epang Palace) was built in the Imperial Forest Park on the South Bank”. The development of the South Bank should have begun in the late Warring States Period. After Duke Xiao of Qin made Xianyang capital, the construction of the ancestral temples began on the South Bank. According to “The Accounts of Chulizi and Gan Mao” from Shi Ji: After Chulizi had passed, he was buried to the east of Zhangtai, on the South Bank. [Before his death,] He proclaimed that “in the next hundred years, there will be palaces of the son of heaven standing beside my tomb”. The home of Chulizi, [also known as] Ying Ji, was located in Chuli of Yinxiang Township, on the South Bank, west of the Temple of King Zhao of Qin, hence the name Chulizi (the Son of Chuli). When the Han Dynasty rose, the Changle Palace was built to the east of his tomb, and the Weiyang Palace was built to the west of his tomb. The imperial armory was to directly face with his tomb. The tomb of Chulizi is buried beneath the ruins of the imperial armory of Chang’an of Han Dynasty. At that time, tombs and residences tended to be near each other. Chulizi’s residence should be near the site of the armory, close to the Temple of King Zhao of Qin, which should be in the east of the ruins of Chang’an of Han Dynasty, or near the ruins of Changle Palace of Han Dynasty. Some scholars have also proposed that the ancient architectural ruins discovered in Yanjia Village in the northwestern suburb of Xi’an, used to house one of the ancestral temples in the South Bank in Xianyang of Qin Dynasty. This is a critical turning point in the history of ancient Chinese capitals. Not only does it reflect the changes of locations of the ancestral temples, it also offers a more profound insight into nepotism in ancient Chinese politics. The ancestral temples are a symbol of politics based on blood relations. This change in temple locations illustrates how the role of blood relations in national politics has shifted. In Xianyang of Qin Dynasty, the ruler of the Qin Kingdom completely revamped the dynamics between ancestral temples and imperial palaces, which were considered “on an equal footing”. As a result, the main hall of the imperial court sat at the center of the palace complexes. Meanwhile, the ancestral temples were located in less significant positions, outside the palace complexes or palace area, and moved to the South Bank outside of Xianyang. Xianyang of Qin Dynasty is best known for the relocation of the ancestral temples. It represents the importance of centralized power for feudalist empires in national politics, and has a profound impact on the layout of capitals after the Qin Dynasty.

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The construction of Lanchi (or Orchid Pond) and the Imperial Forest Park in Xianyang of Qin Dynasty also had a profound and lasting impact on ancient Chinese capitals. As the courtyard of the palace, Lanchi was built in the eastern part of the palace zone. The pond and imperial forest were built next to each other, along the east–west direction. Together, they form an integral landscape. There is a reference from Comprehensive Gazetteer (Kuo Di Zhi), which is quoted in Commentary on “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji, it reads: The Lanchi Pool was once known as Lanchi (the Orchid Pond) in ancient times, located at the border of Xianyang County. As quoted from the “Records of Qin (Qin Ji)” stated that “[Qin] Shihuang made Chang’an capital, and diverted the water from Wei River to create a pond. [He] built islands named ‘Peng’ and ‘Ying’ (heavenly islands in mythologies), and carved stones as whales, with a length of two hundred ‘zhang’ (ancient Chinese unit of length)”. The construction of Lanchi in Xianyang of Qin Dynasty is closely connected to Qin Shi Huang’s visit to the eastern counties in the 28th year of his era. As written in “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji: “Xu, and the others, reported to the Emperor, saying that there are three heavenly mountains in the sea, named Penglai (Peng), Fangzhang, and Yingzhou (Ying), where immortals live. [They] requested to perform “Zhaijie” (a form of fasting and abstinence), and use male and female children as offerings. Thus, Xu was ordered to send thousands of male and female children to the sea to seek audience with immortals”. Ancient literature suggests that the custom to create landscapes near ancient capitals began at a very early time. However, the ruins of the Imperial Forrest Park of Xianyang in the Qin Dynasty, are the oldest archaeological discovery of a capital garden, known at present. The Imperial Forest Park may have been called the “Forbidden Garden” as well, at least according to mud-seal print from the Qin Dynasty, which reads “Right Guard of the Forbidden Garden”. “The Western Capital Rhapsody” (Xijing Fu) also describes that the “Imperial Forrest Forbidden Garden covers valleys and mountains”. The Forbidden Gardens of the Qin Dynasty also include Dunan Garden (or Dunan Yichunyuan) and the East Garden (Dongyuan), which were located near the Xianyang capital. The Imperial Forrest Park and Forbidden Gardens continued to exist, well into the Middle Ages, as imperials landscapes were given the same names throughout dynasties. For example, the Imperial Forrest Park of Chang’an in the Han Dynasty was modeled after that of the Qin Dynasty. Emperor Wu of Han inherited and expanded the park on a large scale when he came to power. Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty also used to house an imperial park of the same name. As the imperial garden of Luoyang in the Sui Dynasty, Huitong Garden (or Huitong Park) was also called the “Imperial Forrest Park”. The imperial garden in Chang’an of Tang Dynasty was called the “Forbidden Garden”. As the Qin Dynasty unified the country, the expansion of Xianyang also accelerated, especially on the South Bank. In the late Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang found Xianyang too crowded and the palace too small. He decided to build a new palace in Fenghao, the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty, known as the “Capital of Emperors”. Epang was the name of the new palace, which was “built as the palace of the imperial court, located in the Imperial Forrest Park on the South Bank”.

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The ruins of the Front Hall of the Epang Palace are located in the area of Juzhao Village and Gucheng Village in Sanqiao Subdistrict, in the West Suburb of Xi’an. The extant site is high in the south, and low in the north. Archaeological research shows that the Qin Dynasty carried out large-scale construction on the foundation of the Front Hall of the Epang Palace, and built east, west and north walls within the hall. The analysis of the accumulated stratum revealed the absence of bricks or construction remains that date back to the Qin Dynasty, nor were there remnants to suggest the burning of the Epang Palace had happened. This is because the aboveground structures of the Epang Palace, such as the walls and roofs, had not been built yet. Therefore, there was not a palace to burn by the end of the Qin Dynasty. In fact, the long-fabled “burning the Epang Palace” never happened. Here is the documented record of the Front Hall in the Epang Palace, quoted from “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji: Five hundred steps from east to west, fifty zhang from north to south, [the Front Hall] can accommodate 10,000 people, and a five-zhang high banner can be erected below it. There are hanging galleries around for transport, from under the hall to South Mountain. A gate with watchtowers was built on the top of South Mountain. Another hanging gallery was built across Wei River, connecting the Epang Palace to Xianyang. The constructions symbolize the North Star and the “Star of the Hanging Gallery” (Cassiopeia constellation) crossing the River (the Milky Way), to reach the Star of Residences (Pegasus constellation).

Floor plan view of the Front Hall of the Epang Palace. The ruins of the foundations of the remaining rammed earth structures are 1270 m long from east to west and 426 m wide from north to south, with the rammed earth foundations being 12 m higher than the highest point of the current ground.

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Foundation of the Front Hall of Epang Palace

In fact, the construction went differently, according to the plan at the time. Here is another relevant entry: In the 35th year of the Qin Shi Huang era (212 BC), the emperor “first built the front hall in Epang … [while] the Epang Palace had not been completed; [the emperor] planned to choose a good name for it, after it is completed. Because the palace was built in Epang, people call it the Epang Palace”. In the 7th month of the 37th year of Qin Shi Huang’s reign (210 BC), he “passed away on the dune platform”, halting the construction of the Epang Palace, as the second Emperor of Qin “stopped the worker of [Epang] and had them dig up dirt in Lishan Mountain (to build a tomb for Qin Shi Huang)”. However, the second Emperor of Qin decided to “resume construction of the Epang Palace” in the 4th month of the first year, after he took office (209 BC). Three months later, the peasant uprising broke out in the late Qin Dynasty. The ministers and generals of the imperial court proposed the emperor to “please stop the construction of the Epang Palace”, which means that the Epang Palace was still under construction at this time. “The Treatise on the Five Elements” from Book of Han, contains an entry regarding the second Qin Emperor, which reads “[He] resume the construction of the Epang, but died before completion”. New archaeological discoveries reveal what happened to the Front Hall of the Epang Palace, which is consistent with the progress of Epang, as described in ancient literature. Xianyang of the Qin Dynasty has offered us evidence, which corroborates with the 5000 years of non-stopping cultural development of China. It has a few more points of intrigue which could have been easily overlooked:

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First, the names of main halls throughout dynasties were different. For example, it was called “Lu Qin” (Zhou Dynasty), “Front Hall” (Qin and Han dynasties), “Taiji Hall” (Former Wei and later dynasties), and many more names since the Tang Dynasty. Some of those names include Daqing Hall of the Eastern Capital (Song Dynasty), Da’an Hall of Zhongdu (Jin Dynasty), Daming Hall (Yuan Dynasty), Fengtian Hall of Nanjing (Ming Dynasty), Huangji Hall of Beijing (Ming Dynasty), and Taihe Hall of Beijing (Qing Dynasty). “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji, recorded that the construction of the “Front Hall of Epang” began in the 35th year of the Qin Shi Huang era. This is the first time that the name “Front Hall” appears in Chinese historical documents. According to the building plan at that time, the Front Hall would face the south, so one can go “from under the hall to South Mountain, where there is a gate with watchtowers built on the top”. To the north of the Front Hall, “another hanging gallery was built across the Wei River, connecting the Epang Palace to Xianyang”. It can be seen from the aforementioned records that the Epang Palace would have been the new palace and imperial court of the Qin Dynasty, had it been completed. The Front Hall was the main hall of the imperial court. It was a south-facing building situated in the north. The Front Hall used to face the palace gate to the south, which was on top of the South Mountain. To the north of the Front Hall was the Xianyang Palace. Such layout highlighted the “forefront position” (or “Ju Qian”) of the main hall of the court. Since then, no matter what the main hall was called, its “forefront” position in the imperial palace never wavered. This “forefront” concept has become one of the cornerstones of traditional Chinese culture. It embodies the supreme status of the main hall in the imperial court. Qin Shi Huang recruited 700,000 people from all over the nation to build the Epang Palace, only to die on the way to visit the project, one year later. Following his demise, a large-scale peasant uprising broke out all over the country, in the late Qin Dynasty. The Emperor’s national project to build the “Front Hall of Epang” had only proceeded to the construction of the underground foundation. The project was left unfinished. Therefore, we can only infer the “forefront” concept of the “Front Hall of Epang”, from the building plan recorded by Sima Qian. Moreover, there is not any evidence to suggest that Qin Shi Huang intended to incorporate other architectural concepts, such as the “central position” (or “Ju Zhong”) and the “high position” (or “Ju Gao”), into the inner city and imperial palace of Epang. Such architectural concepts need practice to realize, which was achieved by Liu Bang, also known as Emperor Gaozu of Han and the founder of the Western Han Dynasty.

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Painting of the Epang Palace, by Yuan Jiang (Qing Dynasty)

Second, in the history of the development of ancient Chinese capitals, the layout of the ancestral temples and palaces (specifically, the main hall of the imperial court) in Xianyang of the Qin Dynasty was drastically different from those of the past. In the era of kingdoms, temples and palaces used to be placed together in the imperial palace area. This means that the ancient Chinese society had evolved from the era of kingdoms, when blood relations and geopolitics were seen as equally important, to the imperial era, when they held geopolitics at a higher regard, and blood relations at a lower. Therefore, the main hall of the imperial court was in a dominant political position, while the ancestral temples were moved out of the imperial palace area, to join the altar for the gods of earth and harvest, to form the architectural pairing of “Zuo Zu You She” (temples on the left, altars on the right). During the reign of Qin Shi Huang, the ancestral temples were located in the Capital Yong of Qin (State), or across Wei River in the South Bank, opposite Xianyang. This highlights how the perception of “nation” has shifted, from the kingdom era to the imperial era. The “nation” was of the utmost importance, above the individual families, geopolitics, and blood relations. Third, the construction of the Lanchi in Xianyang was a result of Qin Shi Huang’s desire to induct the mythical “sea” and “heavenly mountain islands” (Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou) into his capital. This design idea has had a profound impact on the subsequent capitals. For example, there have been many versions of “Taiye Pond” throughout history, in Jianzhang Palace (Han Dynasty), Daming Palace (Tang Dynasty), Dadu (Yuan Dynasty). In Beijing of the Ming and Qing dynasties, there are three water bodies named Beihai (North Sea), Zhonghai (Central Sea), and Nanhai (South Sea). All of them originated from the same concept that was inspired by Qin Shi Huang’s attempt to sequester “heavenly mountain islands”. Fourth, people now think that laying a red carpet to greet distinguished guests is a noble etiquette. The vermilion ground found in the hall of the Palace Ruins 1 in Xianyang Palace indicates that such etiquette has existed in Chinese culture for more than two thousand years.

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2.2.12 Capital Cities in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty 2.2.12.1

Wangcheng of Luoyang

In 770 BC, King Ping of Zhou moved east to Luoyi and built to build Wangcheng (namely the City of Kings), as the capital of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The palace area was located southwest of the royal city, which is now the northeastern area of Jujiatun Village, Luoyang City, Henan Province. In the eastern part of the palace area, 74 granaries from the Warring States Period were unearthed, located in a range of about 300 m wide from east to west, and 400 m long from north to south. It was a convenient location near the palace area, and close to Luo River to the south. It provided easy access to the waterways for transport, and an elevated ground level to drain the rainwater. To the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, it was a strategic position to build storage. At the time, tombs were located in the middle, northeast, and west banks of Jian River. In 2002, a large cemetery and several burial pits for carriages and horses were discovered here, dating back to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. The pits are roughly arranged along the north–south longitude, in which the carriages were placed in two longitudinal rows. Among all the burial pits, No. 5 is 42.6 m long and 7.4 m wide, with 26 carriages and 70 horses buried in it. At this scale, it can easily rank among the largest carriage burial pits in China. Carriage No. 2 in the wets row was drawn by six horses, which corresponds to the “Emperor’s Carriage with Six Horses” mentioned in ancient literature. It means that the carriage pits were a part of the royal mausoleum. The east half of Wangcheng may have been the royal cemetery of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. King of the eastern half of the city shall be of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty tomb area. There were 25 kings in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and their tombs were all located in Luoyang. There are two more royal cemeteries, located in Zhoushan and Jincun (about 10 km northeast of Wangcheng).

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Schematic diagram of Wangcheng of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Luoyang. Luoyang capital city is 2890 m wide from east to west and 3700 m long from north to south. The east–west orientation length of the palace city is 344 m and the north–south orientation width is 182 m.

King Ping of Zhou moved the capital to Wangcheng of Luoyan, which followed the footsteps of the Western Zhou Dynasty, who made Luoyi capital, so they could “live in the center of the nation” (or “Zhai Zi Zhong Guo”), and “choose the central position to build capital”. This paved the way for Luoyang and Chang’an to develop the “dualcapital” system, which had a profound impact on the development of ancient capitals. The creation of the dual-capital system was inevitable, as the center of power moved from the central-east of the “Greater Central Plain” in the Xia and Shang dynasties, to the central-west in the Zhou and Qin dynasties. It was also necessary as kingdoms fell, ushering in the Age of Empires. National development and shifts in seats of power naturally created the dual-capital system, as it was a combination of the unwavering commitment to “choose central positions to build capital”, and the ever-changing landscape.

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Bronze Button Bell, unearthed from the royal cemetery of Eastern Zhou, Jincun, Luoyang City, Henan Province

Jade cup with ears, unearthed from the royal cemetery of Eastern Zhou, Jincun, Luoyang City, Henan Province

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The Ancient Capital of State Lu

In the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Cheng of Zhou granted the land of Lu to Duke Dan of Zhou, who sent his son, Boqin, to take his position and rule State Lu. The palace area of the ancient Lu capital was built in the Spring and Autumn Period, located in Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, the founder of Confucianism. With Confucius, Duke Dan of Zhou, and many other well-known Chinese politicians and thinkers, people naturally associate the ancient capital of State Lu with a rich cultural heritage. The ancient capital of Lu was composed of the outer city (or the “Big City”) and the palace area (or the “Small City”). A total of 11 gates were found in the ancient city, with three on the east, west, and north sides respectively, and two gates on the south side. The eastern gate of the two on the south side was made with special specifications. On the outside, the gate is joined by sections of rammed earth foundations on the left and right, which are connected to the city walls. Together, the rammed earth foundations form a structure that is 30 m wide from east to west, and 58 m long from north to south. It could have been the city gates to the ancient capital of State Lu, mentioned in historical literature. This gate was known as Ji Gate (the Gate of Harvest) or “Gao Gate” (the Tall Gate) of the Lu capital. The ruins of the palace are located approximately at the area between the “Temple of Duke of Zhou” and the Guosheng Temple, slightly north of the capital center. The capital had an elevated central area, which used to house the palace and ancestral temples. The palace area was situated in the center, connected to the east gate of the southern wall, and the rumored location of the “Wuyu Altar”. In between lied a 17-mwide road that forms the north–south central axis of the capital. The archaeological discoveries of the ancient capital of Lu boast points of significance in the development of ancient Chinese capitals: First, the discovery of the city’s north–south central axis, formed by the palace, the eastern gate in the south, and the Wuyu Altar in the southern suburbs. Second, the ancient capital of State Lu had 11 city gates, three of which were located on the east, west, and north walls respectively. This layout has a profound impact on future capital.

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Schematic diagram of the eastern gate in the south of the ancient capital of Lu

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Schematic diagram of the locations of ruins, ancient capital of Lu, Qufu. The palace city of the old capital of Lu is a near-rectangle shape of 11,771 m in perimeter, with the east–west orientation length of 3250–3560 m and the north–south orientation width of 2430–2531 m. The plan view of the palace city is a near-square shape of 2100 m in perimeter and 27,500 m2 in area, with 550 m long from east to west and 500 m wide from north to south.

2.2.12.3

Capital Yong of State Qin

The site of Yong is located south of today Fengxiang County, Shaanxi Province Yong, and north of Yong River. Fengxiang was the land granted to Duke Shao and Duke Mu in the Western Zhou Dynasty. King Ping of Qin moved east and granted the land of Fengqi to Duke Xiang, which then became Qin’s territory. State Qin migrated to Yong in 677 BC, the first year of Duke De’s reign. Yong remained the capital of State Qin for nearly 300 years until Duke Xian made Liyang capital in 383 BC, the second year of his reign. The palace ruins are mainly situated near Gaowang Temple, Yaojiagang, and the area of Majiazhuang and Tiegou. Archaeological excavations revealed that Majiazhuang Ruins No. 1 and No. 3, found in the Majiazhuang site, are remains of the ancestral temple and the main palace of the Capital Yong of State Qin. The ruins of the ancestral temple were surrounded by walls, forming a temple courtyard. Inside there was a central courtyard, a teaching facility in the south, and three buildings arranged to form a “品”-shaped layout. Looking down from above, the three buildings appeared “concaved”, shaped like the Chinese character “凹”. The one in the north faces south, measured at 20.8 m wide and 13.9 m deep in the concave. In the middle of the southern part of the “concaved” building was the Front Hall, followed by a rectangular back room. Between the other two “concave” buildings, one sat in the west, facing east; the other sat on the east, facing west, in the direct opposite. They shared the same basic layout and configuration as the northern one. In the middle of the three “concaved” buildings sat a courtyard, measured at 30 m wide from east to west, and 34.5 m long from north to south. In the central courtyard and the two side rooms of the northern building, there are 181 sacrificial pits of all kinds, of which 86 were cattle pits, 55 were sheep pits, 1 was with both cattle and sheep, 8 pits with humans, 1 with human and sheep, 28 empty pits, and 2 were filled with carriages and horses. There are three types of sacrificial pits, identified by the state of the offering, which are complete remains, headless remains, and fragmented remains. The main palace building (Majiazhuang Ruins No. 3) was constructed on an elevated platform, 500 m east from the ancestral temple ruins. The building complex was surrounded by walls to form a closed courtyard. From south to north, it was divided into five smaller courtyards with five gates. Wherein the third into five courtyards in the center was the most important. The central courtyard was the largest among the five. It measured at about 33 m long east to west, and 17 m wide from north to south.

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Schematic diagram of the Mausoleum of the Dukes of State Qin, Capital Yong of the Qin Dynasty, Fengxiang. The Yong city site is near-square shaped, with 3300 m long from east to west and 3200 m wide from north to south.

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Unearthed from the ruins of Yong of State Qin Copper Censer decorated Phoenix holding a ring

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Schematic plan view of Majiazhuang Ruins No. 3 (palace ruins)

The courtyard is rectangle-shaped stretching from south to north, with the north– south orientation length being 326.5 m, the width of the northern and southern end being 86 and 59.5 m respectively. It has an area of 21,849 m2 . The layout of the Majiazhuang Ruins No. 1 (the ancestral temple ruins) and the Majiazhuang Ruins No. 3 (the palace ruins) in Capital Yong formed a layout that consists of “temple on the left, palace on the right”, which was actually common to place the palace and temples in such a pattern in capitals from the pre-Qin era. In the palace ruins of the Erlitou ruins and the ruins of Yanshi of the Shang Dynasty, the temples are also placed on the left, and the palace was placed on the right, side by side with each other. The market ruins are located in the north of Capital Yong, about 300 m south of the North City Wall. The market was rectangular-shaped, measured at 180 m long from east to west, and 160 m wide from north to south, covering 20,000 m2 of land. The market was surrounded by walls, with one gate in the middle of each side of

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the walls. It is the site of the oldest “market” in a capital city discovered so far. In the south of the market’s ruins are the ruins of the palace and ancestral temples, the court of Capital Yong. The market and the court form a layout with “the court in the front, and the market in the back”, which coincided with the Record of Trades (Kao Gong Ji), from Rituals of Zhou, which mentioned capitals were built with “courts in the face-front, and markets in the back”. Capital Yong of State Qin is vital to the exploration of the origin and progression of State Qin’s history and cultures. Here are a few points of interest regarding the layout of Yong of State Qin: First, Capital Yong of State Qin is a classic example of an Eastern Zhou Era capital city, with the pattern of “temple on the left, palace on the right”, following the discovery of the Erlitou Ruins from the Xia Dynasty and the ruins of Yanshi of the Shang Dynasty. Second, Capital Yong of State Qin and Chang’an of the Han Dynasty were the only two capitals known to feature the layout of “court in the face-front, and market in the back”. Third, the ruins of the Sky Altar in Capital Yong of State Qin are the only remains from the pre-Qin era that can be corroborated with historical documents.

2.2.12.4

Jinan of State Chu

Jinan, meaning “south of Mount Ji”, was known as Capital Ying of State Chu. It is a name given by the later generations of people, the original name was “Capital Ying”. Jinan was the capital of State Chu from the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period to 278 BC. It is located in now Zaolin Village, Jinan Town, Jingzhou City, Hubei Province. There are 7 ruins of gates discovered in Jinan, including 2 western gates, 1 in each of the other three directions, and 1 water gate located on the south and north walls respectively. The most important ones among them, the northern gate on the western wall and the water gate in the western part of the southern wall, on which archaeologists have carried out comprehensive excavations. There were 3 doorways at the gate in the north of the west wall. The doorway was 10.1 m deep from east to west, the middle doorway was 7.8 m wide, and the two side doorways were about 3.8 m wide. The partition wall of the doorway was 3.6 m wide. Within the western wall, foundations of gatehouses were discovered by the south and north gates.

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Schematic diagram of Jinan. The Ji’nang city site is a rectangular shape, with 4450 m long from east to west and about 3588 m wide from north to south. The perimeter of the walls is 15,506 m, and the area of the site is about 16 km2 .

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Floor plan view of the west gate of Jinan

Floor plan view and profile cross-sectional view of the water gate wooden structure on the southern wall of Jinan

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The western gate of the southern city wall was a water gate that contained three roads (i.e., the gate for boats and ships), where Xinqiao River passed through the southern wall of the capital. The upper part of the ancient river is 18 m wide and the bottom is 6 m wide. The water gate is a wooden structure, the ruins of which is rectangular area, about 15 m long from east to west, and 11.5 m wide from north to south. The ruins of the water gates on the western and southern walls mentioned above can be traced back to the later Spring and Autumn Warring States Period. The majority of the palaces were located in the southeast of the capital. To the east of Jinan stood the detached palaces of the time. Located in Longwan Town, Qianjiang City, one of the palace ruins are home to large-scale imperial palace buildings about 2000 m long from east to west, and 1000 m wide from north to south. Most of these buildings were palace buildings built on elevated platforms that were popular during the Warring States Period. The most important points of Jinan in the history of ancient Chinese capitals are: The two “one gate, three roads” city gates are the oldest example of their kind in ancient Chinese capital ever discovered. Until the Western Han Dynasty, all 12 city gates of Chang’an had already contained three roads each. It became the norm for capital city gates until Beijing of Ming and Qing dynasties. The “one gate, three roads” configuration can be traced back to the ruins of Erlitou in the late Xia Dynasty. The south gate of the palace courtyard of the Palace Ruins No. 1, in the palace area of the Erlitou Ruins also bore the “one gate, three roads” configuration. The same can be spoken of the two south gates, located in the east and west of each other, in the ruins of Yanshi of Shang Dynasty. Then there are the city gates of Jinan in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. It can be seen that the “one gate, three roads” configuration started with the palace courtyard gates, then the gate to the palace area, and finally to the capital city gate. It reflects how the concept of “zhong” (or “center”) had further deepened and evolved.

2.2.12.5

Lower Capital of State Yan

The Lower Capital of State Yan is located halfway between the Northern Yi River and the Southern Yi River, 2.5 km southeast of present-day Yi County, Hebei Province. The above-mentioned “Yi River” was the same Yi River where Crown Prince Dan of State Yan sent Jing Ke off to assassinate the King of Qin in 227 BC. Before his departure, Jing Ke sang, “the wind blows, the river freezes. The hero fords, never to return!”

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Floor plan view of the Lower Capital of State Yan. The city site is around 8000 m long from east to west and 4000–6000 m wide from north to south.

The shape of the Lower Capital of State Yan seemed unstructured, divided into the East City and West City. The West City was a backup for military purposes. The East City was the de facto capital. There was an east–west running partition wall in the north-central part of the East City, which was 4460 m long, dividing the East City into two parts. The East City can be divided into the palace area, the handicraft workshop area, and other areas, such as the management area, residential area, and tomb area. The palace area located in the northeast of the capital ruins can be divided into the main palace rammed earth platforms and the palace complexes. There are 4 rammed earth platforms: Wuyang Platform, Wangjing Platform, Zhanggong Platform, and Laimu Platform. Wuyang is located to the south of Wangjing and Zhanggong Platforms. The three platforms and Laomu Platform all fall on the same north–south central axis. Other palace complexes were built around Wuyang Platform, to the northeast, southeast, and southwest. With Wuyang Platform at the center, the 4 largescale, platformed palaces formed a north–south line, which highlights the central position of the buildings along the city’s central axis.

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The Ancient Capital of Zheng and Han States

In the Western Zhou Dynasty, State Zheng was granted land in now Fengxiang County and Huazhou District of Shaanxi. In the last year of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Ping moved eastward to Luoyang. Subsequently, Duke Wu of Zheng relocated to Xinzheng. The Ancient Capital of Zheng and Han States is located in present-day Xinzheng City, Henan Province. During the Eastern Zhou period, it was a strategically important position among the states of Qin, Chu, Zhao, Wei, and Han. There is a north–south running partition wall in the middle of the Ancient Capital of Zheng and Han States, dividing it into the West City and the East City. The West City used to contain the main Zheng and Han temples and the tomb of Zheng rulers. According to archaeologists, in the 1980s, the ruins of a State Han ancestral temple were found in the south of the palace area, in the central south of the West City. The ruins measured at 500 m long from east to west, and 320 m wide from north to south. The building was surrounded by walls, forming a courtyard (archaeologists believed that it was a temple). There may have been 1 gate in the middle of each side, with a tower at each corner. In the center of the courtyard, a giant stone was found, which was 3.25 m long, 0.45 m wide, and 0.25 m thick. This kind of stone was discovered for the first time in the archaeological research into ancient Chinese capitals. The Shuzhuang Platform ruins in the north of the palace area contain an extant platformed structure, approximately 135 m long from north to south, 80 m wide, and 8 m high, which should be the site of the palace and temples of the capital of State Zheng, in the Spring and Autumn Period. Archaeologists have found 4 sacrificial sites belonged State Zheng, all in the northern-central and south-central area in the East City. In the north-central sacrificial site, a large group of rammed earth ruins from the Spring and Autumn Period was unearthed in a drilling excavation, covering a range of about 40,000 m2 . Southwest of the rammed earth foundation, 5 burial pits were discovered, wherein 1 in the center was a large rectangular pit, and the other four small pits semi-enclosed the big pit in the center.

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Schematic diagram of the Ancient Capital of Zheng and Han States. The heritage site is a rectangle shape, with around 5000 m long from east to west and about 4500 m wide from north to south. The perimeter of the walls is about 20,000 m and the area of the site is about 16 km2 . The western city is slightly rectangle-shaped, with 2400 m wide from east to west and about 4300 m long from north to south. The perimeter of the walls is 13,400 m. The shape of the eastern city is an irregular rectangle, with the length of the eastern, western, southern, and northern walls being 5850 m, 3415 m, 2750 m, and 1760 m, respectively. In the center of the western city builds a palace city, which has an east–west orientation width of 500 m, a north–south orientation length of 320 m and a perimeter of 1640 m.

The 3 sacrificial sites in the center-south are the bronze sacrificial vessel and ritual sacrifice pits on Jincheng Road, the bronze sacrificial vessel pits found at the construction site of Xinzheng City Credit Agency, and the site of ritual sacrifice found at the construction site of Bank of China Xinzheng Branch. On Jincheng Road, 3 bronze sacrificial vessel and ritual sacrifice pits were unearthed, along with over 60 pieces of bronze musical instruments such as Ding, Gui, Jian, and bells. Near the sacrificial pit with musical instruments were 3 horse burial pits. At the construction site of Xinzheng City Credit Agency, 6 sacrificial pits with bronze musical instruments were discovered, along with 57 pieces including Ding, Gui, Jian, and bells, 56 horse burial pits. At the construction site of Bank of China Xinzheng Branch, over 20,000 m2 of ground were excavated, unearthing 18 pits buried with bronze musical instruments, relieving 348 pieces of bronze sacrificial vessels. 7 of

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the pits were buried with sacrificial vessels, which produced 5 sets of Ding, in a total of 45 pieces. 11 of the pits were buried with musical instruments, unearthing 206 pieces of chimes and bells. In addition, 45 horse burial pits were discovered as well. The amount of bronze sacrificial vessels and musical instruments, discovered in the Ancient Capital of Zheng and Han States, shocked the whole country. The site even ranked among the “top 10 archaeological discoveries of China 1997”. The bronze sacrificial vessels and musical instruments unearthed at the sacrificial space in the capital of Zheng and Han greatly enriched the Chinese culture of rituals and sacrifices. They are witnesses to China’s 5000 years of non-stopping development.

“Nine Ding and Eight Gui” sacrificial vessels pit in the cellar of the sacrificial site of State Zheng

2.2.12.7

Handan of State Zhao

The site of Handan of State Zhao is located in the western part of now Handan City, Hebei Province. It was the capital of the State of Zhao from 336 to 228 BC. The Zhao capital is comprised of the outer city (or the Great Northern City) and the palace area (or the Royal City). The outer city actually existed before State Zhao moved to Handan, and it was used until the Southern and Northern dynasties, but the internal layout changed through the eras. Judging by the overall layout of the outer city, the northwest and north-central section made up the administrative area, indicated by the ruins of government offices. The eastern and south-central section was a combination of residences and handicraft workshops.

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The palace area was established after State Zhao moved the capital to Handan during the Warring States Period, and it is also described as the “King City”. The palace area contained three smaller “cities”, arranged in a layout shaped like “品”. They were The West City, the East City, and the North City. The West City is best preserved of the three, and the most important. The walls surrounding the city still remained. 2 palace gates were placed on each side of the West City. However, the gates on the east and north sides were also the west gates of the East City, and the south gates of the North City. Along the north–south central axis of the West City were the remains of 3 large-scale, rammed earth buildings on elevated platforms, arranged in a row. The East City is bordered by the West City to the west. The site contains a rectangular area of about 1.3 km2 , smaller than the West City. If the internal layout and orientation were the same as that of the West City, there would also be a set of buildings arranged on the north–south central axis, as well. The buildings would correspond with Ruins No. 6–8, the above-ground rammed earth platforms, Ruins No. 7–9, the lower rammed earth structures, and Ruins No. 1 and No. 2, the underground ruins. The North City is close to the East City in the south, with an area of roughly 1.86 km2 , similar to the size of the West City, but larger than the East City. There is a site of rammed earth platformed structure just smaller than Longtai, located southwest of the North City. In Handan of State Zhao City, the 3 large-scale structures built on elevated platforms, arranged in a north–south row are significant, because they form the central axis in the West City. They were built on a very different scale, which suggests they may have been of different levels of significance.

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Schematic diagram of Handan of State Zhao. The plan view of the western city site has a nearsquare shape, which is 1372–1394 m wide from east to west and 1422–1426 m long from north to south and 1.9 km2 in area size. There are three large rammed tall-platform structures in the western city, among which the southern structure site is the largest in scale, also known as the “longtai”, meaning “dragon platform”. The foundations of the platform are inverted-funnel shaped and its two-dimensional view is a near-square shape that is 264 m wide from east to west and 296 m long from north to south. The top of the platform has a slightly even surface with 132 m long from north to south and 102 m wide from east to west. The current height is 7–16 m. The middle tall-platform structure site is seated 215 m to the north of the dragon platform and has a near-square shape that is 58 m long from east to west and 55 m wide from north to south, with a residual height of 6 m. 228 m further to the north is the third tall-platform structure, which is square in plan view and has a perimeter of about 60 m and a residual height of 5–8 m. The two-dimensional view of the northern city rammed earth foundations structures site is a near square that is 111 m long from east to west, 135 m wide from north to south and 4–6 m high.

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Anyi of State Wei

The Capital Anyi of Wei is located in present-day Yuwangxiang Township, which is approximately 7.5 km northwest of Xiaxian County, Shanxi Province, 15 km from Mount Zhongtiao to the southeast. Legend says, Yu the Great of Xia used to reside here, hence the old name “Yu Wang Cheng”, the city of Yu the Great. The city was built in the late Warring States Period, divided into the Big City (the outer city) and the Small City (the palace area). Anyi has been often overlooked as a site of historical status. The states of Wei, Han, and Zhao are the proverbial “three houses who divided State Jin”. Geographically speaking, State Wei had the most “overlapping” territory with State Jin. The State of Wei was considered one of the “Seven Heroic States of the Warring States” in the early-to-middle Warring States Period. Wei championed the idea, theory, and practice of “reforms”, which brought on the shift from the kingdom era to the imperial era. Marquess Wen of Wei was the one to favor Li Kui, the “Father of the School of Legalism”, which ushered in structural reforms at the national, political, and economical levels. As a microcosm of the national of the state, the capital was also experiencing reform, regarding the city’s layout. The reformed capital Anyi boasted a square-shaped palace area, located in the center of the outer city. The layout further highlighted the importance of being “zhong” (central), which pave the way for the significant status of Anyi of State Wei.

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Floor plan view of Anyi of State Wei. The two-dimensional view of the outer city (also known as the greater city) is a near-trapezoid that is 14,845 m in perimeter. The palace city stands at the center of the outer city (also known as the greater city) and has a near-square shape that is 855–990 m long from east to west, about 930 m wide from north to south and a perimeter of around 3270 m.

2.2.13 Capital Cities in the Western Zhou Dynasty According to the historical records, King Wen of Zhou chose his capital in Feng and King Wu of Zhou made his capital in Hao. The ruins of Feng and Hao, covering an area of 10 km2 , are located at each side of the banks of Feng River, southwest of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province. Capital Feng was built at the west bank of Feng River, while

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Capital Hao at the east bank. The ruins of Capital Feng, with an area of 6 km2 , are located in the vicinity of Keshengzhuang, Zhangjiapo, Feng Village, Dayuan Village, and Xiwang Village. The ruins of Capital Hao, measuring about 6 km2 , on the other hand, can be found around the northwestern part of Kunming Lake ruins where Luoshui Village, Quanbei Village, Pudu Village, Huayuan Village, Zijiazhuang, and Doumen Street reside. King Wu of Zhou consulted with his advisors on the location of the capital after his triumph against the Shang dynasty as this is a “top priority for a country”. Zuo Zhuan, a crucial historical document of pre-Qin noted: King Cheng of Zhou set Chengzhou (also known as Luoyang) as the eastern capital and strengthened its walls with the help of his lords. This was further explained in “Annals of Zhou” (Zhou Ben Ji) from Shi Ji by Sima Qian, who quoted from people at the time as follows: In respect of the will of King Wu of Zhou, King Cheng of Zhou, residing in Feng, sent Duke Kang of Zhao to Luoyang for capital construction supervision. Duke Wen of Zhou, after numerous divinations, completed the capital construction and placed the Nine Tripod Cauldrons, a symbol of kingship, in Luoyang. He said: “Here lies the center of the world where every vassal state travels the same distance to the capital to pay tributes”.

Locations of Capital Feng, Capital Hao, Xianyang of Qin and Chang’an of Han

He Zun, an early Western Zhou bronze vessel was unearthed from Jiacun Town, Baoji prefecture in Shaanxi Province (now known as Chencang District of Baoji) in 1963. An inscription of 12 lines 122 characters was found at the bottom of the vessel, depicting the above-mentioned history. This is in line with the records of Zuo

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Zhuan and “Annals of Zhou” (Zhou Ben Ji) from Shi Ji. Details of the inscription include the reasons, process, etc. of Capital location selection by the highest ruler of Western Zhou. The engraved script also showed that in April of the fifth year of King Cheng of Zhou’s ruling, the Luoyang capital construction was completed, followed by a sacrifice ritual to King Wu of Zhou. On the Day of Bingxu, King Cheng of Zhou delivered a lecture to a young clansman named He in the grand royal room. This indicates that He’s father Gong was a loyal follower of King Wen of Zhou who was destined to rule the world. After the downfall of the Shang Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou made a sacrifice to heaven and resided in Luoyang, the center of the world believed by the people at the time. He was rewarded 30 Peng (a unit of measurement for money, the specific number of shells in one Peng is believed to be either 2, 5, or 10) of Shell (a medium of exchange at the time) and forged this bronze vessel in commemoration of the honor. The inscription on the He Zun reads: After King Cheng of Zhou relocated his capital to Chengzhou, he ordered a sacrifice ritual in memory of his father, King Wu of Zhou. On the day of Bingxu, King Wu of Zhou summoned me to the grand royal room and said: … Considering the fact that King Wen of Zhou inherited the Mandate of Heaven from Shang Dynasty, King Wu of Zhou made a sacrifice to the heaven after his victory against Shang Dynasty and said: “I shall rule the people (自兹乂民) in the center of the world (宅兹中或)” … In the fifth year of King Cheng of Zhou’s ruling, He (the young clansman) was rewarded 30 Peng of Shell and forged this bronze vessel as proof of honor. The four Chinese characters “宅兹中或” are considered most important in the inscription since “中或” is written as “中國”, which means China, in modern days. The traditional Chinese character “國”, which means country, is composed of a “或” circled with a “囗” which resembles walls. In ancient times, “國” stands for cities and capitals. Records such as “匠人建国” (a capital is built by craftsmen), “匠人营 国” (a capital is run by craftsmen), “国中九经九纬, 经涂九轨” (a capital holds nine avenues running from north to south and nine avenues running from west to east) can be found in “Record of Trades” from Rites of Zhou. The “国” mentioned above is equivalent to capitals. “宅兹中國” conveys the idea that the capital of a state shall be positioned in the “中” center, in other words, any capital that chooses a central location is called “中國”. This is the earliest written evidence of “中國”. The exact whereabouts of Chengzhou is still debatable, though ancient city ruins that are supposed to be from the Western Zhou era have been discovered near modern Luoyang. Noble graveyards, bronze workshops, construction foundations, ritual ruins, etc. dated back to the early and mid-times of Western Zhou have been found around the old town of modern Luoyang. The overall area of the site is 3 km (E– W) by 2 km (N–S), from Shijiagou in the west to Tawan in the east and from Beijiao in the north to the northern bank of Luo River in the south. Some are convinced that capital Luoyang of Western Zhou sits somewhere in the area. The rammed earth walls of the Western Zhou era uncovered from the ruins of Luoyang City of Han and Wei in recent years is measured 2500–2650 m long from east to west and 1800–1900 m wide from north to south. Whether the wall is part of Chengzhou city is still under studies. However, it is without question that the capital was built in the early years of

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Western Zhou near Luoyang. This confirms that “preference for the center” was the guidance and principle of capital location selection in the early Western Zhou era.

He Zun of Western Zhou

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Rammed earth walls of the Western Zhou era discovered by archaeologists in the ruins of Luoyang city of Han and Wei. Whether this was part of Chengzhou city is subject to further studies.

The idea of “preference for the center” did not apply only to the capital location selection, it can also be seen in the structures and layouts of high-level palace temples. For example, the Construction ruins A of Fengchu in Mount. Qi of Shaanxi Province in the Western Zhou era is strictly in compliance of the idea. This courtyard-style construction has a well-organized central axis, with the main building “qiantang” in the center, “houshi” in the back, a yard and front door in the front, and one room each at the east and west side. There is a clear developmental progression of construction style from the aforementioned Fengchu ruins to the modern Chinese courtyard.

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Plan view of the construction ruins A of Fengchu

2.2.14 Capital Cities in the Shang Dynasty Capital city ruins in Shang dynasty include Shang city in Zhengzhou and Shang city in Yanshi in its early stage, Shang city in Huanbei in its middle stage, and Yinxu in the late stage.

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Shang City in Zhengzhou

The inner city of Shang city in Zhengzhou is a rectangle in plan view. The wall of the outer city, shielded by a moat, expands from the southeast of Shang city all the way to the southwest, with a sharp turn on each of the southeastern and southwestern corners that faces the inner city. A wall was built around the inner city, taking advantage of the terrain and aiming to provide excellent protection. The foundations of the imperial palace have taken up most of the area in the inner city where its northeastern part, measured about 750 m (E–W) by about 500 m (N–S), is packed with structures. Dozens of rammed-up foundations have been uncovered in the palace area through archaeological discoveries, along with a massive reservoir, a gutter and a well, etc. The rammed-up foundations in the palace area can be categorized into three types. The first type refers to the foundations of the palace courtyards. The second involves rectangular structures, such as C8G15, which is over 65 m long from east to west and 13.6 m wide from north to south. The foundation, judging by its rectangular shape with corridors encircled, is supposed to be a grand bed chamber surrounded by remains of columns. The third type is the large near-square structure with foundations of pillars close to one another, just like C8G16, which is the foundations of a sizeable rammed-up house, measuring roughly 38.4 m (N–S) by 31.2 m (E–W). The structure has two layers of corridors and eaves, resembling wallless roofed structures like “chongwu”, meaning “a two-story house”, or “mingtang” (also known as Hall of Distinction, it was the central hall of the ancient royal and imperial palace, where important ceremonies were held). Artisan workshops, burial grounds and sacrificial pits are distributed in the outer city. Artisan workshops including the bronzesmith outside Nanguan, the pottery maker on Minggong Road and so on are located between the inner city and the outer city of Shang city in Zhengzhou. Archaeologists found vault pits containing bronze vessels in Zhangzhai South Street, Food Factory for the Hui People on Chengdong Road and South Shuncheng Street in Shang city ruins of Zhengzhou. The fact that the unearthed bronze sacrificial vessels are rarely seen in other Ruins of Shang dynasty, highlights the significance of the ruins of Shang city in Zhengzhou.

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Ruins of Shang city in Zhengzhou

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Plan view of Shang city in Zhengzhou. Zhengzhou Shang City has a perimeter of 6960 m, of which the eastern and southern walls are both 1700 m long, the western wall is about 1870 m long and the northern wall is 1690 m long.

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Plan view and the restored image of the C8G15 in Shang city in Zhengzhou

Nipple-shaped nail pattern square tripod vessel, uncovered from Shang city of Zhengzhou

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Bronze ware stored at a vault in Shang city in Zhengzhou

2.2.14.2

Shang City in Yanshi

The ruins of Shang city in Yanshi are imperative for us to appreciate the importance of China’s Un-fractured Civilization of 5000 years from the ancient capital cities perspective, for the Shang city in Yanshi is a “dual-city” system comprised of the outer city and the palace city. Its scale, shapes, and styles are thoroughly investigated after comprehensive archaeological exploration. The ruins of a capital of Shang dynasty, dating back 3600 years ago, was discovered at Yanshi Prefecture (now known as Yanshi) in Henan Province during the archaeological work of ShouyangShan Power Plant Construction Project in the early 1980s. The city site is located at Tazhuang of Yanshi in Henan Province and has two different periods in terms of time. There are five gates found in the late outer city. Two gates, built in each side of the western and eastern wall respectively, face each other and are connected by roads, separating the whole city into three sections. These are crucial shapes and styles in the development of the ancient Chinese capital systems. The last gate is located in the center of the northern wall. There should be however a gate in the southern wall, estimated by excavators. The southern gates in the eastern and western walls are larger than their northern counterparts, as stated in the excavation data. This might have something to do with the fact that the palace city and warehouses are situated in the southern section of the city. These gates are the earliest known “single lane” ancient Chinese capital gate sites.

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Excavation site of the western wall at Shang city in Yanshi

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Plan view of Shang city in Yanshi. The plan view of the early outer city (also known as the lesser city) heritage site has a rectangle shape, which is 740 m wide from east to west and 1100 m long from north to south with an area of 0.81 km2 . The walls of the palace are 6–7 m wide. The outer city of the late Yanshi city ruins is 1710–1770 m long from north to south. The southern and northern walls of the outer city are 740 and 1240 m long respectively, with the walls being 16–18 m wide. The area of the outer city is about 2 km2 . A moat is set 10 m outside of the walls with a width of about 20 m and a depth of about 6 m. The western gate No. 1 (the southern gate in the western wall) is 15.6 m long and 3.2 m wide. The western gate No. 2 (the northern gate in the western wall) is 16.5 m long and 2.3–2.4 m wide. The east gate No. 1 is 22 m long and 2.4–3 m wide.

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Plan view of the palace city in Shang city in Yanshi. The plan view of the palace city site has a near-square shape, which is 190–200 m long from east to west and 180–185 m wide from north to south with 3.6 m2 in area size. The walls of the palace are about 2 m wide.

Structures like the palace city (the ancestral temple of a ruling house structures area) and warehouses are distributed in the southern section of the late outer city, while the civilian residential area and artisan workshops are settled in the central and northern sections. Tombs of commoners are found alongside the city wall. The late outer city is larger in size than the early outer city as the northern and eastern parts have been expanded. The palace city, sat in the center of the horizontal line that runs from the east to the west in the southern section of the early outer city, is the structures ruins No. 1. A gate, called the South Palace Gate, is built in the southern wall of the palace city. The ancestral temple of a ruling house site No. 6 and No. 7, which are also called the late structures site No. 5 and No. 3, are found on the eastern and western sides

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outside the South Palace Gate. The southern gates of the late structures site No. 5 and No. 3 have been discovered. There should be a North Palace Gate in the northern wall since the palace city is constructed in the central and southern parts of the early outer city, as well as the southern section of the late outer city. In the central and southern parts of the palace city reside the ruins of the ancestral temple of a ruling house. Nine of them have been dug out, belonging to three different periods. The Ruins of the Ancestral Temple of a Ruling House in the East of Palace City The ancestral temple of a ruling house structure ruins No. 4 is encircled with walls, making it a compound. Corridors that surround the temple in the east, west, and south are acted as the wall. A gate is opened slightly to the east of the central point of the southern corridor. Another gate is found in the western corridor. The main structure is enclosed by corridors, with four steps aligning from east to west in the front. The ancestral temple of a ruling house structure ruins No. 6, situated in the southeast part of the palace city, is about 10 m away to the south of the ancestral temple of a ruling house structure ruins No. 4. Corridors are attached to the inner ring of the wall. A gate is found in the east. Three steps, aligning from east to west in the south of the main structure foundations, are connected with three rectangular pits that bury dogs. The ancestral temple of a ruling house structure No. 5, surrounded by walls and corridors, was built over the ancestral temple of a ruling house structure ruins No. 6. The shape of the southern gate is in line with the “one gate with three lanes” system. The main structure foundations are in the north of the compound. Four steps aligning from east to west are placed in the south of the foundations, with rectangular dog burial pits on both of the eastern and western sides. The heads of dogs are pointing toward the gate.

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Plan view of the ruins of the ancestral temple of a ruling house structure No. 4 in Shang city in Yanshi. The structures heritage site of the ancestral temple of a ruling house courtyard No. 4 is 51 m long from east to west and 32 m wide from north to south with an area of 1632 m2 . The corridors are about 5 m wide. The main structure site is 36.5 m long from east to west and 11.8 m wide from north to south.

The Ruins of the Imperial Palace in the West of Palace City The ruins of the imperial palace structure No. 7 are beneath the imperial palace structure No. 3 ruins, both are built naturally as compounds. The main structure, which is the main hall, sits in the center of the north, with corridors covered in the west, south and north. The overall size of the ruins of the imperial palace structure No. 3 is larger than that of the No. 7 ruins. The western and southern parts of the No. 7 ruins overlap with the southern, western and southwestern parts of the early outer city. The ruins of the imperial palace structure No. 3 further expand westward and southward the foundations of the ruins of the imperial palace structure No. 7. The ruins of the imperial palace structure No. 3 are equipped with a southern gate that was put into use in both the early and late periods of Shang dynasty, with the former following the “one gate and three lanes” system. The imperial palace structure No. 7 and No. 8 sites are located to the south and north of the imperial palace structure No. 2 site respectively. The foundations of the No. 2 site are about 90 m long from east to west and 11 m wide from north to south. A north–south orientation passage is built between the eastern end of the imperial palace structure and the western wall of the No. 1 structure site, connecting the No. 2 site with the No. 8 site. The imperial palace structure No. 8 site is located in the northwest of the palace city and is the northernmost imperial palace structure site in the western part of the palace structure site. It is 1.8–2 m away from the C section of the sacrificial area in

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the north and adjacent to the western palace wall in the west. The imperial palace structure No. 8 site consists of eight houses arranged from east to west, with each house opening a door in the south wall. Its main gate faces the south. This site may serve as a living quarter in the palace city. The structure No. 1 site is located in the center of the palace city, forming a rectangular courtyard. A gate is built in the west, leading to the courtyard of the imperial palace structure No. 2. The No. 1 site is assumed to be part of the western section of the palace. A sacrificial area exclusive to the palace city is found to the north of the ruins of the ancestral temple of a ruling house structure, measuring 200 m long from east to west. It can be divided from east to west into three sections: Section A has an area of around 800 m2 , consisting of multiple sacrificial fields and sacrificial pits. The fields are larger than the pits and have been used less than the pits. Offerings vary from living human beings to cattle, goats, pigs, dogs, fishes, and so on, sometimes grains such as rice and wheat were also included. Sections B and C are compounds encircled with walls. A north–south oriented wall separates each section into two identical courtyards. Section B has an area of 1100 m2 , while the area of section C is 1200 m2 . A gate is built in the southern wall of each courtyard. Offerings, buried in a ditch, are comprised mostly of pigs, with cattle, goats and deers occasionally. Sometimes the offerings only contain pigs, other times a mixture of multiple animals, the most common combination is pigs, cattle, and goats. Animals offered in a sacrifice are either presented in whole or only with some of the trunk parts. Sections A and B sit opposite the ancestral temple of a ruling house in the eastern palace city in a north–south orientation, with the southern part of section A facing the ancestral temple of a ruling house structure No. 4 site. Section C is opposite the ruins of the ancestral temple of a ruling house in the western palace city in a north–south orientation. The palace city pond garden is situated in the center of the horizontal line that runs from east to west in the north of the palace city, next to the northern palace wall and sacrificial area in the south. The pond is a rectangle in plan view that is about 128 m (E–W) by 19–20 m (N–W) with a depth of about 1.5 m. At the eastern and western ends of the stone-made pond built stone passages leading to the moat outside the eastern and western gates of the early greater city. The western passage serves as an aqueduct while the eastern passage is a drainage channel. Relics such as fishing net weights made of pottery and stone are found in the pond. The structure ruins No. 2, encircled with a 3-m-wide wall, is located in the southwest of the palace city. The two-dimensional view of the ruins is square with an area of roughly 40,000 m2 . Inside the wall lie six rows of structures foundations, aligning from east to west and distributed in the north and south. Sixteen structures foundations are counted in each row, probably serving as the foundations of warehouses.

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The structure ruins No. 3 is located in the northeast of the palace city, with its western wall sitting outside of the eastern wall of the early outer city. The squareshaped ruins are surrounded by 140 m long walls. Multiple rectangular rammed-up foundations in alignment are discovered inside the wall. Elements of China’s Un-fractured Civilization of 5000 years reflected in Shang city in Yanshi can be summed up as the following: 1. Capitals of the state’s periods are comprised of the outer city and the palace city, the design known as the “dualcity” system; 2. The plan view of the palace city is square; 3. The layout of the palace city is in the form of “the temple on the left and the palace on the right”. That is to say, the ancestral temple of a ruling house resides in the east of the palace city while the imperial palace sits in the west; 4. The South Palace Gate of the palace city has a “one gate and three lanes” system.

Plan view of the imperial palace structures ruins No. 8 of the palace city in Shang city in Yanshi. The plan view of the imperial palace structures heritage site No. 8 has a square shape, which is 71 m long from east to west and 7.7 m wide from north to south with an area of 546.7 m2 .

2.2.14.3

Shang City in Huanbei

Shang city in Huanbei of the early Yinxu sits on the northern bank of Huan River, with its southwestern part sharing the same location with the northeastern part of the commonly known Yinxu. Shang city of Huanbei is allegedly the first capital during “pan geng qian yin”, meaning “Pan Geng’s (a king in Shang dynasty) relocation of his capitals”. The palace city, situated a bit to the south of the center of the outer city, is ten times larger in size than that of Shang city in Yanshi. The ruins of Erlitou, covering an area of 0.1 km2 , are merely one fourth the size of Shang city in Huanbei. As part of the late Shang dynasty capital for over 200 years, the ancestral temple of a ruling house area of Yinxu is believed to be 0.7 km2 . It is only natural that Yinxu is larger than Shang city in Huanbei which serves as the capital of Pan Geng. The foundations of the palace city wall of Shang city in Huanbei are 7–8 m wide and the wall itself is 5–6 m wide. More than thirty rammed-up structure foundations,

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aligning from north to south, are discovered slightly to the north of the central palace city. Most of them are the foundations of the imperial palace structures, two of which have already been brought to light and marked as imperial palace site No. 1 and No. 2 of Shang city of Huanbei. These two structures, stretching from east to west as rectangular-shaped compounds, are similar in shapes and styles with different sizes. The main structures of the two imperial palaces are built in the center of the north with their main gates built in the center of the south. Corridors are attached to the east, west and south of the compound. The whole design resembles a Siheyuan (a courtyard surrounded by houses on all four sides).

Plan view of Shang city of Huanbei. The outer city of the Huanbei Shang city is a near-square shape that is around 2200 m long on each side and has a perimeter of about 8800 m. The foundations of the walls are 7–11 m wide. The plan view of the palace city has a rectangle shape extending from south to north, which is about 515 m wide from east to west and 795 m long from north to south with a perimeter of 2628 m and an area of 409,425 m2 .

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Ruins of Shang city in Huanbei

Bronze constructional ornaments unearthed from the ruins of Shang city in Huanbei

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Plan view of the foundations of the imperial palace site No. 1 of Shang city in Huanbei. The remains of the imperial palace main structure No. 1 are over 90 m long from east to west and 14.4 m wide from north to south. The imperial palace main structure No. 2, with an east–west orientation length of 43.6 m and a north–south orientation width of 29.9 m, is smaller in size than the imperial palace main structure No. 1.

Shang city in Huanbei has left profound impacts on the culture of subsequent capitals. 1. It is the earliest known capital that places the palace city in the center of the outer city. This means that the idea of “ze zhong jian du”, meaning “choosing the central position to build capitals”, was adopted in selecting the locations of capitals, as well as in building the palace cities inside the capitals later on. 2. The main structure of the imperial palace in the north and the main gate of the imperial palace in the south sit in the central axis that expands from north to south. 3. The plan view of Shang city of Huanbei is near square, highlighting the idea of “chong fang”, meaning “seeking the shape of a square in design”. It is better structured to appear as a square in a two-dimensional view than that of the ruins of Erlitou. 2.2.14.4

Cities of the Late Yinxu

The commonly known Yinxu, separated by Huan River that runs from west to east, is the capital built by Wu Ding (a king in Shang dynasty) who was a nephew of Pan

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Geng. Yinxu is located to the south of Shang city of Huanbei, bordering Huan River to the north. Its ancestral temple of a ruling house area, measuring about 650 m (E– W) by 1100 m (N–S) with an area of around 0.7 km2 , is in the vicinity of Xiaotuncun and Huayuanzhuang, surrounded by ditches in the west and south, and Huan River that runs in the north and east. This is highly likely the palace city of Yinxu. The layout of Yinxu gradually expanded outward from its center, which is the ancestral temple of a ruling house area, to the residential area and the workshops area to the outermost burial sites. The central area, which is the ancestral temple of a ruling house area, is located around Xiaotuncun and Huayuanzhuang. Huan River, protecting the east and north of the ancestral temple of a ruling house area, connects to the ditches in the west and south of the ancestral temple of a ruling house area.

Ruins of Yinxu

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Plan view of the ruins of Yinxu

2.2.15 Capital Cities in the Xia Dynasty Wangchenggang site of Dengfeng, Xinzhai city site of Xinmi, together with Erlitou city site of Yanshi in Henan Province, are considered as capital city sites of Xia dynasty in the academic realm. They represent the city sites in the early, middle, and late Xia dynasty respectively.

2.2.15.1

Wangchenggang City Site of Dengfeng

Wangchenggang site is located to the west of Gaochen Town in Dengfeng, Henan Province, with Mount Song to the north, Wudu River to the east and Yin River to the south.

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Two city sites of late Longshan Culture, aligning from east to west, were discovered in Wangchenggang site in 1977. Archaeologists have been investigating and exploring Wangchenggang site since 2002. It has been confirmed that the site is near square with an area of 348,000 m2 . Yin River and Wudu River are served as moats to the south and east of the greater city. Inside the city lie large rammed earth structure ruins from which sacrificial pits of late Longshan Culture and high-level relics like whiteware, Jade Cong were uncovered. The lesser city in Wangchenggang site is to the northeast of the greater city and was built earlier than the greater city. Some scholars believed that the lesser city could be the city built by “Gun”, who is the father of Emperor Yu of Xia, while the greater city might be the capital city “Yang” of Emperor Yu of Xia, hence the conclusion that Wangchenggang site is likely to be the earliest capital in Xia dynasty. “Yu du yang cheng”, meaning “Emperor Yu of Xia ruled in the capital city ‘Yang.’” Such record is found in historical documents, while written characters of “yang cheng cang ji”, meaning “property of the warehouse in Capital Yang”, on a good deal of pottery were discovered in a city site of Eastern Zhou near Wangchenggang site.

Plan view of Wangchenggang city site. Restored in accordance with the remaining walls, the eastern and the western walls are both 580 m long, the southern and the northern walls are both 600 m long. Moats are placed outside of the northern and the western walls, with the former being 620 m long, about 10 m wide and about 3 m deep; the latter being 600 m long, about 10 m wide and about 2 m deep.

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“Xi wei xia Zhong yu he”, meaning “‘Wei’ used to look for the central location of ‘he’”, as recorded in “Baoxun” from the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips. “Wei” is the 6th Emperor of Shang dynasty, i.e., Shangjia Wei, whereas “he” means “Heluo”, the center of which is the greater Mount Song region. The concept of “di zhong”, meaning “the center of the land”, redefined and sought by Shangjia Wei, gave rationale for the kings of Xia dynasty to build their capitals in the geographically central location of the land. Thus, the records in “Baoxun” from the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips are authenticated by the discovery of Wangchenggang site. The concept of the center of the land, initiated by the first state in the era of states, which is Xia dynasty, has been passed on and inherited by its following dynasties until the Song Empire. Such concept attaches great importance to politics, thoughts and culture during China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years.

Pottery found in the capital city Yang

2.2.15.2

Xinzhai City Site of Xinmi

A number of archaeological excavations have been conducted at Xinzhai city site of Xinmi in Henan Province since 1979, identifying this site as being in the middle of Erlitou site and Wangchenggang site in terms of age.

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Pottery bell unearthed from Xinzhai city site of Xia dynasty

A city site was discovered by archaeologists at Xinzhai ruins in 2003, taking advantage of the Shuangji River as a natural protective barrier to the south, with walls and moats deployed in the east, west and north. Outside the site were the outer city ruins. The area of the city is about 700,000 m2 and could reach 1,000,000 m2 in all if adding up the outer city together. Field workers believe that Xinzhai site is comprised of the greater city and the lesser city. The latter, surrounded by a trench, sits to the southwest of the former. Archaeologists dug out a 92.2 m (E–W) by 14.5 m (N–S) shallow-vaulted structure site to the north of the lesser city from 2002 to 2005. No sign of load-bearing pillars or separating walls were found within the structure, as well as in the south and north walls. This is supposed to be an outdoor structure remains that serves as the sacrificial venue known as “kan” or “shan” in ancient documents.

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Plan view of the Xinzhai city site. The plan of the site is a rounded rectangle, about 924 m long from east to west and 470 m wide from north to south.

As for the function of Xinzhai city site, some academics think it might be the capital of Emperor Qi of Xia.

2.2.15.3

Erlitou City Site in Yanshi

The project of locating the capital city of Xia dynasty was brought up in the summer of 1959 by Xu Xusheng, who proposed that the capital should be somewhere in the vicinity of Luoyang Plains in the central plains or the lower reaches of the Fen River in Jinnan. Soon they discovered what the academia would believe to be the capital site of the late Xia dynasty, i.e., the Erlitou site, in Erlitou Village of Yanshi not long after archaeological investigations carried out in places like Dengfeng, Yuzhou, Gongyi, Yanshi of Henan Province. Erlitou site is situated in Dizhen (Di Town) of Yanshi in Henan Province, expanding from north of Ranzhuang and Chujiazhuang to north of Erlitou Village, stretching from east of Gedang Village to east of Beixu Village. The entire ruins consist of the palace city area, ritual and burial area, official artisan workshops area, noble residential area, civilian residential area, and so on. The archaeological discoveries of the ancestral temple of a ruling house structure No. 1 and 2 during the 1960s–1970s, along with the palace city ruins that came to light in the 2000s, are of most significance among many years of Erlitou site archaeological excavations, laying the scientific foundation for Erlitou site recognized as the capital city of late Xia dynasty.

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The palace city area resides in the east of the ruins. Two gates are found in the east palace wall and one gate is found so far in the western end of the south palace wall, with the assumption that another gate should be located in the eastern end. 10– 20 m wide roads are paved around the palace wall. The already discovered ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 1 and 2 are in the east and west of the palace city site.

Erlitou ruins archaeological excavation site

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Plan view of Erlitou site. The heritage site area is 2400 long from east to west, 1900 m wide from north to south with an area of about 3 km2 .

The main hall foundations of the ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 1 structure are built by rammed earth. The hall, surrounded by corridors, is 8 rooms (a measurement of length in China, the exact length for one room varies from social status and times) long and 3 rooms wide, in accordance with the pillars network remains found using the two-dimensional view of the foundations. Sacrificial pits and evidence of living human beings sacrifices are discovered to the north, east, and west of the hall. Three bodies lie in the northern pit, one body each rest in the western and southeastern pits. The rammed earth made ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 1 site, encircled with walls, is in the west of the palace city, facing the southern palace gate in the south. The main hall is located in the center of the northern part of the site, 20 m

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away from the northern wall and 30 m away from the east and west wall respectively. A courtyard sits to the south of the main hall, with a gate opened in the south and corridors attached on both sides of the gate. There are two separating walls running from north to south within the gate, making the whole structure a “one gate with three lanes” system, which has only been spotted by archaeologists in ancient capital city gate or palace city gate sites, such as the palace city gate of Shang city in Yanshi, the southern gate (watergate) and the western gate of Ji’nan city of Chu, capital gates of Chang’an of Han, Luoyang city of Eastern Han, Luoyang city of Han and Wei, Chang’an city and Luoyang city of Sui and Tang, Eastern Capital of Northern Song, the capital of Yuan, Beijing city of Ming and Qing, and so on. The earliest found “one gate with three lanes” system could be the southern courtyard gate of the ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 1 site in Erlitou ruins. Not only did it leave a crucial impact on the subsequent design of capital and palace gates, but also helped us appreciate the significance of the political functions (the nature of the imperial palace) of this site. The recently discovered structure No. 7 site is actually the ruins of the southern gate of the palace. It is 30 m away from the ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 1 site to the north. The rammed-up foundations measure 31.5 m (E–W) by 10.5–11 m (N–S) in plan and about 2 m in thickness. The ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 1 site of Erlitou ruins is the earliest known ancestral temple of a ruling house structure site with the characteristics of ancient Chinese shapes and styles of imperial palaces. Such features are best known for its rectangle-shaped main hall inside a residential compound, forming a closed and private area, with a “one gate and three lanes” system in the south. The southern gate, connected by two “Shu”, meaning “a room at which guests wait before they meet with the owner of the house”, on each side, sits on the central axis of the imperial palace structures together with the main hall. The ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 2 site in the east, built in the north and facing the south, is 150 m away from the ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 1 site to the southwest. Structures of the No. 2 site include the residential compound, gate lanes, corridors, the main hall, and the wall that surrounds the whole area. The main gate, accompanied by two “Shu” on both sides, is located in the southern wall of the compound. The primary structure of the No. 2 site, the main hall, is built in the center of the northern part of the compound.

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Plan view and the restored image of the ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 1 site in Erlitou. The remains of palaces and temples No. 1 are 36 m long from east to west and 25 m wide from north to south with an area of 900 m2 . Three layers of cobblestones are paved at the bottom of the site, measuring 60–65 cm thick. The rammed earth of the site is 3 m thick. The courtyard is 107 m long from east to west and 99 m wide from north to south with an area of around 10,000 m2 . 3-m-wide corridors are built along both sides of the courtyard walls, with the exception of the western wall, which is only equipped with the inner corridor measuring 6 m wide. The southern gate site is 28 m long from east to west and 13 m wide from north to south. The separating walls are 11 m long from north to south and 4 m wide from east to west. The southern gate is built with three lanes with the middle lane being 3.2 m wide, the western lane being 2.7–2.9 m wide, and the eastern lane being 2.6 m wide. The eastern and northern gates of the courtyard are located in the northeastern part of the courtyard, with the lanes being 2.9 m wide and 1.5 m long.

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Ancestral temple of a ruling house No. 2 of Erlitou city site. Plan view of the ruins. The site is a rectangle-shaped rammed earth foundation that is 72.8 m long from north to south and 57.5–58 m wide from east to west. The walls of the courtyard are about 2 m wide, and the plan view of the courtyard is a rectangle that is 72.8 m wide from north to south and 57.5–58 m long from east to west with an area of about 4000 m2 . The southern gate site is 14.4 m long from east to west and 4.35 m wide from north to south with the lanes being 2.9 m wide. The remains of palaces and temples No. 2 are a rectangle shape that is about 33 m long from east to west and about 12 m wide from north to south.

The main hall, based on the pillars network remains, is 3 rooms long and has a circled corridor attached. Three steps aligning east–west are placed in front of the southern part of the corridor. A courtyard sits between the main hall and the southern gate of the residential compound. The two “shu”, meaning “rooms”, on each side of the main gate (the southern gate) of the compound are remains of great importance. The Majiangzhuang No. 1 structure site of the Spring and Autumn Period, found in Yong city of Qin ruins, is categorized as temple structure remains as its main gate is in the form of “one gate and two ‘shu’”. The main gate of the temple structure remains among ritual structures in the southern suburb of Chang’an of Han, discovered by archaeologists in the 1950s, is also equipped with two “shu”. It is crucial for the

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identification of the functions of the No. 2 site if the aforesaid gate system design of Eastern Zhou and Western Han are inherited from earlier times. The No. 1 and No. 2 site of Erlitou palace city ruins mentioned above may serve different purposes, due to their different shapes and structures. They both are however structures with political features as the two sites are located within the palace. The difference lies in the functions of politics, for the No. 2 site, which might be a temple, values hereditary politics, whereas the No. 1 site, which is likely an imperial palace, favors geopolitics. The temple (the ancestral temple of a ruling house structure No. 2 site) and the imperial palace (the ancestral temple of a ruling house structure No. 1 site) sit opposite each other in the east and west of the palace city, forming the twin-axis of the palace city. Such design had become the significant characteristics for capitals of ancient China in the states period. It is also the characteristics of the “zhong he” culture, meaning “impartiality and harmony”, in the early stage of China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years, as the idea of “choosing the central position to build capitals” coexists with the design of “twin-axis” in palace cities. “Gong zai guan” means “the best artisans are hired by the imperial court”. Such is a noticeable fact in ancient China. Archaeological discoveries have uncovered various artisan workshops ruins like bronzesmith, jade-crafting, bone-crafting, and so on in the capital city of Xia dynasty in Erlitou. These ruins are located 200 m to the south of the palace city area. The bronzesmith workshop site has an area close to 10,000 m2 and holds relics like pottery casts, stone casts, furnace remnants, copper slag, copper ores, charcoal and bronze objects, etc. A turquoise crafting workshop site over 1000 m2 is found inside a compound that sits between the bronzesmith workshop and the palace city ruins. Objects studded with turquoises, such as the bronze ornamental plate embedded with turquoises and the dragon-shaped object inserted with turquoises, unearthed from the tombs of Erlitou site, were likely created here by speculation. Over 2000 turquoises of various shapes are set into the 64.5 CM by 4 CM dragon-shaped object. It is therefore certain that this area should be the jade and stone crafting workshop in Erlitou site as large amounts of turquoises processing waste is found here. The remains of high-end workshops confirm that Erlitou site is the ruins of the capital of Xia dynasty because relics and sites matching the royal family and high-ranking nobility standard can only be found in a capital.

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Beast-patterned bronze ornamental plate with turquoises inserted, of Erlitou Culture

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Dragon-shaped object with turquoises inserted, unearthed from Erlitou site

The residential area is divided into the noble section and the civilian section, with the former located in the east and southeast of the palace city, while the latter sat in the west and north of the palace city. Although no tomb currently discovered has been qualified for a king in Erlitou site, some of the middle-sized tombs hold many high-ranking ritual relics, among which are bronzewares like tripod vessels, “jue”, meaning “a vessel for drinking alcohol”, “gu”, meaning “a vessel for drinking alcohol”, “he”, meaning “a vessel for drinking alcohol”, “jia”, meaning “a vessel to keep the alcohol warm”, “yue”, meaning “a polearm axe used in rituals”, “dao”, meaning “a weapon resembling a sabre”, “ge”, meaning “a polearm resembling a scythe”, “zu”, meaning “arrowheads” and so on; jade and stone objects like “gui”, meaning “a ritual object”, “zhang”, meaning “a ritual object”, “yue”, meaning “a polearm axe used in rituals”, “qi”, meaning “a fanged-edged polearm axe used in rituals”, “ge”, meaning “a polearm resembling a scythe”, “dao”, meaning “a weapon resembling a sabre”, and so on; pottery like whiteware, primitive celadon, “jue”, meaning “a vessel for drinking alcohol”, “gui”, meaning “an elongated pointed tablet of jade held in the hands by ancient rulers on ceremonial occasions”, “he”, meaning “a vessel to mix the alcohol with water”, “dou”, meaning “a vessel to hold food”, “pan”, meaning “a utensil resembling a plate”, and so on; and of course objects like the bronze ornamental plate embedded with turquoises and the dragon-shaped object inserted with turquoises. These high-level cultural relics are more than enough to prove the political, cultural, and economic supremacy of Erlitou site as the capital of Xia dynasty. Sacrificial vessels such as the bronze tripod vessel, “yue”, jade “gui” and primitive celadon are the material carriers of China’s un-fractured civilization.

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Gray jade “yazhang”, meaning “a ritual object”, of Erlitou Culture

2.2.16 Ancient Cities in the Era of the Five Emperors 2.2.16.1

City Sites in the Late Neolithic Age in Zhengzhou

The era of the five emperors, as indicated in the title, is the first millennium of China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years. It is also the era ruled in succession by Huang Di, Di Ku, Zhuan Xu, Tang Yao, and Yu Shun, as documented in “Annals of the Five Emperors” from Shi Ji. According to Zhu Shu Ji Nian (also known as Bamboo Annals): Huang Di’s clan name is Xuanyuan. He inherited the title of the emperor from his father and lived in Youxiong. This shows that Huangdi founded a state called “Youxiong”, which is actually a city because a state is equivalent to a city or capital in ancient times. Further evidence can be found in Di Wang Shi Ji (also known as Biographies of Ancient Chinese Emperors): “Youxiong is located in Xinzheng of Henan”. Archaeologists discovered some city sites of Longshan Culture in the vicinity of Xinzheng, such as the ancient walled city site in Xinmi which is a prefecture of Xinzheng. It is a large city site dating back to the ages close to the era of the five emperors, with an area of 300,000 m2 and a moat of dozens of meters wide outside the walls. Inside the city are massive high-level imperial-palace-like structures remains. Further studies are required to identify the exact site where Youxiong sits, but it is safe to say that cites or capitals are built around Xinzheng during the Huang Di times. Xinzheng, where Youxiong is located, belongs to the greater Mount Song region, which has been “tian di zhi zhong”, meaning “the center of the world”, since the era of the five great emperors. The idea of placing the capital in the center of a state could be traced back to the years of Huang Di. Judging from the name “Huang Di”, we can clearly see the core concept of “zhong”, meaning “center”, on the scene. “Huang”, meaning “yellow”, represents the central color of the five colors, i.e., blue, red, yellow, white, and black. Huang Di is also the emperor ruling the central direction of “wu fang”, meaning “the five directions in Sky” (east, south, center, west, and north), in ancient Chinese mythology with another name “hou tu”, while “tu”, meaning “soil”, matches the central element of the “wuxing”, a Chinese philosophy drawing on the five elements from nature, i.e., Wood, Fire, Soil, Metal, and Water, to explain how everything in the world works. Therefore, it is plainly deducible that “huang”, the supreme ruler both in the sky and on earth, is the incarnation of “zhong”, which is

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a term in description of directions when it comes to space. The concept of the five directions in sky originates from the phrase that “di”, meaning “emperor”, should live in the center. Given the fact that Huang Di ruled in Youxiong, it is obvious that his idea of “ze zhong”, meaning “preference for the center”, is adopted in choosing the first capital in the remote ages of China.

Ancient walled city site in Xinmi

2.2.16.2

Puyang—City Sites in the Late Neolithic Age in Heze

Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Tang Yao, and Yu Shun, the four emperors after the years of Huang Di, all lived somewhere between Puyang, located in the northeastern part of Henan Province, and Heze, a city in the southwestern part of Shandong Province, according to historical documents. Records suggest that Er Di Ling of Zhuan Xu and Di Ku (also known as the Mausoleum of the two Emperors) is buried near Neihuang prefecture in the northeast of Henan Province. The ancient Chinese traditions require that mausoleums should be built near the capital, which means the capitals of Zhuan Xu and Di Ku should be found in the northeast of Henan Province as well. During the fieldwork in 1987, Archaeologists dug out a 6400-year-old ancient tomb marked M45 in Xishuipo of Puyang of Henan Province. The owner is a 1.84 m male, resting his head toward the south and feet in the north, lying on his back with limbs stretching straight. Patterns of a tiger and a dragon made of clamshells are

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placed beside his skeleton. These patterns are showing their back to the tomb owner, with heads pointing north. Further down the skeleton’s feet is a triangle symbol made of clamshells, each side of it connected to the shin bones of the skeleton. This is believed to be the earliest physical evidence of “qiu zhong”, meaning the ancient Chinese people’s preference for the center, after studies of Feng Shi, an astronomical archaeologist.11 This could be the earliest archaeological discovery of the concept of preference for the center. It makes perfect sense for people to believe that Zhuan Xu and Di Ku seeking geographically central locations for their capitals are logically justified. “Records of Geography” from Book of Han mentioned that Yao is buried in Chengyang Prefecture of Jiyin County. “Biography of Liuxiang” from Book of Han also noted that Huang Di is buried in Qiaoshan and Yao is buried in Jiyin. Commentary on the Watercourse Classic (Shui Jing Zhu) said that about 813 m to the west of Chengyang city is Yao’s Mausoleum and about 406 m further to the south lies Yao’s mother in Qingdu Ling (also known as Qingdu Mausoleum). Chengyang sits between Chenlou Village and Huji Village of Mudan Prefecture in present Heze where archaeologists found city sites and ruins of Longshan Culture. Heze was chosen as the capital of Tang Yao as people in Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period thought Tao (Dingtao Prefecture in Shandong Province) was the center of the world. Such belief was probably passed on by their ancestors. Archaeological researches in Heze and the recently unveiled “Baoxun” from the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips reveal that favoring the center, Yu Shun built his capital in Mount Li, a place that resides somewhere in present Puyang after studies. Nevertheless, there could be more than one capital in Tang Yao and Yu Shuns’ time as it is endorsed by historical documents recording their capitals in Jin’nan (South of Shanxi Province) in different times.

11

Feng [4].

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Tiger and dragon patterns and the Big Dipper symbol found in tomb M45 in Xishuipo of Puyang of Henan Province

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Plan view of tomb M45 [4]

2.2.16.3

Taosi City Site in southern Shanxi Province

Commentary by Zhang Shoujie of Tang on “Annals of the Five Emperors” from Shi Ji quoted: “Tang Yao’s clan name is Taotang”, said Xu Guang. “Yao’s capital is in Pingyang, a place known as state Tang in Classic of Songs”, documented in Diwang Ji (also known as Annuals of the emperors). “State Tang is the fiefdom enfeoffed to Emperor Yao’s offspring”, stated by Xu Cai in Zongguo Ducheng Ji (also known as Records of the Capitals of the First States), “Emperor Yu of Xia established his capital further in the north where it is called Taiyuan in Han dynasty, a county to the west of Mount Taihang in ancient Ji Province and Mount Heng, down in the south lay the Jin River”. “The above mentioned Pingyang is the Pingyang ancient city governed by

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Jin Province. Pingyang is the name of a river, also known as Jin River”. Commented in Kuo Di Zhi (also known as Comprehensive Gazetteer). “Linfen was known as Pingyang and became a county in Later Wei. Pingyang changed its name to Pinghe, meaning “Ping River”, and was demoted to a prefecture with a new name Linfen, the original county was soon abolished early in the years of the reign Kaihuang of Sui”, said “Records of Geography” from Book of Sui. “Linfen, adopted its name in Sui dynasty, was called Pingyang Prefecture in Han dynasty”, according to “Records of Geography” from Book of Tang. “Fen River runs in the south of East Pingyang Prefecture”, remarked by “Fen River” from Shui Jing Zhu, “the prefecture is in the north of Ping River, both emperor Yao and Emperor Shun ruled there … A temple is built along the river with a monument in the front”. Historical documents recorded that Xiangfen used to be Pingyang and Yao ruled in Pingyang, which is a prefecture now known as Xiangfen Prefecture of Linfen in the southern Shanxi Province. A city site dating back 4300–4900 years ago in close relation with Longshan Culture was discovered in Xiangfen Prefecture around 2000 and that was Taosi city site. Two Chinese characters “wen” and “yao” are written in red paint on a pottery urn uncovered from Taosi city site, implying a strong connection between Taosi city site and Yao’s ruling in Pingyang. As for the character “wen”, unanimous understanding is reached in the academic realm, since historical documents mentioned that Yao’s temple name is “wenzu”. “The ceremony was ‘ended’ in ‘wenzu’ on the ‘shang’ Day of the first month in a certain year”, said “Cannon of Shun” from Shang Shu. The sentence is further explained in Zuo Zhuan (Book by Zuo Qiuming): “‘shang’ means the first day in a month whilst ‘end’ means Yao renounced his throne and recommended Shun to be the next emperor for his good morals and excellent governance. ‘Wenzu’ stands for the temple of the erudite and virtuous first emperor”.

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Character on a pottery urn uncovered from Taosi city site

That the red-painted character on the back of the flat urn marked H3403 from Taosi city site could well be how the original “yao” is written, a view first proposed by Mr He Nu, remains debatable in the academic realm, whereas Mr Ge Yinghui is in firm favor of that view in his published article. Taosi city site was discovered in the west of Mount Ta’er, 7500 km northeast of Xiangfen Prefecture. The ruins of the outer city of Taosi, which is the largest of Longshan Culture city sites in central plains, is found somewhere amid Xigou Village, Dongpogou Village, Song Village, Zhongliang Village, and Taosi Village of Xiangfen Prefecture.

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Plan view of Taosi city site. The plan view of the Taosi city ruins site is a rounded rectangle with the longest distance between south and north being 2150 m and the shortest distance being 725 m; the longest distance between east and west is 1650 m, and the total area is 2.8 km2 . The palace city heritage site is about 270 m wide from north to south and about 470 m long from east to west with an area of about 0.13 km2 . The doorways of the palace gate are about 6.8 m wide. The gate along with the abutment foundations site is about 10 m long and about 11 m wide. The watchtowers (Que) site on the west is 21 m long north–south and 11 m wide east–west.

Ceremonial objects such as bronze bells, bronze cog-wheel-like objects, redpainted characters on pottery, pottery drums, drums made of “tuo”, meaning “crocodiles”, pottery plates with dragons patterns, color-painted pottery “gui”, meaning “bowls”, jade “bi”, meaning “a doughnut-shaped piece of flat jade with the hole’s diameter shorter than the width of the rim”, jade “cong”, meaning “a canister-shaped sacrificial vessel”, jade “huang”, meaning “an arc-shaped pendant”, jade “yue”, meaning “an object resembling an axe, a symbol of power”, jade “xuanji”, meaning “a flat shape similar to “bi” but with a fang-shaped edge”, stone “qing”, meaning “a percussion instrument”, are unearthed both inside and outside the outer

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city of Taosi. Constructional remains like “banwa”, meaning “an arc-shaped roof tile”, lime wall paint carved with flowers, blue-colored paneling, etc. are found in ancestral temple of a ruling house area of the ruins, revealing how high-level of these structures are. The foundations of the palace walls are located in the periphery of the ancestral temple of a ruling house area. Beneath the east of the outer city site is a 100 by 10 m compact cellars area with an area almost of 1000 m2 . The overall plan view is considered a rounded-square or rectangle shape. Two types of cellars are built within, with the larger one being about 10 m long, 4–5 m deep and 400 m3 in volume while the smaller one being 5 m long, 4–5 m deep and 100 m3 in volume. Ruins of lime-painted cylinder-shaped sheds are built on some of the entrances and exits of the cellars, probably serving as sentry outposts, which suggest stringent defenses were imposed on the cellars. Taosi city could be the first to set up a large cellars area directly controlled by the ruler in the world, as it has never been seen anything similar in other pre-historic civilizations. Ruins of the palace city are situated in the northeast of Taosi city site in the shape of a rectangle extending from east to west, aligning with the Taosi outer city. Southeast of the palace sits a palace gate, outside of which lies the remains of “guan”, meaning “observers” or “que”, meaning “watchtowers”, on each side, with the west structure well preserved. This gate is the main gate of the imperial palace by assumption as it is facing the primary palace structure to the north.

Picture of the ancient observatory in Taosi city site

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A color-painted pottery plate with a dragon pattern unearthed from Taosi city site

Jade Xuanji was uncovered from Taosi city site

Taosi city site is left intact and has its unique features. With its huge size, normative shape, complete set of structures and prominent defense capability, Taosi city site is the earliest Chinese palace city found so far. The discoveries of Taosi palace city and its outer city make Taosi city system complete. Taosi is highly likely to be the beginning or initial form of the Chengguo system (the ruler is protected by the palace and the palace is surrounded and shielded by the outer city), which was a significant capital construction system in ancient China.

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The southeastern corner gate of Taosi city site is in an “L” shape with foundations remained, similar in shapes and styles to the eastern gate of the outer city of Shimao site which was built a little later than Taosi. This indicates that the shapes and styles of Taosi walls not only had a profound influence on structures in other regions during the same period but also inspired later watchtower gate sites such as the Southeastern gate site of Lu city in Qufu of Easter Zhou, Eastern gate site of Chang’an city of Han, etc., for its special design and complex structure. Taosi city site is a multifunctional city that is able to fulfill political, economic, cultural, and ceremonial activities. It is divided into different areas like imperial palace structures area, sacrificial activities area, cellars area, and artisan workshops area. A vast burial ground, alongside the city, is the final resting place for civilians and a few high-ranking nobles. It can be assumed that Taosi city site is the earliest known city site with the fullest details in archaeological discoveries in ancient China. Taosi city site has all of the 5 features that are rarely seen at the same time in a single ruin: 1. Chengguo system, a dual-city system that the entire outer city and palace walls are kept undamaged, with undisputed chronological dating outcome; 2. clear area division within the city; 3. the city site is equipped with a high-level burial ground; 4. various types of high-grade relics have been brought to light from the city site and tombs nearby; 5. details of the city site can be verified in historical documents.

2.3 Core Philosophy: Evidence of “zhong” and “he” 2.3.1 Philosophy of “zhong” 2.3.1.1

Preference for the “zhong” in Capital Location Selection

Preference for the “Center” in the Late Neolithic Era The Chinese ancestors’ belief and pursuit for the “center” can date back to the late Neolithic era and “the time of the Five Emperors”. Proofs can be found in the aforesaid Dragon and Tiger patterns and the Big Dipper symbol, as well as in the connection between “huang” in the name of “Huang Di” and “zhong” which stands for the center. It has been the tradition and set in stone since the emergence of the Chinese civilization that the capital should be located in the center of the state. “The time of the Five Emperors” marks the beginning of the five-thousand-year Chinese civilization. During the time, Huang Di ruled in Xinzheng of Youxiong, while Di Ku, Zhuan Xu, Tang Yao, and Yu Shun chose their capitals in the northeast of Henan Province, southwest of Shandong Province and south of Shanxi Province, respectively, all of which were located somewhere in the center of the “zhongyuan”, a geographic name meaning the Central Plain. “Zhong” is a directional term and “yuan” stands for the

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plain. To make it clearer, all of the capitals during “the time of the Five Emperors” were situated in the geographically central location of the states. Successors of Huang Di in “the time of the Five Emperors” followed the ideology of preference for the center, as recorded in a political sense in the “Yao Yue” from The Analects of Confucius: Shun was a wise man that knew how to strike a balance and guided his people with the doctrine of the mean.

China National Geodetic Origin

Zhuan Xu, Di Ku, Tang Yao, and Yu Shun, the five famous emperors from “the time of the Five Emperors”, lived in the vicinity of Puyang of Henan Province and Heze of Shandong Province, as noted in the historic documents. Legend has it that the Mausoleum of the two Emperors of Zhuan Xu and Di Ku lies around Neihuang near Puyang. “Baoxun” from the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips, unearthed documentation, recorded that Yu Shun tried to find the geographically central location in Mount Li, a place near modern Puyang. Some scholar believes that Heze of Shandong Province was once the capital of Tang Yao as inscriptions carved in stones dating back to the Han Dynasty were found there. According to the documentation of the warring states period: the center of the world is in Tao, a district now known as Dingtao of the modern Heze. The Principle of “zhong” in Capital Location Selection in the Early Historical Times The early history times, as mentioned above, refers to the states times and empire times from the Xia Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty.

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“A king chose the center of the world to found his state, chose the center of the state to build his palace and chose the center of the palace to set up his sacrificial temple”, so it is recorded in the Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals. The state aforementioned is the capital which can be often seen in the historic documents when talking about choosing the geographically central location in building the capital. A capital is the epitome of the political system of the state, the idea of the “center” as recorded above is the practice of politics. Preference for the center, a principle inherited from the era of the five emperors, has been adopted in capital location selection since the Xia Dynasty with the only difference being the definition of the “center” as the expansion of the state or empire geographically. The Wangchenggang site, found in Dengfeng, dating back about 4000 years ago, is believed by the scholars to be the location of “Yu Du Yang Cheng” (Yu ruled in the Capital of Yang) that was recorded in historic documents. The inscription “Yang Cheng” (the Capital of yang) on the pottery of the warring states period uncovered from the vicinity of Wangchenggang site is exactly the evidence capable of proving the speculation by the scholars. The findings of Xinzhaicheng site in Xinmi, Erlitou Palace City in Yanshi, Shang cities in Zhengzhou and Yanshi, etc. in the greater Mont Song region have validated the records of Shangjiawei “locating the center” at Mount Song area. The preference for the center of the Xia and Shang Dynasty was inherited by the rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty, as the inscription “Zhai Zi Zhong Guo” on the bronze ware Hezun of the early Western Zhou reflected that choosing the center for capital location selection had become the national culture and ideology. The three rulers were convinced that Mount Song was the center of the world which later extended to the southwest of Shandong Province, east and south of Shanxi province, as well as most of Henan Province as the land of the state expanded. From the Western Zhou dynasty until the Song Dynasty, Capitals of the unified empires, including the Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, Sui, Tang, and Song Dynasty, were located on the east–west axis between Chang’an and Kaifeng, which was considered the center of the world in a generalized term. In the last 600 years, dynasties, such as the Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing, relocated their capitals from the center of China, where the Chang’an and Kaifeng axis lies, to the center of the north and south of China due to the empires economy gradually shifting to the east, political concerns regarding the rise of the nomadic tribes in the north, and the opening of the Grand Canal of the Sui and Tang Dynasty. Digunai, the Prince of Hailing, who initially ruled in Beijing believed that Yenching, the present Beijing, was in the center of the world since most of the northern nomads including the Jurchen and Mongol hailed from the area of the Greater Khingan Range and the Mongolian Plateau.

2.3.1.2

Choosing the Central Location in Building the Palace

“A king chose the center of the state to build his palace”. Here the state means the capital while the palace suggests the palace city. Therefore, the above sentence could be interpreted as “A king chose the center of the capital to build his palace city”.

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The development history of the Chinese ancient capitals showed that the layout of the capital had gradually become more complicated as the management functions increase owing to the development of the society and the empire. For example, the single-zone system of the capital had changed to the dual-zone system which combined the outer city with the palace city, and then further evolved into a triple-zone system that included the imperial city additionally.

A view overlooking the Forbidden City from Mount Jing

“Choosing the central location to build the palace” means to build the palace city in the center of the outer city. The location of the palace city in the outer city had shifted from the higher terrain initially to the center of the east–west axis or the north–south axis to the central location in either of the corners of the outer city eventually. Evidence can be found in the location of the early palace city of the Shang city in Yanshi being in the center of the east–west axis in the south of the outer city, while the location of the palace city of the Huanbei city of Yinxu of the middle Shang Dynasty being in the center of the entire outer city. But generally speaking, the location of the palace city being in the center of the east–west axis of the outer city was not common until the Luoyang city of the Eastern Han, and the location of the palace city being in the center of the whole capital was more usually seen after the Eastern Capital of Song Dynasty.

2.3.1.3

Choosing the Central Location to Set Up the Temple

“A king chose the center of the palace to set up the temple”. The temple in the quote refers to the palace temple within the palace city in the states time. The palace temple, consisting of the palace and the imperial ancestral temple, was built inside the palace city in the pre-Qin era, such as the construction ruins site No. 1 (the palace) and No. 2 (the ancestral temple) in the palace city ruins of Erlitou of the Xia Dynasty, and the western palace ruins and the eastern imperial ancestral temple ruins of the palace city of the Shang Dynasty in Yanshi. As history developed, palace temples were not built only inside the palace cities, but also in the center of the palace cities during the late pre-Qin era. Considered by the scholars as the palace temple constructions within

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the capital at the time, the No. 3 and No. 1 construction ruins of the Majiazhuang in Yongcheng of the Eastern Zhou were located roughly in the center of the Yongcheng.

An overlook of the Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing

The imperial ancestral temple had been relocated out of the palace city, with the palace alone sitting in the center of the palace city. The Front Hall of the uncovered Main Hall of the Western Han Dynasty was built in the center of the Weiyang Palace; rulers of Northern Wei Dynasty placed the Taiji Hall in the center of the palace city of Luoyang of; the Tang Dynasty Emperors chose built the Taiji Hall in the center of the palace city of the Chang’an city, and the Hanyuan Hall in the center of the Daming Palace; the Taihe Hall was the central construction of the palace city in Beijing of the Qing Dynasty. All of the imperial ancestral temples and the imperial sacrificial altars were constructed on either of the east or the west side within the imperial city, outside the palace city.

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2.3.1.4

265

The Central Doorway of the “One Gate with Three Doorways” System

The “One gate with three doorways” system was a notable feature of the Chinese ancient capitals, applying to the city gates of the capitals, as well as the main gates of the imperial cities and the palace cities. The “One gate with three doorways” system can still be seen in many capital gates, such as Tian’anmen and Zhengyangmen of the Ming and Qing Dynasty in Beijing, the Wumen, Shenwumen, Donghuamen, Xihuamen of the Palace Museum, and the western city of Khanbaliq of Yuan Dynasty discovered by archaeologists. The ruins of city gates and palace gates that adopted the “One gate with three doorways” system prior to the Yuan Dynasty were: Xinzhengmen (the west city gate) in the Eastern capital of Song Dynasty; Dingdingmen, the main gate of the outer city in Luoyang city of the Sui and Tang Dynasty; Yingtianmen, the main gate of the palace city of the Sui and Tang Dynasty; Hanguangmen and Chengtianmen which is the main gate of the palace city, etc. in the imperial city of Chang’an of Tang Dynasty; Zhumingmen of the southern city of Ye; Changhemen, the main gate of the palace city of the Luoyang city of Northern Wei Dynasty; Bachengmen, Xuanpingmen, Xi’anmen, Zhichengmen, etc. of the Chang’an city of Han Dynasty. The Shuimen, the southern gate of the Jinan city of the capital of Chu in Eastern Zhou, together with the Western gate to the north of the western walls, both followed the same system. The main gate of the courtyard of the palace construction ruins No. 1 in Erlitou ruins is the earliest gate so far with the above-mentioned system found by the archaeologists. Gates with the identical system in later times include the eastern palace gate (also known as the south palace gate of the palace temple construction No. 5) and the western gate (also knowns as the southern gate No. 3) of the southern palace gates of the Shang city in Yanshi. The “One gate with three doorways” system applying to the outer city gates was not prevalent until the Chang’an city of Han Dynasty, and the system applying to the main gates of the palace city was not common until the Changhemen of the Luoyang palace city of Wei and Jin Dynasty. Since then, the design and structure layout could be seen in almost every capital as well as the outer city and imperial city of Beijing, including the Wumen of the palace city in Beijing.

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Donghuamen of the Palace Museum. Donghuamen, built in the eighteenth Year of Yongle in Ming Dynasty, is the eastern gate in the Forbidden City. Equipped with red-painted walls and a Sumeru seat made of white marble, it shares the same design and structure with Xihuamen, with a rectangular shape in plan view. Three “Xuanmen” (arched door), which are square-shaped on the outside and arched shape inside, are installed for the gate. A watchtower is built on top of the gate, with a hip-roofed cuff story covered with yellow glass glazed tiles. The foundation is encircled with white marble handrails. The watchtower, surrounded by corridors, is five rooms long and three room wide. The beams are gilded and painted with Xuanzi (a method of painting for beams used in the imperial palace). The coffins of the deceased Emperors, wives of Emperors, and Mothers of Emperors in the Qing Dynasty were usually carried out of the palace via Donghuamen, hence its name “Ghost Gate” and “Nether Gate” among the general public. Three of the four gates in the Forbidden City, i.e., Wumen, Shenwumen and Xihuamen, are equipped with 81 iron studs that align horizontally and vertically, while Donghuamen is equipped with 72 iron studs, an even number which is considered “nether” in Chinese culture. Rumor has it that this has something to do with its name in the public.

A system of “One gate with five doorways” appeared in the main gates of capitals and palace cities after the Middle Ages, for instance, the front gate Mingdemen of the outer city of Chang’an and the front gate Danfengmen of Daming palace from the Tang Dynasty. There are also illustrated documents showing the gate adopting the “One gate with five doorways” system such as the Xuandemen, the front gate of the imperial city of Eastern Capital of Song Dynasty. As for the functions of each doorway in this system, some ancient scholars believed the notion “men walk on the right, women on the left and carts in the center” should apply. Such opinion is contradictory to the archaeological findings as tracks of carts were discovered on the side doorways in numerous gates of the Chang’an city of Han Dynasty, which means that the side doorways were not only used for walking. The discovery of the Zhichengmen ruins, however, suggested that the middle doorway, paved with grass and mud, was well preserved and free of cart tracks, not to mention that the mud ground is not suitable for carts. There is another angle that the middle doorway of the unique “One gate with three doorways” system was effectively the

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imperial exclusive highway, while the side doorways were for civilians and officials use, it had nothing to do with men, women or carts. The “One gate with three or five doorways” system could be considered a symbol for the empire, while the middle doorways of the palace city gates and capital gates (the front gates) represented the supremacy of the empire. Such system had not been seen until the Xia and Shang Dynasty where states came to appear, and became a convention ever since the Western Han Dynasty, the beginning of the empire era, strengthening the idea of a country.

2.3.1.5

The Middle Lane of the “One Avenue with Three Lanes”

As the “One gate with three doorways” system widely adopted in the city gates and palace gates in the early empire era, the roads that connect the city gate and the palace gates were constructed in a way known as the “One avenue with three lanes”, which was a further reflection of putting the empire’s interests at first by promoting the preference for the center.

Imperial lane in the Temple of Heaven

The avenue that connected the city gate in the Chang’an city of Han was separated into three lanes by two drainage ditches, as Bangu, the Chinese historian said: “Three wide lanes that shows the magnificence of the capital”. According to archaeological documents, the middle lane was 20 m wide, exclusive for the imperial use. The lanes on each side for civilian use were about 12 m wide. The middle lane, or the imperial lane, was not only strictly forbidden to the civilians and officials, even the crown prince had no right to step on. There was a story recorded in the Book of Han:

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Longloumen, the front gate (southern gate) of the Gui Palace in the south of the capital was connected with Zuoshimen which is to the northwest of Shiquge in the Weiyang Palace by the Zhichengmen Avenue. When the crown prince Liu’ao, the later Emperor Cheng of Han, who was in the Gui palace at the time, was summoned by Emperor Yuan of Han who lived in the Weiyang Palace, Liu’ao did not travel directly through the Longloumen to the Zuoshimen of Weiyang Palace using the imperial lane, but took a detour to the Zhichengmen, and entered the palace from the south of the Zhichengmen Avenue. Such behavior was praised by Emperor Yuan of Han for following the rules of etiquette though it took some extra time for the crown prince to reach the palace. The main avenues in Luoyang city of Eastern Han adopted the “One avenue with three lanes” system despite the ditches being replaced by walls. An excerpt quoted from Record of Luoyang, as referenced in the Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era noted: The avenues and gate doorways in the Luoyang city were separated into three lanes. The middle lane was exclusive to the imperial use and shielded with clay walls about 67.8 centimetres high on each side. Only the nobles and ministers were allowed to travel on the imperial lane, civilians were to walk on the side lanes where the left was the entrance and the right was the exit.

Further archaeological investigations are required to determine the extension in the history of the “One avenue with three lanes” system of Han Dynasty.

2.3.1.6

The Central Axis in Capitals and Palace Cities

The axis in the ancient capital is a prominent feature of Chinese ancient capitals. Some believe it was related to construction planning and technology, others think it represented aesthetics in design. I however consider those opinions superficial. The central axe in capitals and palace cities reflected on the constructions were the embodiment of national politics philosophy. Previous research on the Chinese ancient capital axe named those lines “central axis” and believed that they came to appear at the same time with the ancient capitals, which isn’t factual. The axe and central axe were designed as the ancient capitals developed. There is hardly any constructional consideration of axe and central axes involved in the uncovered sites like Taosi city site, Wangchenggang city site, Xinzhai city site, etc. The palace temple construction ruins No. 1 and No. 2 of the Erlitou palace city ruins sat on the east and west side of the palace city, probably the earliest constructions using the axes. The main building ruins of the palace temple ruins No. 1 were located in the north, facing the south gate of its courtyard and the southern gate (the ruins No. 7) of the palace city in the south, forming an axis. The main building ruins of the palace temple ruins No. 2, facing its southern courtyard gate, formed another axis to some extent, despite the fact that no relevant palace gate had been found in the southern wall of the palace city. But judging from the overall layout of the palace

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city, there might be a palace gate sitting on the east of the southern palace wall. If that is the case, there should be two axes running from north to south that align with each other in the Erlitou palace city, i.e., the twin exes inside a palace city, which had been seen in the late palace city of the Shang city in Yanshi. Two palace gates of the Shang city in Yanshi were built on the east and west side, forming the twin axes that extended from the north to the south. The twin axes planning appeared in the palace city ruins of the late Shang city in Yanshi and the Erlitou palace city ruins might have some connections with the “temple on the left and palace on the right” constructional alignment at the time. The dualist system, consisting of geopolitics and kinship, is the reason behind the twin axes alignment of the palace and temple in the palace city of the capital. Xianyang city of the Qin, the capital built in the warring states period, is the capital of the Qin Empire by order of the First Emperor of the Qin. It is a transitional capital from the age of states to the age of empires in terms of its design and structure. Based on the current archaeological discovery of the Xianyang city ruins of the Qin, the connection between the axis of Xianyang city of the warring states period and the axis of the Xianyang city of the Qin is still unclear. The Front Hall of the Epang Palace, built at the end of the Qin times by the First Emperor of the Qin, included a capital axis that extended from the north where the Front Hall of the Epang Palace sat to the south where Mount Zhongnan was, according to the documents of Sima Qian, a historian of the Han. His original words were: “The southern gate of the Xianyang city stands at the top of Mount Zhongnan”.

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An aerial image of the Forbidden City. This image was taken from the south of the Forbidden City in the air to include the whole palace. Jinshui Bridge, Tian’anmen, Ruimen sit from the south to the north sequentially, with the Altar of Earth and Harvests and the Imperial Ancestral Temple on each side. Further to the north is Wumen, also known as Wufenglou. Taihe Hall, Baohe Hall, Zhonghe Hall, Qianqing Palace, Kunning Palace, the Imperial Garden, and Shenwumen are located on the central axis accordingly, with six palaces for concubines on each side.

The Chang’an city of the Han is the first capital built in the age of empires. The philosophy of being in the center had been incorporated in the construction of the Front Hall which was considered the main hall since the construction of the Weiyang Palace under the order of the Emperor Gaozu of the Han. In other words, the Weiyang Palace was not equipped with the twin axes. Although the idea of central axis had been implemented into construction of the imperial palace-the Weiyang Palace, it was not until the erection of the ritual construction in the southern outskirt and the emergence of “the ancestral temple on the left and the sacrificial altar on the right” alignment in the late Western Han Dynasty that the central axis was applied into the whole capital layout. The central axis of the capital was not, scientifically speaking, in the middle of the city that separated the city into exactly two identical parts initially, according to its constructional planning. As the ancient capitals developed, the central axis was moving closer and closer to the center of the city. In the late Western Han came the first central axis for the whole capital. In the early Luoyang city of Eastern Han, the north–south capital axis connected the main palace hall with the southern gate of the South Palace and the southern gate of the outer city (Pingchengmen). In the late Luoyang city of Eastern Han, the capital central axis connected the main palace hall with the southern gate of the North Palace and the southern gate of the outer city. The central axes of Luoyang city of Wei, Jin, and Northern Wei Dynasty were closer to the central location than those of the Chang’an and Luoyang of Han Dynasty. The central axis being exactly in the center of the capital took place in the Daxing city of the Sui and Chang’an city of the Tang, and this had been passed on till Beijing of the Ming and the Qing. The dual-axis in ancient capitals reflected the political system underpinned by geopolitics and kinship. The transition from the dual-axis to the central axis indicated the rise of geopolitics and the fall of kinship-based politics. The main hall of the palace city served as a base point that could be stretched out to link the main gates of the palace city and the capital and formed the central axis. The entire space was the capital of an empire. The base point of the main hall was the core of the capital, making the empire capital in a central and front position, as well as in high terrain.

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2.3.2 Philosophy of “he” 2.3.2.1

Preference for “zhong” and “he” in All Directions

The fundamental principle of capital location selection in ancient China is “choosing the geographically central location in the state to build the capital”. From the central government’s state management perspective, it was easier and vital for governance when sitting in the center of the state in consideration of the transportation and communication conditions in the past.

“The painting of Capital location determination in the area between Jian River and Chan River using divination” and “the painting of map offering” in “The illustrated book accredited by the Imperial Court” of the Qing Dynasty

During the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the main reason for choosing Luoyang as the capital was its central location in the state, which made tax and tribute collections easier. From the national political perspective, it also showed the impartiality and justice of the ruler since he was not favoring a particular part of the land. “He who controls the Central Plain controls the world”, such old saying discloses the relation between the Central Plain and the world, as those who controlled the “center” known as “zhong” in Chinese language, were identified as the king by

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the rest. The relation between the “center” and the rest of the state promoted “he he” (meaning harmony and integrity) of the whole country.

2.3.2.2

“he” and Gates on Each Side of the Capital and Palace City

Generally, there were three gates on each side of the ancient capital wall. This applied to the Weiyang Palace in Chang’an of the Han as well. Such design has remained unchanged ever since the Western Han times. The four sides of walls in the capital and the palace city were symbols of the state territory under the four orientations, the north, south, east, and west. There were equal distances between each of the city gates and the inner city. Under the same principle, it was part of the design philosophy to “build the temple in the central location of the capital”, equally radiating the supreme power of the empire toward four orientations. The distances between the main hall of the palace and four-sided city gates were designed to be the same. The equal distances, in fact, were thought to reflect the integrated and harmonious relationship between the center or “zhong” and the rest of the state land. As such, the layout signified the combined principles of “zhong he” and “he he” which means to further strengthen national integrity and identity.

References 1. Kekenet.com (2015) Translating poems: the English translation of Du Mu’s “the rhapsody poetry about Epang Palace” (诗歌翻译: 杜牧《阿房宫赋》 英文译文. 可可英语), 6 May. Available at https://m.kekenet.com/kouyi/201505/373389.shtml. Accessed 30 July 2020 2. Yang H (2001) A general archeological study on imperial palaces 《宫殿考古通论》 ( ). The Forbidden City Publishing House, Beijing, p 3 3. Xia F (2015) The naming of the gates of Khanbaliq in Yuan Dynasty and “the book of changes” 《元大都城门命名与⟨ 周易⟩》 ( ). Guang Ming Daily, 5 June 2015 4. Feng S (2015) The story of a protector’s admonition and the development of the concept of centre. Acta Archaeol Sin 2015-2

Chapter 3

Archaeological Discovery and Research of Imperial Mausoleums

Abstract In Chinese history, capitals and mausoleums “go hand in hand”, with the emperor living in the capital and buried in the mausoleum near the capital after death. The mausoleum is modeled after the capital city, and the cemetery is like a palace city. Both have “doors on four sides”, following the style of the royal palace, thus the saying “mausoleums as capital cities”. Archaeologists can therefore better understand ancient civilizations through archaeological discoveries of mausoleums. From Shang dynasty to Western Han dynasty, the mausoleum of the emperor generally has one tomb passage on each side of east, west, north, and south. From the imperial mausoleum of the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the mausoleum of the Shang Dynasty in the northwest of Yin Ruins, the tombs of the emperors remain in the center of the tomb chamber. The overall layout of the mausoleum is a “scaled-down” version of their capitals. Keywords Mausoleums · Mausoleums as capital cities; overall layout

3.1 Synopsis 3.1.1 Civilization through the Perspective of Ancient Mausoleums Compared with ordinary tombs, imperial mausoleums are vastly different in terms of scale and funeral objects, showcasing the tomb owner’s economic situation and political status while alive. Undoubtedly the emergence of mausoleums was in sync with the formation of civilization, therefore archaeologists are highly interested in the discovery of large tombs and the encapsulated connotations. For example, in the Taosi Ruins of Xiangfen, Shanxi Province, a large-scale burial ground was also discovered together with the ruins of a large city and a small city (palace). A number of high-grade funeral objects, such as painted dragon pottery plates, ink writing tools, drums, and jade ware were discovered in the area of high-grade tombs, reflecting

© Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. 2022 Q. Liu, A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3946-4_3

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the social hierarchy at that time and these objects also became materialized forms to trace the uninterrupted 5000 years history of China. Compared with ground-level ruins such as city sites and miscellaneous artifacts, tombs, while buried underground, usually remain larger in number and comparatively intact. These materialized forms are first-hand historic materials to study Chinese civilization.

3.1.2 Location Selection, Layout, and Arrangement of Mausoleums Burial ground provides space that contains the tomb, so the selection of burial ground is the prerequisite for tomb construction. Long-term speaking, the principle for burial ground selection is the same as that for the residence of the living, preferably a high position with a commanding view, facing water with hills in the back. These selection criteria by ancestors are not so much an issue of fengshui, but rather a reflection of the actual needs for the residence of living human upon burial ground. In ancient times, people had limited capability in maneuvering the surrounding environment, so it was inevitable to make full use of any geographical advantage. The principle of choosing a high position with a commanding view, facing water with hills in the back serves to provide safety, convenience, and comfort to the residence and the residents. The burial ground is considered to be the residence in the afterlife, so its planning and construction imitate the residence for living human. This imitation is a very important feature of China’s ancient funeral customs. The location of burial ground relative to residence would get closer as in more ancient days. The earliest tombs were just built underneath houses, which was called “residential burial”. As time went on, underground tombs gradually transformed into burial ground (graveyard) for families or clans. When the residential area grew in size, the tombs and burial ground were also arranged “further away” from the residence, but they remained within the clan’s settlement space, not outside of it. Since the middle Neolithic era, tombs were moved to nearby places outside the house within the settlement. By the late Neolithic era, dedicated burial ground for family or clan came into shape beside the settlement and this tradition continued in China until the modern age. In modern China, most village people are buried near their villages. This is in line with the doctrines of patriarchal society in ancient China, or in another word the patriarchal society extended its influence to the space arrangement of burial ground and residence.

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Burial ground in neolithic ruins of Shunshanji, Sihong County, Jiangsu Province. Neolithic Ruins of Shunshanji are located on the slanting slope in the northern section of Chonggang Hill, 500 m to the southwest of Daxinzhuang Village, Meihua Town of Sihong County, Jiangsu Province. The total area is 175 thousand square meters, and the ruins are confirmed to be a moat surrounding settlement built 8000 years ago through carbon dating. Through excavation, a total of 92 tombs, 26 ash pits, five house foundations, and over 400 pieces of artifacts are unearthed, including pottery, stoneware, jade ware, and bone ware. This discovery of Shunshanji Ruins is very important for the research of human settlements in northern Jiangsu and Qingliangang culture, or to a larger extent, benefiting the research of human settlement environment in the Neolithic era.

The location selection for the emperor’s mausoleums also follows the same principle. Just as fallen leaves settle on roots, ordinary people prefer to be buried in their hometowns. Emperors deem the country as their household and the capital city is the epitome of the country. Naturally, after death emperors should be buried near the capital and mausoleums become an integral part of the capital city. The archaeological discovery of ancient emperor mausoleums shows that earlier dynasty mausoleums are closer to the capital cities compared with later ones. In the Ruins of Yin, capital city of the Shang Dynasty, archaeological excavation has found kings mausoleum on the northwestern hill, 2.5 km away from the palace district, occupying a higher position above Xiaotun where the palace lies.

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Gold plated bronze dragon head vehicle ornament, unearthed in Zhou Dynasty Mausoleum, Jin Village, Luoyang

The Eastern Zhou Dynasty kings mausoleums in Luoyang are made up of three parts, Zhou Mountain, Wangcheng (royal city), and Jin Village. The Zhou Mountain’s position is about five kilometers to the southwest of the royal city and gets its name because of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty’s mausoleums inside. Legend says the mausoleums of King Jing, King Dao, King Ding, and King Ling of the Zhou Dynasty are located inside. Wangcheng mausoleums are about 10 km to the northeast of the royal city, near Jin Village to the northwest of the relics of Han Wei Capital of Luoyang. The Qin imperial mausoleums have two parts, Yongcheng City, the capital during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the suburb of Xianyang. The Kings of the State of Qin were buried on Sanzhiyuan extending from today’s Yinjiawu in Fengxiang County to Yangping Town of Baoji City. Divided by a dry moat, the mausoleum area has altogether 14 subparts. Each subpart has large tombs with different number and scale. This mausoleum area is located to the north of the capital, Yongcheng City, just across the Yong River. In the middle of the Warring States Period, King Xiao of the State of Qin moved the capital to Xianyang City, and the royal family began to build royal mausoleums in the northwest of Xianyang, and also in the east of Zhiyang City, to the southeast of Xianyang. In history, many ancient people believed the large tombs in Xianyang mausoleums belonged to the kings of the Zhou Dynasty. Since the 1970s, field studies by archaeologists confirmed these large tombs were actually built for the kings of the Qin State during Warring States Period. Zhiyang mausoleum area is to the east of Xianyang City (also to the east of Pre-Qin kings mausoleum area of Yongcheng City), so it was named as Eastern Mausoleum and Eastern Mausoleum Marquis was set up in the governance structure. As of today, Eastern Mausoleum’s location is in the southeast of Xiekou Subdistrict, Lintong District of Xi’an City. River Ba runs past the left side of the mausoleum area, which faces water with hills in the back. It is to the west of Zhiyang City and separated from the capital Xianyang City by the Weishui River. Up to now, four mausoleums have been found in this area. The Tianqi Mausoleum for the kings of the State of Qi in the Warring States Period is located around today’s Qilin Town of Linzi District in Linzi City, 11.5 km to the southeast of the original

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site of the Qi State Capital, and also Donggao Town and Putong Town in Qingzhou City, in the northeast foot of Taiyi Mountains. Inside the mausoleum area, the most famous sites are “Siwangzhong” (the tombs for four kings); “Erwangzhong” (the tombs for two kings); and also the tomb for Tianhe, Dianjiang Platform and ancient tomb in Nanxinzhuang. These five locations are possibly tombs for five different kings of Qi State in the Warring States Period. Most kings’ mausoleums for the State of Zhao should be located in the northwest hills of Handan city, 15 km away from the capital. This area now administratively belongs to the Township of Sanling, Township of Gongcheng in Handan County, and the Township of Beilianggang in Yongnian County. The location of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum is in today’s Yanzhai Town, Lintong District of Xi’an City. Nine out of the eleven emperors’ mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty are located on Xianyangyuan, north of Chang’an City in the Han Dynasty. The Ba Mausoleum of Emperor Wen and the Du Mausoleum of Emperor Xuan are located on Bailuyuan and Dudongyuan, southeast of Chang’an City in the Han Dynasty. The three locations, Xianyangyuan, Bailuyuan, and Dudongyuan, are all at a higher altitude than Chang’an City. Han Wei Dynasty Capital of Luoyang was located to the south of Beimang Mountain in Luoyang. The Eastern Han Dynasty, the Caowei Dynasty, the Western Jin Dynasty, and the Northern Dynasties all built the emperors’ mausoleums on Beimangyuan of Luoyang. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, in the 18th year of Taihe Reign (494 CE), Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang and built the Chang Mausoleum on Beimang Mountain. Emperor Xuanwu was buried in the Jing Mausoleum, Emperor Xiaoming was buried in the Ding Mausoleum, Emperor Xiaozhuang was buried in the Jing Mausoleum. These mausoleums cluster together horizontally and form the royal mausoleum area for the Northern Wei Dynasty. The Eastern Jin Dynasty chose Jiankang City (today’s Nanjing) as the capital. The 11 emperors of this dynasty were all buried in the southern foot of Fugui Mountain, branch of Zijin Mountain, and Jiuhua Mountain, southern foot of Gulou Ridge, following the topography of mountains. The Southern Dynasties are made up of four dynasties, Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, all choosing Jiankang as the capital. There are 15 imperial mausoleums of the Southern Dynasties with noticeable relics, most of which are built around Jiankang, picking the location in the middle part of earthen hummocks. The imperial mausoleums of the Sui Dynasty are in Wugong County of Xianyang City, west of then capital Daxing City (today’s Xi’an). In the Tang Dynasty, 18 imperial mausoleums were built in the North Mountains and its southern foot in Guanzhong, north of then capital Chang’an. The distance between the mausoleums and Chang’an varies between 77 and 108 km. The imperial mausoleums of the North Song Dynasty are located to the west of Kaifeng City (Dong Jing), north of Songshan Mountain, and south of Luohe River, which is around today’s Zhitian Town of Gongyi City. The Western Xia Dynasty established the capital in Xingqingfu (today’s Yinchuan City). The imperial mausoleums of this dynasty are on the diluvial fan at the eastern foot of Helan Mountain, about 25 km to the west of Yinchuan City.

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Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang established the capital in Nanjing, and his tomb Ming Xiaoling mausoleum was built on the Wanzhu Peak of Du Long Fu at the southern foot of Zijin Mountain in Nanjing. After Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, the following 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty were all buried at the southern foot of Tianshou Mountain, 10 km to the north of Changping District in modern Beijing, about 50 km away from the city center. The Eastern Qing Tombs are below the Changrui Mountain in the west of Malanyu in Zunhua City, Hebei Province. The mausoleum area borders with Wuling Mountain in the north, Tiantai Mountain and Yandun Mountains in the south, Malanyu in the east, and Huanghua Mountain in the west. The Western Qing Tombs are below Yongning Mountain in the west of Yi County in Hebei Province.

Square City and Ming Tower, Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum. Built above the Square City in the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, the Ming Tower uses gable and hip roof with multiple eaves, covered with yellow glass tiles. The tower is 39.45 m long east–west and 18.47 m wide north–south. There are three arch doors in the south and one arch door each for the remaining three sides. On each door, there are nine rows of doornails, and nine doornails for each row, representing the supreme status of emperors. To the north of Square City and Ming Tower is a hill with diameter of 400 m, namely the treasure mound, or treasure city, where Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma were buried.

The increasing distance between capital cities and imperial mausoleums has two reasons: (1) insufficient space within the capital forces the mausoleums to be built in broader areas (2) emperors of later dynasties want their tombs to be built higher than previous emperors. For example, the surrounding area of Xi’an used to be the capital

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for four major dynasties in history, Zhou, Qin, Han, and Tang. In accordance with history documents, the imperial mausoleums of the West Zhou dynasty were in Bi, close to the capital ruins of Fenggao. The kings mausoleums of the State of Qin during the Warring States Period were first built in the northwest of the capital Xianyang, and later in the highland of Zhiyang to the southeast of the capital. The imperial mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang was in the foot of Lishan Mountain. Most of the imperial mausoleums of the West Han Dynasty were on the Xianyangyuan to the north of the Han capital Chang’an City. The 18 imperial mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty were built along the southern foot of Beishan Mountain, at an altitude almost double that of the imperial mausoleums from the West Han Dynasty. Despite the geographic location of imperial mausoleums described above, ancient Chinese culture also has strict regulations about the site selection of individual tombs within the imperial mausoleum area. The regulations can be explained by the example of ordinary clans. In some villages, an ancestral temple would keep the family tree of a specific clan, in which the ancestors would be arranged in the rank of seniority, which is called the zhao-mu system. High ancestors should be put in the middle and also higher place, and younger ancestors should be placed crosswise following the rank of seniority. This principle is followed within the ancestral temple of a clan, and also within a family. This is also the order for the arrangement of tombs when several generations of family members are buried together in a family graveyard. Because of the tremendous scale of the mausoleum area and super long term of usage, it is impossible to make a master plan for the arrangement within an imperial mausoleum which can remain meaningful after 200 or 300 years. Therefore, what we can see today is usually the zhao-mu arrangement of three generations or even two generations of emperors. For example, in the imperial mausoleum area of the West Han Dynasty, on the west side of Changling, the mausoleum for Liu Bang (Emperor Gaozu) lies Anling, the mausoleum for Liu Ying (Emperor Hui) as the eldest son of the first wife of Gaozu. On the east side of Changling lies Yangling, the mausoleum for Emperor Jingdi, the lineal grandson of Gaozu. In the first three generations of emperors, another son of Liu Bang, Liu Heng (Emperor Wen) was not buried in Xianyangyuan, the imperial mausoleum area of the West Han Dynasty as a result of the zhao-mu system. Since the west side (position of zhao) had already been occupied by the eldest son of Liu Bang, and Emperor Wen couldn’t be buried on the east side of Changling (position of mu), a position reserved for the grandson generation of Liu Bang. Therefore, he could only be buried outside of Xianyangyuan. This kind of zhao-mu system enhanced the cohesion of blood ties. Harmony in a family makes everything successful. Family is the basic cell that constitutes the society. The developments in ancient history of China show that the stability in family and clan builds a very important foundation for social development and also vigorously safeguards cultural inheritance.

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3.1.3 Major Component Factors in Imperial Mausoleum 3.1.3.1

Sealing Earth

Tombs as people talk about today actually have two parts, tomb and grave mound. Tomb is the underground facility to bury the dead, and grave mound is a marking facility on top of it. If tombs already came into existence as early as the middle of the Neolithic era, then grave mound emerged at a rather late stage. In ancient times there was no sealing earth on top of tombs, as described by “The Great Treatise” from The Book of Changes (Zhou Yi · Xi Ci), the ancients buried dead people with thick pieces of wood and left the body in open wild with no mound or trees. Because there was no mound, people during the West Han Dynasty even had no idea where Yintang was buried. Among the famous historical figures in the Zhou and Qin dynasties, such as King Wen of Zhou, King Wu of Zhou, Duke Zhou, Duke Mu of Qin and Ke Lizi, including the famous scholar Liu Xiang of the West Han Dynasty, were only known about the burial ground and their tombs were nowhere to find. In “Tan Gong” from Book of Rites, Guo Zigao says, the burial is a place to hide and the essence of hiding is to make it impossible to be found. Maybe this is one of the reasons for not building a mound. Confucius, who lived over 2500 years ago, was not satisfied with the phenomenon of building mounds and lamented that the tradition of tombs without mounds was lost. The emergence of sealing earth was earlier than the aforementioned historic documents as proved by archaeological discovery. Tombs with sealing earth already came into existence in the Shang Dynasty. In the rectangle earth pit and wooden coffin tomb discovered in Tianhu Village of Mangzhang Township, Luoshan County of Henan Province, the height of sealing earth remains was around 30 cm and its original height was estimated to be 1.5 m. In the Fuhao tomb in the Remains of Yin and the Shang Dynasty tombs of Dasikong Village, the remains of rammed earth foundation for platforms, pillar pits, and gravel pillar foundation were found on top of the grave. The earliest sealing earth tomb found in the East Zhou Dynasty is the couple’s tomb of Huang Junmeng and his wife, located in Baoxiang Temple, Guangshan County of Henan Province. The sealing earth is seven to eight meters high. And also the tomb of the late Spring and Autumn period in Hougudui, Gushi County of Henan Province, with the mound seven meters high and 55 m large in diameter. Such huge mound came into existence maybe because of the influence of earth mound tombs in Wuyue District in the southeast. In that region, the underground water level was too high and it was impossible to excavate tombs underground, so people could only build earth mounds or platforms above ground and excavate tombs inside. The earth mound tombs first appeared in the coastal regions in the southeast, then gradually spread to the south of Yellow River and the north of Yangtze River and mounds started to get built-in those regions as well. A number of large tombs were found as relics from the Spring and Autumn and the Warring State Period, such as the Large Tomb of Caiguo in Cai Jiagang of Huainan,

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Anhui Province and the Chu tombs in provinces of Hubei, Hunan, and Henan. These findings correspond with the historic documents, as described in Mozi Jiesang: Once the kings, dukes and the dignitaries have burials, their coffins must be multiple in layers, their tombs must be deeply excavated, the clothing items must be many in number, the embroidery must be sophisticated and the mound must be huge.

The Tomb of Four Kings in Zibo. Tomb of Four Kings is in the southeast of Zibo City, Shangdong Province. It is to the east of the Niu (Ox) Mountain and bordering nearby Weifang City. There are four high tombs from east to west, belonging to King Wei, King Xuan, King Min, and King Xiang of the State of Qi, thus called the Tomb of Four Kings by historians. Square in foundation and round in the top, these tombs stand evenly at obvious positions over the hills. By the order of west to east, the four tombs’ height and perimeter are 30 m, 140 m; 34 m, 157 m; 22 m, 190 m; 23 m, 130 m, respectively. The total length of the four tombs is 541 m.

The mound at this time already had social and political implications, used by the deceased and their family to showcase their social status and political influence, aiming to gain social recognition. The spread of building mounds was usually first initiated by the upper classes of society and became popular among them. The earliest sealing earth of kings’ mausoleums which is preserved until today is from the Warring States Period. Such as the Mausoleum for King Huiwen of Qin in Xianyang, Tomb of King You of Chu in Shou County, Anhui, Tomb of Zenghou in Sui County, Hubei, the Mausoleum for King Zhao in Handan, Hebei, the Mausoleum of King Yan in Yi County, Hebei and the Mausoleum for King Qi in Linzi, Shandong.

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Emperor Qin Shi Huang built his own mausoleum and its sealing earth was overwhelmingly gigantic, maybe the supreme one among all the ancient imperial mausoleums in China. The West Han Dynasty emperors carried forward this practice. The mausoleums for kings and emperors actually have two parts, the sealing earth and the tomb. The sealing earth is called ling (mausoleum) and the tomb is called digong (underground palace). The ancient Chinese used the word tomb to describe the burial place for the deceased. The original meaning of ling was high earthen hill. Some tombs were called ling because of their gigantic scale. In ancient times, only the ruling class, high officials, and dignitaries could build great tombs and usually higher the status, bigger tombs were built for them. Naturally, the biggest ones belonged to kings and emperors. Since the Warring States Period, the Qin and Han dynasties, the kings’ tombs grew ever larger in scale and they became to be called shan (mountain) or shanling. As recorded by “Wei River” from Shui Jing Zhu: The king’s tombs in the Qin Dynasty were called shan, the ones in the Han Dynasty were called ling, therefore generally called shanling when they were referred to together.

As shanling is used as a general word to describe the mausoleums for kings and emperors, it becomes a synonym of kings and emperors. As recorded in “Qin Strategy Five” from Stratagems of the Warring States (Zhan Guo Ce · Qin Ce 5): The king is senile and once the shanling falls apart, the crown prince will assume power. Your situation will be as dangerous as eggs stacking together and your days are numbered.

In the Qin Dynasty, the kings’ mausoleums were called shan (mountain). Emperor Qin Shi Huang was buried in the Lishan Mountain, and his mausoleum was called Lishan (骊山or丽山in Chinese). In “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji, his mausoleum is referred to as Lishan (骊山). The pottery wares excavated near his mausoleum mostly used the Chinese word 丽山. This tradition of using shan (mountain) to name kings’ mausoleums continued at the beginning of the West Han Dynasty; for example, the mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu was also called Changshan. Later the imperial mausoleums began to be called ling, and shan was rarely used anymore. But shanling continued to be used as a general word for a long time. Before the Han Dynasty, the kings’ mausoleums were usually named after the king or the mountain where the mausoleum was located and didn’t have a special name. Some kings’ mausoleums were called shouling because they were built ante-mortem, such as the ones for Zhao Suhou (Marquess Su of Zhao) and King Xiaowen of Qin. But in the later stage of the Warring States Period, some kings’ mausoleums began to have special names, such as Gongling for the mausoleum of King Huiwen of Qin, and Yongling for the mausoleum of King Daowu of Qin. Starting from the Han Dynasty till the end of ancient society, all imperial mausoleums have dedicated names. For example, the mausoleums for Emperor Gaozu, Emperor Hui, and Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty are called Changling, Anling, and Baling, respectively, mostly named after the place of burial. Some mausoleums already got their name granted when the construction began, such as

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Yangling and Maoling. Some were called initially Chuling (preliminary mausoleum) and got their official names later, such as Weiling and Yanling.

Changling for Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty

After the Han Dynasty, most imperial mausoleums were named with auspicious words while less and less were named after the place of burial. As a result, quite a number of imperial mausoleums from different dynasties may share the same name. It is necessary to point out that many auspicious names later dynasties used were carried forward from the West Han Dynasty. Originally, they were just names of burial places, but later dynasty rulers identified auspicious connotations in these names and borrowed them. For example, the mausoleum names of Changling for Emperor Gaozu, Anling for Emperor Hui, Maoling for Emperor Wu, and Changling for Emperor Cheng were usually borrowed by later dynasty emperors. Emperor Xiaowen of the North Wei Dynasty and Emperor Chengzu of the Ming Dynasty all had their mausoleums named Changling, obviously borrowing the name from Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, but with a different meaning. They possibly used the name Changling for its meaning of everlasting. And their mausoleums’ positions in the respective mausoleum areas are very similar to the position of Emperor Gaozu’s mausoleum in Xianyangyuan, the mausoleum area for the kings of the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Taizu of the North Song Dynasty used the name Yongchangling (actually Changling) and Emperor Jiaqing of the Qing Dynasty also used the name Changling for their mausoleums, the same name as the abandoned mausoleum for Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty. The names are the same, but the meanings are

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different. The names of Dingling, Tailing are used most frequently by later dynasty mausoleums and their meanings are apparent. Archaeological materials have proven that before building large earth mounds, some large tombs often had a structure called the hall of offerings. Its foundation is usually on top of the tomb, with a bigger area than the tomb itself. The relics of the hall of offerings can be found in tomb No. 311, tomb No. 312, and Fuhao tomb in Dasikong Village, Anyang. The kings’ mausoleums in the Shang Dynasty also have relics of the hall of offerings, such as big tomb No. 1001.

Statute of Fuhao and the reconstructed hall of offerings

So far it is known that the practice of building hall of offerings on top of tombs appeared no later than the Shang Dynasty and continued until the Warring States Period. In King of Zhao’s mausoleum in Handan, many construction materials of the Warring States Period such as tiles were found in the sealing earth, presumably the relics of the hall of offerings built at that time. Archaeological excavation finds out that the hall of offerings in the State of Zhongshan, today’s Pingshang in Hebei, was very big in scale. Their foundation, originally simple and short, gradually grew in complexity and height. Later with the popularity of high platform buildings, the hall of offerings also used this kind of style. The high tombs popular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period actually developed from the hall of offerings with high platforms. When high mounds were built on top of tombs, usually there was no more need for the hall of offerings. Afterward, the buildings with the nature of hall of offerings were no longer built on top of the tombs but were moved to the side of the tombs.

3.1 Synopsis

285

The large sealing earth buildings in the kings’ mausoleums emerged in the Warring States Period and gradually gained popularity, obviously got influenced by the popular high platform palace architecture style at that time. The high platform palace buildings excavated up to now are No. 1 Palace relics of Xianyang Palace of Qin, No. 1 to No. 4 high platforms relics of Yan Xiadu (Wu Yang Tai, Wang Jing Tai, Zhang Gong Tai, and Lao Mu Tai), Long Tai in the West City of Handan, the State of Zhao, Huan Gong Tai in the palace of Linzi, the State of Qi and Zhang Hua Tai of King Ling of the State of Chu, which was claimed to be the best palace under heaven. The mausoleum is the epitome of palace. When the rulers of feudal dynasties built these high platform palaces or gigantic mausoleums, their goal was obviously to showcase their supreme power. It is also recorded in “Utensils of Rites” from Book of Rites: For some items, bigness means noble, such as the scale of palaces, the capacity of utensils, the thickness of coffins and the amount of sealing mound. These items deem bigness as noble.

Relics of Zhang Hua Tai. Relics are in Longwan Town, Qianjiang City, Hubei Province. Square in shape, the relics area is 1000 m in width from north to south, and 2000 m in length from east to west. A total of more than 10 palace foundations are found in the southeast part of the relics. The biggest palace is Fang Ying Tai with 300 m in length, 100 m in width, and a height of five meters. It is comprised of four linked rammed earth foundations.

“Yueling” from Book of Rites recorded, “The regulations about funerals should be closely followed, the fabrics of clothing should be discriminated, the thickness of

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coffins should be measured, the scale, order and thickness of tombs and their sealing earth should be differentiated so as to reflect the hierarchy”. The use of gigantic sealing earth became a privilege reserved for kings and emperors and later the height of sealing earth was an indicator of the social status of the tomb owner. In accordance with Court Etiquette of the Han Dynasty (Han Jiu Yi), The second year after crown prince assumed power, the chief palace construction official started the mausoleum project, acquiring a land of seven qing. The center part used one qing of land, with a depth of 13 zhang. The hall was three zhang in height and the mound was 12 zhang in height.

The archaeological discovery proved these historic documents to be true. The sealing earth of the mausoleums for the kings of the Western Han Dynasty is 30– 32 m in height (one exception is Maoling for Emperor Hanwu, with 48 m sealing earth). There are many attendant tombs surrounding the kings’ mausoleums in the Western Han Dynasty, all lower than the kings’ mausoleums. Up to now, not a single tomb by an official below the king is found to have the tomb as high as the king. There are strict regulations about the height of sealing earth, linked with the status of the tomb owner in the living days. Even the types of trees allowed to be planted on tombs are strictly regulated. In the Tang Dynasty, the height of sealing earth for the attendant tombs, owned by senior officials and noble class, in imperial mausoleums was well-regulated in official decrees. The first-rank official was allowed to have the tomb built as high as one zhang and eight cun when he was buried as attendant in imperial mausoleum. Starting from the second-rank official, they should have their tombs built two cun less for every lower rank. Obviously, the height of sealing earth is equivalent to the social status of the tomb owner and its importance is even greater than the funeral objects contained inside. The kings take the mausoleums as their palaces in the afterlife. In terms of the construction scale, the sealing earth of imperial mausoleums is much higher than the high platform palaces in which they live. This reflects how important the funerals are for the kings. The emergence of tomb is a very important step in the history of funerals. It marks the reinforcement of the political nature and social marking function of funerals. Originally, an expression of missing by the living toward the deceased, later funerals become a continuous development and utilization of the social and political resources of the deceased while they are alive. In the society with classes, tombs transform from an underground embodiment for the expression of emotions to an above-ground vehicle that serves the social and political needs of the living. In ancient society, tombs gradually become a political symbol and mark reflecting the social hierarchy.

3.1 Synopsis

3.1.3.2

287

Tomb Chamber and Tomb Passage

The construction principle for imperial mausoleums is “to build mausoleums as capital cities”. The kings and emperors are buried in the tomb chamber in mausoleums, so the chamber is the palace for them in afterlife. They are built underground, thereby called underground palace. In the chamber of high-grade tombs excavated so far, there are celestial maps drawn on the ceiling, clearly an epitome of the world. In “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji, Sima Qian recorded, inside the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang “mercury is poured and deployed to resemble rivers and seas, celestial maps are engraved on the vault ceiling and geographic terrains are rendered downside”. Other than the interior, the underground palace also has a passageway, which is another close resemblance with the royal palace when the tomb owner is alive. The King of Shang Dynasty’s mausoleum in the northwestern hill of Yin Xu has four passageways inside the tomb chamber. Similar four passageways can also be found in King of Qin’s mausoleum in Xianyang during the Warring States Period, Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum, and the eleven mausoleums of the West Han Dynasty. In the mausoleum for the King of Dingtao and his wife and concubines of the Western Han Dynasty, even decorative tomb doors were built on the four sides of Huangchangticou. The four passageways for the tomb chamber and four doors for Huangchangticou are clear evidence that the underground palace was treated like royal palace for kings and queens. In the East Han Dynasty, one passageway was built in the chamber (southern passageway), and four doors were opened for the above-ground mausoleum plot. This practice continued in the Tang and Song dynasties. The passageway in high-grade tombs is also a posthumous mark reflecting the tomb owner’s hierarchical status while alive. Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, the shape of “亞” for the four passageways in tombs was a special hallmark for the kings. If two passageways formed the shape of “中” from north to south or from east to west, then this tomb’s grade was lower than “亞”-shaped tombs but still higher than other ones. If there was only one passageway with the shape of “甲”, then its grade was another level lower. And ordinary tombs usually had no passageway at all. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the “亞”- and “中”-shaped passageways almost disappeared and the kings and senior officials only built one passageway in their tombs. Since then, the number of passageways was no longer a key item to distinguish the grade of tombs.

3.1.3.3

Mausoleum Yard

Starting from the Spring and Autumn Period, yards were built for kings’ mausoleums. In the 13 kings’ mausoleums for the state of Qin during Spring and Autumn Period, found near the relics of Yong City in Fengxiang, Shaanxi, dry moat was used to mark the boundary for each of them. The Dongling (Eastern Mausoleum) for Qin in the Warring States Period continued this practice. Building walls as the ground boundary

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for the enclosed mausoleum yard may start from the Warring States Period, and earlier examples were found in eastern states, such as King of Zhao’s mausoleum in Handan, Hebei, King of Wei’s mausoleum in Guwei Village, Hui County, Henan and Kings of Qin’s mausoleum in Xianyang, Shaanxi. Emperor Qin Shi Huang absorbed this idea from the eastern states and built high walls to form yards for his mausoleum. This practice was later followed by all the emperors in China and remained unchanged until the end of feudal society. The layout of the mausoleum yard was mainly rectangular in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. A few of them were square. Starting from the Western Han Dynasty, most mausoleum yards used square shape and this continued in the imperial mausoleums in the Tang and Song dynasties. In the Ming Xiaoling of the Ming Dynasty, a round-shaped treasure city was built around the tomb mound and a rectangular yard was built to the southern side of the treasure city. The two structures were connected from north to south, and the ritual buildings were allocated inside. This layout was followed by the imperial mausoleums of the Qing Dynasty.

Relics of Kings of Qin’s mausoleum in Dabaozi Mountain, Li County, Gansu. Kings of Qin’s mausoleum lies in Dabaozi Mountain, 12 km to the east of the Li County town. Four large mausoleums for the kings of the State of Qin were discovered in the 1990s. The unearthed artifacts were unique across the county and became well-known worldwide, over 300 pieces were rated as grade one cultural relic in China. After analysis of the unearthed artifacts, the experts made a preliminary conclusion that the tomb owner was probably Qin Zhong, Duke Zhuang of Qin, or Duke Xiang of Qin. And this mausoleum was confirmed to be the Xichui Mausoleum, the first mausoleum in the history of the State of Qin.

3.1 Synopsis

3.1.3.4

289

Gate Towers

The emergence of gate towers is directly linked with mausoleum yards. As the entrance to the enclosed yard, the gate tower could only come into existence after the yard. Mausoleums are built to symbolize the capital city and palace, so the gate tower also has a high resemblance with the city gate or palace gate. So far, the earliest mausoleum gate towers discovered by archaeologists are the ones in the mausoleum for Kings of Qin in the northwest of Xianyang, the capital city during the Warring States Period. These gate towers are entranceways to the mausoleum yard, but the specifications of the towers remained unclear. Strictly speaking, the earliest mausoleum gate towers with the clearest specifications discovered by archaeologists are the eastern and western gate towers for the inner yard of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum. They use the form of “triple gate towers”. This form lasted for a very long period in history as a regulated feature for imperial mausoleums. The Han Dynasty inherited many rituals from the Qin Dynasty. In the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty, there are gate towers at each of the four entrances, all with the form of triple gate towers. In the Qianling, a combined mausoleum for Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty, which has been excavated by archaeologists, there are triple gate towers outside the entrance to the mausoleum yard.

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Sketch map of the relics of triple gate towers for the eastern and western entrances of Emperor Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum

3.1 Synopsis

3.1.3.5

291

Ritual Buildings in Mausoleum

Ancient people believe that after death, people would enter another world and continue to live as if they were alive. This may be the original rationale of making offerings and paying tribute to the ancestors. Archaeological materials prove that as early as the Xia and Shang dynasties, there were buildings with tribute functions in burial grounds. Above the tomb of Fuhao, wife of King Wu Ding of the Shang Dynasty, found in Yin Xu, Anyang, there is a square building with a side length of five meters. Mr. Yang Hongxun regarded this as a dedicated ritual building for the mausoleum. There are more building relics with this nature found in the mausoleums from the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period, for example, the Mausoleum for the Kings of Qin in Fengxiang, Shaanxi, the Mausoleum for the King of Wei in Hui County, Henan and the Mausoleum for the King of the Zhongshan Kingdom in Pingshan, Hebei. All these mausoleums have relics of houses above the tombs. A copper plate Plan Map of the Royal Tomb (Zhaoyu Tu) was unearthed from the Mausoleum of the Zhongshan Kingdom, which is a detailed map of the mausoleum area, including the specifications of the hall of offerings.

Gold inlaid copper plate map Zhaoyu Tu of the Zhongshan Kingdom Mausoleum· the Warring States Period

Starting from Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum, the resting hall became the main sacrifice building in imperial mausoleums. Actually, it used to be the offering hall from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The resting hall for Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum was square and in the Western Han Dynasty, the imperial mausoleums used the shape of a rectangle. This change in shape was likely caused by imitating the royal palaces during the emperors’ living days. As the main hall in an imperial mausoleum, the resting hall should follow the style of the Front Hall in the royal palace. While in the Han Dynasty, the Front Hall in the royal palace was usually rectangular in flat.

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The ritual buildings in mausoleums were mainly built above tombs before the Warring States Period. In the Eastern Mausoleum of Qin and the Emperor Qin Shihuang’s Mausoleum, the ritual buildings were moved to the side of tombs, still within the mausoleum yard. Possibly after the Yangling Mausoleum for Emperor Jingdi of the Han Dynasty, these buildings were placed outside the mausoleum yard for emperor and empress, but still inside the big mausoleum precinct. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, the ritual buildings were mostly found in the eastern or southern side of the earth mound in imperial mausoleums. Some additional architectures such as stone halls were also constructed in front of imperial mausoleums. In the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties, because of incessant wars and turmoil in the north, frugality and simplicity were the norms for imperial mausoleums, so as to avoid being looted and excavated. No mounds or trees were used to mark the locality. Neither were resting halls or enclosed yards built. In the Northern Wei Dynasty, a stone room, similar to an ancestral temple, was built in front of Yonggu Mausoleum for Empress Feng, thus restoring the mausoleum tradition from the Qin and Han dynasties. There were new developments, as large stone sculptures were placed along the spirit way. In the Southern Dynasty, imperial mausoleums usually had offering halls and large stone animals were set up in the yard. In the imperial mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty, as a routine a sacrifice hall would be built within the mausoleum yard, at the north side of the southern gate. Also called resting hall, it was a major ritual building in the mausoleum, used for hosting sacrifice rituals. Its location was usually on the western side in the south, namely the southwestern part of the precinct. The lower palace, getting this name because it is below the shanling (mausoleum), was the residence for the maids and officials who guarded the mausoleum and it was also the place to attend the daily necessities and serve food for the spirit of the town owner. The Northern Song Dynasty followed almost all the construction rules for the ritual buildings of imperial mausoleums from the Tang Dynasty. The upper palace was actually the resting hall in the Han Dynasty or the sacrifice hall in the Tang Dynasty. The lower palace in the Song Dynasty was in the northwestern part of imperial mausoleums, a location selected by geomancy at that time. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the upper palace and the lower palace were arranged to be on the same axis, a layout totally different from previous dynasties. In the Yuan Dynasty, the custom of shallow burial from the ethnic Mongolians was followed in the imperial mausoleums, and there were no ritual buildings in the vicinity. In the Ming Dynasty, lower palace was canceled and the buildings of the sacrifice hall (namely the resting hall in the Qin and the Han dynasties and the offering hall or upper palace in the Tang and Song dynasties) were enlarged. A set of courtyard with the sacrifice hall in the center could satisfy the demand of hosting large-scale sacrificial activities. Symmetric side halls were added on the eastern and western sides. The courtyard of the sacrifice hall was linked to the northern yard, which centered around the royal tomb, and also linked to the southern yard, which housed the spirit warehouse, spirit kitchen, and tablet pavilion. The three courtyards were positioned on the same axis line directed south to north.

3.1 Synopsis

3.1.3.6

293

Stone Carvings Along Spirit Way

For the ancient Chinese imperial mausoleums preserved until today, other than the usual high earth mound and ritual buildings, the most attractive feature must be those stone carvings on the front side, which are marked by their long historic origin, large number in existence and exquisite form. Ancient historic documents date the origin of placing stone statues to a very remote past. Legend says that stone camels were put both in front of the mausoleum for Qingdu, mother of King Yao, and also the mausoleum for King Yao, stone figures were put in front of the Duke of Zhou’s tomb, and there were stone drum, stone figure, stone ni, stone tiger, stone goat, and stone horse in front of the tomb for King Xuan of Zhou. Some historic documents recorded a pair of stone qilins were placed in front of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum. Unfortunately, the stone carvings mentioned above in historic documents have not been verified by archaeological excavations yet. Judged by the archaeological materials found so far, there have been no stone carving objects discovered from the imperial mausoleums in the Qin and Western Han dynasties. But since the middle years of the Western Han Dynasty, there were some stone carvings in front of the tombs for a few senior officials and noble families. The most typical examples are the stone carvings in front of the tomb for Huo Qubing and the tomb of Zhang Qian, the stone tigers and stone figures in front of the tombs from the Han Dynasty located in Du Village, Anyi County Shanxi and Dongzouzhuang Village, Zou County Shandong. There are deep historic reasons for placing stone carvings in front of the tombs for Huo Qubing and Zhang Qian, both from the middle years of the Western Han Dynasty. Huo Qubing was a famous general who made victorious expeditions to the western regions, and Zhang Qian was a famous diplomat who opened up the Silk Road. Their outstanding achievements were made on the stage of the western regions, and the western culture had a deep influence on both of them. In the western regions, the tradition of placing stone carvings in front of tombs began a little earlier than in the middle kingdom. In the last few years, the archaeological work in the stone figure and stone coffin relics of Aletai, Fuyun, and Qinghe in the northern grass plains of Xinjiang has found standing stone figures or standing stones in front of tombs. These stone figures and stone coffins dated back to the Qin or Han dynasties. It is highly possible that the stone carvings in front of Huo Qubing and Zhang Qian were influenced by the western region’s burial culture of using stone figures and stone coffins. Obviously compared with the stone carvings in the grass plains in northern Xinjiang, the ones in front of the tomb for Huo Quibing had deeper and broader historic meanings.

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Stone figures on grass plains

Stone sculpture of Horse Treads on a Xiongnu in the tomb of Huo Qubing

From the perspective of statue topic selection and combination pattern, the stone carvings in Huo Qubing’s tomb had a deep and far-reaching influence on imperial

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mausoleums in later dynasties. For example, the stone tiger in front of Huo Qubing’s tomb was actually the predecessor of stone bixie in the Wei and Jin dynasties. Bixie is a mythical animal with a modified body from a tiger or lion. Placing stone tigers in front of imperial mausoleums or tombs for senior officials and noble families continued for a very long period. Stone horses existed for the longest time in front of tombs compared with other stone carving sculptures and also spread to more places. For example, the six horses in front of the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty had similar connotations as the stone horse in Huo Qubing’s tombs. In addition, the usage of stone figures and stone elephants as tomb ornaments was inherited by descendants. Judging by current materials, the placing of stone carvings in front of imperial mausoleums emerged no earlier than the Eastern Han Dynasty. In Commentary on the Watercourse Classic (Shui Jing Zhu), it was recorded that stone elephant and stone horse were placed before Yuanling, the mausoleum for Emperor Guangwu, personal name Liu Xiu of the Han Dynasty. The Wei and Jin dynasties were turbulent periods with many wars. The emperors and kings totally discarded the tradition of extravagant burials and no tomb structures were built above ground, not to say placing stone carvings on the front side. In the Southern and Northern dynasties, the earth mound gradually came back for imperial mausoleums and stone carvings returned to the front side. The typical examples for this period were stone figures in the Jingling mausoleum of the Northern Wei Dynasty in Luoyang, and huabiao, qilin and tianlu found in front of many imperial mausoleums in the Southern Dynasty. The Tang Dynasty had a formalized system in placing stone carvings in front of imperial mausoleums, including huabiao, heavenly horse, ostrich, stone horse, stone figures, and stone lion, and this system had a significant influence on the imperial mausoleums of the following dynasties. In the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, some new categories were added to the sculptures but the majority of stone carvings were still the inherited system made up of huabiao, stone lion, stone figures, stone horse, heavenly horse (or luduan, qilin). The stone elephants found in the imperial mausoleums in the Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties were actually a restoration of the tradition in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, ruiqin and luduan replaced the positions of ostrich and heavenly horse in the Tang Dynasty, and tiger and goat were added. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, camels were added to the stone carvings, but there were no tigers and goats. All these stone carvings were placed in front of imperial mausoleums with deep meanings.

3.1.3.7

Huabiao

Huabiao (or called shiwangzhu stone watch column or simply biao) was first used as a traffic signal in ancient times. It was commonly placed in front of watch posts, bridges, city gates, and palaces. It could also be used as a boundary mark but was never used in front of mausoleums. The first huabiao placed in front of a mausoleum was the mausoleum of King Zhao of Yan in the Warring States Period. Before the Eastern Han Dynasty, the material used for huabiao was usually wood and changed

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into stone afterward. Placing huabiao in front of imperial mausoleums became a formalized routine since the Southern Dynasty and a lot of them have been preserved until today. From the Tang Dynasty to the end of ancient society in China, all dynasties placed huabiao in front of imperial mausoleums, except the Yuan Dynasty, as the situation of their mausoleums remained unknown.

Stone huabiao for the tomb of Han Shou

The shape of huabiao was depicted in the stone reliefs from the Han Dynasty. The stone huabiao for the tomb of Han Shou, General of the Flying Cavalry in the Western Jin Dynasty, is preserved until today. It has a round column body with vertical and convex ridged melon motifs. There are two strings of cord patterns, one at the top and one at the base. There is a plain surface in the upper half used for inscriptions. And a stone animal carved by circular engravure is put on top of the column. In the Southern Dynasty, the shape of stone huabiao for imperial mausoleums was similar, but the stone animals, round cap with lotus petal patterns, straight and ridged column body with concave reflected the influence by Persian and Indian cultures. Significant changes were made to the shape of huabiao in the mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty, and this had a deep influence on later dynasties. In the Xianling, the mausoleum for Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of Tang, a stone animal was on the top of huabiao and chi dragon pattern reliefs were carved on the column base. These were typical style elements inherited from the previous Southern Dynasty. But there were no plain surfaces or inscriptions. The form of huabiao for the Qianling, combined mausoleum for Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian, was similar with all the following ones for later emperors. The stone animal on the top was changed into precious pearls, upward and downward lotus petal reliefs were carved along the top plate and also the junction of column body and column base. Creeping patterns were carved on each face of the column. These changes reflected the influence of Buddhism Culture on huabiao in the Tang Dynasty.

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The huabiao in the mausoleums of the Northern Song Dynasty continued the building codes from the Tang Dynasty. On the column body, there were not only engraved lines but also bas-relief. More obvious changes were made in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the column body had six faces with cloud reliefs. The top was a round-shaped cap decorated with a dragon in cloud reliefs. Also, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were four huabiaos on the four corners of stele pavilion, each with a small stone lion on the top. The column body was covered by dragon pattern reliefs and there was a cloud plaque on the upper part. All these features were different from the huabiao on spirit way.

3.1.3.8

Stone Stele

The earliest origin of stone stele was a wooden tool used to draw coffins into the pit. In the mausoleum for Duke Jing of Qin, wooden pillars used for drawing coffins were discovered in the southern and northern sides of the tomb pit. These were very early steles discovered by archaeologists. The earliest stone stele for tombs preserved today is the Pao Xiaoyu carved stone dated 26 B.C. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, putting stelae in front of tombs became popular. And the earliest stone stele for imperial mausoleum preserved today is the one for the mausoleum of Emperor Gong of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. In the six dynasties era, the shape of stone stelae generally followed the routine of the Han Dynasty, comprising of stele head, body, and base. The head was decorated with two intertwined dragons, and there was a round hole in the middle of the top. The body was carved with inscriptions and the base was a giant turtle, as ancient people believed in the superstrength of turtles.

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Rubbing from the Pao Xiaoyu carved stone

3.1 Synopsis

299

The wordless stele in the Qianling Mausoleum

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The holy deeds stele in the Qianling Mausoleum

Setting stelae was very popular in the Tang Dynasty, but there were only two imperial mausoleums with stelae, the Qianling and the Dingling. There were two stelae in the Qianling, one on each side of the spirit way. The left one was the wordless stele, and the right one was the holy deeds stele. There was only one stele in the Dingling, which was wordless. There have been no stelae found in the imperial mausoleums from the Northern Song Dynasty. In the Ming Tombs in Beijing, at the southern end of stone sculptures, which was also in the middle of spirit way, a stele pavilion was built to house a giant stele with the inscriptions written by Emperor Renzong of the Ming Dynasty. There were also wordless stelae in front of each of the thirteen imperial mausoleums in the Ming Tombs. In the Qing Dynasty, two stelae would be set up for each imperial mausoleum. They were also placed in the middle

3.1 Synopsis

301

of the spirit way, but they may either locate in the northern end or the southern end of the stone sculptures as there were no strict codes about this arrangement.

3.1.3.9

Stone Lion

Stone lions are commonly found animals in the stone sculptures area. The earliest imperial mausoleum which had stone lions was the Jingling in the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the Southern Dynasties, stone lions could be put in front of tombs for officials. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, Li Hu and Li Jue were granted the title of emperor posthumously as royal ancestors, and stone lions were put in front of their tombs. Starting from the Qianling Mausoleum, all the following imperial mausoleums in the Tang Dynasty placed a pair of stone lions at each of the four gates of the mausoleum courtyard. After the Tang Dynasty, all the following dynasties used stone lions as gate animals for imperial mausoleums. Lions came from Africa and Western Asia. In ancient Egyptian mythology, lions were guardians of the sacred land. The world famous Great Sphinx was the guardian of the Great Pyramid of Giza and also an incarnation of the God Ra. In West Asia, the city gate of Hattusas, capital of the Hittite Empire was decorated by lion sculptures, marked by rudimentary simplicity. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, lions were transported to China as a royal tribute and the Chinese people at that time deemed them as divine animals. Their first arrival happened almost at the same time as Buddhism was spread to China. Lions were deified in Buddhism and people granted them with the accolades of immortals and Buddha equivalent merits.

Stone lion for the Tailing Mausoleum of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang

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Before the Tang Dynasty, imperial mausoleums usually put Tianlu and Bixie among the stone animals. Starting from the Qianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian, stone lions replaced the positions of Tianlu and Bixie, and this arrangement was followed by all the imperial mausoleums in later dynasties. This may be explained by the further spread of Buddhism in China. The Qianling Mausoleum was the beginning of such replacement because both Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu Zetian were devoted Buddhists.

3.1.3.10

Stone Tiger

The earliest stone tigers for tombs were found in the tombs of Huo Qubing and Zhang Qian in the Western Han Dynasty. Before the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the earliest imperial mausoleum with stone tiger but no stone lion was the mausoleum for Emperor Wendi of the Western Wei Dynasty. In the Wei-Jin Southern and Northern dynasties period, the Tianlu and Bixie, mythical animals in front of tombs, were designed and processed as exaggerated versions of tiger, or based on the combination of both features from tiger and lion.

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Legend told the tiger as the king of animals and could devour evil spirits. For the safety of the deceased, ancient people had the custom of using tigers to guard the tombs. The last imperial mausoleum with stone tigers as gate animals was the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty. Since then, some imperial mausoleums in the Northern Song Dynasty placed stone tigers, but no longer as gate animals.

Stone tiger in the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu of Tang

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Stone tiger in front of the tomb for Huo Qubing

3.1.3.11

Heavenly Horse

The stone carvings of heavenly horses (winged horses) only existed in Tang Dynasty mausoleums, with horns in the head and wings along the two ribs. The records of heavenly horses already existed in ancient documents. In the Han Dynasty, the good steeds from the Western Regions and Central Asia were called heavenly horses. And since the Han and Jin dynasties, they were usually deemed as a form of auspicious sign descended from heaven. By putting them in the imperial mausoleums, the dynasty wanted to manifest that the dynasty was blessed with prosperity and sage emperor.

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Heavenly horse in the Tailing Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzong of Tang

Obvious changes were made to the design of heavenly horses within the dynasty. The typical example for the early stage was the Qianling Mausoleum, the wings along the two ribs had complicated patterns and the space within the four legs below the belly was hollow. In the middle stage, as shown in the Tailing Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzong, each side of the wings had three long feathers, the part within the four legs was solid stone and the surface was decorated with cloud patterns. As in the later stage, symmetry was emphasized when putting heavenly horses along the spirit way. The heavenly horse on the left side had its tail drooping down, the right-side one had its tail plaited. In the Chongling Mausoleum for Emperor Dezong, the left-side heavenly horse had the mane hanging loose and the right-side one had the mane cut.

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Qilin

Qilin appeared very early as part of the stone carvings for imperial mausoleums. During the six dynasties period, Qilins existed in all the kings’ mausoleums. In the Tang Dynasty, only the Qiaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Ruizong didn’t use Qilins and replaced them with heavenly horses instead. Qilins were widely used in the Northern Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties for imperial mausoleums. As a mythical animal, qilin has the body of a deer, the four legs of a horse, the tail of an ox, and a horn on the head. Qilin, together with phoenix, turtle, and dragon, is referred to as the four mythical guardian spirits. Qilin is considered the mythical animal with virtues.

Qilin in the Ming Tombs

3.1.3.13

Tianlu, Bixie

Tianlu and Bixie are two legendary divine animals. In the Western Han Dynasty, the two were carved based on the appearance of a tiger. And since the Eastern Han Dynasty, their shapes were a combination of the features of tiger and lion. Tianlu

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and Bixie both have wings extending from the two ribs and their difference is in the head. Tianlu has two horns, and Bixie has none. In the Southern Dynasties, Qilin and Tianlu sculptures were placed among the stone carvings in mausoleums. Bixie’s sculptures would be put in front of the tombs for kings or dukes.

Stone Tianlu in the Yong Ningling Mausoleum for Emperor Wen of the Chen Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties Period

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Stone Bixie for the tomb of Xiao Hui, Prince Loyalty and Valiance of Boyang of the Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties Period

3.1.3.14

Stone Rhinoceros

The Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu of Tang was the only mausoleum with rhino sculptures in the stone carvings. Rhino was considered a mysterious animal by the ancient people, and since the Zhou and Qin dynasties, there had been a continuous reduction in the natural population of rhinos within China. Knowing that the animal was regarded as an auspicious sign from heaven by Chinese emperors, the neighboring regions and countries would often present rhinos to China as important tribute. In the Han and Tang dynasties, receiving rhinos as tribute from the countries of the Western Regions, South Asia, and Southeast Asia was commonly kept account of by historical records. All the successive rulers of ancient China treated rhinos with special care and interest. For example, in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, bronze rhinos were crafted as national treasures. In the Qin Dynasty, Li Bing had five huge stone rhinos carved in Dujiangyan, Sichuan to suppress the devils in water which caused floods. In the courtyard of the mausoleum for Empress Dowager Bo of the Western Han Dynasty, live rhinos were buried for sacrifice. In the royal Shanglinyuan garden near Chang’an City in the Han Dynasty, rhinos were raised as divine animals. Emperor Taizong of Tang received rhinos as tribute from foreign envoys and presented them to the imperial ancestral temple.

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Stone rhino in the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu of Tang

3.1.3.15

Stone Elephant

The earliest stone elephant found was the one in front of the tomb for Huo Qubing. Historical records showed that in the Yuanling Mausoleum for Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the stone elephant was put on the front side. In the Northern Song Dynasty and also the dynasties afterward, stone elephants would usually appear in the stone carvings in imperial mausoleums. Elephants are symbols of auspice and peace, legend says that they also have the power to exorcize demons. Maybe out of these two reasons, stone elephants were placed along the spirit way for imperial mausoleums.

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Stone elephant in the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum

3.1.3.16

Stone Ostrich

From the early Pliocene Epoch to late Pleistocene Epoch, ostriches lived widely in the northern part of China, reaching almost the whole loess area to the north of the Qinling Mountains. With the changing geographical environment, ostriches disappeared in China. They continue to live and multiply in Central Asia, West Asia, and Africa. Because of their outstanding vitality and speedy strides, they are treated as rare poultry by local people.

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Stone ostrich in the Qiaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Ruizong of Tang

In the Han and Tang dynasties, foreign envoys usually presented ostriches as gifts to the royal court and people at that time would call them “big birds”. This homage paid by foreign envoys was favored greatly by the emperors, and some would even ask scholars to compose songs for commemoration. Putting stone ostriches in front of tombs already existed during the Eastern Han Dynasty. Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty once received ostriches from the Tocharians and presented them as rare poultry and valuable commemorative items to his father’s tomb, the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of Tang. Empress Wu Zetian took ostriches as auspice signs endorsed from heaven which would occur when the world was ruled by a sage king. Therefore, it was not difficult to understand why stone ostriches were put in the Qianling Mausoleum. They were also placed among the stone carvings along the spirit way for all the following imperial mausoleums in the Tang Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty’s imperial mausoleums, ostriches were replaced by Luanniao. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, neither ostriches nor Luanniaos were found in the stone carvings. The stone carvings of heavenly horses, rhinos, and ostriches witnessed the friendly exchanges with outside by the central authority, and embodied the spirit of “embracing distant peoples with virtue”, as one merit of sage kings.

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Stone Horse

Ancient people valued horses as “the foundation of armed forces and a strategic resource with national importance”. As early as the Shang and Zhou dynasties, genuine chariots and horses were buried as funeral objects for the deceased and later replaced by figurines. People are still amazed by the quantity and formation of terra-cotta warriors in Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum and also the Han warriors in Yangjiawan of Xianyang. The earliest stone horses for tombs known so far were the standing horse, recumbent horse, and galloping horse in front of the tomb for Huo Qubing in the Western Han. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, as stone carvings became popular with tombs, more stone horses were put in front of tombs.

Stone horse for Qiaoling Mausoleum of Emperor Ruizong of Tang

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The earliest imperial mausoleum with stone horses may be the Yuanling Mausoleum for Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Wei-Jin Southern and Northern dynasties period, no stone horses were found near the tombs for kings or officials. In the Tang Dynasty, all emperors’ tombs had stone horses, except for the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu of Tang. The “Zhaoling Liujun” (Six Horses of the Zhaoling Mausoleum) reliefs were commissioned to honor the horses ridden by the emperor in important battles. While in other Tang Dynasty mausoleums, the stone horses resembled the ceremonial horses in the royal guards of honor, and the stone person standing nearby should be the horse instructing officer. The routine of placing stone horses in imperial mausoleums from the Tang Dynasty was inherited by the following dynasties of Song, Ming, and Qing. But there were differences in the number of ceremonial horses, their ornaments, and horse instructing officers in various dynasties.

3.1.3.18

Stone Sheep

In ancient times, sheep were thought to symbolize auspice and longevity, with the special power of dispelling burglars and suppressing evil spirits. Placing stone sheep in front of tombs was very common since the Eastern Han Dynasty till the Ming and Qing dynasties. But only in the Northern Song Dynasty, they appeared as a group in stone sculptures for the imperial mausoleum.

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Stone Sheep in the imperial mausoleum in the Song Dynasty

3.1.3.19

Stone Camel

Archaeological work in the Pingling Mausoleum for Emperor Zhaodi of the Western Han Dynasty found remains of camels as burial objects, and later pottery camels were unearthed in the tombs of the Wei and Jin dynasties. The three-colored glazed pottery camels in the Tang Dynasty tombs were famous for their lifelike shapes and vivid colors. Camels are emblems of the friendship exchanges along the Silk Road, and stone camels were put in the Ming and Qing dynasties’ imperial mausoleums as part of the stone sculptures along the spirit way.

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Stone camels in the Ming Tombs

3.1.3.20

Stone Figurine

We can view ancient people’s arrangement of miscellaneous issues after death as condensed representations of their lifestyles while alive. In the tombs from ancient dynasties, as far as the Shang and Zhou, human sacrifice was found and some tombs used human figurines made from jade, stone, pottery, or copper. As a ritual, human sacrifice continued until the Ming and Qing dynasties. The identities of the people who were sacrificed or figurines buried could be the close protege, officials or concubines, and also guards of honor and other underlings of the tomb owner. Placing stone statues above ground and in front of tombs and mausoleums should be an extended new format of the human sacrifice or figurines inside tombs. Since middle ancient times, the stone statues in front of imperial mausoleums as part of the stone sculpture were meant to be guards of honor, similar as the human sacrifice or human figurines buried inside the tomb who were guards or underlings. Judging by the relatively reliable materials found so far, the practice of putting stone statues in front of tombs appeared no earlier than the Han Dynasty. While for imperial mausoleums, the earliest ones with stone statues in the front side were the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xiaoxuan of the Northern Wei Dynasty and the Yongling Mausoleum for Emperor Wen of the Western Wei Dynasty. The statues in these two places all had weapons in their hands. Since the Qianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozong of Tang and Empress Wu Zetian, placing stone statues became part of the formulated routines. After the Tang Dynasty, stone statues as scholar officials and armed officers were also placed in the imperial mausoleums in the Northern Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, but in smaller number compared with Tang.

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Stone statue in the Qiaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Ruizong of Tang

3.1.3.21

Statue of Fan (People from Other Ethnicities)

Previously, putting stone statues of people from other ethnicities in mausoleums were thought to begin from the Tang Dynasty, and it was also believed that within Tang, only the Zhaoling Mausoleum and the Qianling Mausoleum had these statues. So far the earliest tomb in ancient China that had stone statues of other ethnicities should be the tomb of Huo Qubing in the Western Han Dynasty. There are two stone statues, one is Horse Treads on a Xiongnu, and the other is a barbarian. The former’s identity should be a defeated enemy, while the latter’s identity needs further research. The stone statues for Huo Qubing’s tombs originated from the burial customs in the northern grass plains of Xinjiang, which used stone statues and stone coffins. In that region, stone statues or stone tablets were erected to represent the war prisoners and they were used as a decoration of the tombs so they could serve the deceased in the afterlife. Huo Qubing tomb’s stone statues should have similar meanings. In the period of over 700 years between the middle Western Han Dynasty and early Tang Dynasty, so far there were very few imperial mausoleums were known to have stone statues of other ethnicities. Then it became common starting from the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of Tang. This ritual was a development from traditional customs, and on the other hand, it also mirrored the greater breadth and depth in the cultural exchanges with other regions. In historic documents, Zhaoling and Qianling were the only Tang Dynasty mausoleums recorded with statues of other ethnicities, having 14 statues of other ethnicities and 64 “royal guests statues”, respectively. There are different sayings about the identities of these statues and our opinion is that there should not be a single identity. Some of them are from conquered or naturalized groups, and some

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are envoys from friendly countries or regions. In the past few years, some stone statues of other ethnicities were also found in five or six Tang Dynasty mausoleums. In that dynasty, the central authority had frequent exchanges with the western regions. If Zhaoling for Emperor Taizong put stone statues of other ethnicities to show as “ones captured by late emperor”, then this ritual’s meaning is the same as the stone statue and stone coffin culture, which used stone statues to represent prisoners of war. This custom in the Tang Dynasty may be influenced by the burial rituals of Persia. It should be pointed out that the rulers of Tang gave this custom new meaning, that the statues represented not only the people captured, but more importantly those who were naturalized and pampered. The latter ones had more positive political meanings, which improved the friendship with other countries and also safeguarded the unification of the country with diverse ethnic groups. The Northern Song Dynasty also had statues of other ethnicities in the mausoleum sculptures, but they were mainly servants. Their identities and meanings are different from the ones in Tang.

Original site of stone statues for 14 kings of Fan vassal states, Northern Sima Gate, Zhaoling Mausoleum of Tang

In different dynasties, the position of stone sculptures in the layout of imperial mausoleums may not be the same. In the tomb of Huo Qubing in the Western Han Dynasty, there is a stone statue of “Horse Treads on a Xiongnu” on the southern side and there are other stone sculptures above the tomb. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, some tombs placed stone sculptures on the northern side, and some chose the eastern side or southern side. The six dynasties have some differences in the layout of stone sculptures. For the imperial mausoleum of Tang, usually a pair of stone lions are placed on each of the four gates of the mausoleum yard (the Xianling Mausoleum

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uses stone tigers), three pairs of ceremonial horses are placed outside the northern gate and most of the stone sculptures are placed along the eastern and western sides of the spirit way out of the southern gate. In the Northern Song, Ming, and Qing dynasties, stone sculptures were placed generally in the same manner as the Tang mausoleums, but there were no more ceremonial horses outside the northern gate. The research and analysis of the position of stone sculptures are helpful to determine the direction of the mausoleum and also offer indirect materials to understand the capital city’s layout plan, because imperial mausoleums were usually built on the model of capital. Around the imperial mausoleums, the attendant tombs and pits appeared no later than the Western Zhou Dynasty. Historic documents recorded that King Wen of Zhou first created the custom of feudal lords buried in attendant tombs with the royal mausoleums. For example, Tai Gongwang, a founding father of the Western Zhou, was enfeoffed with the land in Yingqiu, Shandong. But after death, he was buried near the mausoleum for King Wen in Shaanxi. The attendant burial system further developed in the Spring and Autumn period. And in the Qin and Han dynasties, the number of attendant tombs became astonishingly high. In the Western Han Dynasty’s imperial mausoleums, the attendant tombs were many in number and big in scale. A special burial plot was reserved in the imperial mausoleum yard. There was a large earth mound above the tomb, and ritual buildings were built nearby. Starting from the Han Dynasty, a routine was formalized with the position of attendant tombs in imperial mausoleums, which seemed to be connected with the mausoleum’s main gate. For example, the Qin and Han dynasties’ mausoleums used the eastern gate as the main entrance and the attendant tombs were mainly on the eastern side of the mausoleum. In the Tang Dynasty, the attendant tombs were mostly on the southern side, as the mausoleums used the southern gate as the main entrance. This layout can be explained by the principle that mausoleum yards should be built to resemble the capital city and the royal palace. The actual utilization of Chang’an city and Weiyang Palace, the capital and royal palace of the Western Han Dynasty, showed that both used the eastern gate as the main entrance. While in the Tang Dynasty, Chang’an city used the southern gate as the main entrance instead. When emperors held royal ceremonies in greeting the subjects, the senior officials and generals should stand in rows on the left and right sides out of the main entrance of the main hall. The attendant tombs were placed out of the main entrance of the mausoleum yard and along both sides of the Sima way, similar to the ceremony when the emperor was greeting the subjects. Generally speaking, the closer an attendant tomb gets to the imperial mausoleum, the higher social status is implied for the tomb owner. For example, in the over 100 attendant tombs in the Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, Xiao He and Cao Can are the top-ranked officials and their tombs have the shortest distance to the mausoleum. The Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty has over 150 attendant tombs. The layout shows the attendant tombs on Jiu Zong Mountain are the closest ones, which are owned by Wei Zheng, Princess Xin Cheng, Princess Chang Le, and Princess Cheng Yang, all outstanding statesmen and princesses.

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The owners of attendant tombs, who were allowed to be buried inside the mausoleum area, were all upper-class people in the ruling group, but with different political identities. Some of them were notable ministers and generals, some were members and relatives of the royal family. In one specific dynasty, the changing political identities of the people buried in attendant tombs at various stages offer another perspective, which could reflect the historic political dynamics of this dynasty. The two big dynasties of Han and Tang are typical examples. Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu was the founder and first emperor of the Western Han Dynasty. Members of his founding team, including Xiao He, Cao Can, Zhou Bo, Wang Ling, etc., were all buried in the attendant tombs of the Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu. While during the late stage of the Western Han Dynasty, in the Weiling Mausoleum for Emperor Yuandi, Yanling Mausoleum for Emperor Chengdi, and Yiling Mausoleum for Emperor Aidi, the owners of the attendant tombs were kins on the side of the emperor’s mother and wife, male chaperons or concubines and maids. Most of them were kins of the emperor’s mother and wife. Li Yuan and Li Shimin were the first two emperors of the Tang Dynasty, and the outstanding cofounders of the dynasty such as Wei Zheng, Li Ji, Li Jing, Yuchi Jingde, and Cheng Yaojin were all buried in the attendant tombs of the Zhaoling Mausoleum. In the Dingling Mausoleum for Emperor Zhongzong, most of the attendant tombs belonged to the royal relatives and it continued to be the norm until the end of the Tang Dynasty.

Attendant tomb of Xiao He in the Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty

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Attendant tomb of Wei Zheng in the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty

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Mural Painting of Etiquette Guards (Yiwei Tu) in the attendant tomb of Prince Yide in the Qianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty

The changing identities for the owners of attendant tombs actually reflected certain laws in the historic development of ancient dynasties. At the beginning of a new dynasty, the outstanding contributors in the founding team were also the backbone of the ruling class, so they could be buried in the imperial mausoleum as in attendant tombs. When the dynasty entered the stage of power maintenance, many descendants of the founding contributors became victims of the power struggle. To consolidate their political status, the highest rulers would use marriage to combine politics with bloodlines. This became an obvious feature in the attendant tombs in the Maoling Mausoleum for Emperor Wudi in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty. In the royal court power struggles, the Han emperors would usually choose to rely on the relatives on the mother and wife’s side to safeguard their status in the royal family, while keeping aloof from their direct kinsmen. So in the mausoleums of Han

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emperors, these relatives on mother and wife’s sides occupied a prominent position in the attendant tombs. Their power grew so big in the late stage of the Western Han Dynasty, and finally, the throne was usurped by Wang Mang. The highest rulers of the Tang Dynasty learned this costly lesson from the Han emperors and tried their best in containing the power of the relatives on the mother and wife’s side. In the attendant tombs of their imperial mausoleums, the royal kinsmen significantly outnumbered the relatives on the mother and wife’s side. This difference in the attendant tomb owners’ identities is one major distinction between the Han and Tang dynasties’ imperial mausoleums. There was no uniform rule regarding the sealing earth for the attendant tombs. In the attendant tombs for the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty preserved until today, most tombs have the sealing earth-shaped like bun (some tombs’ sealing earth was no longer in the original state), a few of them are shaped like an inverted cup and some individual tombs have the sealing earth-shaped like a mountain. The inverted cup was the preferred shape in ancient times. So far, the mountain-shaped sealing earth was found in three attendant tombs in the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty. One of them is the triple tombs as attendant tombs in the Changling Mausoleum, the other two are in the Maoling Mausoleum, respectively, tomb for Huo Qubing and tomb for Wei Qing. The sealing earth was shaped like a certain mountain for deep historical reasons. Historical documents told that the tomb for Huo Qubing was built to resemble the shape of the Qilian Mountains. This was to commemorate General Huo’s great victories in the war with xiongnus in the Qilian Mountains in his lifetime. The tomb was like a monument that would tell his achievements for a thousand years. The tomb of Wei Qing was built in the shape of Lushan Mountain, commemorating the battlefield in which he fought victoriously against the xiongnus.

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Tomb of Huo Qubing as an attendant tomb in the Maoling Mausoleum for Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty

The mountain-shaped tombs in the Western Han Dynasty had a deep impact on the later dynasties. For example, in the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the attendant tombs of Li Jing, Li Ji, Li Simo (Ashina Simo), Ashina She’er were all built to resemble mountains.

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Tomb of Li Ji as an attendant tomb in the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty

If the shape of sealing earth has some special meanings, then the scale of the earth reflects the power hierarchy at that time. The rulers in ancient times had clear and strict regulations about the scale (mainly the height) of the sealing earth, and the violators were subject to punishment.

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A pair of cavalry figurines unearthed in the Zhou Bo family tombs in Yang Jiawan

The attendant tombs of imperial mausoleums also have “subordinate” tombs. Rows or groups of sealing earth for attendant tombs were found in the imperial mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty with clear patterns, and they should be the subordinate tombs, as the descendants joined their grandfathers in the graveyard. For example, at the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, Zhou Bo was buried in the attendant tomb with Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu. His son Zhou Yafu died during the reign of Emperor Jingdi, and he was buried next to Zhou Bo as a subordinate tomb. This kind of subordinate tomb system further developed during the Tang Dynasty in the royal mausoleums and got formally documented as a rule. Just when the imperial mausoleums began to have attendant tombs, or a little earlier than that time, an attendant tomb pit was set nearby the mausoleum. In the ancient dynasty of Shang, a number of attendant tomb pits were found near the royal mausoleum in Yin Xu, mainly containing chariots and horses. In the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Period, the attendant tomb pits grew larger and larger. The horse sacrifice pit in the tomb of Duke Jing of Qi was 215 m long and

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buried over 600 sacrificed horses. The climax of attendant tomb pits, no matter in terms of scale, number, or category richness was reached by the mausoleum for Emperor Qin Shi Huang. The Han Dynasty inherited this tradition and after that, this arrangement gradually lost its popularity. The emperors of later dynasties still used large amount of treasures and jewelry to accompany the deceased emperors, but mainly placed them within the tomb instead of building specific attendant tomb pits outside.

Horse sacrifice pit in the tomb of Duke Jing of Qi

3.2 Archaeological Findings in the Imperial Mausoleums Capital cities are epitome of a nation, and “mausoleums are built as capital cities”. So imperial mausoleums are important materialized forms to understand the nation’s historic and cultural developments. The Ming and Qing dynasties were two historic periods in ancient China that the society’s historic and cultural traditions were fully integrated and achieved unprecedented heights, and their imperial mausoleums also embodied the ensemble of the accumulated experience of ancient imperial mausoleum systems.

3.2.1 Imperial Mausoleums of the Qing Dynasty There are twelve imperial mausoleums in the Qing Dynasty, located in three mausoleum areas, namely the Three Imperial Tombs of Shengjing before the Qing

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court entered the Shanhai Pass, and the Eastern and Western Qing Tombs after they entered the Pass.

3.2.1.1

The Three Imperial Tombs of Shengjing

They are also called “the three tombs of early Qing Dynasty”. They refer to the Yongling Mausoleum, for the Qing ancestors, the Fuling Mausoleum for Nurhaci, Emperor Taizu and the Zhaoling Mausoleum, for Huangtaiji, Emperor Taizong. The Yongling Mausoleum was built for the ancestors of the Qing royal family, and it was originally named as Xingjingling. The ancestors of Nurhaci, including the remote ancestor Mentemu, great-grandfather Fuman, grandfather Giocangga, father Taksi, his father’s elder brother Lidun and his father’s younger brother Taca Fiyanggu were buried there. It locates in the southern foot of Qiyuan Mountain, 20 km to the west of today’s Xinbin Manchu Autonomous County Town, Liaoning Province. The mausoleum yard is seated in the north while facing south and enclosed with red walls. The Yongling Mausoleum uses the southern gate as the main entrance and names it as “front palace gate”. Inside the gate there are four stele pavilions standing from east to west, each with a stele commemorating Nurhaci’s remote ancestor, greatgrandfather, grandfather, and father, respectively. At the front side of the stele pavilions, there is a big duty office quarter on the east and a big kitchen on the west. While at the back side, buildings on the east and west are fruit building and tasting room, respectively. On the north of the stele pavilions is the square city, which uses the southern gate, Qiyuan Gate as the main entrance. On the east and west sides of the main entrance, the red wall is decorated with a five-colored glazed dragon in cloud, like two sleeves of a clothing. Inside the Qiyuan Gate stands the main hall, Qiyuan Hall of the mausoleum. Behind it is the treasure city, and further behind is the tomb. In both the ground palace and underground palace of the Yongling Mausoleum, the tombs contained only relocated remains or personal effects.

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Stele pavilions for the four ancestors in the Yongling Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

In his early years, Nurhaci was a chief of left branch in Jian Zhou of the Ming Dynasty, and later got promoted to be General of the Dragon and Tiger. In 1616 (the first year in the reign of Tianming), Nurhaci founded the Later Jin Dynasty after unifying the Jurgen tribes and kept independent domain in Liaodong. In 1625 (the tenth year in the reign of Tianming), he moved the capital to Shenyang, and after death, he was buried in the northwestern corner of the Shenyang City. In 1629 (the 3rd year in the reign of Tiancong), his son Huang Taiji began to build the Fuling Mausoleum, a joint tomb for Nurhaci and Empress Xiaocigao. But the construction continued until 1651 (the 8th year in the reign of Shunzhi), when the mausoleum was mostly finished. The Fuling Mausoleum is in the eastern suburb of Shenyang, the southern foot of Tianzhu Mountain in the north of the Hun River. It is seated in the north and faces south. Enclosed with red wall, the main entrance is in the center of the southern side. Outside the main entrance, in symmetry stand the stone lions, huabiao, stone memorial gateway, and the dismount stele, which is inscribed in five languages, Manchurian, Mongolian, Han Chinese, Hui, and Tibetan. Inside the main entrance, pairs of stone camels, horses, lions, and tigers are placed along the spirit way in symmetry. The northern end of the spirit way is connected with the brick stairs, altogether 108 steps. A stele pavilion stands to the north of the stairs, which contains a stele written by Emperor Kangxi, “the Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue of the Great Qing” in manchurian and Han Chinese. At the northern side of the stele pavilion is the square city. There is a watchtower at each of the four corners of the square city, and the southern gate, Long En gate (great mercy) is the main entrance. The Long En

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gate is a high gateway with triple eaves. At the center of the square city is the Long En Hall, the main hall of the mausoleum, accompanied by side halls on both the east and west. Inside the Long En hall, ancestor’s memorial tablets are worshiped, and the warm chamber is the place for offering sacrifice. In the back of the hall, there are a stone pillar gate and five stone sacrificial utensils (one incense burner, two candle stands, and two vases). At the back of the Long En Hall, there is a Ming Lou (soul tower) building, which houses a stone stele with the inscription “Mausoleum for the Emperor Taizu”. To the north of the square city is a crescent shape treasure city, and the round treasure mound is the sealing earth of the mausoleum, which covers the underground palace.

Aerial view of the Fuling Mausoleum, Qing Dynasty

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Long En Hall of the Fuling Mausoleum, Qing Dynasty

The Zhaoling Mausoleum is the tomb for Emperor Huang Taiji. Son of Nurhaci, he succeeded to the throne in 1626 (the 11th year in the reign of Tianming), and in 1636 (the 10th year in the reign of Tiancong), he proclaimed emperor and changed the dynastic name from Later Jin into Great Qing. He began the construction of the Zhaoling Mausoleum in 1643 (the 8th year in the reign of Chongde) and died in the harem in the same year. He was buried in the Zhaoling Mausoleum. The whole construction was completed in the 8th year of the reign of Shunzhi. Located in the north of Shenyang, the Zhaoling Mausoleum is also called Beiling (the northern mausoleum). As the largest one among the three imperial tombs in Shengjing, the Zhaoling Mausoleum has a ground area of 4.5 million square meters. It was built on flat ground, seated in the north while facing south. In order to increase its grandeur, an artificial hill called Longye Mountain was piled up on the north of the mausoleum yard. The layout of Zhaoling Mausoleum is identical with the Fuling Mausoleum. Out of the southern gate, there are the dismount stele, huabiao, stone bridge, and stone memorial gateway. Inside the southern gate, six pairs of stone sculptures, including lion, Xiezhi, Qilin, horse, camel, and elephant, lay on both sides of the spirit way. On the northern side of the stone sculptures is the big stele pavilion, in which a stone stele of “the Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue of the Zhaoling Mausoleum of the Great Qing” written by Emperor Kangxi is erected. At the back of the stele pavilion is the square city, guarded by four watchtowers at the four corners. The southern gate, Long En gate is the main entrance and the Long En Hall stands in its north, with side halls on the east and west. To the north of the hall locates the Ming Lou (soul tower) and outside the square city is the treasure city and the treasure mound.

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Great red gate of the Zhaoling Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

Long En Hall of the Zhaoling Mausoleum from distance

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The Eastern Qing Tombs

Located below the Changrui Mountain, on the west side of today’s Malanyu, Zunhua, Hebei Province, the Eastern Qing Tombs occupies a land area of 2500 square kilometers and it is the largest imperial mausoleum complex preserved in China today. Inside the complex, there are five imperial mausoleums, the Xiaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Shunzhi, the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Kangxi, the Yuling Mausoleum for Qianlong, the Dingling for Emperor Xianfeng, and the Huiling Mausoleum for Emperor Tongzhi. There are also four empress tombs for Xiaozhuang, Xiaohui, Xiaozhen (Ci’an), and Xiaoqin (Cixi), and five concubine tombs for Consort Jing, Consort Jingshuang, Consort Yu, Consort Ding, and Consort Hui. Other Fujins (manchurian word for “wife”. The Qing Dynasty stipulates that the principal wives of prince, prince of second degree, or crown prince are called Fujin), Geges (imperial princesses of the Qing Dynasty) are also buried in the complex. Since 1663, when Emperor Shunzhi was buried inside, until 1935 when the last royal consort of Emperor Tongzhi was accepted to be buried, the Eastern Qing Tombs were used for 272 years and buried a total of 157 royal dignitaries.

Flat plan of the Eastern Qing Tombs

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The Eastern Qing Tombs are centered around the Xiaoling Mausoleum, except the Zhaoxiling Mausoleum. The Xiaoling Mausoleum is located below the main peak of Changrui Mountain, and the other imperial mausoleums are positioned on its two sides, the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Kangxi and the Huiling Mausoleum for Emperor Tongzhi on the east and the Yuling Mausoleum for Emperor Qianlong and the Dingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xianfeng on the west. They are accompanied by the tombs for empresses and consorts. On the east of Xiaoling Mausoleum, the Xiaodongling Mausoleum is the tomb for Empress Xiaohuizhang, and there are also tombs for seven consorts of Emperor Shunzhi, four Fujins, and 17 Geges. On the east of the Jingling Mausoleum, there are a concubines graveyard, which contains tombs for Emperor Kangxi’s 48 consorts and one prince, and a double consort graveyard for Imperial Noble Consort Quehui and Imperial Noble Consort Dunyi. On the west of the Yuling Mausoleum, 36 consorts of Emperor Qianlong were buried in the concubines graveyard. On the east of the Dingling Mausoleum, lies the Dingdongling Mausoleum, which buries Empress Ci’an and Empress Cixi, and a concubines graveyard which buries 15 consorts. Emperor Tongzhi’s four noble consorts are buried on the west of his Huiling Mausoleum in the concubines graveyard. The Xiaoling Mausoleum, a joint tomb for Emperor Shunzhi and Empress Xiaokang and Empress Xiaoxian, is the most representative tomb among the five imperial mausoleums in the Eastern Qing Tombs. At the southern end of the whole tombs area, there is a stone memorial gateway, a stone building with five doors, six pillars, and single eave hall roof. At the north of the stone gateway stands a great red gate, which is the main entrance to the whole Eastern Qing Tombs. It also serves as the main entrance to the Xiaoling Mausoleum. The great red gate is a brick-stone building with single eave hall roof. The gate has three archways, and outside the red gate, there are two dismount steles, one on the east and one on the west. The steles are inscribed with three languages, Han Chinese, Manchurian, and Mongolian, which says “Officials and others should dismount from here”. On the east side of the great red gate, there is a dressing hall, a place for emperors to take rest and change clothes while paying homage to the mausoleum.

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Central axis of the Eastern Qing Tombs

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Stone memorial gateway of the Eastern Qing Tombs

To the north of the great red gate, lies the stele tower, which has a stele of “the Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue of the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Great Qing”. In two languages, Han Chinese on the left and Manchurian on the right, the stele described the achievements of Emperor Shunzhi in his lifetime. There are four huabiaos, one at each corner of the stele tower, with a height of 12 m. There are 18 pairs of stone sculptures on both sides of the spirit way, which is in the north of the stele tower. The stone sculptures are, in the order of from south to north, lions, Suannis, camels, elephants, Qilins, horses, generals, and officials. To the north of the stone sculptures stands the dragon and phoenix gate, connected with the stone bridge in the spirit way. The stone bridge has three passageways and three arches. There is a stele pavilion at the north side of the bridge, containing a stele written with marvelous words about the great achievements of the emperor. The spirit way has three passageways, the southern end starts from the great red gate and extends for about five kilometers. The main entrance to the mausoleum is the Long En Gate, which has three passageways. The east passageway is called “jun men” (gate of emperors), used by the emperor and empress, the west passageway is called “chen men” (gate of subjects), used by the guards and officials when they accompany the emperor and empress, and the central passageway is called “shen men” (gate of spirits), which is bigger than the other two passageways, and can only be used by the deceased emperor and empress’s coffins to get through. At the north of the Long En Gate is the main hall, Long En Hall, used for sacrifice. And at its backside is the entrance to the mausoleum. The outside of the gate (southern side) is called “qian chao” (front court), and the inside of the gate is called “hou qin” (back chamber). Further north is a bridge, and its northern side is connected with the square city. And

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a Ming Lou (soul tower) is built on top of the square city. As the highest building of the mausoleum, the Ming Lou is a square-shaped stele pavilion, with nine-ridge gable and hip roof with multiple eaves. Inside the Ming Lou, the floor is paved with golden bricks and a stone stele is erected inside. Decorated with cinnabar, the stele is inscribed in three languages, Mongolian, Manchurian, and Han Chinese, which says “Mausoleum for Emperor Shizu Zhang”. The square city is connected with the treasure city. The treasure city has a bridle trail, supported by parapet walls. The bridle trail circles around the sealing earth of the mausoleum, namely the treasure mound and below it is the underground palace.

Flat plan of the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

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Long En Hall of the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

Spirit way of the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

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Stele Pavilion of the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

The Xiaodongling Mausoleum is the tomb for Empress Xiaohuizhang, and it is the first empress mausoleum constructed inside the Eastern Qing Tombs. Seven concubines are buried along the spirit way. And on both sides of the Ming Lou, the treasure mounds of four Fujins and 17 Geges are placed in an orderly fashion. All the 29 tombs in the Eastern Xiaoling Mausoleum are buried inside the gate of the mausoleum, positioned according to their ranks while alive. Empress Xiaohuizhang’s tomb lies in the middle, and it is accompanied by the other 28 concubines’ tombs on both sides.

Long En Hall in the Xiaodongling Mausoleum

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The layout of imperial mausoleums in the Qing Dynasty is generally the same as the Ming Dynasty. As represented by the mausoleums in the Eastern Qing Tombs and the Western Qing Tombs, the layout usually places the mausoleum in the north and facing south. The buildings are, in the order of from south to north, stone bridge with five arches, stone memorial gateway, great red gate, dressing hall, stele pavilion (one huabiao at each of its four corners), a stone bridge with seven arches (or five arches), a pair of huabiaos, several pairs of stone sculptures, dragon and phoenix gate, stone bridge of three arches, stele pavilion of the spirit way, east and west waiting rooms, east and west guard rooms, Long En Gate, east and west furnaces, east and west side halls, Long En Hall, glass-decorated gate, two pillar gate, stone sacrifice altar, square city and Ming Lou, Ya Ba Yuan dummy yard (crescent city) and the treasure city. Below the treasure city lies the underground palace. The most typical underground palaces among the Qing imperial mausoleums are the Dingling Mausoleum, Huiling Mausoleum in the Eastern Qing Tombs and the Changling Mausoleum and Chongling Mausoleum in the Western Qing Tombs. The underground palace begins from the tunnel at the southern end and goes through Tunnel Xuan (arch), La Ba Yuan (dummy yard), the crescent wall and the Shandang Xuan (arch). Then lies the first gate for entering the underground palace. After the gate is the Ming Tang (ceremonial hall) for placing the royal decree of conferring titles. To the north of the Ming Tang stands the second gate, and after a hallway, a passage leads to the third gate. After this, there is a final gate with Jin Xuan (golden arch). There are altogether four stone gates in the underground palace. And a treasure bed is placed inside the golden arch, which upholds the golden coffin. The mausoleum regulations in the Qing Dynasty stipulate that if the empress dies before the emperor, then there is no need to build an independent empress mausoleum, and she would be buried together with the emperor after his death. After their coffins are buried, the underground palace should be sealed. If the empress dies after the emperor, then she could not be buried together with the emperor. An independent empress mausoleum should be built beside the emperor’s mausoleum. Usually, the consorts of the emperor would be buried, after their death, in a concubines’ graveyard near the emperor’s mausoleum. But there were a few noble consorts who got buried jointly with the emperor in the same mausoleum. In the Qing Dynasty, the empress’s mausoleum was constructed by imitating the emperor’s mausoleum, but with a lesser scale. And there were no stone sculptures, and no dragon and phoenix gate. The buildings inside the empress mausoleum, in the order of from south to north, are stone bridge, east and west wing rooms, east and west guard rooms, Long En Gate, east and west furnaces, east and west side halls, Long En Hall, glass-decorated gate, stone sacrifice altar, square city Ming Lou and treasure city.

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Underground palace of Yuling Mausoleum in the Eastern Qing Tombs

The concubines’ graveyard is even smaller than the empress mausoleum. Because of the strict hierarchy system, the names of the buildings are also different. The buildings inside, by the order of from south to north, are east and west wing rooms, east and west guard rooms, great gate, east and west furnaces, east and west side rooms, sacrifice hall, glass-decorated gate, square city Ming Lou and treasure mound. A very important feature in the buildings of Qing Dynasty mausoleums is that a central axis from south to north goes through every mausoleum. The main buildings such as the Long En Hall, Ming Lou, and underground palace should all be constructed on the central axis line. The layout of the mausoleum buildings aims at being symmetric and balanced. And the mausoleum should integrate nicely with the surrounding natural environment, to achieve harmony and unity. The buildings should have different heights with proportioned space and density. All the buildings have magnificent colors, like glittering gold and jade. The Qing mausoleums are so richly decorated with stone, brick, and wood sculptures, that they can be found almost everywhere. For the Qing Dynasty government, the management of imperial mausoleums was a very important task. In the Eastern and Western Qing Tombs, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Works had government offices in the two places, in charge of mausoleum affairs. There were many sacrificial activities in the imperial mausoleums throughout the year. Each year would hold four large sacrificial activities, and every month would routinely organize three small-scale sacrificial activities. The central government also appointed special officials and stationed armies in each mausoleum, responsible for management and protection. There were a large number of troops in the mausoleums. Around the Eastern Qing Tombs, there were 350 army stations,

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staffed with 492 cavalry soldiers, 2179 infantry, 169 soldiers with other functions, and 506 military horses.

3.2.1.3

Western Qing Tombs

The Western Qing Tombs are located below the Yongning Mountain in the west of today’s Yi County, Hebei Province. The mausoleum area has a perimeter of almost 100 km and covers a land area of 225 square kilometers. Its scale is smaller than the Eastern Qing Tombs. There are four emperors’ mausoleums, five empresses’ mausoleums, three concubines’ graveyards, and six graveyards for princes and princesses. A total of 76 royal dignitaries finally rested here. The Tailing Mausoleum for Emperor Yongzheng is at the heart of Western Qing Tombs. On its west lies the Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Jiaqing and the Muling Mausoleum for Emperor Daoguang. On its east is the Chongling Mausoleum for Emperor Guangxu. Emperor Qianlong’s birth mother, Empress Xiaoshengxian of the Niohuru clan is buried in the Taidongling Mausoleum, located to the northeast of Tailing Mausoleum. The concubines of Emperor Yongzheng, including Consort Yu with family name Geng, Consort Qi with family name Li, Consort Qian with family name Liu, Consort Mao with family name Song, and Consort Ning with family name Wu are buried in the concubines’ graveyard, which lies to the east of the mausoleum. The Tailing Mausoleum is the main mausoleum in the Western Qing Tombs and also boasts the largest scale. The southern end of the mausoleum is marked with a single passageway stone bridge with five arches. To its north stand three stone memorial gateways, two dismount steles and a pair of stone animals. Further north is the great red gate, built with a single eave, four pillars, and three arches. There is one side door on both the east and west sides of the great red gate. This gate is the main entrance to the Tailing Mausoleum and also to the whole Western Qing Tombs. The total length of the spirit way is about 2.5 km. From the great red gate to the north, there stand three arches small bridge, a pavilion for the stele of saintly virtue and godly merit which has one huabiao placed at each of the four corners. Then there is a bridge with seven arches. To the north of the bridge stand pairs of stone sculptures standing in symmetry, including huabiaos, lions, elephants, horses, officials, and generals, all in one pair. Then further north stand the dragon and phoenix gate, bridge of three arches and stele pavilion. There is a platform to the north of the stele pavilion, lined with waiting rooms and guardrooms on the east and west sides in symmetry. The Long En Gate stands on the north of the platform, and it faces the Long En Hall in the north, with silk-burning furnaces and side halls placed in symmetry on its two sides. At the Long En Hall’s northern side stands the glass-decorated gate, door with two pillars, white stone altar, square city Ming Lou. The square city is connected with the treasure city. The southern part of the treasure city is the crescent city, and the northern part is the treasure mound, with the underground palace underneath.

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Full Landscape of Western Qing Tombs. Qing Dynasty. Anonymous Painter

Full landscape of the Tailing Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

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Great Red Gate of the Tailing Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

Long En Hall of the Tailing Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

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Ming Lou (soul tower) and five stone sacrifice utensils in the Tailing Mausoleum of the Qing Dynasty

The three mausoleum areas of the Qing Dynasty are in different locations and built-in different times, but the basic forms and regulations are the same. The Qing Dynasty was founded by the Jurchen tribes, and they had a custom of cremation for funerals, which was popular among the dignitaries, senior officials, and also normal people. But the imperial mausoleums in the previous three areas followed totally different systems compared with the tribes. The origin could be traced to the link between the Qing Dynasty mausoleums and the Ming Dynasty mausoleums.

3.2.2 Imperial Mausoleums of the Ming Dynasty In 1368 CE, the first year in the reign of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang toppled the rule of the Yuan Dynasty and founded the Ming Dynasty. Almost at the same time, he built the Zuling (ancestor’s mausoleum) for his grandfather in Sizhou, Jiangsu, and also a royal mausoleum for his parents in the hometown of Fengyang, Anhui. Zhu Yuanzhang chose Nanjing as the capital and his mausoleum was built on the southern foot of Zijin Mountain in Nanjing. In 1421 CE, the 19th year in the reign of Yongle, the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing. Since then until Emperor Sizong, with the personal name of Zhu Youjian, who was the last Ming emperor, the dynasty was ruled by 14 emperors from Beijing. Other than Emperor Daizong, with

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the personal name of Zhu Qiyu, who was buried in the Jin Mountain in the western suburb of Beijing by the rites as a prince, all the other 13 emperors were buried in the Ming Tombs, at the southern foot of the Tianshou Mountain in Changping, Beijing.

3.2.2.1

Zuling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty in Today’s Sihong, Jiangsu

The grandfather of Zhu Yuanzhang lived in Sizhou, and after death, he was buried in Yangjiadun of Sizhou. In 1384 CE, the 17th year in the reign of Hongwu, Emperor Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang) built the Zuling (ancestor’s mausoleum) for his grandfather. The Zuling Mausoleum lies on the Jianghuai Plain, southeast of today’s Mingzuling Town in Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province. Its location is next to Hongze Lake, and the Huai River runs past the mausoleum in the southeast. The flat plan of the mausoleum is rectangular. It sits in the north and faces south. The tomb is in the north of the mausoleum. Three layers of walls for the royal city, inner city, and outer city are built. There are gates on all four sides of the walls, and four watch towers are built on the four corners. 20 m to the north of Lingxing Gate stands the sacrificial hall, with a length of 33 m from east to west and a width of 18 m from south to north. 0 m away from the north of the sacrificial hall is the underground palace. Inside the royal city, there are also buildings such as spirit kitchen, animal slaughter pavilion, east and west side rooms, etc. The outside of the Lingxing Gate is connected with the spirit way, which is 250 m in length. There are altogether 21 pairs of stone sculptures placed on the two sides. The stone sculptures in the Zuling Mausoleum are gigantic and also delicate in design. Because the Zuling Mausoleum was constructed later than the Huangling Mausoleum, its stone sculptures’ category selection and carving techniques were all influenced by the Huangling Mausoleum.

Stone sculptures along the spirit way of the Zuling Mausoleum in Ming Dynasty. In the order of from north to south, the 21 pairs of stone sculptures are, eunuchs, generals, and officials (two pairs for each category), then after the Jinshui Bridge, stand the officials, stone horses, and horse leaders (one pair for each category) and horse handlers, huabiaos (two pairs for each category) and six pairs of stone lions and two pairs of Qilins.

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Huangling (Royal Mausoleum) in Fengyang, Anhui

Both parents of Zhu Yuanzhang died during his childhood, and in 1369 CE, the second year after he became emperor, he began to build a mausoleum for his parents. Originally the mausoleum was named as Yingling, later changed into Huangling (royal mausoleum). The Huangling Mausoleum lies seven kilometers in the southwest of today’s Fengyang County Township in Anhui Province. The construction took 10 years and got finished in 1379 CE. The mausoleum sits in the south and faces north. The north side of the mausoleum platform is linked with the spirit way, which is 256 m long from south to north.

Huangling Mausoleum stele, the Ming Dynasty. Huangling Mausoleum stele is 6.87 m in height, and the inscription contains 1105 characters.

The northern end of the spirit way leads to the northern gate of the inner city. Outside the northern gate, and in front of the Jinshui Bridge, stand a wordless stele and the Huangling Mausoleum stele on the east and west sides, respectively. The two steles are huge in size, and the inscription on the Huangling Mausoleum stele was written by Zhu Yuanzhang himself. The inscription is a self-written autobiography. Totally different from traditional inscriptions, which would use a lot of

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exuberant words in describing the ancestors, Zhu Yuanzhang told his humble origin and emphasized the importance of never forgetting the poor and bitter roots.

Stone sculptures along the spirit way of the Huangling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. 32 pairs of stone sculptures stand on both sides of the spirit way in symmetry. In the order of from south to north, the sculptures are attendants, generals, and officials (two pairs in each category), stone sheep and stone leopards (four pairs in each category), two pairs of stone horses, four pairs of horse handlers, two pairs of huabiaos, four pairs of stone tigers and stone lions, two pairs of Qilins.

3.2.2.3

Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing

The Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty is the tomb for Zhu Yuanzhang. In 1381 CE, the 14th year in the reign of Hongwu, Zhu Yuanzhang began to build this mausoleum and enlisted tens of thousands of laborers and craftsmen. The construction was completed after two years. In 1382 CE, the 15th year in the reign of Hongwu, just as the construction was going on with full speed, Empress Ma passed away and Zhu Yuanzhang buried her into this mausoleum. Her posthumous title was “Xiaoci” (literally means filial and gracious), and therefore, the mausoleum was named Xiaoling. The Xiaoling Mausoleum is located under the Wanzhu Peak of Dulongfu, on the southern foot of Zijing Mountain, the eastern suburb of Nanjing. Zhu Yuanzhang gave very careful thoughts to choosing the right place for the mausoleum. After consulting and discussing with the fellow founding members of the dynasty, including Liu Ji,

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Xu Da, and Tang He, a unanimous choice was the Zhong Mountain (Zijin Mountain), considered to have the best fengshui for mausoleum.

Flat Plan of the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty

The southern starting point of the Xiaoling Mausoleum is the Xiamafang (dismount gateway) and extends to the north until the square city in the middle hillside of Dulongfu. The eastern starting point is the Xiaolingwei (military guard), and the western border reaches the city wall. The total perimeter of the mausoleum

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area is 22.5 km in length, about two out of three of the total length of the city walls of Yingtian, the capital city of the Ming Dynasty. That is how gigantic the mausoleum is by putting it into perspective. The layout of the Xiaoling Mausoleum can be divided into two parts. The southern part is mainly made up of spirit way and other facilities, while the northern part contains the major buildings of the mausoleum. The southern part ranges from the Xiamafang (dismount gateway) to the Lingxing Gate. The Xiamafang is the southern starting point of the mausoleum area, and also the formal entrance to the Xiaoling. All the officials and generals paying homage to the mausoleum must dismount from horses and walk. The Xiamafang is a stone memorial gateway with two pillars, 4.94 m wide and 7.85 m tall. On the upper part, a horizontal tablet is inscribed with big characters telling “officials of all departments should dismount”, hence the origin of the name Xiamafang (dismount gateway). 755 m to the northwest of the Xiamafang stand the Great Gold Gate, the entrance to the mausoleum yard of the Xiaoling. The gate is “one gate with three passageways”, and the middle passageway is larger. 70 m to the north of the gate stands the square city, which is the stele pavilion of the Xiaoling. Shaped square in flat plan, the pavilion’s total perimeter is 26.86 m in length. The original design was a gable and hip roof with multiple eaves, and doors were opened on its four sides. The stele inside the pavilion is 8.78 m tall, decorated with chi (hornless dragon) head and turtle base, and it is the largest Ming Dynasty’s stone stele in the vicinity of Nanjing. The upper part of the stele is inscribed with “the Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue of Xiaoling Great Ming”, and the inscription is composed by Zhu Di, describing the merits and achievements in his father, Zhu Yuanzhang’s lifetime. To the northwest of the square city, the spirit way is about 100 m away after crossing the Yuhe (royal river) Bridge. Stone sculptures are placed on both sides of the spirit way, which can be divided into two parts. The southern part is 618 m long, comprising of six categories of stone animals, including lion, Xiezhi, camel, elephant, Qilin, and horse. Each animal has two pairs carved, one pair in crouching position and the other pair standing. The northern part of spirit way is 250 m long, lined with stone sculptures of, in the order of from south to north, a pair of huabiaos, generals, and officials (two pairs for each category).

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Xiamafang of the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty

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Great Gold Gate of the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty

Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue of Xiaoling Great Ming

Going 18 m to the north of stone sculptures lies the stone Lingxing Gate, with a width of 15.73 m. The gate is also called “Wutou Gate” because this architectural form originates from “Wutouran” (literally means painted black top) in ancient times.

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The name Lingxing Gate comes from Lingxing, a star in the lunar mansion of Jiao. While the Jiao mansion has a constellation shape like a gate in heaven, the Lingxing Gate is heaven’s gate, namely the son of heaven’s gate, thus becoming a symbol of the royal authority. So in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Lingxing Gate was very common in the royal palaces, temples, or mausoleums. 275 m to the northeast of the Lingxing Gate, there is a stone Yuhe (royal river) Bridge with five arches. Then 200 m to the north of the bridge lie the Wen Wu Fang Men (square gate for civil and military officials). The square gate has three arched entrances in the front, and there is a side door on both the east and west sides, 27.3 m away from the front entrance. After entering the Wen Wu Fang Men, there is a broad ground with a width of 144 m (east to west) and a premise depth of 55 m. Within this ground, there are an animal slaughter pavilion on the left and a dressing hall on the right and two royal kitchens.

Lingxing Gate of Xiaoling Mausoleum, Ming Dynasty

34.15 m to the north of the Wen Wu Fang Men, there is Xiaoling Gate, the middle front entrance into the Xiaoling Hall. The Xiaolin Gate is 22.3 m wide, and within the gate, there are 30 side rooms with covered corridors and two silk-burning furnaces. Between the Wen Wu Fang Men and the central part of Xiaoling Hall, there is a 1.5 m wide royal road, paved with huge stones.

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Xiaoling Hall, the sacrifice hall of the Xiaoling Mausoleum, Ming Dynasty

The Xiaoling Hall is a major ground-level building in the graveyard of Xiaoling Mausoleum. The width is equivalent to nine rooms and the premise depth is five rooms. The foundation is 67.5 m in length from east to west and 28.5 m in width from south to north. This building’s scale is much bigger than the largest sacrifice hall in the Ming Tombs in Beijing, namely the sacrifice hall in the Changing Mausoleum for Emperor Chengzu. There is a square city, a piece of huge stone architecture at the north side of the Xiaoling Hall. After entering through the arched door in the middle of the square city, the passageway leads to the southern wall of the treasure mound. The ramp on the eastern and western sides will help to ascend the Ming Lou. After the Minglou lies the treasure mound, or treasure city. It is actually a huge round-shaped tomb mound, with a diameter of 325–400 m at its bottom. The underground palace of the Xiaoling Mausoleum is buried below the treasure mound. After Zhu Yuanzhang’s death, he was buried in the Xiaoling Mausoleum, and 38 concubines were sacrificed and buried together with him. The northern foot of the Zijin Mountain near Taipingmen, and the Yuhuatai outside the Zhonghuamen are two important attendant tomb areas for Xiaoling. A number of the dynasty’s founding champions and outstanding statesmen were buried in these attendant tombs, such as Zhongshan King Xu Da, Kaiping King Chang Yuchun, and Qiyang King Li Wenzhong.

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The Ming Tombs in Beijing

The Ming Tombs are located in the southern foot of the Tianshou Mountain in today’s Changping District, Beijing, covering an area of 40 km2 . The Ming Tombs are the major mausoleum area for the royal family of the Ming Dynasty, which contains mausoleums for 13 Ming emperors. They are the Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di, the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Renzong Zhu Gaochi, the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji, the Yuling Mausoleum for Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen, the Maoling Mausoleum for Emperor Shenzong Zhu Jianshen, the Tailing Mausoleum for Emperor Xiaozong Zhu Youtang, the Kangling Mausoleum for Emperor Wuzong Zhu Houzhao, the Yongling Mausoleum for Emperor Shizong Zhu Houcong, the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Muzong Zhu Zaihou, the Dingling Mausoleum for Emperor Shenzong Zhu Yijun, the Qingling Mausoleum for Emperor Guangzong Zhu Changluo, the Deling Mausoleum for Emperor Xizong Zhu Youxiao and the Siling Mausoleum for Emperor Sizong Zhu Youjian. In the 13 imperial mausoleums, 23 empresses and one noble consort were also buried. Also, dozens of imperial palace maids were sacrificed and buried inside. Within the big mausoleum area, there are seven consort tombs and one eunuch tomb, accompanying as attendant tombs. After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he moved the capital to Beijing. In the 5th year in the reign of Yongle (1407 CE), Zhu Di asked a group of people, including Zhao Hong, Minister of Rites, and geomancy alchemists Liao Junqing, Zeng Congzheng, Wang Kan, and Ma Wensu to look for a place with excellent fengshui for the royal mausoleum. Until 1409 CE, they finally confirmed the southern foot of the Tianshou Mountain as the best place for the royal family. The 13 Ming Tombs first began construction in 1409 CE, and during the reigns of different emperors in the Ming Dynasty, there had been continuous maintenance, construction, and sacrifice activities inside the mausoleum area. The Ming Tombs are a large-scale royal mausoleum area with a unified master plan, staged implementation, and a clear relationship of subordination. The southern starting point of the Ming Tombs is a gigantic stone memorial gateway. About 1000 m to the north of the gateway stands the main entrance to the whole mausoleum area, the Great Red Gate. Inside the gate, there is the main spirit way, with 1060 m in length from south to north, and a big stele pavilion is built at its southern end. The pavilion has multiple eaves roof with gable and hip, covered with yellow glass tiles and doors are opened in the four sides. Each of the four corners of the pavilion stands a huge white stone huabiao carved with a dragon. Inside the pavilion, there is a “Stele of Godly Merit and Saintly Virtue of Changling Great Ming”. The stele is 7.91 m in height, and the inscription was composed by Emperor Renzong Zhu Gaochi, paying tribute to his father Emperor Chengzu Zhu Di. To the north of the stele pavilion, there are stone sculptures along the spirit way within a distance of 800 m. The northern end of the stone sculptures stands the Lingxing Gate, with the style of pailou (commemorative archway). The Lingxing Gate is “one gate with three passageways” and serves as the portal to the 13 mausoleums, located at the northern end of the main spirit way. All the emperors

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and empresses to be buried must go through this gate, so the Lingxing Gate is also called dragon and phoenix gate.

Stone memorial gateway of the Ming Tombs

Great Red Gate of the Ming Tombs

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Stele Pavilion and Huabiao of the Ming Tombs. Stele pavilion’s floor plan is square in shape, with a perimeter of 23.1 m and the pavilion is 25.14 m in height. Four white stone huabiaos are standing at the four corners, with a mythical animal crouching on its top called wangtian. The huabiao and the stele pavilion reinforce each other and create an atmosphere of grandeur and solemnity

Painting of Thirteen Ming Tombs in the Qing Dynasty, Anonymous painter

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Stone sculptures along the spirit way of the Ming Tombs. This spirit way is located to the north of the stele pavilion. It starts from two hexagon-shaped stone pillars and ends at the dragon and phoenix gate. Along the 1000 m long spirit way, 24 stone animals and 12 stone figures stand neatly on both sides. Their vivid design and exquisite carving techniques are deeply loved by tourists. It is very rare in the ancient mausoleums of China to find so many stone sculptures, with the same gigantic mass, such delicate craftsmanship and good preservation as the Ming Tombs. The stone animals have six categories, and each category has four animals, two standing and two crouching.

The spirit way was constructed at the same time with the Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Chengzu. Since then, all the following Ming imperial mausoleums were constructed inside the Ming Tombs area and only through auxiliary paths, where they connected to this spirit way. While no more stone sculptures were placed along the auxiliary paths, so it became the general spirit way for the whole tombs area. The Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Chengzu is the prime mausoleum in the Ming Tombs. The layout and position of the mausoleums show that the first four mausoleums in the early Ming Dynasty, namely the Changling Mausoleum for Emperor Chengzu, the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Renzong, the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzong and the Yuling Mausoleum for Emperor Yingzong followed the ancient zhao-mu system. It means the Changling Mausoleum is the middle, and the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Zhu Gaochi is on its west, a position of Zhao. The Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji is on its east, a position of Mu. The Yuling Mausoleum for Emperor Yingzong Zhu Qizhen is on its west, a position of Mu. Following the order of setting the Changling Mausoleum as the ancestor’s position, its left side is Zhao and the right side is Mu. Then the Yongling Mausoleum for Emperor Shizong, the Deling for Emperor Xizong on the east side, taking the position of Mu, and the Tailing Mausoleum for Emperor Xiaozong, the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Muzong and the Qingling

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Mausoleum for Emperor Guangzong on the west, taking the position of Zhao, all abide by the order. But the Maoling Mausoleum for Emperor Xianzong, the Kangling Mausoleum for Emperor Wuzong, the Dingling Mausoleum for Emperor Shenzong, and the Siling Mausoleum for Emperor Sizong were all placed on the west side, the position of Zhao, instead of Mu on the east side. There are several reasons for this mismatch in position. Firstly, in the middle and later stages of the Ming Dynasty, there was little room left on the east side of the Changling, which can be chosen for building mausoleums with the right fengshui. Secondly, Emperor Daizong before Emperor Xianzong, and Emperor Ruizong before Emperor Wuzong were not buried within the Ming Tombs area. Thirdly, Emperor Chongzhen Zhu Youjian didn’t build a mausoleum in advance in his lifetime, and after his death, the Ming Dynasty was already toppled by Li Zicheng. So the emperor could only be buried into his deceased concubine, Noble Consort Tian’s tomb jointly, and later the tomb was changed into the Siling Mausoleum.

Changling Mausoleum in the Ming Tombs

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Ling En Hall in the Changling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty. Ling En Hall is the venue for making sacrifices to Emperor Yongle and his Empress. It is constructed on a three levels white marble platform foundation and paved with golden bricks. The width of the hall is nine rooms, and the premise depth is five rooms. The numbers nine and five imply the supreme status of the emperor. All the wood structures were made with golden phoebe wood, full of antique flavor. 60 big pillars made of gold phoebe wood with a diameter of over one meter and height of over 10 m were used to hold the multiple eaves roof for the hall. It is a marvelous and unparalleled scene to see. The widest golden pillar with multiple eaves is 12.58 m in height and 1.124 m in diameter at the bottom. Such piece of valuable wood is very rare in the world.

The 13 mausoleums in the Ming Tombs are located in the southern foot or southeastern foot of various small hills in the area. They are all fully integrated mausoleums by themselves, with different scales, but almost the same formality. The mausoleums are surrounded by enclosed walls, as known as “palace walls”. The walls are read, and a palace gate is opened on the southern side. A wordless stele is erected in front of the palace gate. After entering through the palace gate, there stands the Ling En Gate, with a width of three or five rooms. The main hall of the ground-level buildings, the Ling En Hall is built after this gate. The hall is seven or nine rooms wide, and the sacrificial rites participated by emperors, empresses, and all ranks of officials are held within this hall. Behind this hall, there is a pailou (commemorative archway) gate, with treasure city behind it. There is Ming Lou (soul tower) in the front part of the treasure city, and a stone stele is placed inside, inscribed with the temple name and posthumous name of the emperor. Five stone utensils are laid in front of the Ming Lou.

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3.2.3 Imperial Mausoleums of Liao, Jin and Western Xia Dynasties The dynasties of Liao, Jin, and Western Xia are another historic period for different ethnic groups to embrace grand national fusion after the prosperous Tang Dynasty. It is a period for the Chinese civilization to deepen itself and achieve further progress. This dynamic period can be reflected by the imperial mausoleum formalities in the dynasties of Liao, Jin, and Western Xian.

3.2.3.1

Imperial Mausoleums of the Liao Dynasty

In 907 CE, the Qidan (Khitan) clan established the Kingdom of Qidan and in 938 CE (another version says 947 CE) the dynasty’s name was changed into Liao. The dynasty was vanquished by the alliance of Jin and Song in 1125 CE. In 1124 CE, Yelv Dashi moved toward the west and founded a regime, called Xi (Western) Liao in history. This regime was vanquished by the Mongol Empire in 1218 CE. The imperial mausoleums of the Liao Dynasty were mainly buried around the capital Shangjing, which is today’s Balin Left Banner and Balin Right Banner in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The Zuling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizu of Liao, Yelu Yi (Abaoji) is in the Lingdong Town of Balin Left Banner. Built-in the mountains, the mausoleum has a perimeter of 10 km. There are stone sculptures in front of the tomb, and relics of sacrificial structures are found in its vicinity. To the southeast of the mausoleum, about 1.5 km away, a dedicated Zuzhou City was set up in history for administrating the mausoleum. There were ritual buildings for sacrificial activities inside the city.

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Bird’s eye view of the Zuzhou City relics

Stone room in Zuzhou. Stone room of Zuzhou is the most representative building inside the city, which is located on a three levels high platform in the northwestern corner of Zuzhou. Made up of seven pieces of colossal granite slabs, the stone room is 6.7 m long, 4.8 m wide, and 3.5 m tall. It is seated in the northwest and faces southeast, pointing in the same direction as the Zuzhou City.

The Huailing Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong and Muzong, and the Qingling Mausoleum for Emperor Shengzong, Emperor Xingzong, and Emperor Daozong are located in the Chuangjingou Village, Ganggeng Sumu, Balin Right Banner. And the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Shizong and the Qianling Mausoleum for Emperor Jingzong are in the Yiwulv Mountain in today’s Beizhen of Liaoning. The location of the Qingling Mausoleum was handpicked by Emperor Shengzong while alive. Qingling is actually comprised of three imperial mausoleums, and they are, in the order of west to east, the Qingling (Dongling, meaning east) Mausoleum for Emperor Shengzong, the Yongxingling (Zhongling, meaning middle) Mausoleum for the son of Emperor Shenzong, and the Yongfuling (Xiling, meaning west) Mausoleum for the son of Emperor Xingzong. The three mausoleums in Qingling have a similar layout for the underground palace. The underground palace is seated in the north and faces south, the front room, middle room, and backroom are connected from south to north. Both the front room and the middle room have two ear rooms, one on the east and the other on the west side.

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Elegy with cover in Qidan language for Emperor Shengzong of Liao

For the Liao imperial mausoleums, their location selection, construction regulations (build mausoleums by the mountain), the placement of stone sculptures and setting up of dedicated cities, etc., were all different from the Qidan’s burial traditions. The major part of their arrangement showed acceptance of the imperial mausoleum customs in the Han and Tang dynasties.

3.2.3.2

Imperial Mausoleums of the Jin Dynasty

The Jin Dynasty’s imperial mausoleums are on the ridge of the Dafang Mountain in the north of today’s Longmenkou Village, five kilometers in the northwest of Zhoukoudian Town, Fangshan District of Beijing. The main part of the Jin Dynasty’s royal mausoleum area lies in the Jiulong Mountain, covering an area of 65,000 square meters. The layout follows the traditional architecture model in China. From south

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to north, the buildings include the stone bridge as the entrance to the mausoleum area, then spirit way, stone stairs, east and west platforms, east and west main hall, walls and underground tomb. The Ruiling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizu of the Jin Dynasty is under the main peak of the Jiulong Mountain, in today’s Longmenkou Village, Zhoukou Town in Fangshan District of Beijing, about 15 m away from the big treasure mound built for Emperor Taizu in the Qing Dynasty. In the underground palace, a total of four stonemade outer coffins were buried. Among them, the M6-3 and M6-4 are two outer coffins made with white marble and carved with phoenix and dragon patterns. They are placed horizontally (from east to west) in the middle of the underground palace, slightly to the north. These outer coffins have two parts, cover and coffin body, all carved from single piece of stone. The cover is rectangular in shape with Ying top, carved with double phoenix in the middle, and cirrus patterns on the four corners, and cloud patterns on the four slopes of Ying top. A wood coffin is placed inside, painted in red lacquer, decorated with gold gilded silver plate, engraved with phoenix pattern. The burial objects found inside the coffin are gold-threaded phoenix coronet, jade ornaments engraved with phoenix patterns, and gold-threaded flower-shaped ornaments.

Full view of the Jin Imperial Mausoleum

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The sarcophagus of Emperor Taizu of Jin in the Mausoleum Rui

The archaeological work in the imperial mausoleum area of Jin found some cultural relics, including three pieces of bronze sitting dragons and one bronze Gui. The bronze dragon is 18 cm tall, made with cast, holding it head high with flying hair. It is sitting on hind legs, with tail curled up. The whole body is engraved with dragon scales and flame pattern. The bronze Gui is an imitated rite utensil of the Western Zhou made by the Song Dynasty.

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Bronze sitting dragon unearthed in the imperial mausoleum of the Jin Dynasty

The major architectural components discovered are zuolong (sitting dragon), ouwen (gull beak), railing board, railing pillar, massive pillar, pillar base, dragonheaded animals, dragon head and Chi (hornless dragon) head, kalavinka, roll tile, plate tile, eaves tile, and dripping tip. During the investigation of the relics of Jin imperial mausoleums, important cultural relics were unearthed, including the tricolored porcelain pillow with the story of “Xiao He chasing Han Xin in moonlight”, gold-plated silver mask and fragments of the elegy. The royal family of the Jin Dynasty are from the Jurchen tribes. Historical documents state that the original burial customs of the Jurchen tribes were very simple. Chronicles of the Great Jin says, “The deceased buried in the Ruiling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizu of Jin only had stone outer coffin and no inner coffin. The dignitaries would burn their favorite concubines and maids and also their riding horses alive as sacrifice” The formal system of royal mausoleums in the Jin Dynasty was set up by Emperor Hailinwang. This coincided with his decision of moving the capital to Yanjing and started building Zhongdu. So the mausoleum should be a natural outcome of Emperor Hailingwang’s admiration for Chinese culture.

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Mausoleums for the Western Xia

The Western Xia Dynasty was a regional regime formed by Dangxiangqiang (Tangut), one of the ethnic minorities in the northwestern part of China and the regime’s original name was Da (great) Xia. The Song people called them Xi (western) Xia. They ruled the area in today’s Ningxia, northern Shaanxi, northwestern Gansu, northeastern Qinghai, and western Inner Mongolia. The capital was Xingqingfu, which is today’s Yinchuan City of Ningxia. The ruling class of the Western Xia were descendants of the Tuoba (Tabgatch) clan, and their warriors had been serving as border guarding generals for the Tang and Song dynasties. So the major body of their laws and regulations of the Western Xia was based on the Song system. The dynasty was formally established in 1038 CE, first year in the reign of Tianshou lifa yanzuo, when Li Yuanhao declared himself emperor. The dynasty was vanquished by the Mongol Empire in 1227 CE, the 22nd year in the reign of Genghis Khan. It had kept existence for 190 years and ruled by a total of 10 emperors. After Li Yuanhao declared himself emperor, he also conferred posthumous titles of emperor to his grandfather and father, known as Emperor Taizu Li Jiqian and Emperor Taizong Li Deming. So altogether the Western Xia had 12 emperors.

Lingtai (raised platform) in the Western Xia Imperial Mausoleum

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Full view of the Western Xia Imperial Mausoleum

Historical documents recorded nine imperial mausoleums in the Western Xia Dynasty, owned by No. 1 Yuling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizu Li Jiqian, No. 2 Jialing Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong Li Deming, No. 3 Tailing Mausoleum for Emperor Jingzong Li Yuanhao, No. 4 Anling Mausoleum for Emperor Yizong Li Liangzuo, No. 5 Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Huizong Li Bingchang, No. 6 Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Chongzong Li Qianshun, No. 7 Shouling Mausoleum for Emperor Renzong Li Renxiao, No. 8 Zhuangling Mausoleum for Emperor Huanzong Li Chunyou, and No. 9 Kangling Mausoleum for Emperor Xiangzong Li Anquan. Du Yubing opined that as influenced by the geomancy in the Tang and Song dynasties, the Western Xia mausoleums adopted the zhao-mu system in space arrangement, with left side as Zhao position and right side as Mu position. The mausoleums are situated on a pluvial fan at the eastern foot of the Helan Mountains, about 25 km to the west of today’s Yinchuan, Ningxia. It is four kilometers wide (east–west) and 11 km long (south–north). The land is higher on the west than the east, with an altitude of 1140–1190 m. Besides the nine imperial mausoleums, there are also 193 attendant tombs in the mausoleum area. From south to north, they are grouped into four sections. In the northern part of the mausoleum area, there are relics of the ancestral temple for Western Xia, occupying an area of about 60,000 square meters. The flat plan is rectangular, and it is enclosed with walls to form a temple yard. There are two gates, one on the southern wall and the other on the western wall. There is a barbican outside the western gate. The temple yard can be divided into three parts. The southern part is made up of two siheyuan (courtyard house) arranged in symmetry from east to west. The middle part has three siheyuan, shaping like 品 in flat plan. The northern part is a hall, which is the main building of the temple. All the nine Western Xia imperial mausoleums have similar space arrangement. They are all seated in the north and faces south. The mausoleum’s raised platforms are octagonal in flat plan, and shaped like a pyramid. The height is about 20 m and divided into five, seven, or nine stories. Each story has protruding eaves, covered by rows of tiles. Even until today, large number of fragments of green glazed tiles can be found around the raised platform. Painted into reddish-brown, the original appearance of the raised platform is like a pagoda, decorated with delightful contrast of red and green. At the south of the raised platform stands a sacrifice hall, and both the platform and the sacrifice hall are enclosed with walls to form an inner city.

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The flat plan of the inner city is square or rectangular in shape, and there are four corner towers, one at each corner, and four gates, one in the middle of each wall. The raised platform is in the northwestern part of the inner city, and the sacrifice hall is within the southern gate of the inner city, standing slightly to the west. To the south of the inner city is the crescent city, which has stone sculptures placed. And outside the inner city and the crescent city, another tier of walls is built to form the outer city. There are two kinds of outer city forms, one is total enclosure and the other is open end, which has no southern wall. The eastern, southern, and northern walls keep very close to the outer city walls. In the southern part of the outer city, two high watchtowers are built, with a distance of 70 m apart. The flat plan of the watchtower is shaped square, with a perimeter of nine meters. The remaining relic of the tower is seven meters high. After entering through the watchtower and going north, two stele pavilions are put in symmetry, containing stone stele inscribed in both Han Chinese and Xi Xia language. Lying further north is the crescent city, and then the south gate of the inner city. The outermost perimeter of the mausoleum yard is marked by four raised platforms made of rammed earth, with one standing at each of the four corners.

The architecture unit of kalavinka unearthed in the imperial mausoleums of the Western Xia

Most subordinate tombs only have sealing earth, with shapes of the dome, cone, circular column, and circular stub. They are all built with rammed earth. Some subordinate tombs also have graveyard facilities, and various numbers of subordinate tombs are placed within. Usually, the subordinate tombs are allocated in the southern or

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western part of the imperial mausoleum and most of them are small and simple in form.

3.2.4 Mausoleums of the Song Dynasty The Northern Song Dynasty had its capital in Kaifeng, Henan. The royal mausoleums are located to the west of capital, in a piece of land ranging between the north of the Songshan Mountains and the south of the Luo River. Thus a mausoleum area for the heaven’s son is created which faces “Zhong Yue” (central sacred mountain). The royal mausoleum yard centers around today’s Zhitian Town of Gongyi City. It is 10 km wide from east to west, and 15 km long from south to north. The reasons for choosing this place for mausoleum are, firstly Emperor Taizu of Song once considered moving the capital to Luoyang, and this place is bordering Luoyang at its west. Secondly, suitable topography and environment. According to the geomancy requirements at that time, this place is where the hillocks merge with plains, thus satisfying the demand that there should be a gradually descending slope from Quetai (an architectural form of a high building in Song) to Lingtai (raised platform in a mausoleum) inside the mausoleum yard. The Northern Song Dynasty has altogether nine emperors. Emperor Huizong Zhao Ji and Emperor Qinzong Zhao Huan were captured by the Jin army and died in the northern desert. The remaining seven emperors, namely Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin, Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi, Emperor Zhenzong Zhao Heng, Emperor Renzong Zhao Zhen, Emperor Yingzong Zhao Shu, Emperor Shenzong Zhao Xu, and Emperor Zhezong Zhao Xu, were all buried in the mausoleum yard in today’s Gongyi City. Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin’s father, Zhao Hongyin was given the posthumous title of Xuanzu and was also buried inside the mausoleum yard. 21 (or 22) Empresses and over a hundred royal dignitaries and outstanding officials were also buried inside the yard. These imperial mausoleums and their subordinate tombs and attendant tombs can be divided into four sections, south, middle, north, and west. The southern section is between the Changfeng Village and Hutuo Village, in the north of Xicun Township. It is below the Jinping Mountain, the Baiyun Mountain and Heiyanshan Mountain, and borders Qinglong Mountain, Fenghuang Mountain and Shiren Mountain to the east. There are three imperial mausoleums in this section. They are, in the order of from southeast to northwest, the Yong’anling Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzu Zhao Hongyin, the Yongchangling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizu Zhao Kuangyin and the Yongxiling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong Zhao Guangyi. They’re accompanied by a total of 10 empresses mausoleums and over 140 tombs of descendants. The middle section is in the north of the southern section, situated on the hilltop in the north or Caizhuang. Inside there is one imperial mausoleum, the Yongdingling Mausoleum for Emperor Zhenzong Zhao Heng, attended by three empress and consorts in this section. The northern section is in the southwest of downtown Gongyi City. There are two imperial mausoleums located from east to west, the Yongzhaoling Mausoleum

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for Emperor Renzong Zhao Zhen and the Yonghouling Mausoleum for Emperor Yingzong Zhaoshu. The western section borders the southern section on its east and lies in the south of Baling Village. The Yongyuling Mausoleum for Emperor Shenzong Zhao Xu and the Yongtailing Mausoleum for Emperor Zhezong Zhao Xu stand in parallel in this section. For the whole mausoleum area in Gongyi City, the south, middle, north, and west sections are arranged by chronological order. And within each section, the order is putting seniors in the east, and juniors in the west.

Flat plan of the layout of imperial mausoleums of Northern Song Dynasty

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Yongchang Mausoleum of Song Dynasty

All the mausoleums for Song emperors and empresses in Gongyi City face the direction of the Shaoshi peaks in the Songshan Mountains. Songshan is known as “Zhong Yue” (central sacred mountain) among the Wu Yue (five sacred mountains) in China. It has three peaks, with the names of Taishi Mountain (in the east), Junji Peak (in the middle), and Shaoshi Mountain (in the west). The main peak of Shaoshi Mountain is called Yuzhai Mountain, which is also the highest peak of the Songshan Mountains. In feudal societies, “Wu Yue” (the five sacred mountains) were considered by the ruling class to be the residence of immortals. The Northern Song’s emperors and empresses chose to face Zhong Yue with their mausoleums, possibly implying their willingness to communicate with the immortals living in the Shaoshi Mountain through the underground palace.

Quemen of the Yongzhaoling Mausoleum of Song

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Stone reliefs of the Yongyuling Mausoleum

Stone sculptures along the spirit way of the Yongzhaoling Mausoleum

Drastically different from traditional imperial mausoleums in ancient times, which usually took overwhelming position, the Song Dynasty’s mausoleums for emperors

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and empresses chose to face the Shaoshi Mountain, so they are higher in the south and lower in the north. The Northern Song imperial mausoleums basically followed the systems in the Han and Tang dynasties. For example, the mausoleum yard, underground palace, sealing earth, separation of emperor and empress in different pits while in the same grave all reflected the influence of the Han Dynasty. And the practice of setting up of lower palace, and placing stone sculptures along Sima passageway was influenced by the Tang Dynasty. The location selection in Northen Song was dominated significantly by geomancy principles. All the imperial mausoleums used heaped-up earth as tomb mound and no one was built by excavating into mountains. The sealing earth is shaped as an inverted cup, with a perimeter of 55–58 m at the bottom and a height of around 17 m. The Yong’anling Mausoleum has smaller sealing earth, with a bottom perimeter of 22.5 m and a height of 6.4 m. The empress’s mausoleum also uses inverted-cup-shaped sealing earth, but the scale is much smaller. Usually, the bottom perimeter is 19–30 m and the height is 8.5–11.2 m. The smallest sealing earth is found for the empress of Shenzong, with a bottom perimeter of 12–16.5 m. Cypress trees were planted on top of the sealing earth in Song mausoleums. Except for the Yong’anling Mausoleum, all the imperial mausoleums in the Northern Song adopted the rule of “same grave but different pit for emperor and empress” from the Western Han. The mausoleums for emperor and empress each have a mausoleum yard. Both their yards are square in flat plan, and each side has a gate in the middle. The southern gate is the main entrance and there are four corner towers, one at each corner. In the mausoleums for emperor and empress, a sacrifice hall is built between the sealing earth and the southern gate. The emperor’s mausoleum yard is about 227–231 m long in perimeter and the distances between the southern gate and Rutai (second-tier gate), also between Rutai and Quetai (third-tier gate) are all 150 m respectively. Empress’s mausoleum is located in the northwest of emperor’s mausoleum, with a perimeter of 97–115 m. The distance between the mausoleum gate and Rutai is 60–70 m. A few empress mausoleums didn’t have Quetai. And the distance between Rutai and Quetai varies from 20 to 80 m. The lower palace of the Song mausoleums is in the northwest of the mausoleum yard. Palace maids, guards, and administration officials lived inside, and daily sacrificial activities were all held in the lower palace. Some Song mausoleums also had Buddhist temples built nearby, entrusted with the duty of praying for the deceased emperor. This practice had its precedence in Tailing for Emperor Wendi of Sui. It should be considered as an inheritance from previous dynasties.

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Stone horse and horse handler in Song mausoleums

The stone sculptures of the Song mausoleums are mainly placed along the two sides (east and west) of spirit way between the southern gate and Rutai. From south to north, the stone sculptures are, one pair of huabiaos, one pair of elephants and one pair of elephant trainers, one pair of auspicious birds, one pair of Luduans, two pairs of stone horses, four pairs of horse handlers, two pairs of tigers, two pairs of sheep, three pairs of envoys, two pairs of military officers, two pairs of civil officials, one pair of gate lions and one pair of mausoleum guarding generals. Besides, outside the eastern, western and northern gate of the mausoleum yard, there are a pair of stone lions for each of them. And there are a pair of palace maids inside the southern gate, and another pair in the south of the Lingtai (raised platform). In the empress mausoleums, there are a pair of stone lions outside each of the four gates, and there are a pair of palace maids inside the southern gate. Along the spirit way outside the southern gate, the stone sculptures are, from south to north, one pair of huabiaos, one pair of stone horses and one pair of horse handlers, two pairs of stone tigers, two pairs of stone sheep, one pair of civil officials, and one pair of warriors. One pair of stone lions are placed outside the southern gate of the lower palace.

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3.2.5 Imperial Mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties 3.2.5.1

Imperial Mausoleums of the Tang Dynasty

The rulers of Tang inherited the mausoleum systems from previous dynasties, while on the other hand, they made bold changes and additions to mausoleums by taking reference from the structure of the Chang’an City. In the Tang era, the formality and scale of mausoleums, the category and number of ground-level stone sculptures and also the cultural relics unearthed varied from one imperial mausoleum to another. These differences offer an epitomized perspective to observe the historical changes in this dynasty. And the imperial mausoleums also mirrored the activities of the Tang emperors in Chang’an in their lifetimes. Through this, people can also have a glimpse of the history of Chang’an in the Tang days. Geographic locations of the Tang Imperial Mausoleums Area The Weibei (north of Wei River) Tang imperial mausoleums area is located at the southern foot of the North Mountains in northern suburb of Chang’an city. In the order of going from west to east, the following mausoleums are located in the area, the Qianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozong Lizhi and Empress Wu Zetian, the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xizong Li Xuan, the Jianling Mausoleum for Emperor Suzong Li Heng, the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong Li Shiming, the Zhengling Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzong Li Chen, the Chongling Mausoleum for Emperor Dezong Li Shi, the Zhuangling Mausoleum for Emperor Jingzong Li Zhan, the Duanling Mausoleum for Emperor Wuzong Li Yan, the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu Li Yuan, the Jianling Mausoleum for Emperor Yizong Li Cui, the Yuanling Mausoleum for Emperor Daizong Li Yu, the Zhangling Mausoleum for Emperor Wenzong Li Ang, the Dingling Mausoleum for Emperor Zhongzong Li Xian, the Fengling Mausoleum for Emperor Shunzong Li Song, the Qiaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Ruizong Li Dan, the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xianzong Li Chun, the Guangling Mausoleum for Emperor Muzong Li Heng, the Tailing Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji. They are referred to as the “Eighteen Tang Mausoleums in Guanzhong”. The eighteen mausoleums extend for over 150 km from east to west and go through six counties of Qian, Liquan, Jingyang, Sanyuan, Fuping, and Pucheng. If Chang’an is the starting point, and two lines are drawn respectively linking Chang’an to the Qianling Mausoleum in the northwest, and the Tailing Mausoleum in the northeast, then the mausoleum area forms a fan shape which opens at 102°. This fan-shaped area keeps ascending gradually from south to north, and it can be divided into four layers of terraces.

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Geographic locations of the Eighteen Tang Mausoleums

The first layer terrace is the capital Chang’an with an altitude of 340–400 m. The second layer terrace is Xianyangyuan, with an altitude of around 450 m. The third layer terrace is the Weibei Plateau which holds the mausoleums of Xianling, Zhuangling, Duanling, and Jingling. The altitude is mainly 500 m, with the exception of the Jingling Mausoleum in the west, with an altitude of 800 m. The fourth layer terrace is the southern foot or the mountainous terrains, which hold 14 Tang mausoleums including Zhaoling and Qianling at an altitude of 750–1200 m. The topography of the Tang imperial mausoleums reflected the mindset of royal supremacy by the Tang emperors, who wielded the top authority. The Weibei (north of Wei River) Tang imperial mausoleums area is situated on the southern side of the North Mountains, as the saying goes, “leans against mountain peak and faces plains”. The choice of building mausoleums to the north of capital is an inheritance of traditional burial rituals. In “The Story of Lü Cai” from Old Tang Book (Jiu Tang Shu · Lü Cai Zhuan), it was recorded that “the ancients buried the dead all to the north of the capital”. If the mausoleums of father and son are placed next to each other, this is a way for junior emperors to show filial piety. When Emperor Xuanzong paid homages to Xianling for Emperor Gaozu, Zhaoling for Emperor Taizong, Qianling for Emperor Gaozong, Dingling for Emperor Zhongzong, and Qiaoling for Emperor Ruizong, he found the fengshui of Jinshu Mountain near Qiaoling quite attractive. Therefore, he decided to be buried in this place after death so that he could still “look after” his father in the other world. The Weibei Tang mausoleums area had been used for almost 300 years, covering an area with circumference of about 300 li. Therefore, it was impossible for the top rulers of the Tang Dynasty to have a master plan of the whole mausoleum area at the very beginning. But for each individual mausoleum (or a cluster), the specific

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location went through rounds of studying and pondering. For example, the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu of Tang Li Yuan is situated on Xumuyuan, 20 km to the east of today’s Sanyuan County. 7.5 km to the east of the Xianling Mausoleum, there is a mausoleum for the Taishang Huang (the retired emperor) of the Han Dynasty. In his old age, Li Yuan became Taishang Huang and he wanted to choose Yueyang for his burial place. So the Xianling Mausoleum was built in a neighboring position to the west of the Taishang Huang mausoleum of Han. The elevation of the Xianlin Mausoleum is 50 m higher than the latter. Just as the whole Tang imperial mausoleums areas are consistently higher than those in the Western Han Dynasty, this reflects a belief of the Tang Dynasty’s supreme rulers that they were higher than the emperors of previous dynasties. Some imperial mausoleums had the location handpicked by the emperors. For example, the location for the mausoleums of Zhaoling and Tailing was decided by Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xuanzong personally. Taizong was impressed by the grandeur and “gu song hui jue” (abrupt towering stance and majestic solitude) of the Jiuzong Mountain and chose this place for Zhaoling. Xuanzong favored the Jinsu Mountain for Tailing, because he found the terrains shaping like sleeping dragon and resting phoenix. By taking a holistic view of the mausoleum area, the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu lies in the middle along the horizontal line from east to west. In the allocation of the mausoleums, it’s very common that father and son stay together as neighbors, such as the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong and the Qianling Mausoleum for Gaozong (Jingling and Jianling were built after Gaozong and they wedged into the middle), the Qiaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Ruizong and the Tailing Mausoleum for Emperor Xuanzong (the middle Jingling and Guangling were built after Xuazong’s reign), the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xianzong and the Guangling Mausoleum for Emperor Muzong. There are also fraternal pairs, such as the Zhuangling Mausoleum for Emperor Jingzong and the Daunting Mausoleum for Emperor Wuzong. Regulated Forms of Tang Mausoleums There are two types of formalities for the Tang imperial mausoleums: heaped-up earth tombs and building mausoleums by leaning against mountains. Among the Tang imperial mausoleums, Xianling, Zhuangling, Duanling, and Jingling used accumulated earth and they were all situated on the third layer of terrace to the north of Xi’an. These Tang imperial mausoleums had the sealing earth-shaped like an inverted cup, very similar to the Western Han’s imperial mausoleums, but at a much lesser scale. Their sealing earth was just as big as that of a vassal king in the Western Han. For example, Zhuangling and Duanling are both accumulated earth tombs with similar scale of sealing earth, with a height of about 16 m. The flat plan at bottom is close to a square with a perimeter of only 58 m. The Jingling Mausoleum has even smaller sealing earth, with a height of 8.6 m. The flat plan of the square bottom is 40 m long in perimeter.

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Sealing earth of Zhuangling of Tang

Jiu Zong Moutain, site for the Zhaoling Mausoleum of the Tang Dynasty. Jiuzong Mountain is in Liquan County of Shaanxi Province. Among rather flat terrains, a commanding peak thrusts into the sky, reaching an altitude of 1188 m. Around the peak, there are nine evenly distributed ridges, buttressing the peak like high holding hands. In ancient times, a small ridge was called “zong”, thus the mountain was named Jiu Zong (nine ridges).

For the heaped-up earth-type Tang imperial mausoleums, their vault structure is still unclear. Based on the excavated two mausoleums from the Southern Tang Dynasty, the vault of Tang imperial mausoleums should have front, middle, and rear

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chambers, connected together from south to north. In the two mausoleums, the stone outer coffin is placed in the rear chamber. On the side panels of the outer coffin, there are lined engraving portraits of royal ladies with titles. For imperial mausoleums, elegy is placed inside instead of stone epigraph tablet. The elegy is made up of multiple pieces of jade slabs engraved with words, and the words are filled in gold. Most of the mausoleums for the Tang emperors were built by leaning against mountains. The first mausoleum of this type in Tang was Zhaoling for Emperor Taizong. Once Li Shimin said that “building mausoleums by leaning against mountains” was to “advocate frugality”. He also demanded that burial objects should not contain gold, jade, and other jewelries. Actually, these were all deceptive remarks. The real purpose was to ensure the safety of the mausoleum by making use of the robust mountains. Claiming that no gold and jade was buried inside aimed to “discourage the greed of bandits and burglars”. Building mausoleums inside mountains was by no means “frugal”, but immensely more costly in terms of financial burden and corvee because of the engineering difficulties in chiseling through rocks. The Tang mausoleums that leaned against mountains are built on the multiple peaks of the North Mountains to the north of Chang’an. The underground palace is excavated into the middle of southern slope of mountains, making a tomb corridorway with 60–70 m in length and 3.5–4 m in width. The passageway is paved with orderly arranged blue stone slabs, fastened together by iron bolts and the gaps are filled by melted lead, making them extremely strong. This kind of technique is discovered in the passageways of Qianling, Qiaoling, Dingling, Tailing, Jianling, Chongling, and Jianling. It’s inferred that the vault has multiple doors made of stone. The vault should comprise of front, middle, and rear chambers. The walls inside the vault should be decorated with exquisite reliefs, or mural paintings. So far, no Tang mausoleums of this type have been surveyed by archaeologists, and the situation inside the vaults was not recorded in any historical writings either. So the internal layout of these mausoleums is yet to be unveiled by future archaeological work. The Tang mausoleums have walls on four sides made with rammed earth. With the imperial mausoleum in the center, the surrounding walls create an enclosed area, namely the mausoleum yard. There are two types of imperial mausoleum yards in the Tang Dynasty. For the Tang mausoleums that used accumulated earth, the flat plan of the yard is almost square in shape. For example, the Zhuangling Mausoleum for Emperor Jingzong and the Jingling Mausoleum for Emperor Xizong are similar in scale, with a perimeter of 480–490 m. The Duanling Mausoleum for Emperor Wuzong has a perimeter of 540–593 m. For this type of mausoleum, there is a gate opened at each of the four walls, and the passageway faces the sealing earth of the imperial tomb directly. For the Tang mausoleums that lean against mountains, because the yard was constructed by following the mountainous terrains, the flat plan is not so orderly shaped. But there is still one gate at each of the four sides. The southern, eastern, and western gates have their passageways pointing to the direction of underground palace directly, but the northern gate may have some angle difference because of topography. The four gates are called Qing Long (Green Dragon for eastern gate),

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Bai Hu (White Tiger for western gate), Zhu Que (Scarlet Bird for southern gate), and Xuan Wu (Somber warrior for northern gate). The Zhu Que Gate is the main entrance to the mausoleum yard, and the Xuan Wu Gate is a very important entrance.

Bird’s eye view of the Qiaoling Mausoleum of Tang

Sima Way of the Tailing Mausoleum of Tang

There is a corner tower at each of the four corners of the mausoleum yard. Usually, the tomb is located in the middle section of the yard, slightly to the north. Within

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the southern gate lies the sacrifice hall, rectangular in shape for its flat plan. The total direction of the mausoleum yard is sitting in the north while facing south. At the location selection principle is also that the north side should be higher than the south, leaning against the mountain and facing plains. Usually, outside the four gates of the yard, there are a pair of earth-made watchtowers. Stone-made door animals are placed between the twin watchtowers and the gate. Outside the southern gate lies the “Rutai” (raised platform building), and further south stands the “Quetai”. The section between the “Rutai” and southern gate is the “Sima Way” (also called the “spirit way”), lined with large stone sculpture on its east and west sides. There are statues of Fan (other ethnicities) people, steles, stone figurines, ritual horses, stone ostriches, winged horses, and “huabiao”. The lower palace is positioned between the “Quetai” and “Rutai”.

Huabiao for the Qiaoling Mausoleum of Tang

The “Quetai”, “Rutai”, and Southern Gate for Tang mausoleums are the three tiers of doors for the mausoleum yard. There is great similarity between them and the three gates in Chang’an City, the Ming De Gate of the outer wall, the Zhu Que Gate of the royal city and the Cheng Tian gate of the palace. For most Tang mausoleums, the distance between the southern gate and the watchtower at second tier (“Rutai”)

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is more than 600 m. The distance between the second tier (“Rutai”) and third tier (“Quetai”) is usually 2000 m, some of them are less, around 1500 m. The three tiers of gates separated the mausoleum yard into three sections. The southern section is the part between the “Quetai” and “Rutai”, which contains the attendant tombs. It is very similar with the outer city blocks within Chang’an. The attendant tombs are scattered as the residences of the senior official and dignitaries in outer city. The section between the “Rutai” and the southern gate is like the royal city of the capital. The stone sculptures standing along the “Sima Way” may represent miscellaneous officials from different departments, and also the guards of honor for the emperor. The mausoleum year inside the southern gate is like the royal palace when emperor lived in during his lifetime. For the Tang mausoleums built in mountains, the elevation difference between three sections inside the mausoleum yard is 50–100 m. Stone Sculptures in the Tang Mausoleums The Tang mausoleum stone sculptures are mainly placed along the spirit way and outside the four gates of the mausoleum yard. The spirit way has far more stone sculptures in both number and varieties. Each category of sculptures is placed in symmetric pairs on the left and right. The common distance between the eastern and western columns of sculptures is 60 m, some individual mausoleums only have 25 m, and some bigger ones are 160 m apart. The two columns of stone horses outside the northern gate are usually 30 m apart, some are 25 m, and bigger ones are 70 m. The Tang mausoleum stone sculptures have a massive scale with remarkable carving technique. They inherited the artistic tradition of stone sculpture from the Han and Wei mausoleums and also absorbed the artistic elements from the western region, central Asia, and South Asia. The winged horses, ostriches, and stone lions intensively reflected the Sino-foreign cultural exchanges during the Tang Dynasty. The stone statues of “Fan (other ethnicities) chieftains” and “Fan people” showed the friendly relationship of Tang’s royal court with other countries. Judging by the category combination and carving techniques, the development of stone sculptures in the Tang imperial mausoleums could be divided into three periods. The Early Tang period: the stone sculptures in the Xianling Mausoleum for Emperor Gaozu and the Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong. Stone sculptures in this stage were gigantic. For example, the rhino in Xianling had single horn, angry eyes, closed mouth, and the whole body was covered with scales, reflecting the belief of “perfectly armored skin”. The huge rhino was 340 cm long and 207 m tall and maintained a walking stance. At this stage, the combination of stone sculptures had not been formalized yet, but it had a deep influence on later mausoleums. After the Qianling Mausoleum, all Tang imperial mausoleums placed a pair of stone lions outside the four yard gates. Obviously, the origin was the pair of stone tigers out of the four gates placed by the Xianling Mausoleum. Also, the Tang mausoleums put three pairs of stone horses outside the northern gate of the mausoleum yard, partially influenced by the stone reliefs of “Six Steeds” near the “North Sima Gate” in the Zhaoling Mausoleum. Zhaoling also placed statues of kings from fourteen vassal

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states, which pioneered the practice of placing statues of “Fan (other ethnicities) chieftains” and “Fan people”. The flourishing period of Tang: the stone sculptures in Qianling for Emperor Gaozong, Dingling for Emperor Zhongzong, and Qiaoling for Emperor Ruizong. This stage inherited the feature of gigantic scale from early stage, and there were significantly more stone sculptures and more categories. The combination was basically formalized as a system, and the craftsmanship was outstanding. The Mid and Late Tang period: the stone sculptures in 13 Tang mausoleums, including Tailing for Emperor Xuanzong and Jingling for Emperor Xizong. The AnShi Rebellion put an end to the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty and marked the beginning of its downfall. The stone sculptures in imperial mausoleums also started to become humble and timid. During the prosperous period of Tang, the stone lions in imperial mausoleums would be as high as 2.7–3 m, but in this period the lions were only 1.5–1.7 m tall. And horizontal symmetry between east and west was highly emphasized at this time. For example, the winged horses and stone lions were grouped into left or right columns according to the gender, and the stone figurines were positioned into left or right columns based on their status as civil or military. The carving techniques at this time used simple and coarse lines, creating shapes but less soul. The Tang mausoleum stone carvings are pieces of art during the peak stage of China’s feudal society. They are treasures of China’s ancient large-scale stone sculpture, reflecting the politics, economics, and culture of the Tang Dynasty from a different perspective. Attendant Tombs in the Tang mausoleums Among the Tang mausoleums, Xianling and Zhaoling in the early Tang period had the largest number of attendant tombs, followed by Qianling, Dingling, and Qiaoling during the flourishing period. In the mid and late Tang period, after Tailing there were very few attendant tombs or even no attendant tombs at all. Most of the attendant tombs for Xianling were located in the north or northeast of the mausoleum, possibly a result of the influence by the West Han imperial mausoleum attendant tomb system. Starting from Zhaoling, the attendant tombs were mainly placed in the south and southeast of the mausoleum. There are two reasons for this change, one is the constraint of the Tang mausoleum’s location rule of sitting in the north while facing south. The other is the influence of layout structure inside Chang’an.

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Underground palace of Crown Prince Zhanghuai’s tomb, as attendant tomb of Qianling

Crown Prince Zhanghuai’s tomb lies about 3 km away to the southeast of Qianling. With personal name of Li Xian, he was the second son of Emperor Gaozong Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian. The sealing earth is shaped like inverted cup. The length and width of the bottom are both 43 m. The length and width of the top are both 11 m. The height is about 18 m. There are still remains for a pair of earth-made watchtowers, standing 50 m to the south of the sealing earth mound. They are 4.5 m tall, and the bottom is five meters long and five meters wide. A pair of stone sheep stand in parallel to the south of earth watchtowers. Inside the tomb, there are over 50 mural paintings, preserved in basically good conditions. The mural paintings of Polo Match, Hunting Expedition, Meeting Guests, and Observing Bird Catching Cicada are marvelous pieces of art. The sealing earth of attendant tombs in the Tang mausoleums had the shapes of inverted cup, circular cone, and mountain shape. Generally speaking, the occupants of the tombs with inverted cup sealing earth had higher status than those of tombs in cone shape. The mountain shape was mostly used for those decorated war heroes. Not only the shape of sealing earth, but also the height of tombs reflected the hierarchical status of the deceased. The Tang Dynasty regulated that when first-rank officials were buried in attendant tombs with imperial mausoleums, their tombs should be one zhang and eight chi in height. For the second-rank and below officials, every rank lower should have the tomb built two chi lower. Of course the rules were only

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applied to ordinary civil officials and military officers. The meritorious statesmen who made outstanding contributions and special royal relatives were naturally not constrained by such rules. For example, Li Ji’s tomb was seven zhang high, and Princess Chang Le and Princess Yang Cheng had their tombs built to five zhang. Xianling, Zhaoling, and Qianling In the Tang imperial mausoleums, the most typical ones with historical significance are Xianling for Emperor Gaozu which was built with heaped-up earth, Zhaoling for Emperor Taizong, and Qianling as joint tomb for Emperor Gaozong and Wu Zetian, with the latter two leaned against mountains. Xianling Built for Emperor Gaozu, Xianling is the earliest one among the 18 imperial mausoleums. It is located around Yonghe Village, Xumu Township, 20 km to the east of Sanyuan County Town and Nanlv Village in Nanzhuang Fuping County. 7.5 km to the east of Xialing, there is a mausoleum for Taishang Huang (the retired emperor) in the Han Dynasty. Building Xialing next to it on the western side should be related with Li Yuan’s title as Taishang Huang after abdication. It was his will “to have the final resting place in Yueyang”. When Emperor Taizong Li Shiming was building the mausoleum for his father, he once ordered that Xianling should be constructed into the scale of Changling for Emperor Gaozu of Han. After repeated persuasion by the civil and military ministers, he finally agreed that the scale should be based on Yuanling for Emperor Guangwu of Eastern Han, making the sealing earth as high as six zhang (equivalent to today’s 18.18 m). The sealing earth of Xianling is shaped like inverted cup. A mausoleum yard is built around the tomb, and the tomb is situated in the middle of the yard, slightly to the north. There is one gate opened at each of the four walls, pointing directly to the tomb. Within the yard, there used to be residential palace and sacrifice hall on the southern side of the tomb. Later the residential palace was moved out of the yard and relocated five li away to the southwest, renamed as “lower palace”. Outside the four gates of Xianling, a pair of stone tigers are placed 4.5 m away from each gate. Standing apart on the left and right, the tigers have similar size and forms, with round body, grave expression, gigantic head, short thick neck, flat and broad back, four legs standing, tail down, openwork carving below the belly. This is the only imperial mausoleum in ancient China that put a pair of stone tigers at each of the four gates.

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The Xianling Mausoleum. Remaining sealing earth of Xianling today is 21 m tall. Its bottom is 150 m long from east to west and 120 m wide from south to north. The mausoleum yard is 467 m long from east to west, and 470 m wide from south to north.

Outside the southern gate, along the spirit way there are also one pair of stone rhinos and one pair of stone huabiaos. The rhinos are the witnesses of cultural exchanges between China and the world in ancient times. The attendant tombs for Xianling are mainly situated in the northeastern part of the mausoleum. This arrangement is similar with Changling for Emperor Gaozu of Han. Historical documents registered a total of 16 vassal kings, one princess, and six outstanding statesmen in attendant tombs. In the mausoleum, there are 52 attendant tombs preserved until today, among them 26 still have sealing earth. The occupants of the tombs that have been identified, either through excavation or stone tablet in the front side, are Li Feng, Li Shentong, Li Xiaotong, Zang Huaike, and Fan Xing. The graveyard for attendant tombs is 400 m wide east–west, and 1500 m long south–north. Zhaoling Zhaoling is a joint mausoleum for Emperor Taizong Li Shimin and Empress Wende of the Tang Dynasty. It sits atop the Jiu Zong Moutain, which is 22.5 km away to the northeast of Li Quan County Town. It is the pioneering mausoleum in Tang which made use of mountainous terrains. The site of this imperial mausoleum yard is 15.45 km long from east to west, and 12.65 km wide from south to north, covering a total area of 113.15 square kilometers. The northern side of the Jiuzong Mountain is rather smooth. Inside the northern Sima Gate, there are remains of the altar for Zhaoling, which is square in shape, 86 m long south–north and 53 m wide east–west. The terrains are higher in the south than the north. The famous “Stone Statues of 14 Fan (other ethnicities) Vassal State Kings” and stone reliefs of “Zhaoling Liujun (Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum)” used to be placed near the altar. Today the original stone bases and fragments of some Fan

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vassal king’s statues are still preserved in this place. 50 m to the south of the altar, there are remains of the northern mountain gate, which is 12 m wide east–west and three meters in depth south–north. The mountain gate has three passages, and the central one is two meters wide and the two side ones are 1.5 m wide each. There is a courtyard inside, and the main hall stands in the southern part. There is a square pavilion at the center of the courtyard. The eastern, western, and northern sides of the courtyard are built with corridors. The eastern and western corridors are 20 m long and seven meters wide.

Full view of Zhaoling of the Tang Dynasty

Zhaoling Liujun (Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum) painted by Zhao Lin, the Jin Dynasty

The southern gate of Zhaoling’s mausoleum yard is in today’s Huangcheng Village, 800 m to the south of the Jiuzong Mountain. There are a pair of Que (watchtowers) outside the gate which stand in symmetry from left to right, 90 m apart. Their foundations are made with rammed earth. The bottom has a diameter of over 20 m, and the remains left until today are about eight meters high. Inside the gate stands the sacrifice hall. The flat plan of the sacrifice hall is square in shape with side length of 40 m. All the four walls of the hall are decorated with richly colored murals. And the building itself is magnificent and spectacular.

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Baitiwu, Zhaoling Liujun (Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum)

Qingzhui , Zhaoling Liujun (Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum)

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Telebiao , Zhaoling Liujun (Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum)

Shifachi, Zhaoling Liujun (Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum)

Saluzi , Zhaoling Liujun (Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum)

Quanmaogua , Zhaoling Liujun (Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum)

In today’s Huangping Village, lying 1150 m to the southwest of the Jiu Zong Moutain, there are remains for the buildings of Zhaoling’s lower palace. The remains site is 237 m wide east–west and 334 m long south–north. The Zhaoling stone carvings are valuable relics left to offsprings, with the “Stone Statues of 14 Fan Vassal State Kings” and the stone reliefs of “Zhaoling Liujun” as prominent examples. The cultural origins could be traced back to the stone carvings in the tomb of Huo Qubing in the Han Dynasty. It is recorded in historical documents that in order to commemorate and showcase the great achievements of his father Li Shimin, Emperor Gaozong of Tang asked the sculpture artists to make stone statues for the Fan kings from vassal states that had been conquered, and inscribed them with official titles. The statues were stoutly built, having deep eyes and hawk nose, equipped with bow and saber, clad in helmet and armor, appearing energetic and dignified. They were placed in front of the sacrifice hall and stood there for centuries. In recent years, seven stone bases of these “Stone Statues of 14 Fan Vassal Kings’ Statues” have been found in the remains of the northern corridor inside Sima Gate at the north of Zhaoling, with the original inscription of the kings’ names. Thus, their identities and titles are discovered as Ashina She’er, Turkic Dubu Khan and General of Right Branch; Long Tuqizhi, King of Karasahr; Tubo Zanpu; Qu Zhisheng, King of Gaochang (Karakhoja) and Imperial Corps Commander of Left Guards; Inchu Bilge Khan of Xueyantuo (Seyanto); Fu Shexin, King of Khotan; Arunasva, King of Pushyabhuti. The stone statues of “14 Fan Vassal State Kings” and the “Six Steeds of Zhao Mausoleum” in the Northern Sima Gate pioneered the practice of putting Fan (people of other ethnicities) statues among the stone sculptures, and also placing stone horses (three pairs) outside northern spirit gate. Zhaoling has the maximum number of attendant tombs among the Tang imperial mausoleums. So far over 200 attendant tombs have been found around it. Historical documents said that in Zhaoling’s attendant tombs, there were seven consorts, 11

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princes, 22 princesses, 35 civil officials below the third rank, and 67 meritorious generals. There are also some subordinate tombs. The layout shows that occupants of the tombs on the mountain, which are placed closer to Zhaoling’s underground palace, have higher status, such as Wei Zheng, Princess Xincheng, Princess Changle, and Princess Yangcheng. These attendant tombs are either built by leaning against the mountain, or built with inverted-cup-shaped earth mound. The graveyard has watchtowers in the front. For example, Wei Zheng was buried on the Fenghuang Mountain, a part of the Jiuzong Mountain. The tomb was built by making use of the mountain, and watchtowers were placed in front of it. Emperor Taizong also personally composed and wrote an inscription on Wei Zheng’s tomb tablet. For the attendant tombs at the foot of the Jiuzong Mountain, the tombs were arranged according to chronological order of the occupants’ burials. The earlier ones were put closer to the main peak, and the later ones were placed further away. Currently, there are 102 attendant tombs found below the mountain. There are two types of shapes for tomb mound: mountain shape and circular cone. The tombs of Li Jing, Li Ji, and also tombs of Ashina She’er and Li Simo as recorded in historical documents have mountain-shaped mounds, and the rest ones are all cone-shaped. Each mountain shape has its special meaning. For example, the tomb of Li Jing, a military strategist in the early Tang Dynasty, has the mound shape of mountainous upheavals, symbolizing the Yin Mountain and the Qishi Mountain. Historical documents said this was to commemorate his tremendous success in putting down Tuyuhun rebellion.

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Layout of the attendant tombs for Zhaoling of the Tang Dynasty

Another example is the tomb for famous Li Ji, whose mound is shaped like the inverted character “品”, comprising of three heaps of cone-shaped sealing earth. It was recorded that they represented the Yin, Tie, and Wudejian mountains, respectively. In front of this tomb, there is a huge stele with the inscription personally composed and written by Emperor Gaozong of Tang. The stele is 5.65 m tall. At the top six chi (hornless dragon) coil together with the head pointing down and the bottom is supported by a huge turtle which is 1.2 m tall by itself. The tomb of Ashina She’er has the mound-shaped like the Cong Mountain. This should be commemorating his role in the war of pacifying Qiuzi. It is worth noting that besides Ashina She’er and Li Simo, there are also a large number of generals from ethnic minorities who are buried in the attendant tombs, such as Ashina Zhong, Qibi Heli, Zhishi Sili. Most of them had made great contributions to the formulation and unification of Tang, an empire of ethnic diversity.

3.2 Archaeological Findings in the Imperial Mausoleums

Tomb of Ashina She’er as attendant tomb for Zhaoling

Tomb of Li Simo as attendant tomb of Zhaoling

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Tomb of Li Jing as attendant tomb of Zhaoling

Tomb tablets collected in the Zhaoling Museum

Judging by the tomb mounds of which the occupants’ identities are known, in the early stage the height and scale of tomb mound was a very important indicator to determine the social status of the occupant. But in later stage, a lot of tombs became excessive and violated the rules. If an attendant tomb also has subordinate tombs, then it is usually a family buried together, for example, the two tombs of Tang Jian and Tang Jiahui and the two tombs

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of Dou Lukuan and Dou Luren. The royal family relatives or the consorts would be buried on the mountain, to the south or southeast of the underground palace. The stone carvings for attendant tombs are not only important parts in the stone carvings of Zhaoling, but also a reflection of the status of the occupant of the tomb during lifetime. For the attendant tombs, the shape of sealing earth is highly correlated with the stone carvings. For example, the inverted-cup-shaped mound tombs have a pair of stone figurines in front of the tomb (on eastern and western sides). On the southern side, there are also three stone sheep and three stone tigers in the eastern and western columns, respectively. Further, south there are a pair of stone pillars (on eastern and western sides) and a stone stele stands at the southern end. For tombs with mountain-shaped mound, all of them have stone carvings. There are a pair of stone figurines (on eastern and western sides). And further south, there are three stone sheep and three stone tigers in the eastern and western columns, respectively. A stone stele stands at the southern end. The tombs with cone-shaped mounds usually have the stone carvings combination of stone sheep, tiger, and pillars. Both Emperor Taizong and Gaozong were outstanding calligraphers and their “Wei Zheng Stele” and “Li Ji stele” were famous handwritten pieces. In Tang times, the upper class of the society was enthusiastic about fabricating steles with epitaphs for the deceased. And it would be a great honor if the inscription was written by famous calligraphers. So in the attendant tombs of Zhaoling, a large number of steles and epitaphs carried the marvelous authentic works of calligraphy art from the early stage to the flourishing stage of the Tang Dynasty. Qianling Qianling is a joint mausoleum for Wu Zetian and Emperor Gaozong, and it is also the western one among the 18 Tang imperial mausoleums. It is located on the Liang Mountain, 4650 m to the north of today’s Qian County Town. The mountain is 1047 m high in altitude and the Mo River wanders through a south–north ravine on the west. The eastern foot and northern foot are rather smooth, and the southern side has abrupt slopes. The underground palace of Qianling is built in the middle part of the southern foot by chiseling through rocks.

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Flat plan of Qianling. Mausoleum yard of Qianling is 1438–1450 m wide east–west, and 1450– 1582 m long south–north

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Full view of Qianling

Archaeological survey discovers that the underground palace lies on the southern side of the Liang Mountain. A pencil-shaped tunnel is chiseled into the mountain, serving as a tomb corridor. 39 levels of stone slabs are used to pave the corridor from the tomb entrance to the tomb gate. Most of the slabs are carved with letters from “Thousand Character Classic” and sequenced according to the order of the text. The parallel placed stone slabs are connected by iron bolts from left to right, and the neighboring levels are pierced and fastened with iron bars. The gaps are filled with melted iron, forming the 39 levels of stone slabs into one integral piece. The two stone side walls of the tomb corridor are covered with mural paintings. As told by historic documents, most of the Tang mausoleums within Guanzhong region were ransacked by Wen Tao during the Five Dynasties period. When the looters approached Qianling and tried to find their way in, they were unexpectedly hit by a heavy storm, accompanied with thunder and lightning strikes. The looters fled the scene in haste before they could open the underground palace. Contemporary archaeological survey shows that no looter’s holes are found in the vicinity of the underground palace of Qianling, and the tomb corridor structure is still kept in its original state from the Tang era. Thus, it is inferred that Qianling may be the only unlooted Tang mausoleum in Guanzhong region.

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Tomb corridor and sealing stones of Qianling. Tomb corridor is 63.1 m long south–north, and 3.9 m wide. The tomb doors lie 17 m below surface. The stone slabs are 1.25 m long and 0.4–0.6 m in width.

Remains of the watchtower at Zhuque (Scarlet Bird) Gate of Qianling

The flat plan of Qianling’s yard is roughly square in shape. The main peak of the Liang Mountain is almost the center point of the mausoleum yard. Walls are built surrounding the mausoleum. One gate is opened at each of the four walls, facing the main peak and the remains of the gate are 27 m wide. The four gates are called Qing Long Gate (Green Dragon on eastern side), Bai Hu Gate (White Tiger on western

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side), Zhu Que Gate (Scarlet Bird on southern side), and Xuan Wu Gate (Somber Warrior on northern side). The Zhu Que Gate is the main entrance. Outside the four gates, about 25–31 m away, two watchtowers are built on the two sides, with a distance of 38–43.5 m in-between. The watchtowers outside Zhu Que Gate are 25 m away from the gate, and 41.5 m apart. The flat plan of the remains of the watch tower is rectangular in shape, 26 m long east–west, and 17.5 m wide south–north. There are corner towers at each of the four corners, and the remains of the foundations still exist today. Inside the Zhu Que Gate is the sacrifice hall, and its flat plan is rectangular. Between the sacrifice hall and the Zhu Que gate, there are remains of the eastern and western pavilions. The location of Qianling may be the most special one in all ancient imperial mausoleums of China. It sits atop the Liang Mountain, which has three peaks. The main peak is where the underground palace is located. Two opposite-looking peaks are standing in its south, referred to as “Tits Mountain” in local vernacular. They are 1290 m and 1550 m away from the main peak, respectively, and the distance between them is 380 m. One watchtower is built on each of the two peaks, and their remains still exist today. The eastern watchtower’s remains are 19.3 m high, and the bottom flat is 18 m long east–west and 8.5 m wide south–north. These two watchtowers are actually the “Rutai” recorded in historical documents, serving as the second-tier gate for Qianling. The Zhu Que Gate is 650 m away to its north. There used to be a portrait worshiping ancestral hall built near the “Rutai”, and portraits of 60 outstanding statesmen at that time, for example Di Renjie, were exhibited. The southernmost gate, named as “Quetai” in historical documents, stands at a distance of 2350 m to the south of Rutai. Quetai is accompanied by two watchtowers at the eastern and western sides, standing 100 m apart. The remains of watchtowers still exist today. The bottom flat plan is rectangular in shape, 34 m long east–west and 25 m wide south–north. The remains are 10 m tall. In the western part of the space between “Rutai” and “Quetai”, there is a large area with building remains, which is around today’s eastern side of Yanjiazui Village, southern side of Lingqian Village, and northern side of Yaojiagong Village. They are possibly the remains of the lower palace of Qianling. The stone carvings of Qianling are exceptionally marvelous pieces of art among the Tang imperial mausoleums, in terms of exquisite craftsmanship, completeness in category combination, state of being well-preserved and the profound impact on later generations. They are mainly placed along the spirit way between the Zhu Que Gate and “Rutai”, and also outside the four gates of the mausoleum yard. There are one pair of stone lions outside each of the four gates, guarding the left and right sides. Outside the northern gate, there are also stone horses and statues of horse handlers, three pairs for each category. In the order of going from south to north, the stone sculptures along the spirit way outside the Zhu Que Gate are huabiaos, heavenly horses, ostrichs (one pair for each category), stone horses and horse handlers (five pairs for each category), 10 pairs of stone figurines, 2 steles and 64 statues of “Fan subjects” (other ethnicities). The stone carvings are grouped into eastern and western columns, standing in symmetry.

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The two columns of huabiaos, heavenly horses, ostriches, stone horses, and stone figurines all keep a distance of 25 m from each other. The total Qianling Mausoleum complex has a perimeter of 40 km. In the southeastern part of the complex, there are seventeen attendant tombs, belonging to Crown Prince Zhanghuai Xian, Crown Prince Yide Chongrun, King Ze (Shangjin), King Xu (Sujie), King Fen (Shouli), four princesses of Yiyang, Xindu, Yongtai, and Anxing, Tejing (honorary title) Wang Jishan, Liu Shenli, Chief Secretariat Xue Yuanchao, Doulu Qinwang, Yang Zaisi, Liu Rengui, General of Right Guards Li Jinxing, Imperial Corps Commander of Left Guards Gao Kan. Among them, five attend tombs of Princess Yongtai, Crown Prince Yide, Crown Prince Zhanghuai, Xue Yuanchao, and Li Jinxing have been excavated by archaeologists. Although all these five tombs were looted in history, archaeologists still unearthed 4300 pieces of Tang era cultural relics, and large-scale valuable mural paintings were also found on the chamber walls. In the tombs of Princess Yongtai, Crown Prince Yide, and Crown Prince Zhanghuai, a total of over 200 sets of mural paintings were found on the side walls of the tomb corridor, and also the walls and ceiling of the burial chamber.

Guards of Honor, mural painting, tomb of Crown Prince Zhanghuai

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Court Ladies, mural painting, tomb of Princess Yongtai

Que Towers, mural painting, tomb of Crown Prince Side

3.2.5.2

Imperial Mausoleums of the Five Dynasties

Yongling of Former Shu Wang Jian, with courtesy name of Guangtu, was a native of Wuyang, Xuzhou (in today’s Henan Province). In his young age, he served as a general in the Tang Dynasty.

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When Tang declined, the country was broken into pieces of military regimes, and the central plains were plagued by war. Wang Jian accompanied Emperor Xizong of Tang in his escape to Sichuan and got appointed as cishi (prefectural governor) of Lizhou (today’s Guangyuan City, Sichuan Province). During the reign of Emperor Zhaozong, he was enfeoffed with the title of King of Shu. In 907 CE, as the Tang Dynasty was formally obliterated, Wang Jian claimed himself emperor in Chengdu and named the kingdom “Da (Great) Shu”, known as “Former Shu” in history. Under the rule of Wang Jian, the territory of Sichuan, a region referred to as “tian fu zhi guo” (the land of abundance) in China, experienced considerable economic prosperity due to social stability and the minimum intervention policies. The rising national strength gave strong material supports to the construction of the mausoleum for Wang Jian, as the founding emperor. Yongling’s impressive scale was recorded in historical documents, saying that the mausoleum area boasted large number of halls and buildings, and huge stone sculptures were placed in front of the mausoleum. Yongling was excavated by archaeologists in 1940s. The mound of this tomb is cone-shaped, with a bottom diameter of 80 m and a height of 15 m. The base of the mound is found to be protected by stone masonry slabs, which is the only mound with this treatment among the Han and Tang mausoleums. The vault of Yongling is not hidden deep underground, but at a shallow plane near the ground. The major part of the vault lies within the earth mound, so the stone masonry slabs are actually applied to protect the burial chamber. The vault faces south and doesn’t have any tomb corridor. It is built with red sandstone with a total length of 23.4 m. Altogether 14 sets of double stone arches help to form the front, middle, and rear chambers, separated by wooden doors. The front chamber is equivalent to the tomb corridor in function and the colored paintings on some stone arches are still preserved. The middle chamber is the principal part for burial, where the emperor’s inner and outer coffins sit on a coffin platform. The platform is carved from marble in the style of Xumizuo base (shaped like Mt. Sumeru supporting Buddha). Along the platform’s two sides, there are bust statues of 12 pallbearers. With steady and calm countenances, they appear fully engaged with the bearing task. On the eastern, western, and southern side panels of the coffin, there are stone reliefs of 24 yuejis (musical performers), with 2 dancers on the southern panel, and 22 musicians on the eastern and western panels. Plump and voluptuous, the dancers are depicted in different movements. The musicians are playing with an ensemble of wind, string, and plucked instruments, totaling 23 pieces in 20 categories. Such cast really deserves to be called a large royal band. Judging by the combination of musical instruments, the piece being performed should be royal banquet music. Surrounding the musical performers and also on the northern side panel of the coffin platform, there are rich decorations of carved dragon, phoenix, cloud, and flower patterns. In the rear chamber, a royal bed is placed with the stone statue of Wang Jian atop. The statue is 96 cm tall and sculpted in sitting position, dressed in folded cloth hat, long robes, and a jade belt around waist. The statue has deep eyes under heavy brows, projected nose and prominent cheekbones, narrow lips, and big ears. The statue has rendered the facial features of Wang Jian in a realistic manner, very close to the textual description of him in historical documents. Although Yongling

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was ransacked years ago in history, the excavation still discovered quite a number of important relics, including a grand jade belt, elegy in jade, royal decree of conferring posthumous titles in jade, silver bowls, silver boxes, and silver pigs.

Reliefs of “Twenty Four Yuejis (Musical Performers)” on the coffin platform of Yongling

Two Mausoleums of Southern Tang The Southern Tang Kingdom during the Five Dynasties period controlled the territory of today’s Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, and part of Fujian and had its capital set in Jinling (today’s Nanjing). Qinling and Shunling, the mausoleums for Li Bian (the founding emperor) and Li Jing are all located in the southern foot of the Zutang Mountain in today’s Jiangning District, Nanjing City of Jiangsu Province. The two mausoleums are situated in parallel from east to west, with a distance of 50 m in-between. Their selected location has mountain in the back and faces the main peak of the Yuntai Mountain. Both of them have been excavated by archaeologists. Even though the kingdom was only a regional regime, the construction of the mausoleums strictly followed the rules and specifications of emperor’s mausoleums.

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Qinling is the joint tomb for Emperor Li Bian and Empress Song. The mound is cone-shaped, with a bottom diameter of 30 m and a height of about 5 m. The mausoleum is south-facing, and the tomb corridor is 19 m long. With a total length of 21.48 m, width of 10.45 m, and height of 5.3 m, the vault comprises 13 chambers in total, including the three chambers of front, middle, and back, and also five chambers on each flank side. The front, middle, and rear chambers are linked together and also connected with the flank sides by arched passages. Thus, they form an integrated piece of architecture, just like a magnificent and carefully planned palace constructed underground. The vault is built with masonry structure with simulated timberwork. The front chamber is rectangular in shape and has a dome ceiling, with length of 4.5 m, width of 3.85 m, and dome height of 4.3 m. The middle chamber is almost square-shaped, with length of 4.56 m, width of 4.45 m, and a ceiling height of 5.3 m. One arched door is opened in the middle of each of the four walls. The rear chamber is 6.03 m long and 5.9 m wide. One door is opened in the middle of the southern wall, with door leaves made in bluestone, and there are three doors in each of the eastern and western walls. The rear chamber has a domed ceiling, painted with a colored astronomical map, including a rising sun in the east and a setting moon in the west, Sagittarius, the Plow, and other constellations. The ground is paved with stone panels, carved with geographical map, comprising undulating mountains, rivers, and plains. A coffin platform is placed in the middle of the rear chamber, carved with eight dancing dragon reliefs along the two sides, filled with line engraving patterns of roll grass and entangled pomegranate. These eight dragon reliefs are among the earliest dragons found so far in ancient emperors’ funeral objects. As a material form of China’s five-thousand-year un-fractured civilization, being carved along the coffin platform of an emperor evidenced that by that time, dragon had become an important part of the “national culture”. More importantly, the mausoleum designer already counted the deceased emperor as one dragon, and together with the other eight along the coffin platform, they had formed “Nine Dragons”. “Nine” is the supreme number in the Chinese culture, and the emperor’s remains occupy the center place among the nine dragons, thus becoming the most important one. Since middle ancient times, emperors were deemed as incarnated dragons and thus dragon became the spiritual symbol of China.

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Coffin platform in the two mausoleums of Southern Tang

Shunling is a joint mausoleum for Emperor Lijing and Empress Zhong. Its layout is the same as that of Qinling. Shunling has a total length of 21.9 m, width of 10.12 m, and height of 5.42 m. The front, middle, and rear chambers are flanked with four chambers on each side. The vault is mainly built with brick structure. The combination of front, middle, and rear chambers was found in the two mausoleums of Southern Tang, and also the Yongling Mausoleum of Former Shu. It was actually a replication of the “Three Main Halls” in the capital city. The Tang Dynasty is often referred to as the “golden era” in China’s ancient history, or called “da tang sheng shi” (the prosperous age of the Great Tang). The Tang imperial mausoleums, as described in previous chapters, significantly influenced the imperial mausoleum systems in later dynasties, including Song, Liao, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. The origin of the Tang imperial mausoleum system could be traced back to the mausoleums in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties, and even more ancient dynasties of Qin and Han.

3.2.6 Imperial Mausoleums of the Wei-Jin Southern and Northern Dynasties The Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties were the second historical period in China’s ancient history that experienced the grand national fusion of diverse ethnic groups, which was also a period of significant progress for China’s five thousand years of un-fractured civilization. In this period, different ethnic groups established different kingdoms and regional regimes. By scrutinizing the dominant cultures in these societies, it was clear that this period experienced grand division, which led to grand fusion, and through this process the Chinese civilization made big strides forward and enriched itself with significant cultural heritages. The features of the

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un-fractured Chinese civilization during this period could be fully reflected by the imperial mausoleums in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties. Their arrangements and practices served as a foundation based on which the Tang’s and Song’s mausoleums were developed and achieved further progress in mid-ancient times. Wei-Jin period followed the period of the “Three Kingdoms”, in which incessant wars and conflicts changed many aspects of life including politics, economy, and social management, thus yielding a great impact on the imperial mausoleums, mainly manifested by the popularity of “bozang” (simple funeral). Caring more about social visibility, funerals had a trend of extending the focus from the underground to also the ground level, and placing large stone sculptures and memorial steles in graveyards. In this period of great social unrest and cultural exchanges, more diverse cultural ingredients got integrated into the imperial mausoleums.

3.2.6.1

Imperial Mausoleums of the Wei and Jin Dynasties

Imperial Mausoleums of the Cao Wei Dynasty The Gaoling mausoleum for Cao Cao can be called the last imperial mausoleum of the Eastern Han era, but it can also be regarded as the first imperial mausoleum of Cao Wei era. A native of Jiao County (today’s Bozhou City, Anhui Province), Cao Cao was a famous politician, military strategist, poet, and essayist in China’s history. As a well-known historical figure, Cao Cao may also be the most controversial person in China’s history. Some admired him as a “hero”, while others viewed him as an archetypal “jianxiong” (the champion of deception and chicanery). Thanks to the writers and dramatists in history, Cao Cao has been a widely known historical figure, a household name in China. The Chinese idiom “speak of Cao Cao, and here he comes” became a reality at the end of 2009. After 1800 years, “Cao Cao” was no longer buried deep down underground, but became a hot topic in social discussion focusing on the authenticity of his tomb. On Dec.17, 2010, People’s Daily listed the discovery of Cao Cao’s tomb as the “Top Annual News in Culture and Education of 2010”. In the editorial entitled “The Tomb of Cao Cao, a Milestone from Another Perspective”, there were some nice commentary words which said, “You have to admit that today’s Chinese people have an almost maniac thirst for all kinds of truths. And their suspicion about all types of dishonesty has reached an extreme level. Isn’t the tomb of Cao Cao a milestone in this regard? If this issue can be turned into an opportunity to restore public’s basic faith in society, if the archaeologists could really prove that the findings are watertight which can withstand tremendous amount of suspicion, and at least in this field of discipline, there are still strict academic protocols, then this authenticity questioning is not all bad”.

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Stone tablet of “King Wu of Wei’s frequently used grand halberd in fighting tiger”

At the end of Eastern Han, Cao Cao received the titles of Prime Minister and King of Wei. When his son Cao Pi claimed emperor, he was given the posthumous title of Emperor Wu. Cao Cao advocated simple funerals and gave administrative orders of prohibiting extravagant funerals. He selected a piece of barren land for his own mausoleum, and no mound was built atop. After his demise in Luo Yang, he was buried in Ye City. Historical documents recorded that Cao Cao’s mausoleum was located on the highland near the west of Ximen Bao’s memorial temple in Ye City, named as Gaoling. It still followed the protocol of Eastern Han’s imperial mausoleums, and a sacrifice hall was built nearby. During the reign of Emperor Wen of Wei, Cao Pi destroyed the sacrificial buildings near his father’s mausoleum, in order to further implement the Simple Funeral Policy.

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Vault of Gaoling

The Gaoling Mausoleum for Cao Cao was excavated by archaeologists in salvage manner in 2009. Gaoling’s location is in today’s Gaoxue Village of Anfeng Township, in the northwest of Anyang City, Henan Province. The tomb is a multiple chambers brick masonry complex with a flat plan shape of “甲”. It comprises tomb corridors, brick revetments, tomb doors, door sealing walls, internal pathways, burial chambers, and side chambers, and the total length reaches about 60 m. Gaoling has no sealing earth, and remains of buildings are discovered above the tomb. Over 400 pieces of relics are unearthed, including utensils made with gold, silver, bronze, iron, jade and stone, pottery and porcelain. Among them, the important pieces are stone tablets with inscription, pottery wares, coins, stone gui (a handheld ritual object representing hierarchical status). Gaoling sits in the west and faces the east, and a mausoleum yard is built surrounding it. Cao Pi, known as Emperor Wen of Wei, was one of the sons of Cao Cao. In 220 CE, the first year in the reign of Huangchu, he proclaimed the end of Han and inaugurated himself as emperor of the new dynasty “Wei”, with the capital set in Luoyang. Emperor Wen pointed out that since the Warring States Period and Qin, Han dynasties, the competition among emperor mausoleums in building high mounds was actually a deviation from the burial customs of ancients. His opinion was that emperors’ mausoleums should be built by chiseling pits out of existing mountains, and no earth mound should be placed above, no sacrifice halls should be constructed, no enclosed mausoleum yard should be created and no mausoleum administration cities should be set up. His rationale was that the purpose of an emperor’s burial is to remain unseen. Placed in the middle of barren land, then the mausoleum could remain inconspicuous and even forgotten once dynasties were substituted. The funeral should be simple and no gold, silver, jade, or other valuable jewelries should be used as funeral objects; therefore, they wouldn’t solicit any attention from fortune-seeking looters, and the remains of deceased emperors could remain untouched and complete. Emperor Wen of Wei started to build his mausoleum in 222 CE, and he chose the location in the Shouyang Mountain of Luoyang, which is around today’s Shouyang train station in

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Yanshi City Henan Province, and named it “Shouyangling”. He passed away in 226 CE, the seventh year in the reign of Huangchu, and got buried in Shouyangling. Cao Rui, Emperor Ming of Wei, was the son of Cao Pi. In 239 CE, the third year of the reign of Jingchu, he died in Luoyang and was buried in the Gaopingling Mausoleum. Historical writings positioned this mausoleum in the Dashi Mountain of Luoyang, also known as “the Wan’an Mountain”, which is within the boundary of Yanshi City in Henan Province. The exact location is yet to be clarified by researchers. In 2015, archaeologists found the tomb for Empress Guo, wife of Cao Rui, Emperor Ming of Wei, in Xizhu Village of Yibing District in Luoyang City (some scholars held the opinion that the tomb owner was Cao Shu, Princess Pingyuanyi, daughter of Emperor Ming of Wei). The tomb has a flat plan-shaped like the character “甲”, and equipped with seven levels of staircases. The tomb pit is 52 m long east– west, and 12 m deep underground. The vault pit is 18 m long east–west, and 13.5 m wide south–north. A total of over 130 small stone tablets of “qian ce” (registries of funeral objects) were unearthed. Their size, form, and inscription are very similar with the stone tablets excavated from Cao Cao’s mausoleum, serving as evidence of authentication. Their discovery shows that this kind of stone tablets was used at that time by high-grade tombs at emperor’s level; in other words, tombs excavated with these stone tablets should be emperor-level burials. A bigger tomb with east–west direction was found by archaeologists 400 m to the eastern side of Empress Guo’s tomb, with a tomb corridor of about 40 m long and about 10 m wide, estimated to be the tomb for Emperor Ming of Wei. Imperial Mausoleum of the Western Jin Dynasty After forcing Cao Huan, Emperor Yuan of Wei into abdication, Sima Yan ascended the throne and established the Jin Dynasty, called the “Western Jin” in history. Luoyang continued to be the capital city, so all the imperial mausoleums of Wester Jin were located to the eastern side of Luoyang. The five mausoleums in West Jin around Luoyang were built along the two sides of the Qianpu Mountain, a branch of the Beimang Mountain. In order from east to west, the mausoleums in the southern slope are Chongyangling for Emperor Wen, Junyangling for Emperor Wu, Taiyangling for Emperor Hui, and the mausoleums in the northern slope are Gaoyuanling for Emperor Xuan, and Junpingling for Emperor Jing. After archaeological investigations, surveys, and excavations, the space layout and regulated forms of imperial mausoleums in Western Jin have been basically made clear. Emperor Wen, personal name Sima Zhao, was one of the sons of Sima Yi, and younger brother of Sima Shi. When serving as General-in-chief during the Cao Wei Dynasty, Sima Zhao assumed supreme power over state affairs and hatched a plan of usurping the throne from Wei. Cao Mao, Emperor of Wei and also known as Duke of Gaogui, once stated, “Everyone knows what’s in Sima Zhao’s mind”. In 263 CE, after launching a successful military attack on Shu Han and conquering it, Sima Zhao had himself granted the titles of Duke of Jin, and later King of Jin. When Sima Yan ended Wei and replaced it with the new dynasty of Jin, he granted posthumous titles of Emperor Xuan to Sima Yi, Emperor Jing to Sima Shi, and Emperor Wen to Sima

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Zhao. The Chongyangling Mausoleum for Emperor Wen is situated on the southern foot of an anonymous hill, about 1.5 km in the north of today’s Houdulou Village, Chengguan Town of Yanshi City. The vault has a flat plan-shaped like character “ 凸”, with single burial chamber and single tomb corridor. The tomb corridor is 46 m long and 11 m wide, and the burial chamber is 4.5 m long, 3.7 m wide and 2.5 m high. There are four attendant tombs situated to the west and northwest of the imperial mausoleum, all keeping a distance of about 50 m from it. All the tombs face the direction of south. In the surrounding area of Chongyangling, remains of walls for the mausoleum yard and other buildings can be found.

Tombs cluster in the Beimang Mountain

To the west to Chongyangling, there is Junyangling, the mausoleum for Sima Yan with similar form and scale. Titled Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, Sima Yan was the son of Sima Zhao. In 265 CE, the first year in the reign of Taishi, Sima Yan claimed emperor and established the Jin Dynasty, after putting an end to Wei. In 280 CE, he conquered Wu and united China. In the final years of Emperor Wu, he left the politics unattended and fallen into decay, while indulging himself in debauchery. Junyangling for Emperor Wu was built on the northern slope of a hill, 2.5 km in the north of today’s Nancaizhuang Village, Yanshi County. The tomb corridor is 36 m long, 10.5 m wide, and the vault is 5.5 m long, three meters wide and two meters high. A total of 22 attendant tombs have been found so far, located 40 m to the west of Junyangling. They are grouped into four rows from south to north. The front row tombs keep bigger space between them, and the rear row ones have smaller space. The specific positions of the tombs are generally allocated according to the

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status of the occupants of the tombs while alive. Front row positions are given to higher status occupants, and rear row ones are for lower status people. The imperial mausoleum and its attendant tombs all sit in the north and face south. Within the mausoleum area, the tombs are well-allocated according to a very clear hierarchy. The imperial mausoleum is located at the easternmost plot in the area, a little to the south, occupying the position of supremacy. No remains of any walls have been found inside the mausoleum area. In “Annals of Emperor Xuan” from Book of Jin, it was recorded that the imperial mausoleums of Western Jin “were buried into earth on the Shouyang Mountain, no mound and no trees were used to mark the locations… The remains were clad in ordinary clothes of the time, no funeral utensils were placed and those deceased afterward shouldn’t be buried jointly into the mausoleum”. This should be a continuation of the simple funeral policy for imperial mausoleums since late Eastern Han.

3.2.6.2

Imperial Mausoleums in the Six Dynasties

In the period of two Jins and Southern and Northern dynasties, the Eastern Jin and the Southern Dynasties had insisted on their identities as the inheritors of orthodox Chinese culture, and this kind of inheritance can be found in the imperial mausoleums. Imperial Mausoleums in Eastern Jin Eastern Jin had its capital in Jiankang (today’s Nanjing), and the 11 emperors were all buried around Nanjing. One group of five mausoleums, for Emperor Kang, Emperor Jianwen, Emperor Xiaowu, Emperor An, and Emperor Gong, is located around the southern foot of the Fugui Mountain, a branch of the Zhong Mountain in Nanjing. The other group is in the southern foot of Gulou Ridge, at the southern side of the Jiuhua Mountain, containing the four mausoleums of Emperor Yuan, Emperor Ming, Emperor Cheng, and Emperor Ai. These two areas are also known as “Dongling” (the eastern mausoleums) and “Xiling” (the western mausoleums). These mausoleums are all built by leaning against the mountains and situated on the right upper side. The Dongling and Xiling are located in symmetry on the left and right sides of the palace, all within the city boundary of the capital. The Wuling Mausoleum for the Deposed Emperor of Jin is in Wu County, Jiangsu. The Yongpingling Mausoleum for Emperor Mu of Jin is in the southwestern foot of the Mufu Mountain outside Heping Gate of today’s Nanjing. Among the Eastern Jin mausoleums, the Yongpingling for Emperor Mu and Chongpingling for Emperor Gong have been excavated. Emperor Mu of the Jin Dynasty, with personal name Sima Dan, was the son of Emperor Kang and he ascended the throne at the age of two. The actual ruler was Empress Dowager, who would hold the emperor while attending royal court meetings. Emperor Mu passed away at the age of 19 and got buried in Yongpingling. Shaped like the character “凸” in flat plan, the vault is a brick masonry structure with arched ceiling. With total length reaching 9.05 m, and the width of eight meters, the vault could be divided into three parts: the internal pathway, burial chamber, and door sealing wall. The internal pathway is shaped rectangular with arched ceiling,

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with a length of 2.9 m, width of 1.56 m, and height of 2.7 m, respectively. Two tiers of wooden doors are installed. The burial chamber is shaped square, also with arched ceiling, with a length of 4.98 m, width of 4.24 m, and height of 4.03 m. Some premium utensils were unearthed, such as daily use porcelain ware, agate bowl, glassware, together with toilet articles, accessories, and pottery burial utensils. Emperor Gong of the Jin Dynasty, with personal name Sima Dewen, used to be the King of Langya, and he was younger brother of Emperor An, Sima Dezong. In 418 CE after Emperor An was killed by Liu Yu, Sima Dewen assumed the throne. At that time, the power of the royal family in the Jin Dynasty was extremely weak. In 420 CE, the second year in the reign of Yuanxi, Emperor Gong was killed and the Jin Dynasty was terminated. He was buried in Chongpingling as the last emperor of a fallen dynasty. The mausoleum is positioned on the mountain and faces the plains in the front side. It is constructed by digging a 35 m long, 6.85–7.5 m wide, and 4.3–7 m deep tomb pit in the mid-slope of the mountain’s southern foot. Then the burial chamber and internal pathway are built on it by masonry. The burial chamber is rectangular in shape, 7.06 m long, 5.18 m wide, and 5.15 m high. The walls are built with brick masonry, and the ceiling is arched in shape. The internal pathway is in the front side of the burial chamber, with the arched ceiling 2.7 m long and 1.68 m wide. Two tiers of wooden walls are installed, and the tomb door is sealed with bricks. In order to strengthen the tomb door, two more sealing walls are built in the front side. A seepage well is dug in the middle of the frontal part of the burial chamber, and the lower part is connected with a drainage ditch, which links the burial chamber and internal pathway from south to north. The ditch’s length reaches 100 m. A stone tablet with round top is erected 400 m away from the tomb, with the inscription of “Underground Palace for Emperor Gong of Jin”. The imperial mausoleums in the Eastern Jin Dynasty were generally similar with each other in the forms: The vault was a pit dug in the mountain, with single burial chamber and arched ceiling. Historical document (Veritable Records from Jiankang (Jian Kang Shi Lu)) says that the Eastern Jin’s imperial mausoleums “didn’t build mounds”. Their mausoleums usually comprised tomb corridors, door sealing walls, internal pathways, burial chamber, and drainage ditches. Compared with the Western Jin, which “didn’t use any mound and didn’t plant any trees” and discouraged homage visits, Eastern Jin’s mausoleums seemed to be different, especially in the visit arrangement. This shows that the Eastern Jin politicians wanted to present themselves as the true inheritors to the orthodox. Different from the simple funeral customs in late Eastern Han and Wei-Jin dynasties, as a reduced dynasty in southeast, Eastern Jin wanted strengthen their legitimacy by insisting and promoting some major traditions from the past, such as the imperial mausoleum systems. Actually, the later trajectory of imperial mausoleum culture after Wei-Jin proved that the royal court of Eastern Jin was actually the “first movers” of this historical trend. Imperial Mausoleums of the Southern Dynasties The Southern Dynasties refer to the four dynasties of Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen, which all used Jiankang as the capital at different times. The imperial mausoleums in this period with known relics are, Chuningling for Emperor Wu of Song, personal

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name Liu Yu, Tai’anling for Emperor Gap of Qi, personal name Xiao Daocheng, Yong’anling for Emperor Xuan of Qi, personal name Xiao Chengzhi (or Tai’anling for Emperor Gao of Qi), Jing’anling for Emperor Wu of Qi, personal name Xiao Ze, Xiu’anling for Emperor Jing of Qi, personal name Xiao Daosheng, Xing’anling for Emperor Ming of Qi, personal name Xiao Luan, Gong’anling for Emperor He of Qi, personal name Xiao Baorong, Jianling for Emperor Wen of Liang, personal name Xiao Shunzhi, Xiuling for Emperor Wu of Liang, personal name Xiao Yan, Zhuangling for Emperor Jianwen of Liang, personal name Xiao Gang, Wan’anling for Emperor Wu of Chen, personal name Chen Banian, Yongningling for Emperor Wen of Chen, personal name Chen Qian, Xianningling for Emperor Xuan of Chen, personal name Chen Xu. Among them five have been excavated by archaeologists, they are Xiu’anling for Emperor Jing of Qi, Yong’anling for Emperor Xuan of Qi (or Tai’anling for Emperor Gao of Qi), Gong’anling for Emperor He of Qi, Yongningling for Emperor Wen of Chen and Xianningling for Emperor Xuan of Chen. Now Xiu’anling for Emperor Jing of Qi and Xianningling for Emperor Xuan of Chen can be examined in detail as typical examples. The royal families of the Qi and Liang dynasties all had the family name of Xiao, who were the descendants of Xiao He, the famous politician in the Western Han Dynasty. Their clan moved from north to south and settled in today’s Danyang City of Jiangsu Province. The imperial mausoleums of Qi and Liang marked their entrance with two obvious large stone sculptures, Tianlu on the east and Qilin on the west. The mausoleum area had a perimeter of about 60 km and buried a total of 11 imperial mausoleums for Qi and Liang. The three mausoleums of Southern Qi unearthed in Hexian’ao of Huqiao, Wujia Village and Jinjia Village of Jianshan had similar forms and scales.

Stone sculpture of Tianlu in Xiu’anling

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Emperor Jing of Qi, personal name Xiao Daosheng, was the elder brother of Emperor Gao with personal name of Xiao Daocheng. Daosheng was buried in the ritual as an emperor and the mausoleum was named “Xiu’an”. Located on the southern foot of Hexian’ao, 17 km in the northeast of Danyang City, Xiu’anling has two stone sculptures standing along the spirit way, at a distance of 510 m from the mausoleum. The mausoleum leans by the mountain and a tomb pit with the length of 18 m, width of eight meters, and depth of four meters is dug in the middle of the hill. The vault is built with brick masonry in the tomb pit, consuming a total of 100,000 pieces of bricks in 330 types of specifications. The burial chamber is rectangular, 9.4 m long, 4.9 m wide, and 4.35 m high with arched ceiling. The burial chamber has a door opened in the front wall, linking with the internal pathway, which is 2.9 m long, 1.72 m wide, and 2.92 m high. The internal pathway has arched ceiling, and two stone wall are installed in the middle. Outside the tomb door, there are two layers of door sealing walls, each wall is 7.6 m wide, 2.6 m high, and 0.6 m thick. Between the walls, there is one layer of 0.2 m thick limestone for humidity prevention. There is a seepage well in the frontal part of the burial chamber, which is connected with a drainage ditch. The ditch has a total length of 190 m and runs through the bottom of the internal pathway to the outside of the tomb. Imitating the embroidery wall cloth in the royal palace while the emperor was alive, the interior of the burial chamber is decorated with large mode made tile paintings. The four walls have the immortal paintings of Green Dragon, White Tiger, Scarlet Bird, Somber Warrior according to their directions. And on the left and right side walls, there are paintings of “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove” and also guards of honor. The walls along the internal pathway are decorated with lion paintings. Xiu’anling was victim of serious looting in earlier years. Now the remaining relics include daily utensils made in porcelain and pottery, funeral objects like pottery houses, weapons such as iron sabers and swords, large amount of gold ornaments and small animals, small ornaments and toys made in jade, agate, glazed glass, crystal, and large figurines made of pottery and stones.

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Tile painting of Rong Qiqi in Xianningling

The Yongningling for Emperor Wen of Chen and Xiannningling for Emperor Xuan of Chen are all in Nanjing. Xianningling, which was built at the end of the Southern Dynasties, lies in today’s Youfang Village, Xishanqiao of Nanjing. The mausoleum sits in south and faces north, with a mound 10 m high and 141 m long in perimeter. As a huge construction, the tomb pit with 45 m in length and 9–11 m in width is dug in the northern foot of the Guanzi Mountain. The burial chamber inside is 10 m long and 6.7 m in both width and height. The internal pathway has arched ceiling with a length of 3.5 m, a width of 1.75 m, and a height of three meters. Two layers of stone walls are installed along the internal pathway. The interior walls of the tombs are decorated with tiles with flower patterns of roll grass and lotus. The two side walls also have mural painting tiles of lions. The influence of Buddhism is reflected by these paintings. The imperial mausoleums of the Eastern Jin Dynasty were very close to the Southern Dynasties, in terms of historical period and natural environment, so the buildings also had a lot of similarities. The emperors of the six dynasties preferred to be buried together with their royal families. Following the geomancy principle of “leaning against mountain peaks while facing plains”, most of the emperors chose the mid-slope in the foot of earthen hills as the location for their mausoleums. And the stone sculptures are placed at ground level. The direction of the mausoleums depends on the terrain, mostly facing south and east. The tomb pit is a rectangular shape dug into the hill, and then a large single burial chamber is built on it with brick masonry. The burial chamber has arched or domed ceiling, and the interior walls are

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decorated with orderly applied tiles with patterns or whole pieces of mural painting tiles. Two layers of stone tomb doors are installed with half-circle door tops. There are also door sealing wall and retaining wall. In order to prevent water logging in the burial chamber, drainage ditches are placed in front of the tombs. Buildings with guarding and sacrificial purposes such as ancestral temples are constructed in the front. In Southern Dynasties’ imperial mausoleums, one pair of stone figures (one Tianlu and one Qilin) and one pair of stone pillars are placed along the spirit way. The sequence of stone sculptures is usually stone figures in the front, followed by pillars and then steles at the back. Imperial Mausoleums of the Northern Dynasties There are altogether 22 imperial mausoleums in the Northern Dynasties. Among them, the Wannian Hall for Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei, the Jingling for Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei, and one Northern Qi imperial mausoleum have been excavated. Totally different from the practice of simple funerals in Wei-Jin, the imperial mausoleums in the Northern Wei Dynasty built huge earth mound and placed huge stone sculptures along the spirit way. Imperial Mausoleums of Northern Wei There are two locations for the imperial mausoleums of Northern Wei, one in Datong, Shanxi, and the other in Luoyang, Henan. In Datong of Shanxi, the Northern Wei imperial mausoleums are the Wannian Hall for Emperor Xiaowen and Yongguling for Empress Dowager Feng (also known as Empress Wenming). Strictly speaking, Yongguling is not a genuine imperial mausoleum. But Empress Wenming ruled the country for two times in her life, and Yongguling was built while she was alive and because of the matriarchal influence of the Tabgatch (Tuoba) clan, the mausoleum followed the specifications of imperial mausoleums and even exceeded them in various aspects. Also because it has been excavated, so Yongguling is put together with Wannian Hall and Jingling for elaboration. Empress Dowager Feng, native of Xindu Changle (today’s Jinzhou District of Hengshui City, Hebei Province), was empress for Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei. During the reigns of Emperor Xianwen and Emperor Xiaowen, she was the top ruler for 25 years and got buried in Yongguling after death. Located in the southern foot of the Liang Mountain (called Fang Mountain in ancient days) of today’s Xisi’er Village in Zhenchuan Township, 25 km to the north of Datong City, the Yongguling mausoleum is referred to as “royal tomb of Qi” by locals. It sits in the north and faces south. The remaining earth mound is 22.87 m high, with the bottom in square shape and the length reaches 124 m east–west and the width is 117 m south–north. The vault lies below the center of the earth mound, which is a multichamber tomb with brick masonry, comprising four parts of tomb corridor, frontal chamber, internal pathway, and rear chamber. The main chamber is square in shape, 6.4 m wide, 6.83 m long, and 7.3 m high, with a pyramid ceiling. The main chamber is connected with the frontal chamber by an arched pathway, and one stone wall is installed at each end of the pathway. The frontal chamber has an arched ceiling, and the flat plan is

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also almost square in shape, 4.2 m long, 3.85 m wide, and 3.9 m high. The tomb corridor, 5.9 m long, 5.1 m wide, and five meters high, is connected with the frontal chamber. The total length of the tomb reaches 23.5 m. To the south of Yongguling, at a distance of about 600 m there used to be a building similar with ancestral temple, called Yonggu Hall. In historical documents, the hall was a stone building with stone animals and steles in front. 200 m to the south of Yonggu Hall, there is a Siyuan Temple, and its remains of square foundation for pagoda with corridors are still kept today. The Lingquan Palace and Lingquan Pool are down the mountain to the south of Siyuan Temple.

Aerial view of Yongguling

Aerial view of the relics of Wannian Hall

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The Wannian Hall, as mausoleum for Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei (personal name Yuan Hong), is located about one kilometer to the north of Yongguling. The mausoleum sits in the north and faces south. The mound is 13 m tall, and the bottom is shaped square in flat plan, with a perimeter of 60 m. The tomb is a brick masonry structure, made up of tomb corridor, frontal chamber, internal pathway, and rear chamber. The rear chamber is almost square in flat plan and uses pyramid ceiling. The internal pathway links the frontal and rear chambers, with a width of 2.46 m, a height of 2.51 m. The remaining part preserved is 10 m. Both the frontal and rear chambers have been devastated. Wannian Hall is actually the “empty palace” (cenotaph) for Emperor Xiaowen. In about one hundred years’ time span from 398 to 495, the rulers of Northern Wei maintained Pingcheng (today’s Datong) as the capital. And Pinching had always been the political and cultural center of Northern Wei. Yongguling and Wannian Hall are typical examples to explain the forms of imperial mausoleums for emperors and empresses in early Northern Wei. In the 18th year of the reign of Taihe, Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital to Luoyang and built Changling on the west side of the Du River. Emperor Xuanwu was buried in Jingling, Emperor Xiaoming was buried in Dingling, and Emperor Xiaozhuang was buried in Jingling. They are all situated on the Beimang Mountain, near the Du River to the northwest of Luoyang. Connecting with each other from left to right, they form the imperial mausoleum area for Northern Wei. The pioneer of this area is Emperor Xiaowen. Inside the area, Changling sits in the middle, with Jingling and Dingling on its left and right. In the Northern Wei mausoleum area located on the two sides of Huang River in the Mang Mountain in Luoyang, the mausoleums are arranged in such a way that father and son stay together from left to right, and brothers are arranged in one row. The Changling Mausoleum is in the east of Guanzhuang Village, Mengjing County of Henan Province. It is situated to the west of the Du River and the south of the Mang Mountain. Its mound is 35 m high, and the bottom diameter is 45 m. 103 m to the northwest of Changling is the mausoleum for Empress Wenzhao of Wei. The mound is 23 m high, with a bottom diameter of 35 m. Changling lies at the center of the whole mausoleum area. There are attendant tombs allocated to its northwest, north, east, and southeast. Emperor Xuanwu with personal name of Yuan Ke was the second son of Emperor Xiaowen. In the 23rd year of the reign of Taihe (499), Emperor Xiaowen passed away and Yuan Ke ascended the throne. He died in Luoyang in the fourth year of the reign of Yanchang (515) and got buried in Jingling. Among the Northern Wei imperial mausoleums in Luoyang, Jingling is the only one that has been excavated by archaeologists. Its mound is 24 m high, and the bottom is circle in shape, with a diameter of 105–110 m. Jingling is brick masonry tomb which sits in the north and faces south. Its total length reaches 54.8 m, and it is made up of four parts, including the tomb corridor, the frontal internal pathway, the rear internal pathway, and the burial chamber. The layout is like the shape of character “甲”. The burial chamber is built with blue bricks, and its flat plan is almost square, with a length of 6.92 m east–west and a width of 6.73 m south–north. The chamber has a pyramid ceiling

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with a height of 9.3 m. On the western side of the spirit way, there is a stone figurine with damaged head, and the remains are 2.89 m tall. Depicted as clad in big sleeve robe, the figurine is holding a sword downward with both hands. This is the earliest stone figurine found in China’s imperial mausoleums in ancient history. Imperial Mausoleums of Northern Qi The big tomb of the Northern Dynasties, unearthed in Wanzhang of Hebei might be one of the imperial mausoleums of Northern Qi when the capital was in Ye City. This tomb originally had huge mound, and its length is 52 m from south to north. It sits in the north and faces south, comprising the tomb corridor, internal pathway, and burial chamber. The tomb corridor is 37 m long and 3.36–3.88 m wide. The bottom of the tomb corridor is a slope, the southern end is 0.36 m high, and the northern end is 8.86 m high, respectively. The burial chamber is square in flat plan with side length of 7.4–7.56 m and height of 12.6 m. It has a pyramid ceiling. There is a tomb door opened in the middle of the chamber’s southern wall, and a stone door is installed. The mural paintings on eastern and western walls are basically symmetric in composition. There are altogether over 100 people painted on the two walls, mainly depicting a team of guards of honor with 53 soldiers on each side. There is a vermillion bird, about five meters tall, painted in the middle of the wall with tomb door. Celestial maps are painted on the ceiling of the vault. Along the slope of the tomb corridor, the pavement is decorated with flower and grass patterns in bright colors, just like carpet. The total colored paintings reach over 100 square meters. There is a stone figurine, about three meters high, found in the south of the tomb.

Replica of the mural painting in Gaoyang Tomb

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Imperial Mausoleums of Northern Zhou Northern Zhou set up the capital in Chang’an and the imperial mausoleums were buried in Xianyang. After archaeological survey and excavation, there is only one confirmed mausoleum, which is Xiaoling for Emperor Wu of Zhou, with personal name Yu Wenyong. Xiaoling is in today’s Chenma Village of Dizhang Town in Weicheng District of Xianyang City. The mausoleum sits in the north and faces south. It is made up with a sloped tomb corridor, five patios, five passage holes, four alcoves, internal pathway, and burial chamber. The total tomb is 68.4 m long, and two sets of coffins are placed in parallel from east to west inside. The unearthed epitaph confirms that the tomb is Xiaoling, a joint mausoleum for Emperor Wu of Zhou and the Empress. From analysis of the imperial mausoleum forms of Xiaoling for Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou, we can see clear signs of inheritance from Northern Zhou to Tang in their high-grade tombs. For example, the tomb of Crown Prince Yide in Tang, which is “a tomb named as mausoleum”, has similar forms and layouts with Xiaoling of Emperor Wu in Zhou, but with a bigger scale.

3.2.7 Imperial Mausoleums of the Eastern Han Dynasty There are altogether 12 imperial mausoleums in the Eastern Han Dynasty, except for the Chanling Mausoleum for Emperor Xian located in today’s Xiuwu County, Jiaozuo City of Henan, all the rest 11 mausoleums lie within the city boundary of today’s Luoyang in Henan Province. The mausoleum area of Eastern Han is separated into two subareas in the Beimang Mountain and Southern Luoyang, respectively. The former one can be called “the northern mausoleum area”, and the latter one can be called “the southern mausoleum area”. The northern area is in today’s Mengjing County of Luoyang City. It is eight kilometers long east–west and seven kilometers wide south–north, with the borders set at the Xitou Mountain in the west, Huangtian Hill in the east, Pingle Township in the south and Wuluan Ditch in the north. Within this area, there are mausoleums of Yuanling for Emperor Guangwu, Gongling for Emperor An, Xianling for Emperor Shun, Huailing for Emperor Chong, and Wenling for Emperor Ling. The southern area is located in today’s Yibing District of Luoyang and also Yanshi City. With the borders set as southern bank of River Yi in the north, Ning Village in the south, Taohuadian Village in the east, and Koudian Township in the west, this area is nine kilometers wide east–west and 15 km long south–north. Within this area, following the order of a horizontal line, there are the mausoleums of Xianjieling for Emperor Ming, Jingling for Emperor Zhang, Shenling for Emperor He, Kangling for Emperor Shang, Jingling for Emperor Zhi, and Xuanling for Emperor Huan. The imperial mausoleums in Eastern Han are joint tombs for the empress and the emperor, buried in the same pit and in the same tomb. The sealing mound is domeshaped and the flat diameter is usually above 130 m. The mausoleum is made up of tomb corridors, internal pathways, tomb doors, and burial chambers. The tomb is

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shaped like the character “甲”, with arched ceiling and sloped tomb corridor. Facing south, the corridor is usually 50 m long and over nine meters wide. There is only one south-pointing tomb corridor, which is a significant change from the tradition of setting four tomb corridors for imperial mausoleums since the late Shang. But there are still four gates at the sides of east, west, south, and north of the mausoleum yard. Considering the gate arrangements in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern dynasties, and those in Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, it is clear that setting four gates for imperial mausoleums was a consistent rule in China’s ancient society. The Eastern Han imperial mausoleums have corridors surrounding its “甲”-shaped burial chamber, which is built with brick, stone or mixing both. The tomb comprises frontal chamber, rear chamber, some may also have ear rooms beside the tomb corridor or internal pathway. The frontal chamber is a major place for sacrificial activities, and the rear chamber is where coffins are placed. This feature is summarized as hall in the front and final resting place in the back.

Xianjieling for Emperor Ming of Han

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Jingling for Emperor Zhang of Han

Xuanling for Emperor Huan of Han

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Jingling for Emperor Zhi of Han

At the beginning of the Eastern Han, walls were still built for imperial mausoleums. Those in Yuanling for Emperor Guangwu can be seen as an example. But in Xianjieling, enclosure walls disappeared and they got replaced by xingma (wooden fences). Later when Xuanling for Emperor Huan and Wenling for Emperor Ling were built, even wooden fences also disappeared. The spirit way is south–north in direction. The Eastern Han mausoleums had a system of internal yard and external yard. The internal yard put the joint tomb of emperor and empress at the center and surrounded it with walls or roads. The external yard had large area of rammed earth buildings, which were mostly located to the northeast of the internal yard.

Stone Pixie of Eastern Han

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There are usually three construction units within the external yard. In the eastern part, the large rammed earth foundation close to the stone hall should be the resting hall. And the small yard to the east of north of the resting hall should be the burial place for attendant tombs. Then the yard to the north of resting chamber and attendant tombs may possibly be the residence of the tomb officials. The remains of the internal and external yards include not only the main buildings, but also include large amount of corridor rooms, patios, water supply, and drainage facilities. The attendant tombs usually lie in the northeast of the mausoleum area. The principle of “building mausoleum as capital city” is fully reflected by the Eastern Han imperial mausoleums. Chang’an, the capital city of Western Han (before the reign of Emperor Yuan) sat in the west and faced east. The Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace in the capital were managed separately as the eastern and western palaces. The reflection of this arrangement in the Western Han imperial mausoleums was that the yard and the main tomb corridor sat in the west and faced east, emperor and empress were buried in the same tomb but different pits. While in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the yard and the main passage sat in the north and faced south, and emperor and empress were buried in the same pit. The direction of the mausoleum was the same as that of the capital city Luoyang which sat in the north and faced south. There were southern palace and northern palace in the capital, but in early days the royal palace was in the southern palace and later moved to the northern one, so the emperor and empress were buried in the same pit.

3.2.8 Imperial Mausoleums of the Western Han Dynasty Since Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang till Emperor Ping Liu Kan, there were altogether 11 emperors in the Western Han Dynasty. Their mausoleums are located in the Xianyangyuan to the north of Chang’an City and Bailuyuan and Dudongyuan to the southeast of Chang’an city. These two major mausoleum areas enjoy the reputation “high ground with thick earth”. They were really wonderful places with excellent fengshui and were suitable for building imperial mausoleums. The plain of Xianyangyuan on the north of Wei River is a major mausoleum area for the royal family of Western Han. From west to east, there are Maoling for Emperor Wu, Pingling for Emperor Zhao, Yanling for Emperor Cheng, Kangling for Emperor Ping, Weiling for Emperor Yuan, Yiling for Emperor Ai, Anling for Emperor Hui, Changling for Emperor Gao, and Yangling for Emperor Jing. The other mausoleum area lies in Bailuyuan and Dudongyuan to the southeast of Chang’an City, which contains Baling for Emperor Wen and Duling for Emperor Xuan. Also in the Western Han, some occupants of the mausoleums were not emperors or empresses, but later their son became the emperor. So the parents were buried in the rituals as emperor, empress, or royal consort. The mausoleums of this type around the capital include mausoleum for Taishang Huang (the retired emperor) of Han, Nanling for Empress Dowager Bo, Yunling for Lady Gouyi, and Fengmingyuan for Shi Huangsun. Among them, Nanling for Empress Dowager Bo belongs to the

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southeast mausoleum area of the Western Han, Fengmingyuan for Shi Huangsun lies to the southeast of Chang’an City, which can also be covered in the southeast mausoleum area. But the Taishang Huang mausoleum and Yunling are not inside this area.

Layout of the Western Han imperial mausoleums area

Yunling Mausoleum for Lady Gouyi

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In the 11 imperial mausoleums of Western Han, Baling for Emperor Wen was built inside the mountain and all the rest were constructed on plain field, with earth mounds as high as hills. The rise of high earth mounds for imperial mausoleums in the Qin and Han dynasties was a consequence of the popularity of high platform palace buildings since the Warring States Period. The mounds were symbols of the high platform palaces lived by the occupants of the tomb while alive. In the Western Han mausoleums, the mounds were usually 30 m tall and the bottoms were square-shaped with a side length of 170 m. The largest mausoleum in the Han Dynasty was Maoling, whose mound was 48 m high and the bottom side length reached 230 m. The underground palace in Han imperial mausoleums was called “fangzhong” (literally means square middle). In the book The Imperial Survey (Huang Lan), it was recorded that “the Han royal families’ burial place had “fangzhong” with 100 steps in side length, and the square city was built inside, with four doors and four passages”.

Maoling mausoleum for Emperor Wu of Han

The tomb was positioned in the center of the mausoleum yard and four passages corresponded with the Sima Gates. Out of the Sima Gate, the four passages were connected with the spirit ways, which could be 100 m wide. Among the four spirit ways in Han mausoleums, the eastern spirit way maybe the main entrance. The setting of four tomb corridors in Han mausoleums was inherited from the previous dynasties. So far it is known that in the Shang royal tombs discovered in Yinxu, there was one tomb corridor at each side of the burial chamber. There was strict regulation about the number of tomb corridors in ancient times and not everyone could build as many tomb corridors as wished.

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In the Han imperial mausoleums, the burial chamber in underground palace was called “mingzhong”. The main burial objects include “zigong” (catalpa palace), “bianfang” (convenience room), and “huangchangticou” (wooden burial structure). The coffin for an emperor was called “zigong” (catalpa palace). And the bianfang (convenience room) was constructed by imitating the residence and banquet place of the emperor while he was alive, right in front of the coffin. “Huangchangticou” was already used in the Warring States Period. And the “huangchangticou” in the mausoleum for Empress Dingtao in Dingtao District, Heze City of Shandong is the best-preserved “emperor-level” burial object found so far. It is in a wooden burial structure, comprising frontal, middle, and rear burial chambers, with side rooms, pathways, corridors, outer storage room, and “ticou” (tree trunks pointed inward) wall. All the side rooms were allocated in symmetry from east to west, or south to north and installed with open wooden tomb doors. The middle chamber is the main chamber, with square shape and a painted wooden coffin inside. The outermost layer was ticou wall constructed with “huangchang” wood (literally yellow intestine), which was cypress. The outer coffin used phoebe wood and the coffin used catalpa wood.

Model of Huangchangticou in Western Han

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Huangchangticou in Dabaotai Tomb of Han

Burial Chamber of Dingtao Tomb of Han

In the Western Han, the emperor and the empress were buried in the same tomb but not the same pit. At ground level, it usually appeared as two mounds standing side by side, with similar shapes. The only difference was that empress’s mound was smaller. In the late Western Han period, the contrast grew even more obvious and in the Eastern Han, the system of same tomb but different pit was totally abolished. Instead the emperor and empress were buried in the same pit. Surrounding the mausoleums of emperors and empresses in the Western Han, rammed earth walls were built to form a yard. The mausoleum yard basically imitated the structure of the capital Chang’an city and the royal palace. The Chang’an City

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and the royal palaces went through some changes in history; therefore, the structure inside the Western Han imperial mausoleums was also adjusted accordingly. At the beginning of the Western Han, Emperor Gao used the Changle Palace as the royal residence and Weiyang Palace was still under construction. After Emperor Hui ascended the throne, he moved into Weiyang Palace and Empress Lv still lived in Changle Palace; therefore, its importance had been maintained. Changle palace was in the east, called “the Eastern Palace”. And Weiyang Palace was in the west, called “the Western Palace”. This kind of layout and naming arrangement in palaces was also reflected in the imperial mausoleums, with regard to the positions of tombs for emperor and empress. In Changling and Anling, the two tombs for emperor and empress were placed inside the same mausoleum yard. While starting from Baling until the end of the Western Han, the emperor and empress had separate mausoleum yards. Staying close with each other, the two yards kept a distance of 450–700 m. The emperor’s mausoleum yard was usually 410–430 m long in side, with wall footing of 8–10 m wide; while the empress’s yard was usually 330 m long in side, some individual mausoleums may be 400 m long, with wall footing of 3–5 m. In general, the empress’s mausoleum yard was located to the east of the emperor’s mausoleum yard, therefore called “the Eastern yard”. Outside these two yards, there was a bigger yard which contained both of them. For some imperial mausoleums, there were also tombs for other “wives” and consorts within the big yard.

“Same tomb but different pits” Emperor Gaozu’s mausoleum (western mausoleum) and Empress Lv’s mausoleum (eastern mausoleum)

If the position arrangement of the mausoleums for emperor and empress was influenced by Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace, then the regulated forms inside the mausoleum yard were even more evident as influenced by the royal palace. The main buildings for both Weiyang Palace and Changle Palace were the Front Halls. For example, for Weiyang Palace, which has been well-preserved, its Front Hall was a huge platform foundation, located in the center of the palace city. The flat plan

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of Weiyang Palace was almost a square and the four sides of the palace all had a gate (Sima Gate) opened pointing to the Front Hall. While the emperor’s mausoleum and empress’s mausoleum in the Western Han were usually placed in the center of mausoleum yard and the flat plan of the yard was square. Each side wall of the mausoleum yard had a door opened in the middle. Based on this, it was clear that the imperial mausoleums and the yard were built by imitating the capital and the royal palaces. In the Western Han imperial mausoleums, there were resting yard and temple yard built in vicinity. The name “resting yard” started from the Western Han, which surrounded the resting hall as the center, and also included a group of buildings such as convenience hall and enclosure walls. The emperor’s mausoleum and empress’s mausoleum had their resting yards, even the emperor’s parents, grandparents or brothers also had resting yard built near their tombs. At the beginning of the Western Han, the resting hall was placed inside the imperial mausoleum yard. Probably since Baling for Emperor Wen of Han, it was moved out of the mausoleum yard and became a resting yard usually placed to the southeast of the mausoleum. The resting hall was the main building of the resting yard, and also the main hall for the emperor’s or empress’s mausoleum. Its flat plan was similar as the main court hall in the royal palace. The empress’s resting hall has similar forms as the emperor, but with smaller scale, and the building materials were simpler. The major function of the resting hall was to hold sacrificial activities. Take the Duling mausoleum for Emperor Xuan as an example, its resting yard was 178 m long east–west and 125 m wide south–north. The mausoleum yard was enclosed with walls. The western part was the resting hall, and the eastern part was convenience hall. The resting hall was a large palace building, with rammed earth platform foundation in the middle of the sacrifice hall. The platform foundation was surrounded by corridor with a width of two meters. The ground of the corridor was paved with unglazed square tiles. Outside the corridor, there was a circle of apron paved with pebble stones. The resting hall had three doors from south to north, and one door each on the eastern and western sides. The convenience hall was just beside the resting hall, with the major functions of storing the clothing of emperor and empress while they were alive, keeping the funeral objects for rituals, holding ordinary sacrificial activities, and also serving as a rest place or leisure banquet venue before and after major sacrificial activities for the participants. The convenience hall was also the place where the major administration officials of the mausoleum attended their daily job, which contained hall, offices, living quarters, and independent courtyards comprising sets of small rooms. The hall was used for sacrifice and the sets of small rooms varied between each other in the layout, designed for different purposes. Some rooms had cellars and the unearthed objects contained animal bones and grains as food, coins, and gold-plated bronze ornaments for valuable lacquerware, etc. It is obvious that these objects were prepared for sacrificial activities. The sets of rooms, and also the small courtyards and big courtyards surrounded by corridors, may be rest place and leisure banquet venue for people at that time.

3.2 Archaeological Findings in the Imperial Mausoleums

Flat plan of the mausoleum yard and resting yard of the Duling mausoleum of Han

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Flat plan of the resting yard of the Duling mausoleum of Han

In the Western Han, usually there were temples built specifically for the mausoleums in the vicinity, therefore called “mausoleum temple”, such as the Yuan Temple in Changling for Emperor Gaozu, the Deyang Temple in Yangling for Emperor Jing, the Longyuan Temple in Maoling for Emperor Wu, the Paihuai Temple in Pingling for Emperor Zhao, the Leyou Temple in Duling for Emperor Xuan, the Changshou Temple in Weiling for Emperor Yuan and the Yangchi Temple in Yanling for Emperor Cheng. Besides, there were also temples near the tombs for Emperor Hui, Taishang Huang, Empress Wei Zifu, and Shi Huangsun. During the Western Han, the mausoleums were constructed in advance while the emperors were still alive, so the temple as integral part of the mausoleum, should also be built before the demise of the emperors. Because the emperors were still alive when the temples were ready, so it was a taboo to call them temples, but named as “palaces”. For example, the temple for Emperor Jing was named as “Deyang Palace” and the temple for Emperor Wu was named as “Longyuan Palace”. There were also temples for the mausoleums of empresses, for example “Changshou Palace” for Empress Xiaoyuan Wang.

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Relics of the convenience hall for Duling Mausoluem of Han

Relics of Deyang Temple for Yangling Mausoleum of Han

The mausoleum temples had courtyards, formed by enclosure walls. Most of the mausoleum temple yards in Han were located on the eastern side of the mausoleum. Usually, the temple was a large square built with rammed earth foundation. The relics of the Deyang Temple in Yangling Mausoleum for Emperor Jing of Han were excavated by archaeologists, which is located 300 m to the southeast of Yangling. Square in flat plan, the side length is about 260 m. It was surrounded by dry moats and each of the four sides has a passage. In the moat, each corner has a bevel gaugeshaped building with corridor. The center of the relics area is the main building, which is a square-shaped rammed earth platform foundation, with side length of 53.7 m. Each side of the building has three doors, so altogether 12 doors. The steps of the

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passage are paved with hollow bricks carved with four divine animals. The walls are painted into four colors of azure, white, red, and black, respectively, according to their directions of east, west, south, and north. Sets of Jade gui and Jade bi were unearthed from this relics area. This is, so far, the only excavated relics area of imperial mausoleum temple in the Western Han. The emperors of the Western Han wanted to take not only the material perquisites with them into the tombs, but also the political status of “supreme ruler under heaven” with them. This is reflected in the attendant tombs. Of all the remaining attendant tombs for Western Han mausoleums, Changling and Duling have the biggest number of attendant tombs, over 60 for each of them. Anling, Yangling, Maoling, Weiling, Yanling, and Yiling have fairly large number of attendant tombs as well. Most of the attendant tombs are located to the east of the imperial mausoleums, which is very similar to the ritual of noble and powerful subjects waiting outside the eastern gate of Weiyang Palace during royal meeting. Some attendant tombs are placed to the north of imperial mausoleums. As previously noted, the northern gate of Weiyang Palace was an important passage, “the people submitting reports or waiting to be called for royal greetings” entered and exited the palace through this gate. It is not difficult to see that the attendant tombs outside the eastern gate or northern gate of the imperial mausoleums mirrored the activities of the deceased while alive. In their lifetimes, they were the subjects and servants of the emperor, frequently being summoned to congregate at the eastern gate and northern gate of Weiyang Palace, waiting to be called by the emperor and given instructions. After death, they brought this kind of master–servant relationship to the nether world. From another perspective, while still alive, it had been their aspiration to be buried inside the imperial mausoleum, and it was deemed by their family members as an honor which could be used to flaunt their pedigree. If that is the case, then the emperor could use the attendant tomb arrangement as a favor to garner political support. For example, Xiaohe, Cao Can, Wang Ling, and Zhou Bo were buried in the attendant tombs of Changling Mausoleum, and Wei Qing, Huo Qubing, Huo Guang and Jin Midi were buried in the attendant tombs of Maoling Mausoleum. Actually, these tomb owners’ political status and relationship with the royal family were reflected by their positions in the attendant tombs.

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Attendant tombs for Yanling mausoleum in Han

Tomb of Wei Qing, tomb of Huo Qubing, tomb of Jin Midi

Most of the Western Han imperial mausoleums had attendant tombs, but the identities of these occupants of the tombs varied in different periods of the dynasty. In the early years, most occupants of the attendant tombs in Changling were founding marshals, meritorious officials, and generals. In Anling, most of them had duo identities as royal relatives and senior officials at the same time, such as Princess Luyuan

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and Zhang Ao. In the late stage of Western Han, most of the attend tombs’ owners were mainly royal relatives and eunuchs. There are clear differences between the imperial mausoleums and the attendant tombs, and obvious constraints exist among hierarchical levels. There are strict regulations about the height of the mounds according to the political status of the deceased. The marquis could have mound as high as three zhang, and from guannei marquis to common people, there were differences at each level. After weathering two thousand years’ wind and rain, the remaining attendant tombs for Han imperial mausoleums still have visible differences in the mound scale. In these attendant tombs, the shapes of the earth mound are also different, varying from cone shape, inverted cup shape to mountain shape. Most of them are coneshaped, some are shaped like inverted cup, while mountain shape has the least number. The mountain shape is very special, which only exists in the three combo tombs in the attendant tombs of Changling, and tombs for Wei Qing and Huo Qubing as attendant tombs of Maoling. Mountain shape earth mound is usually built to commemorate victorious military career of the deceased. For example, the mounds for Wei Qing and Huo Qubing are shaped like Lushan Mountain and Qilian Mountain, respectively, places that they fought and won important battles. This practice was inherited by later dynasties. In the attendant tombs of Zhaoling Mausoleum for Emperor Taizong of Tang, the tomb of Li Jing, called “top triple mounds” and the tomb of Li Ji, called “lower triple mounds” have the mounds-shaped like mountains. Usually, there are also many buildings in the surrounding area of large attendant tombs. For example, the tomb of Lord Pingyuan, tomb of Lady Jing, tomb of Xu Guanghan, tomb of Zhang Yu, and tomb of Huo Guang all have courtyards or ancestral memorial rooms built around, some even have significant scales. We have discovered that judging by the remaining attendant tombs with mounds for Western Han’s imperial mausoleums, their allocation follows certain patterns. Some are aggregated in columns south–north, some are grouped horizontally into rows east–west, some are clustered together while some are buried in pairs. The Western Han period had the customs of clan burials and subordinate burials, and spouses should be buried together (same tomb but different pits). The remains of these tombs have proven the existence of such customs. The practice of setting up mausoleum administration cities started from the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He established the administration city mainly for the sake of mausoleum construction. In the Western Han Dynasty, the emperors set up the mausoleum administration cities for two purposes. One was to attend the mausoleum affairs, and the other was to relocate the large clans in Guandong (eastern side of Hanguguan Pass), together with the meritorious statesmen, the wealthy and the heroic and powerful clans. So the trunk could be strengthened and the branches weakened. With adjusted power structure, the royal authority got safeguarded and economy and culture around the capital region could also benefit from this rebalance. In the Han Dynasty, an administrative city was setting up on Xianyangyuan, managing Changling, Anling, Yangling, Maoling, and Pingling. So in history,

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Xianyangyuan was also called “Wulingyuan” (plain of five mausoleums). Furthermore, Emperor Wen and Emperor Xuan also set up administration cities for Baling and Duling, respectively, to the southeast of Chang’an City. Most of these administration cities were located to the north and east of the imperial mausoleums. Changling City, Anling City, Pingling City, and Duling City were all set up to the north of the mausoleums. Baling City may be located to the northeast, Yangling City was located to the east, and Maoling City was located to the northeast respectively. The geographical allocation of these cities was influenced by the space arrangement within Chang’an City. Two-thirds of the Chang’an City was occupied by palaces, mainly in the southern part and middle part of the city. The inhabitants mainly lived in the northern part and northeastern part. So the noble and powerful took it as an honor if they lived in the northern residences or eastern residences. The Northern Residence was close to the northern gate of Weiyang Palace. Huo Guang and Dong Xian all built mansions in this location. Ban Gu referred to this place as the “First Class Residence of the Northern Gate”. The Eastern Residence in the eastern side of Chang’an during Han was also first class residence. In “Account of Sima Xiangru” from Shi Ji, it was recorded that he was “entitled as Tong Marquis and lived in the Eastern Residence”. The administration city of the imperial mausoleum is like the first class residence of the capital. By placing them to the north or east of mausoleums, it is similar like the first class residence located to the north of royal palace or in the eastern part of capital city. Setting up mausoleum administration cities in the Western Han was a mechanism inherited from Emperor Qin Shi Huang. But the Western Han institutionalized this arrangement into a formal system, for the sole purpose of serving the mausoleum. And also it became an important part of the political governance of the country. This arrangement also had deep impact on later dynasties. For example, the mausoleum administration cities in the Liao Dynasty could be traced back to Qin and Han dynasties.

3.2.9 Mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang As the first emperor’s mausoleum of China, Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum is located 35 km to the east of today’s Xi’an City in Shaanxi Province, which belongs to Yanzhai Township, Lintong District of Xi’an. The mausoleum leans against the Lishan Mountain to the south and borders the Wei River to the north, and in history the mausoleum was referred to as the “Lishan Mountain”. The length of its east–west side and south– north side is about 7.5 km, occupying an area of 56 square kilometers. Its scale could be called the champion of all ancient mausoleums in China. In 1961, it was included in the first batch national level key cultural relics protection list. In 1987, it was inscribed on the World Heritage Sites list by UNESCO. The mausoleum area for Emperor Qin Shi Huang is made up with the mausoleum yard, tomb, sacrificial buildings, administration city, attendant tomb pits, attendant tombs, sacrifice burial tombs, tombs for mausoleum constructors and remains of levee for the mausoleum.

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Flat plan of the mausoleum area for Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Internal city is shaped rectangular south–north, with width of 580 m east–west, length of 1355 m south–north, and a perimeter of 3870 m. The northern part of the internal city has eastern and western sections. The eastern section is surrounded by walls, which is 330 m wide east–west and 670 m long south–north. The western section is 250 m wide east–west and 670 m long south–north. The outer city is also shaped rectangular south–north, with width of 976 m east–west, and length of 2185 m south–north.

Aerial view of the mausoleum for Emperor Qin Shi Huang

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Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum is enclosed by rammed earth walls to form a mausoleum yard, which has two parts of internal city and outer city. The internal city has walls opened at each of the four walls. The tomb is located in the midpoint east–west in the southern section of the inner city. The mound of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s tomb is shaped like an inverted cup. The bottom of the remaining earth mound is a square with side length of about 350 m. The earth mound has a height of 35.5–77 m. The archaeological survey materials of the earth mound in early 20th century showed that the bottom of the earth mound was 515 m long south–north and 485 m wide east–west. The underground palace of the mausoleum has gates opened in the center of each side wall, corresponding to the passages at four sides. Outside the internal city, there is another layer of rammed earth walls, forming the outer city. The internal city is in the middle of outer city. Outer city also has four gates. The eastern, western, and southern gates of the inner and outer cities were aligned. The flat plan of the Western Han imperial mausoleums basically inherits the features of the southern section of the inner city in Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum. Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum is different from the traditional Qin mausoleums since the Spring and Autumn period in several dimensions. Firstly, the mausoleum yard is enclosed by walls instead of dry moats. Secondly, the eastern, western, and southern gates of the inner and outer cities are aligned with the eastern, western, and southern tomb corridors of the underground palace. This kind of arrangement was unprecedented in the previous Qin imperial mausoleums. Thirdly, the mound is located in the center point east–west of the outer city. In the context of the inner city, the mound occupied the southern half of the inner city and was located in the center of the southern half. This pioneered the practice of putting imperial mausoleum at the center of mausoleum yard. The eastern gates of the inner city and the outer city are linked by a passage with the direction of east–west. Around the midpoint between these two eastern gates, there are two gate towers placed at southern and northern sides of the passage in symmetry. The two gate towers have similar forms and scale, with the flat planshaped like the character “凸”. The northern gate tower is 45.9 m long south–north, and 4.6–14.6 m wide east–west. The southern gate tower is 46.9 m long south–north and 3.2–15.3 m wide east–south. Both of the towers have “triple gate towers” at the outside (the eastern side) and “double gate towers” at the inside (the western side). The eastern and western gates of the internal and outer cities are similar in forms and specifications. The gate towers between the internal and outer cities at both the eastern and western sides of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum are the earliest ones of this type discovered by archaeologists so far. Even though located between the internal and outer cities at eastern and western sides, these gate towers are actually the gate towers for the internal city. While only the eastern and western gates have these gate towers and other gates don’t have any towers. This maybe the feature of

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early stage imperial mausoleums, which is also different from the following Western Han gate towers system. Putting gate towers outside the eastern and western gates of internal city in Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum is determined by the regulated forms inside the mausoleum yard. While the regulated form of mausoleum yard is influenced by the layout and structure of the capital and royal palaces. Archaeological excavation has discovered that outside the eastern gates Xuanping Gate of Chang’an, the capital of Western Han, namely Xuanping Gate and Bacheng Gate, there are remains of gate towers. Historic documents say that outside the eastern gate and western gate of the Changle Palace, there were gate towers. In the northern section of the southern part of the internal city, and also the western section of the northern part of the internal city, large amount of remains for high-grade buildings have been discovered through the archaeological excavation. The discoverers opined that the remains should be the resting yard, resting hall, convenience hall, refined residence of temple, and catering office. Besides, four kilometers away to the north of Emperor Qing Shi Huang’s mausoleum in old Xinfeng County, which is around today’s Liu Jiazhai and Shahe Village in Daiwang Township of Lintong District, archaeologists have found the remains of the administration city for Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum (the Li City). As the first city of this type in ancient China, it was recorded in “Biography of Liu Cang, Duke of Dongping” from Book of Later Han Dynasty, “the rise of mausoleum administration cities started from the powerful Qin”. In the 35th year of the reign of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, he decided to relocate 30,000 households into the Li City, so they could “contribute to sustain the mausoleum”. On the other hand it helped to consolidate the control of central government on local authorities, a policy of “strengthening the trunk while weakening the branches”. This practice of establishing mausoleum administration cities and population relocation initiated by Emperor Qin Shi Huang was inherited by the Western Han Dynasty and became an important system. And these cities played very significant roles in the social politics and economic activities of that time. Within the broad mausoleum area for Emperor Qin Shi Huang, a total of 180 attendant tomb pits have been discovered by archaeologists so far. 76 of them are located inside the mausoleum yard and 104 are outside. These attendant tomb pits have different forms, contents, and allocation positions. The famous ones are the pits for terra-cotta warriors and horses, bronze chariots, and horses, and also, there are pits for horse stables, rare poultry and animals, wooden chariots and horses, official figurines, stone armors, entertainer figurines, kneeling archers, and acrobatic figurines. The attendant tomb pits between the internal and outer cities of Emperor Qin Shihuang’s mausoleum are mainly located on the southern side of the eastern and western gates. In these pits, there are ones used for rare poultry and animals, horse stables, and kneeling archers. The difference between this rare animal pit and the external animal pit located to the northeast of the mausoleum yard is that if the latter one was imitating the garden of capital city, then the former one would possibly be

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the rare poultry and animals garden within the royal palace. The horse pit on the southern side of the western gate used real horses for burial, and the horse stables pit in Shangjiao Village, which is to the southeast of the mausoleum yard also used real horses. The former one may imitate the stables of the royal palace, and the latter one is built as the stables of the capital. In the pits on the southern side of the eastern gate, stone armors and acrobatic figurines are discovered. The pit for stone armors has gigantic scale, possibly symbolizing the troops of royal guards stationed in the Qin royal palace. If this deduction is correct, then the terra-cotta warriors in the pits outside the mausoleum yard are highly possible the troops participating in the funeral for Emperor Qin Shi Huang.

No. 1 pit of terra-cotta warriors for Emperor Qin Shi Huang

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Stone armor

Entertainer figurine

Bronze chariot and horses for Emperor Qin Shi Huang

Inside the internal city, many chariot and horses pits are discovered in the northern part and western part of the underground palace. In the southern part of the underground palace, pit for civil officials is discovered, which is considered to be symbolizing judicial department by the discoverers. Our opinion is that it is more likely belonging to the royal court officials who worked in the palace. The attendant tomb pits outside the mausoleum yard of Emperor Qin Shi Huang represented the pinnacle of all attendant tombs in ancient China’s imperial mausoleums in terms of scale, quantity, or categorization. It is even fair to say that it is “unprecedented and unexampled ever afterward”. The concept of “building mausoleums as capital cities” is exemplified to the fullest scale by this place. This

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system had a direct influence on the external outer coffin system before the middle stage of the Western Han. The archaeological discoveries in Yangling for Emperor Jing, Maoling for Emperor Wu, Pingling for Emperor Zhao, Duling for Emperor Xuan, and Nanling for Empress Bo are the best pieces of evidence for this influence.

3.2.10 Imperial Mausoleums in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (Spring and Autumn, Warring States Period) 3.2.10.1

The Royal Mausoleums of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty in Capital of Luoyang

In 770 BC, King Ping moved the capital eastward to Luoyang and marked the beginning of the Eastern Zhou. All the 25 kings of this dynasty were buried in Luoyang after death. The royal mausoleums of the Eastern Zhou in Luoyang have three mausoleum areas, namely the Zhou Mountain, Wangcheng, and Jin Village. The Zhou Mountain is situated about five kilometers away to the southwest of the Eastern Zhou’s capital city, and the mountain got its name because of the royal mausoleums inside. Legend says that the tombs for King Jing, King Dao, King Ding, and King Ling were in this mountain. In this area, there are four remaining earth mounds. And three mausoleums have the mound bottom measured as 51–75 m in diameter and 26–34 m in height. The biggest one has a mound with bottom diameter of 115 m and height of 50 m. The Wangcheng mausoleum area was position to the northeast of the royal city of Eastern Zhou, which extends from today’s Xiaotun Village to Luoyang Wrist Watch Factory. In this area, four tombs in the Eastern Zhou-shaped like “甲” were excavated, and in some tombs, pieces of stone gui (handheld tablet) with characters “tianzi” (son of heaven) were discovered. In 2001, archaeologist discovered a “亞”-shaped large tomb inside No. 27 Middle School of Luoyang City. The tomb corridor was 30 m long, and the burial chamber was 6.6 m long and five meters wide. The bronze ding unearthed had the engraved characters of “王作宝尊彝” (pronounced as wang zuo bao zun yi). In 2002, near the Zhongzhou Road of Luoyang a chariot and horse pit was excavated by archaeologists with “six horses chariot”. To its southwestern side, a big tomb was discovered. These two Eastern Zhou tombs are highly possible tombs for Kings of Eastern Zhou.

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Eastern Zhou chariot and horse pit with “Six Horses Chariot”

The Jin Village mausoleum area is located to the north of the relics of Han Wei Capital City. One big tomb has been discovered, with length of 19 m, width of 14 m, and depth of 12 m. The tomb corridor is 60 m long. This tomb maybe belong to King Jing of Zhou. To the northeast of relics of Han Wei Capital City, there is tomb for King Weilie of Zhou. In the Jin Village mausoleum area, altogether 18 “甲”-shaped mausoleums have been found, formed into two rows. These mausoleums are very big in size. For example, Tomb No. V has a square-shaped entrance, with side length of 12.19 m and the tomb’s depth reaches 12 m. The tomb corridor’s length is 76.2 m. Inside the tomb, a bronze plate with the engraving of “guo jun” (monarch) has been unearthed.

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Assembled jade pendant with gold lace unearthed in Jin Village

Double dragon pendant in light greenish-white jade unearthed in Jin Village

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Jade tiger unearthed in Jin Village

3.2.10.2

Tombs for Kings of Qin in Yong City

The 294 years from 667 to 383 BC witnessed the construction of the the capital for the state of Qin in Yong City (today’s Feng Xiang County of Baoji City, Shaanxi Province). 20 kings of the Qin State were buried on Sanzhiyuan extending from today’s Yinjiawu in Fengxiang County to Yangping Town of Baoji City. The kings mausoleum area is separated from the capital Yong City by the Yong River in the middle. On the western, southern and northern sides of the mausoleum area, dry moats have been found with 2–7 m width and depth of 2–6 m. In the mausoleum area, a total of 13 mausoleums have been discovered, occupying an area of 20 million square meters. Each individual mausoleum is surrounded by dry moats, with width of 3–4 m and depth of about three meters. All mausoleum sit in the west and face east. The Qin mausoleum area on Sanzhiyuan is the largest Pre-Qin vassal state mausoleum area discovered so far. These 13 mausoleums can be divided into three types: The first type is a mausoleum yard with double dry moats. The internal dry moat surrounds the main tomb and the outer layer of dry moat encircles not only the main tomb, but also the subordinate tombs and attendant tomb pits. The second type is single layer of dry moat which encircles the main tomb, subordinate tomb and the chariot and horse pit. The third type is using a big dry moat to enclose several individual mausoleums, which already have one layer of dry moat, so as to form a combined mausoleum.

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Flat plan of kings mausoleum yard of Qin in Yong City

In the 13 mausoleum yards of the kings of Qin, a total of 44 big tombs have been discovered, all with no earth mound. The shapes of the flat plan of these tombs have six types, “中” “甲” “凸” “刀” “月” and circle. There are 18 tombs with the shape of “中”. The burial chamber is usually rectangular with one tomb corridor on the eastern side and another on the western side. The eastern one is the main corridor. Above the ground, there are remains of buildings such as the hall of offerings. It is highly possible that these “中”-shaped large tombs are burial places for the kings of Qin State. Since the mid-1970s, the archaeologists spent over 10 years in the excavation of main tomb in No. 1 mausoleum yard in the Qin kings mausoleum area. This is so far the largest Pre-Qin king’s mausoleum unearthed. Inside No. 1 mausoleum area there are three “中”-shaped large tombs, one “甲”-shaped attendant tomb and four chariot and horse pits. The dry moat of the mausoleum yard is 585–825 m long east–west and 450–517 m wide south–north. The mausoleum yard covers an area of 34,098 square meters.

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No. 1 big tomb for King of Qin. Burial chamber is shaped rectangular with length of 59.4 m east– west, width of 38 m south–north, and depth of 24 m. The total length of the big tomb reaches 300 m, occupying a total area of 5334 square meters.

The flat plan of No. 1 big tomb for King of Qin is shaped like the character “中”. It sits in the west and faces east. There are remains and relics of the hall of offering on top of the vault. The coffin chamber is made up of the main coffin chamber and the subordinate coffin chamber. The main coffin chamber sits in the middle, which is the underground palace for the king, with flat plan of rectangular shape. To the southwest of the main coffin chamber lies the subordinated coffin chamber, which is used to place funeral objects for the king. In both chambers, there is one set of outer coffin made with cypress wood. This wooden structure can be deemed as the first “huangchangticou” in China’s history. Human remains of 186 people are discovered in the burial chamber and also the filling earth of the big tomb, as sacrifice or burial attendants. Their burial rituals must be strictly regulated according to the hierarchy and followed a certain order to be buried in the king’s mausoleum. The most valuable item unearthed should be the stone qing with engraved characters. This was very rare in the previously discovered stone qings. The characters are written in the ancient style of dazhuan, which is primitive and gentle, combining force with elegance. It is very similar to “the Stone Drum Inscriptions” in Qin. After careful study of over 30 pieces of stone qing and over 180 engraved characters on them, it is revealed that the owner of this tomb is Duke Jing of Qin. The discovery of the tomb for Duke Jing of Qin is of great significance for the study of burial system and also early history in Pre-Qin era.

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Kings’ Mausoleums of Qin in Xianyang City and Zhiyang City

Kings’ Mausoleums of Qin in Xianyang City In the Qin kings’ mausoleums of Xianyang, the kings and queens were buried in same tomb but different pits. Both the king’s mausoleum and queen’s mausoleum had four tomb corridors, and the mausoleum yard was marked with enclosed ditches. In the mausoleum for King Huiwen of Qin (No. 1 mausoleum), which lies to the northeast of Yanling for Emperor Cheng of Western Han, there are two “亞”-shaped tombs, positioned in the south and north. There is one tomb corridor linked to the center of each side of the tomb. The burial chamber is square in shape, and the upper part and bottom part of the earth mound are all also shaped square. No. 2 mausoleum lies near the Zhouling Middle School, which is 3800 m to the northeast of No. 1 mausoleum. Within the enclosed ditches of the mausoleum yard, there are two heaps of large sealing earth with direction of south–north, and the tombs all have four passages.

Kings’ mausoleums of Qin in Xianyang

Eastern Mausoleums (Mausoleum Area in Zhiyang) In the middle of the Warring States Period, Duke Xiao of Qin moved the capital to Xianyang and the royal family of Qin build the royal mausoleum area in the east of Zhiyang City. It was called the “eastern mausoleums” because it was located to the east of Xianyang (or the east of Pre-Qin kings’ mausoleums in Yong City). The current position of eastern mausoleums area is in the southeast of Xiekou Subdistrict, Lintong District of Xi’an City. Bordering Zhiyang City on its west, it is separated from the capital Xianyang City by the Weishui River. Up to now four mausoleums have been found in this area. All of them are rectangular in flat plan, and the mausoleum yard is surrounded by dry moats. Sitting in the west while facing east, the mausoleums

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have rammed earth mounds on top of the tombs, but no buildings were constructed on the sealing earth. The mausoleum buildings are placed beside the tomb and inside the mausoleum yard. The attendant tomb pits and attendant tombs also lie inside the mausoleum yard. No. 1 mausoleum yard is four kilometers long east–west and 1.8 km wide south–north, occupying an area of 7.2 square kilometers. Inside this yard, there are two “亞”-shaped big tombs positioned in south and north. These two tombs have similar forms and scales. The burial chamber is almost square in shape with side length of 57–58 m and tomb depth of 26 m. Both tombs have four passages, with the eastern passage being the largest one, which should be the main passage. In the eastern mausoleums area, there may be joint mausoleum for King Zhaoxiang and Queen Tang, joint mausoleum for King Xiaowen and Queen Huayang, joint mausoleum for King Zhuangxiang and Queen Di, and also mausoleums for Crown Prince Dao and Queen Xuan.

3.2.10.4

Kings’ Mausoleums of Wei

In 362 BC, King Hui of Wei moved the capital to Daliang (today’s Kaifeng of Henan Province). Before being conquered by Qin in 225 BC, the State of Wei experienced six kings. From 1950–1951, at a place three kilometers away to the east of Hui County Town of Henan Province, archaeologists discovered a rectangular platform following the natural hill slope, with length of 150 m and width of 135 m. There are three large tombs placed in parallel. The middle one is the biggest, which should belong to the king. And the two flank ones are smaller, which should belong queen and consort. There used to be halls of offerings on top of each tomb, and the foundation is a little bigger than the tomb pit. The foundation for the hall of offering for the king’s mausoleum is square in shape with side length of 27.5 m. Judging by the remains of pillar bases, the hall of offering is estimated to be a seven rooms wide building with pyramid-shaped tiled roof. The queen and consort’s halls of offering are smaller, with foundation side length of 18–19 m. The building is estimated to be five rooms wide and installed with pyramid-shaped tiled roof. The tomb pit of the three big tombs and the tomb corridors on the south and north are all over 150 m long, and the tomb depth reaches over 15 m. The flat plan of the mausoleum is shaped like character “中”. The outer coffin chamber is almost square in shape with length of nine meters, width of 8.4 m, and height of two meters. The outer coffin room is placed with set of coffins and also charcoal. The two sides of the coffin chamber and the part close to the tomb corridor were walled with big rocks, and the gaps were filled with fine sands and finally sealed with rammed earth.

3.2.10.5

Mausoleums for Kings of Zhao

In 386 BC, Marquis Jing of Zhao moved the capital from Jinyang (today’s Taiyuan City of Shanxi Province) to Handan (today’s Handan City of Hebei Province). Then in 228 BC, the state was vanquished by Qin. In this period, the state was ruled by

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eight kings. Most of the mausoleums are located to the northwest of Handan, the capital during Zhao, which is in the hills to the northwest of today’s Handan. Now this area belongs to the townships of Sanling, Gongcheng, and Lianggang. In the mausoleum area for kings of Zhao, there are five groups of kings’ mausoleums, located on five mountains. Each group of king’s mausoleums has a mausoleum platform built on the peak of mountains. The surface of the platform is plain, and the four sides are strengthened with rammed earth. The surrounding sides are slopes, some are even paved with apron. The mausoleum platform is rectangular, with south–north side longer and east–west side narrower. The sealing earth is on top of the platform. To the east of the platform, a big road is constructed east– west following the slope. No. 1 mausoleum platform is 288 m long south–north and 194 m wide east–west. The sealing earth in the middle part of the mausoleum platform, slightly to the south. The bottom of earth mound has a diameter of 47–57 m and a height of 15 m. The ancient road on the eastern side of the mausoleum platform almost forms a straight line with the sealing earth. The road is 61 m wide and the remaining section is 246 m long.

Sealing earth mound for King of Zhao’s mausoleum in Handan

There are seven large sealing earth mounds on the five mausoleum platforms. Some people consider the five mausoleum platforms as mausoleums for five kings of State of Zhao, and if one platform has two tombs, then it should be joint tomb for king and queen. Other people opine that the seven large earth mounds on the five platforms are possibly the burial places of seven kings of State of Zhao after the capital was moved to Handan, namely Marquis Jing, Marquis Cheng, King Huiwen, King Xiaocheng, King Daoxiang, Marquis Zhaosu, and King Wuling.

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Kings Mausoleums for the Zhongshan Kingdom

The relics of the capital for Zhongshan Kingdom in the Warring States Period is located in today’s Sanji Township of Pingshan County, Hebei Province. The kingdom was established by the ethnic clan of Di. In 388 BC, Duke Huan of Zhongshan built the capital in this place and in over 80 years of history, and five kings ruled the kingdom. Three of them were buried in the vicinity of the capital, two in the north of the western city, and one in the foot of the Xiling Moutain to the west of capital. In the burial place of the Xiling Mountain, two large tombs are placed horizontally from east to west. The bigger tomb on the west is the mausoleum for King Cuo of Zhongshan, and the occupant of the smaller one on the east should be his queen. King Cuo’s mausoleum is shaped as “中” in flat plan. The burial chamber is square in shape with side length of 29 m. The outer coffin chamber is constructed in the back of burial chamber, and the wooden outer coffin is placed inside. In the outer coffin chamber, a copper plate Zhaoyu Tu was unearthed, which is a piece of valuable physical material for the study of royal mausoleums in the Warring States Period.

Square kettle for King of Zhongshan

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Divine animal with two wings unearthed in Zhongshan King’s mausoleum

Aerial view of the relics of Zhongshan kingdom

3.2.10.7

Kings Mausoleums of the Western Zhou Dynasty

In “Annals of Zhou” from Shi Ji, it was recorded that King Wen, King Wu, King Cheng, and King Kong of Western Zhou were buried in the place called Bi around Fengjing and Gaojing. In mid-ancient China, people thought the Kings of Wen, Wu, Cheng and Kang of Western Zhou were all buried in Xianyangyuan. Actually, most of the tombs were burials for the kings of Qin and the emperors of Han. After the

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Western Zhou vanquished Shang, King Wu of Zhou pointed out clearly that the capital should be built in Luoyang. In 1963, a piece of bronze ware from Western Zhou “he zun” was unearthed in Baoji City of Shaanxi Province. The inscriptions clearly recorded this piece of historic truth. At least, it is fair to say that during the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were “two capitals of east and west”. Therefore, the kings’ mausoleums of Western Zhou may be located in Luoyang. This estimation needs to be verified by more field work of archaeologists.

3.2.10.8

Kings Mausoleums in Yinxu

In the late Zhou Dynasty, the capital was on the two banks of the Huan River to the northwest of Anyang City, Henan Province. The royal palace, ancestral temple are located near the Xiaotun Village on the southern bank. The kings mausoleums are around Houjiazhuang and Wuguan Village on the northern bank, or known as the kings mausoleum area on a northwestern hill of Yinxu. The royal palace of Yinxu is about 2.5 km away from the kings mausoleum area, which is 450 m long east–west and 250 m wide south–north. In this place, a total of 13 large or fairly large tombs have been found, together with over 2, 500 sacrifice pits. Among them, 12 large tombs and over 1400 sacrifice pits have been excavated.

Flat plan of the kings mausoleum area of a northwest hill in Yinxu

The kings mausoleum area can be divided into the eastern and western parts. The western part contains eight large tombs. The eastern part contains mainly sacrifice

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pits, which are located in the southern section and mid-northern section. Also, there is a large tomb and four fairly large tombs. All these 13 tombs don’t have any sealing earth above ground, and they all sit in the north and face south. The tomb entrance has big entrance but small bottom, and the flat plan of the tomb is shaped like “亞”, “中”, or “甲”. These large or fairly large tombs are allocated with clear order in a condensed space. Some individual tombs may have crossing tomb corridors but the burial chambers never overlap with each other. This shows that the positions of 13 tombs were dedicatedly planned. Among them, eight tombs are in “亞” shape, and each one has four tomb corridors. This was deemed as the highest form for mausoleum and for a considerable period of time, the imperial mausoleums all adopted this form. Three tombs are in “中”shape, with one tomb corridor on the south and the other on the north. Only one tombs is in shape “甲”, with only one passage on the south. One special feature of the Yinxu kings mausoleums is the widespread human sacrifice. The sacrifice pits in the king’s mausoleum area of Yinxu are mainly in the eastern part, which is placed in a condensed and clear order. These pits are divided into several groups with different opening sizes, directions, depths, contents, skeleton gestures, skeleton numbers, and distances between pits. Each set of sacrifice pits have one row or several rows. Some big sets have dozens of rows of pits. The pits within same set are used for the same sacrifice activity. Depending on the content, the sacrifice pits can be grouped into human pit, animal pit, and utensils pit.

Sacrifice pit in the relics of kings mausoleums in Yinxu

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Human pits are either in rectangular shape or in square shape. Usually, one pit would contain 1–39 people. These people were buried with full skeletons or no heads. The headless skeletons have the greatest number in sacrifice pits. The animal pits mainly contain elephants, horses, dogs, pigs, sheep, monkeys, and birds. The horses have the largest number among animal pits. Most of the utensil pits contain bronze ware.

Hou Mu Xin Bronze Ding

Fu Hao Hao Zun

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Hou Mu Wu Grand Square Bronze Ding

There was no sealing earth on top of kings’ mausoleums in the Shang Dynasty; in other words, they were built without mounds. But there may be halls of offerings built on top of the tombs. In the high-grade tombs, such as Fu Hao tomb in Yinxu, the relics of hall of offering were found on its top. The king’s mausoleum structure was shaped like “亞”. One tomb corridor was opened on each of the four sides of the burial chamber, and their four gates were linked with the tomb corridors. The system of setting four tomb corridors in the Shang Dynasty was continued by the Western Han. Afterward, even though the imperial mausoleums from the Eastern Han till Ming and Qing were no longer in the “亞” shape and did not have four passages in the burial chamber, they all had one gate opened at each of the wall of the mausoleum yard. The four tomb corridors and the four gates for the mausoleum yard were like the four gates of the royal palace. The underground palace in imperial mausoleums symbolizes the concept of “center”. And the four tomb corridors and the four gates symbolize “harmony”. The tomb of Fu Hao is considered by the academic circle as the tomb for the Queen of King Wuding. This tomb is a “甲”-shaped tomb with only one passage. Based on this, it can be deducted that queen’s tomb does not belong to the “亞” shape tombs. In the Shang Dynasty, tomb corridor was an important hallmark of high-grade tombs. The “亞” shape was used by kings, “中” shape was inferior, and “甲” shape was one level further down. And tombs with vertical grave and earthen pit should be an even lower level.

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3.3 Explanation of “Building Mausoleums as Capital Cities” In ancient days, after a dynasty was established there were two issues considered with national importance, one was building the capital city and the other was building the imperial mausoleum. Ancients thought that the capital and the imperial mausoleums constituted the duo worlds of yang and yin for the dynasty’s supreme rulers. The mausoleum could be viewed as the capital in the other world. So over two thousand years ago, this idea of “building mausoleums as capital cities” was put forward. It has been a consistent mindset of “serving the dead as if they were alive” in the ancient history of China. We deem the imperial mausoleum as integral part of the capital city, exactly because of this traditional cultural idea. The Chinese ancestors took the life as a journey made up of birth, aging, illness, and death. While birth and death are the most important nodes. And society pays more attention to death, because it marks the end point of life, and birth is only just the beginning. The birth and death of a human being are totally different stages of life. But in the national culture and history of Chinese people, they are regarded as two worlds similar in meaning but different in forms, namely the duo worlds of yang and yin. The yang world is the actual world that people live in, and the yin world is a virtual world where people would go to after death, a living space for spirits. So everything in the yang world during living days would be carried forward into the yin world. Therefore, “serving the dead as if they were alive” is a very important feature in China’s ancient funeral culture. Most of the emperors and kings ruled the country in the capital, royal palace, and the main royal court hall. So the mausoleum should imitate the royal palaces in construction and sacrifice activities should be organized after their deaths. The typical examples such as the “亞”-shaped tombs for kings of the Shang Dynasty in Yinxu, Anyang, Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s mausoleum created the scenes that “mercury is poured and deployed to resemble rivers and seas, celestial maps are engraved on the vault ceiling and geographic terrains are rendered downside”. His mausoleum yard (with over 180 attendant tomb pits) which reflected the politics, culture, military activities, together with Maoling for Emperor Wu of Han, Zhaoling for Emperor Taizong of Tang, and Qianling for Emperor Gaozong of Tang, all these mausoleums are the epitomes of their historic era. In Maoling for Emperor Wu of Han, the square-shaped mausoleum yard, the inverted-cup-shaped earth mound with “fang shang” and the burial chamber with “fang zhong” all showcased the concept of “fang” (square) and “zhong” (moderate). The tombs for Huo Qubing, Wei Qing, Jin Midi commemorated the victorious military achievements by Emperor Wu of Han and his outstanding statesmen and generals. The over one hundred attendant tombs of Zhaoling for Emperor Taizong of Tang actually mirrored the Prosperity of the Zhengguan Period. The triple gate towers at Qianling for Emperor Gaozong of Tang represented the triple main entrants of the royal palace, royal city, and capital city. The original 64 stone statues (now 61 remains) of Fan (other ethnic groups) people reflected the booming trade along the friendly Silk Road with foreign countries.

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Stone statues of Fan subjects in Qianling for Emperor Gaozong of Tang

Based on the explanation of the cultural and historical connotations in the ancient mausoleums, it is clear that the yin world is a mirror of history for the yang world. To certain extent, the history of funerals can be viewed as history of epitome of social history. Ancient tombs and mausoleums have condensed important historical and cultural information for the Chinese nation and its people. They have become material vehicles to carry the rituals as a country of courtesy. They are an integral part of the Chinese nation’s five thousand years of un-fractured civilization history and contain the core historical and cultural genes for the Chinese nation.

Chapter 4

Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

Abstract Ritual architecture, sacrificial vessels, and characters are the features and essential parts of China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years. Ritual architecture and sacrificial vessels are the platforms for and physical manifestations of running a country. In the world’s history, they are the unique civilization carriers with Chinese characteristics that sustained and developed China’s un-fractured civilization for more than 5000 years. They have also strengthened our national cohesion and identity. From the ancestral temple to the Temple of Ancient Monarchs, from the Temple of Heaven to the Temple of Earth, these architecture and rituals have underpinned the continuous development of our civilization, while Chinese characters highlight the uniqueness of Chinese civilization. Keywords Ritual architecture · Sacrificial vessels · Characters

4.1 The Development and Continuation of Ceremonial Buildings 4.1.1 Ancestral Temples and the State A palace as a geopolitical center was where rulers exercise their state power. In comparison, an ancestral temple was a shrine for ancestor worship where rulers and officials of the state demonstrate the imperial lineage legitimacy to the public. The ancestral temples have a more extended history than palaces. Before the appearance of civilization and state formation, temples had already been built for the purpose of worship. Along with the development of civilization and the advent of “familygoverned state”, temples were given more and more prominent status. In earlier times, an ancestral temple used to serve as the landmark to distinguish the capital and other cities. According to “Annals of the Five Emperors”, the first chapter of Shi Ji, “the place where Shun lived for one year formed a ‘Ju’ (a settlement), for two years formed a ‘Yi’ (a city), and for three years formed a ‘Du’ (a capital)”. The old text has description of capitals as such.

© Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. 2022 Q. Liu, A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3946-4_4

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Hall of ancestral temple of the Ming and Qing dynasties The cities with ancestral temples to worship previous kings are called “Du” (a capital), and other settlements are called “Yi” (a city). Yi’s collocated verb is “Zhu”, whereas “Cheng” is the collocated verb for “Du”. Both expressions mean to build a city.

As such, the ancestral temple was a symbol to distinguish the capital from ordinary cities. Accordingly, the early texts recorded that “ancestral temple has the priority” when building a capital city, as it announces the legitimacy and validity of controlling power of the kings. Ancestral temples, as the physical manifestation of the imperial kinship, provided the foundation for imperial succession and internal hierarchies based on kin genealogy, whereas palaces served as a platform for exercising state power and governing citizens. Compared to ancestral temples, palaces are the demonstration of a nation’s geopolitical status. For the reasons above, the ancient state rulers and managers consider the ancestral temples and palaces as the core buildings in the capitals and paid them with the greatest attention. Although equally significant, temples and palaces hold different functions: An ancestral temple was the platform showing kinship politics, whereas a palace stood as a sign of geopolitical power. The formation of a society is marked when “civilization” replaced “barbarism”. In the meantime, the appearance of “a state” symbolized the end of “prehistory era” in ancient China. With the development of the states, the palaces gained more influence as the sign of a state. Remains of temples and palaces were discovered out of the excavated ancient capital cities at the Erlitou Ruins of Yanshi dating back to the mid and late Xia Dynasty and the Shang City Ruins of Yanshi dating back to the early Shang Dynasty.

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Out of temples and palaces at Erlitou Ruins of Yanshi, the most important ones are the Block I and Block II, located in the west and the east sides of the palace. Scholars believe that Block I and Block II ruins are probably a palace and an ancestral temple. The palace in the Shang City of Yanshi is located in the middle of the inner Shang City, previously named as Shang City. Research shows that the east and west sides of the palace have different layouts. The west building groups were palace buildings, whereas the east building groups were ceremonial buildings. The largescale sacrificial remains in the north part of the palace could initially be the imperial sacrificial and ceremonial sites. In addition, at the site of Yong City, the capital of State Qin during Spring and Autumn period, located in Fengxiang County of Shaanxi Province, archaeologists excavated Majiazhuang Block I and Block III building ruins in the middle and south of inside the “palace city”. The excavators believe that Block I should be the relics of an ancestral temple and Block III should be the relics of the palace buildings.

Diagram of Majiazhuang Block I

These palaces and temples in the pre-Qin period were all built under a parallel layout: ceremonial buildings on the left and palace buildings on the right. Unlike western culture, “god” statues had never been displayed in the palace buildings. The

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palace-by-temple structure signifies the “family-state” political system, which laid a profound ideological foundation for the un-fractured five-thousand-year Chinese civilization. For example, Xianyang City, the two times capital of State Qin during the Warring States Period and of the Qin Dynasty, accommodated a palace city for the king and for the first Chinese emperor. Archaeologists have discovered palace ruins at this location. As the old text records, the ancestral temples in Xianyang City were located outside the palace city at the Weinan area. The palace city and Weinan area are two sides of the Weihe River. Such arrangement was also recorded in “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji, which reads “The temples, Zhangtai Palace and Shanglin Parkland were all at Weinan.” During the Western Han Dynasty, structural changes were added on the basis of Xianyang urban structure. The positioning of the ancestral temples and palaces had massive changes: The ancestral temples and palaces were no longer given equally status after the formation of imperial states; the imperial palace outstood as political sign of a state, whereas the ancestral temples as the sign of imperial family downgraded on the priority list. Such drastic change marks the progress of Chinese civilization which is demonstrated with the change of word order, from “family and state” to “state and family”. The recognition of a “state” safeguarded the contiguous development of Chinese civilization in the following two thousand years, enhanced the supremacy of the national identity and national cohesion, and gave rise to the value of “unitedness” as the core political perspective of all Chinese. Since then, although different ethnic groups governed this land across various dynasties, the core political concept and the awareness of state have only strengthened. In the late Western Han Dynasty, there were two kinds of ceremonial buildings— ancestral temple and Sheji. (“Sheji” can be interpreted as Chinese Deity. In the old texts, “Sheji” can be exchangeable with “state” in meaning.) Temples and Sheji were symmetrically located to the southeast and southwest of the court palace. Journal of Sacrifice of Book of Later Han records “Sheji” that “In the second year of Jianwu, the Imperial Sheji was built on the right side of ancestral temple in Luoyang city”, which pictures a then layout of “temple on the left and Sheji on the right”. The ancient documents record that in the early Western Jin Dynasty, the ancestral temples were built on the base of the Wei temple on the mid-east side of the Tongtuo Street. This means the temples were outside of the palace city (inner court) but within the capital city (outer court). In the tenth year of Taikang (Emperor Wu of Jin), new temples were constructed inside Xunyang Gate. In Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasty, the ancestral temple in Jiankang City was located between Xuanyang Gate and Zhuque Gate. When Northern Wei Dynasty firstly made Pingcheng its capital, the royal palace “West Palace” was built in the western of the capital, whereas the ancestral temple and Sheji were built in the southern of West Palace. In Pingcheng, the ancestral temple and imperial Sheji were built outside the palace city and inside the capital city. In the same period, Emperor Daowu built an imperial temple inside the palace to worship five emperors, namely Shenyuan, Sidi, Pingwen, Zhaocheng, and Xianming. The temple was named as Five Emperors Temple which demonstrates the historical imperial origin of Tuoba clan

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within Xianbei ethnic group. The ancestral temples at Luoyang City of Northern Wei Dynasty were built on the east and west sides of Tongtuo Street. The locations are within the outer court but outside the Changhe Gate of the inner city, north side of Qingyang Gate Street and Ximing Gate Street. This layout was adopted in the following dynasties: The temples in Daxing City of Sui Dynasty and Chang’an City of Tang Dynasty were both built outside the inner city and inside Hanguang Gate of the outer court. During Sui and Tang dynasties, the temples at Luoyang City were built outside the palace city at the southeast corner of the imperial city. The temple in North Song Dynasty was built in the eastern of Yu Street, between Xuande Gate and the Capital Bridge, inside the inner city. In Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan built the temple inside Qihua Gate in the east of the outer city of Dadu. In Ming and Qing dynasties, the temples were built on the east side next to the palace city (inner court) and inside the outer city. Such changes of the locations formed the layout which, in a nutshell, shows as ancestral temple on the left and palace on the right. The layout also underlines the central, frontlined, and higher presence of palace halls. In addition, “ancestral temples on the left and Sheji on the right” were the layout when they were built outside the inner city and inside the outer city. “She” (“社” in Chinese) means the god of land in ancient China where agriculture was the foundation of a state. In those days, sacrifices to “She” in the cities and counties were prevalent, because the farm land was considered vitally interrelated to agriculture. “She” was classified into different levels based on strict social hierarchies. For example, there were “Imperial She” for the emperors, “Noble She” for nobilities, “County She” (or “Common She”) for county people, and “Village She” for villagers. The building scale of “She” depended on their hierarchies. In Western Han Dynasty, “She” was built in the south suburban area of its capital Chang’an on the west of the ancestral temple zone, which is now in Xi’an Metallurgical Machinery Factory in Caojiabao, Sanqiao Street, Weiyang District of Xi’an City. “She” and the ancestral temples were symmetrically resided on the north and south sides of the street on south of Xi’an Gate in Chang’an. “Annals of Emperor Gaozu of Han” from Han Shu Book of Han records that in the second year of King Han (BC 205), after Liu Bang entered the central Shaanxi Plain, he “ordered to demolish ‘Sheji’ of Qin Dynasty and rebuild ‘Sheji’ of Han”. This probably means Sheji in Chang’an, the capital of Han Dynasty, was rebuilt based on the ones of Qin Dynasty in the early Western Han Dynasty, and then was extended in the mid-Western Han Dynasty, and the latter one was documented as “Official She”. In the late Western Han Dynasty when Wang Mang, a powerful minister, was holding the power, this building might be abandoned, and a new Sheji was built on its south side, which may be the “Official Ji” built by Wang Mang for the Royal Family of Han in the fifth year of Yuanshi (CE 5) in Han Dynasty. Quoted from Additional Record of Han Dynasty (Xu Han Zhi) in “Annals of Emperor Guangwu” from Book of Later Han Dynasty records that in Eastern Han Dynasty “Sheji was erected in Luoyang, on the right of the ancestral temple, in shape of square altar, … no roofs but doors and walls”. This Sheji had the same shapes and structures as the one in Chang’an in the fifth year of Yuanshi of Emperor Ping

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of Han. In Sheji, people planted “grain tree” (paper mulberry tree) to worship “She” and “Ji”. Unfortunately, very few “Sheji” in ancient China remains for two reasons: First, “trees” were regarded the representative of Sheji, and trees were obviously not easy to reserve. Second, in ancient China, sovereigns attached great importance to agriculture and regarded it as the foundation of a country, while Sheji was the representative of agricultural and regime, which made Sheji as significant as the ancestral temples. Thus, when an old regime was replaced, the new emperor demolished the former Sheji as the symbol of the previous dynasty. Therefore, Sheji of ancient capitals was rarely preserved. In fact, the relics of Sheji in Chang’an of Han Dynasty were the only one found by archaeologists in ancient capitals of China. As for ceremonial events at Sheji, although many documents had records of the events, their structure and interior design have not been fully discovered. Archaeological relics of Sheji in Chang’an of Han Dynasty provided valuable findings of the early Sheji in China. The findings show that Sheji in Luoyang of Eastern Han was basically the same as the one in Chang’an of Western Han. The interior and structure of Han’s Sheji were inherited from the ones from pre-Qin period, and such structure remained in the Sheji of the following dynasties.

4.1.2 Mingtang, Biyong,1 the Lingtai,2 and the Taixue3 Mingtang-Biyong ritual complex in Chang’an of Han was the earliest MingtangBiyong relics found by archaeologists. After that, the relics of Mingtang and Biyong in Luoyang of Han and Wei dynasties and the Mingtang in Luoyang of Tang Dynasty were discovered. The relics of Mingtang (or Biyong/Lingtai) in Pingcheng of Northern Wei Dynasty are now under excavation. The four relics of Mingtang demonstrate that Mingtang-Biyong in Chang’an of Han served as a model for the ritual structures in later dynasties. Mingtang and Biyong in Luoyang of Han and Wei dynasties were built separately in the south of the city: the former on the southwest of Pingcheng Gate (Luoyang of Eastern Han Dynasty) and the latter on the southwest side of Xuanyang Gate (Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty). In Pingcheng of Northern Wei Dynasty, its Mingtang-Biyong-Lingtai was a composite structure. The building was located at south suburban area of Pingcheng, outside of which four walls formed a square enclosure. The annular moat surrounded 1

Mingtang and Biyong were ritual structures. Lingtai was the “spirit altar” and used for astronomical observations or to communicate with heavenly spirits. 3 Taixue was the Imperial Academies or Colleges. 2

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the complex had a width of 18–23 m. The diameter of the circular plane section was 289–294 m. In the center of the complex were five rammed earth building foundations, the center block took the largest space on a square-shaped earth foundation with sides of 42 m. “Shi River” from Shui Jing Zhu recorded that in Pingcheng. Mingtang structure is a combination of circle and square, more specifically that, the circle representing heaven is above, and the square representing earth is below. The building had twelve rooms and nine halls. The Astronomic Observatory was built on the top floor and flowing water in the surrounding moat features Biyong.

Relics of Mingtang (or Biyong/Lingtai) in Pingcheng of Northern Wei Dynasty

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Restoration of Mingtang in Luoyang of Tang Dynasty

Empress Wu Zetian destroyed Qianyuan Palace which had been built on the central axis of the palace city in Luoyang, the East Capital of Tang Dynasty, and built a Mingtang instead at this location. The relics of the Mingtang were 87.5 m long from east to west and 72 m wide from south to north. Excavation revealed that the plane of the rammed earth foundation of its main building was an octangle, with the length of 54.7 m from east to west and the width of 45.7 m from south to north. In the middle of the foundation was a deep round hole with a circular stone base made up of four bluestones on the bottom with a diameter of 4.17 m. The hole was 4.06 m deep, which had a diameter of 9.8 m on the top and 6.16 m at the bottom. In the hole was burned charcoal ash. There were five terraces of rammed earth from the hole to the edge of the foundation, and the width, depth, and mass of each terrace were different.

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Plan for relics of Biyong in Luoyang of Han and Wei dynasties. Biyong. 165 m both from east to west and north to south. On the north, there was a moat running east–west, but what were built on the south side of the moat remains unknown. Within the moat, the main structure in the center has a 42-m-long (east–west) and 28-m-wide (south–north) rectangular base. Two watchtowers stood at 12 m away from the gate, and the distance between the two watchtowers was 14 m. The watchtowers near the south gate were both 20 m long (east–west) and 11 m wide (south–north), while the south gate was 43 m wide, and the gateway in the middle was 14 m wide, with a gatehouse on each side of the gateway, which was recorded as “Shu” in documents.

According to the archaeological materials, the standard layout of Mingtang after the Western Han Dynasty was “upper circle and lower square”, and this was because “circle on the top is like the sky and square on the ground is like the earth”. Except the deliberate arrangement of Empress Wu Zetian, both of the Mingtang and Biyong in Luoyang and Pingcheng of Northern Wei Dynasty applied the ancient design and were settled in the south of the capitals, which was called “on the sunny side of the country”, while the Biyong in Pingcheng of Northern Wei Dynasty and in Luoyang of Tang Dynasty were built in the Mingtang, just like the one in Chang’an of Han Dynasty.

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According to historical documents, there was a Lingtai near Fenghao, the capital of Western Zhou Dynasty. In Han Dynasty, the observatory was built to the west of ceremonial building complex at the south suburb area of Chang’an City. The observatory at Luoyang, the working place of the astronomer Zhang Heng, was the only excavated and later on fully explored building of this kind from the ruins. According to ancient documents, Taixue is often built in the capital and cities of Zhou Dynasty. Taixue of Chang’an in Han Dynasty was the first to be recorded with an exact location. Among the excavated ruins, Taixue Ruins of East Han and Wei–Jin dynasties were the earliest. In Chang’an of Han, the Taixue was built next to the Mingtang-Biyong Ritual Complex. The third volume of Records of Chang’an City cited Records of Guanzhong that “In Han Dynasty, the Taixue and Mingtang were both built in the south of the city, to the east of the Gate of An and to the west the Gate of Du.” The Taixue was recorded with a location to the west of the Biyong in The Records of Two Capitals. Some scholars believe that the Biyong had become an educational center as early as pre-Qin period. In Han Dynasty, distinctive functionalities were assigned to different institutions. Taixue, as the highest level of education in Han Dynasty, was still considered as part of the ceremonial buildings, therefore settled in the south suburbs of Chang’an. According to Book of Han, Emperor Wu was “in favor of Taixue” and expanded its scale and recruited more students. The student number increased from under 100 in the time of Emperor Wu to about 3000 in the period of Emperor Cheng. By the late Western Han Dynasty, the student number reached 10,800 people, accompanied with about ten thousand units of accommodations.

4.1.3 Temple of Heaven and Temple of Earth The word “tian di” (heaven and earth) has special meanings in Chinese culture. Chinese ancestors regarded heaven and earth as their parents, which might have been the ancient form of naïve materialism, thus worshiping heaven and earth became an important part of spiritual belief for everyone, from kings and emperors all the way to the common folks. Ancient rulers, in particular, constructed altars in their capitals where sacrifices were offered to heaven and earth in the name of the state. As a physical manifestation of how the Chinese ancestors perceive heaven and earth, those altars were aptly named “Tian Tan” (meaning sky altar, also known as the Temple of Heaven, the Circular Mound or the Altar in the South Suburb) and “Di Tan” (meaning earth altar, also known as the Temple of Earth, the Square Mound or the Altar in the North Suburb).

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Aerial view of the Temple of Heaven

4.1.3.1

Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven is a ritual and ceremonial building for emperors to worship and offer sacrifices to heaven. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Temple of Heaven in Beijing was built 1420, 18 years into the reign of Yongle Emperor of Ming Dynasty when the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth were together in one place. They remained so until 1530, the ninth year of the Jiajing era when the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Earth were settled in separate locations. When the Manchus established Qing Dynasty, they carried on the Ming Dynasty ritual of heaven worship and offered sacrifices at the outdoor circular altar in the Temple of Heaven. The heaven worship ceremony was a major event in the Chinese culture, because “heaven and earth” played a huge roll in politics, culture, economy, and the everyday life of the Chinese ancestors. The Temple of Heaven in Beijing has a long and storied past. In the early years of Yuan Dynasty, Kublai Khan constructed an altar to offer sacrifices to heaven and earth, which was located seven li (approximately 3.5 km) southeast of Lizheng Gate, the main gate in the south section of the outer city wall of the capital, Dadu. In 1305, year nine of the Dade era, the Circular Mound, or Yuan Qiu was built at a camp in the south suburb (now outside of Yongding Gate) of Dadu. The altar was also known as “Nan Jiao Tan”, meaning the “Altar in the South Suburb” due to its location south to the capital city. Both Yuan Qiu and Nan Jiao Tan were used to refer to the Temple of Heaven. In Jin Dynasty, an altar (Nan Jiao Tan) was constructed at the camp in the south suburb outside of Fengyi Gate, the main entrance south to Zhongdu, the capital city, following the same pattern as that of the East Capital City of Song Dynasty. In Song Dynasty, an altar (Nan Jiao Tan) was present in the south suburb outside of Nanxun Gate, the main entrance south to the East Capital City. Relative to the altar in the south suburb, another altar was located in the north suburb to the capital city. During Ming Dynasty and the early years of Yuan Dynasty, the “Temples of Heaven and Earth” were erected in the southern capital and the northern capital

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where both heaven and earth are worshiped, a ritual which can be traced back to Empress Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty when she initiated the ceremony of “joint worship of heaven and earth” in the south suburb of Luoyang. The pattern to worship heaven in the south suburb and earth in the north suburb is a long-standing custom, which can be traced back to the Western Han Dynasty according to archaeological findings.

4.1.3.2

Temple of Earth

The Temple of Earth serves as opposed to the Temple of Heaven. The Temple of Earth located in Beijing City of the Ming and Qing dynasties is the most well-preserved and most recently constructed ancient Temple of Earth in China. It was built during the ninth year of the Jiajing Emperor’s reign in the Ming Dynasty (1530). There were reportedly 15 emperors who worshiped the God of Earth at this sacred place for 381 years until the Qing Dynasty was overthrown. The Fangze Altar is the main building in the temple. The altar is square shaped and used to be surrounded by water, forming “a square altar in the middle of the water” where rituals should take place according to the Rites of Zhou. The design of the alter reflects the ancient Chinese theory of “Round Sky and Square Earth (Tian Yuan Di Fang)”. The temple is circled by two square walls. The inner wall has four gates—South, North, East, and West. The three-arch north gate is the main entrance to the Fangze Altar.

Circular Mount Altar

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Fangze Altar

During the Yuan Dynasty, ceremonies to worship Heaven and Earth were both held at the Circular Mound Altar in Dadu which locates in the suburban area of Beijing today, to the south of Yongding Gate. During the Jin Dynasty, rituals were performed at a square altar to the north of the north city gate of Zhongdu, Tongxuan Gate. As for the Song Dynasty, two altars were constructed outside of the capital city Bianliang. One sits to the south of the capital, the other to the north, which is to the north of the north city gate, Fengqiu Gate. The square altar of Chang’an of Tang Dynasty was outside the north city gate. During the Southern and Northern dynasties, a circular altar to worship heaven and a square altar to worship earth could usually be found to the south and the north of the capital city, respectively. For instance, two altars can be found outside of Chang’an of Northern Zhou Dynasty, Ye of Northern Qi Dynasty, Luoyang of Northern Wei Dynasty, and Jiankang of Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern dynasties. Luoyang City of the Eastern Han Dynasty is equipped with a comprehensive system and infrastructure for worshiping ceremonies, with one altar sit on the southern suburb to worship heaven, and one in the northern suburb to worship earth. This is inherited from the practice of setting up places of worship, respectively, to the south and the north of Chang’an City in the late Western Han Dynasty during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han.

4.1.4 Temple of Ancient Monarchs Temples of ancient monarchs (imperial “ancestral temples”) started to emerge in ancient Chinese capitals after the medieval times. Different from sacrificial building complexes, and religious buildings such as altars and temples to worship heaven,

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earth, the sun, or the moon, these temples serve to honor legendary sovereigns, ancient emperors, or eminent officials with great civil or military achievements. The written records of making sacrifices to ancient rulers in mythical history can date back to the pre-Qin period. With the aim to pay respect to legendary sage rulers, such sacrificial ceremonies were usually performed outside the capital. For example, Duke Ling of Qin sacrificed to Huang Di at the Upper Altar and Yan Di at the Lower Altar. Sometimes the rites and ceremonies were performed in the main area where the rulers are said to live, or at the place where they are believed to rest in peace. For instance, Emperor Qin Shi Huang (First Emperor of Qin) commemorated Emperor Shun on Jiuyi Mountains and Emperor Yu on Kuaiji Mountains, which are reputed to be their burial places. Altars to worship nature deities usually could be found near the capital. In Eastern Zhou Dynasty, for example, places of worship can be found in the suburban area of Qin State’s capital where sacrifices to four deities—the White, the Green, the Yellow, and the Red Emperors—were conducted. In the early Han Dynasty, Liu Bang set up a place of worship for the Black Emperor, called the Altar of the North. Together, they were known as the “Five Altars” (“The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices” from Shi Ji). Emperor Wen of Han set up the “Temples of the Five Emperors north of the Wei River”, which sits northeast of Chang’an of Han Dynasty, to offer sacrifices to the “Five Emperors” representing “five directions”, the East, West, South, North, and Middle. When it comes to Northern Wei Dynasty, emperors offered sacrifices to legendary ancient sovereigns such as Huang Di, Emperor Yao, and Emperor Shun, as well as political figures of the Zhou Dynasty. Rituals usually were performed in places that have a special connection with the legendary sages to be commemorated. It is worth noting that as the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty are Xianbei people who are of non-Han origin, the fact that they honored “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors”, as well as sage emperors and eminent officials of the Zhou Dynasty, shows that they respected and showed great interest in the Han-Chinese history and culture. Sacrifices to ancient monarchs have undergone further development during the Sui Dynasty. Offerings were made not only to founding emperors of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties but also to an increasing number of eminent officials. The sacrificial rituals were held in sites within the former capital or in the vicinity of the sages’ cemeteries. In the early Tang Dynasty, the tradition and rituals of worshiping and offering sacrifices to the sovereigns in mythical history and the founding emperors of the Xia, Shang, Zhou, and Han dynasties had been passed on from the Sui Dynasty, and the places of worship remained unchanged. During the Emperor Xuanzong’s reign in the Tang Dynasty, there were significant changes in imperial rituals: First, temples were built within the capital city to worship the sages in mythical history (“Emperors of the Remote Ages” and “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors”); second, the number of people enshrined increased, but most of these offerings were arranged at former capitals. The temples built by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang in Chang’an for the “Emperors of the Remote Age” and “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors”

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could not be defined as temples of ancient monarchs in the strict sense, but places to worship ancient ancestors. In Song Dynasty, the sacrificial ceremonies to worship legendary sages and ancient emperors were mainly carried out near their respective cemeteries. In Yuan Dynasty, sacrifices were mainly offered to Legendary Ancient Sages and a few emperors, usually at the place where they used to live. Ming Dynasty witnessed the emergence of temples of ancient monarchs in ancient Chinese capitals. Although Emperor Xuanzong of Tang also ordered to build temples for ancient rulers, those temples were places to worship Legendary Ancient Sages who are considered to be the ancestors of all Han people. Zhu Yuanzhang (Emperor Hongwu, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty) set up temples of ancient monarchs in Nanjing and Zhongdu of Ming Dynasty, respectively. According to “Essays on Ritual Four” from History of Ming, in the sixth year of Emperor Hongwu’s reign (1373): The emperor believed that temples should be built in the capital to honor Three Sovereigns, Five Emperors, and founding emperors of Han, Tang and Song Dynasty and therefore the Temple of Ancient Monarchs was constructed south of the Qintian Mountain. The temple adopted a similar design to that of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, housing all ancient monarchs under a single roof, but with separate halls of worship. The main building of the temple has five halls: one in the middle to worship Three Sovereigns; one on the east to worship Five Emperors; one on the west to worship Yu of Xia Dynasty, Tang of Shang Dynasty, and Emperor Wen of Zhou Dynasty, one on the further east to worship Emperor Wu of Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Guangwu of Han Dynasty, Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty; and one on the further west to worship Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu of Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty, and Emperor Shizu of Yuan Dynasty. Sacrifices were offered on the first day of the first ten days of the second month in spring and autumn every year.

The Temple of Ancient Monarchs in Nanjing of Ming Dynasty is dedicated to 18 historical figures, including not only sages in mythical history, but more importantly, the founding emperors of the major dynasties in Chinese history before the Ming Dynasty, namely Xia, Shang, Zhou, Han, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties. The fact that an emperor of Yuan Dynasty was also housed in the Temple of Ancient Monarchs signifies that the Ming Dynasty considered the Yuan Dynasty as part of Chinese history. In the Ming Dynasty, the Temple of Ancient Monarchs evolved into a place to honor emperors of former dynasties. It is important to notice that the monarchs to be commemorated are not limited to a certain dynasty or era. In the 21st year of Emperor Hongwu’s reign (1388), Zhu Yuanzhang added another 37 prominent officials of Xia, Shang, Zhou, Han, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties to the list of people enshrined at the Temple of Ancient Monarchs. Among them, there are people of Han nationality or ethnic minorities. This marked the time the temple truly became the national ancestral temple in the political sense since it showed that Zhu Yuanzhang considered Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Xia, Shang, Zhou, Han, Tang, Song, and Yuan dynasties as ruling families for different time of the same state.

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After Emperor Yongle moved the capital to Beijing, in the ninth year during Emperor Jiajing’s reign: The then Shizong Emperor ordered to construct a temple of ancient monarchs west to the capital to be the place to hold rituals in the second month of spring and autumn each year. Later the temple of ancient monarchs in Nanjing no longer performed any sacrificial ceremonies ... In the 11th year during the emperor’s reign, the construction of the temple was completed, and the temple was named Jingde Chongsheng Hall. The hall houses five shrines. On the east and west wing of the hall, there are two side halls. Behind the hall is a warehouse of ritual vessels, while Jingde Gate sits in front of the hall. These are flanked by the Divine Depot, the Divine Kitchen, the Slaughter Pavilion, and the Bell Tower.

The ancient sages and sovereigns enshrined in this new temple remain almost the same as those honored in the Temple of Ancient Monarchs in Nanjing of Ming Dynasty. The Temple of Ancient Monarchs in Beijing of Qing Dynasty remains on the same spot as in Ming Dynasty—171 Fuchengmen Inner Street. It covers a rectangularshaped area. The whole complex sits on the north, facing the south, with the south gate as the main entrance, and two side gates on the east and west sides, respectively. As you step in the south gate and walk to the north, you will reach Jingde Gate and further north the main building of the temple, Jingde Chongsheng Hall, with a terrace in front of it. Ming and Qing dynasties witnessed an increase in the number of great leaders to be honored at the Temple of Ancient Monarchs, especially with more emperors from ethnic minority groups added. In the second year of Emperor Shunzhi’s reign, emperors and brilliant government officials of Liao, Jin, Yuan, and Ming dynasties were added to the list of ancestors to be worshiped. In the 49th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign (1784), it was proposed that all the former kings and emperors in Chinese history should be enshrined at the designated temple. In the end, the Temple of Ancient Monarchs housed tablets of 188 emperors. In the Qing Dynasty, you could find tablets of most emperors of almost all the previous dynasties in the Chinese history in the Temple of Ancient Monarchs, with the rites and rituals evolving into comprehensive, systematic, and integrated ceremonies at a national level. The Temple of Ancient Monarchs truly transformed into a temple of the nation, offering an epitome of China’s history as a multiethnic unified nation.

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Jingde Chongsheng Hall, Temple of Ancient Monarchs of Ming and Qing

Warehouse of ritual vessels, Temple of Ancient Monarchs of Ming and Qing

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Tablet Pavilion Temple of Ancient Monarchs of Ming and Qing

Another important feature of the Temple of Ancient Monarchs in Beijing of Qing Dynasty is that regardless of which dynasty or nationality ruled the country in the past, it was honored and worshiped as an integral part of the multiethnic unified China and an indispensable part of the history of the Chinese nation. The practice of commemorating ancient rulers (great leaders) as the ancestors of all Chinese people emerged much earlier than the establishment of the Temple of Ancient Monarchs. Minority tribes such as the Xianbei people in the Northern Wei Dynasty offered sacrifices to “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors” as their ancestors. During the time China was ruled by minority group leaders originated from the northern or northeastern part of China, for instance, Liao Dynasty (Khitan), Jin Dynasty (Jurchen), Yuan Dynasty (Mongol), and Qing Dynasty (Manchu), the rulers would, on behalf of the whole country, make offerings to sage sovereigns of Han origin and emperors of previous dynasties. Constructing the temple of ancient monarchs in the capital, or the political and cultural center of the country to worship “Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors” as well as emperors of various dynasties implies the ruler’s respect to and recognition of these ancient leaders as the ancestors of all Chinese people. The rituals were performed as a way to commemorate the history of the country that all Chinese people live in, the ancient Chinese history, reflecting the China’s un-fractured civilization of five thousand years with great vitality. Compared with other countries globally, China is the only country with a

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sustained, un-fractured national history. That is because China as a Han Culturedominated unified entity is a national consciousness shared by various ethnic groups generation by generation.

4.2 Ceremonial Objects For a long time, the world’s archaeological community has considered the invention or formation of cities, metal tools, and writing—also known as the three essential elements of civilization—as the milestone marking the beginning of civilization after a savage and barbaric time. After nearly a century of tireless research, Chinese scholars have identified four elements marking the beginning of Chinese civilization: cities, metal tools, writing, and sacrificial vessels. Among these, sacrificial vessels are of great importance to look at when studying the five thousand year’s un-fractured Chinese culture. There are a variety of sacrificial vessels in Chinese history. Which ones are crucial to ensure the un-fractured development of Chinese civilization? I believe the bronze ding (cauldron) and Jade gui (tablet) are, no doubt, of great importance.

4.2.1 Bronze Sacrificial Vessels 4.2.1.1

A Brief Introduction to Bronze Ware

Ancient Chinese bronze ware, China’s legacy of ancient greatness, ranks number one in terms of the scale of their use, the level of casting and molding methods, artistic expression, and the variety of shapes, though the Bronze Age in China may have arrived comparatively late according to the current archaeological discoveries. This is one of the reasons why ancient Chinese bronzes are famed for their artistic value.

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The earliest known bronze objects in China were found in the Majiayao Culture site, while the bronzes made in the Shang and Zhou dynasties (generally known as the Bronze Age of China) are of the most intricate designs. The different types of ancient Chinese bronze ware can be put into five categories: food vessels, wine vessels, water vessels, musical instruments, and weapons. Food Vessels Name Shape and function Ding

The ding vessels were made in two shapes: round vessels with three legs and rectangular ones with four. As a food container and cooking vessel, the ding constitutes the most important category of vessels in the corpus of ritual bronzes

Li

The bronze li followed early pottery versions made in the Neolithic period. The li is a flaring-mouthed cooking vessel that is supported by three hollow legs, which makes the shape conducive to quick heating

Example

Gong Bo Rectangular Ding · Western Zhou

Gong Qi Li · Western Zhou (continued)

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479

(continued) Name Shape and function Yan

Example

The yan is composed of two parts: the upper part, called a zeng, used to hold food; its lower part, similar to a li, to contain the water. Between the vessel’s two sections, a strainer-like bamboo plate called bi is fixed

Yan with Cicada Patterns · Western Zhou Gui

The gui was a food container in ancient times, also used as an important ceremonial object. During sacrificial ceremonies and banquets, the gui was often used in combination with the ding. This vessel has a flaring mouth, a contracted neck, a short wide body, and two handles

Fu

This oblong vessel of rectangular form with upwardly sloping sides in its lower section is supported by four short legs and topped by a cover of the same shape and size as its body but in reverse, which can be used as a second receptacle when placed upside-down. It is also known as queli or quezhi

Jing Gui · Western Zhou

Fu with Dragon Patterns · Eastern Zhou (continued)

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(continued) Name Shape and function Xu

The xu, used to hold millet, sorghum, rice, and other grains, is a vessel of oval shape, with a flaring mouth, double handles, a round foot, and a cover

Dui

The dui, used to hold millet, sorghum, rice, and other grains, is a round vessel with three short legs, two circular handles, and a cover. There are also spherical dui vessels

Example

Zuo Bao · Western Zhou

Dun with coiled snake patterns · Spring and Autumn period (continued)

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481

(continued) Name Shape and function Dou

This hemispherical cup supported by a high flared foot was used to hold millet. The upper part of the vessel is in the shape of a round plate. The lower part has handles. Below the handles is a round foot. The vessel also has a cover

Pu

This vessel is a variant of the dou. The upper part is a flat shallow plate. The difference between the pu and the dou is that the pu does not has slim handles as the dou, and a round food can be found underneath the plate of the pu

Example

Dou with four tigers · Spring and Autumn period

Pu with Dragon patterns in openwork · Western Zhou

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Wine Vessels Name

Shape and function

Jue

The jue, used to hold and warm up beverages, serves as an equivalent of the wine cup that we have today. The vessel is cast with a pouring spout on one side and a counterbalancing wing on the other, one or two loop handles on the side and two column-shaped protuberances on the top of the vessel, and is supported by three triangular legs

Jiao

This wine vessel, which very closely resembles the jue in shape, has two upwardly pointing, outwardly extending, horn-like sides, but no vertical protuberances surmounted by knobs. It sometimes has a cover

Example

Fu Yi Jue · Shang Dynasty

Zu Gui Jiao · Western Zhou (continued)

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

483

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Jia

This vessel used for warming fermented beverages is very similar to the jue. It has three legs, two vertical protuberances surmounted by knobs arise, and a semi-circular lateral handle

Example

Jia with Swirl Patterns · Shang Dynasty (continued)

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(continued) Name

Shape and function

Gu

The gu was used for fermented beverage libations. Its chalice-shaped body is flared in its upper part and at its base and supported by a round foot. Slightly protruding at the middle, it is decorated with two wings near its round foot

Example

Si Li Gu · Shang Dynasty Zhi

The zhi was used for drinking fermented beverages. It is cast with a bulging round body topped by a flared neck and is supported on a round foot. In a shape that is very similar to a small bottle, very often this vessel has a cover

Fu Jia Zhi · Western Zhou (continued)

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

485

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Gong

The gong is a vessel for fermented beverages, with a lower section in the shape of a sauceboat or a rectangle cube supported by a round foot or four legs. It has a pouring spout and a handle. The cover of the gong is usually in the shape of the back and head of a beast or an elephant

Zun

This wine vessel very closely resembles the gu in shape. It bulges at its center and has a narrow opening. The zun usually has a cylindrical body, but sometimes in a square shape as well

Example

Gong with Pheonix Patterns · Shang Dynasty

Ci Zuo Fu Xin Zun · Shang Dynasty (continued)

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(continued) Name

Shape and function

You

The you is a vessel used for storing fermented beverages. Usually, with an oval-shaped opening, the vessel consists of a bulging pot-like body, either ovoid, pear, or square-shaped, supported by a circular raised foot, and topped by a cover and an arch-shaped moveable handle. The variants of the pot-shaped you include the cylindrical you, owl-shaped you, and the you depicting a tiger eating a man

He

He was used to hold fermented beverages or mix water and fermented beverages. The vessel usually has a wide round opening at its top, a cover, a pouring spout, and a handle. The body of he is supported by three or four legs. The cover is attached to the handle with a chain

Example

Bo Yong Fu You · Western Zhou

Fu Yi He · Western Zhou (continued)

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487

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Example

Fangyi The fangyi was used for fermented beverages. Rectangular in section, it has a cover, straight sides, and a circular foot. The vessel is similar to a small house with its four walls and a high roof-like cover of four sloping sides. Its high foot has an arched opening on each side

Qi Fangyi · Shang Dynasty Lei

Lei is used to refer to a group of wine vessels that can be either round or square. The square lei has a wide shoulder, two handles, and a cover; The round lei has a large ovoid-shaped body, a round foot, and two handles. No matter the lei is square or round, a third handle usually can be found at the base of the body just above the foot

Lei with Taotie Patterns · Shang Dynasty (continued)

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(continued) Name

Shape and function

Hu

The hu was used for storing fermented beverages. The Classic of Poetry mentioned, “with a hundred hu of clear spirits”. The expression of “food held in the shan and drink in the hu” can be found in Mencius. The hu has many variants, such as pear shaped, square, flattened egg shaped, and gourd shaped

Example

Ban Hu · Shang Dynasty

Water Vessels Name Shape and function Pan

The pan, used to hold and pour water, is a round basin of some depth, supported by a round foot or three feet. Sometimes, the vessel may have a spout

Yi

The yi was used to pour water when washing. It has an oval body, three or four feet, a spout, a handle, and sometimes a cover

Example

Pan of Lord Qi · Eastern Zhou

Yi of Lord Qi · Eastern Zhou (continued)

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(continued) Name Shape and function Bu

The bu used to hold water or various sauces is very similar to the zun, but smaller than the zun. The vessel has a large globular body with a wide opening, wide shoulders, is supported by a round foot, and sometimes also has a cover. There are also rectangular bu

Yu

The yu was used as a container for water or cooked rice. The vessel has a wide mouth, deep-bowl-like body, is supported by a ring food, and has two handles, one from each side of the vessel. The yu looks similar to the gui with two handles, but much larger

Example

Bu with Dragon Patterns Eastern Zhou

Yu with Cicada Patterns · Western Zhou (continued)

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(continued) Name Shape and function Jian

Example

The jian is a water vessel that looks very similar in shape to a modern basin. The vessel was used in four different ways: as a container for water; to hold ice; as a bathtub; when the jian was filled with water, the water’s Zhi Jun Zi Jian · Spring and Autumn period surface was also sometimes used as a mirror. Most jian were produced in Spring and Autumn period or Warring States Period, during which the zhong, ding, hu, and jian were the four main vessel types used

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

491

Musical Instruments Name

Shape and function

Ling

The ling is a bronze musical instrument, which is very similar to the zhong, but smaller. With a bronze clapper inside, the ling produced a sound when the clapper was rocked to strike the inner wall. According to “Officials of Spring” from Rites of Zhou (Zhou Li · Chunguan), “during important sacrificial ceremonies, the ling were stroke in response to the Jiren (officials responsible for managing chicken to be sacrificed and waking ministers Ling with Geometric Motifs · Shang Dynasty up with chants when a day begins)”. In addition to using, it as a musical instrument, in ancient times, the ling was tied on carriages, flags, dogs, and horses

Example

Nao

The nao is a percussion instrument used to spread military orders. It was very popular from the end of the Shang Dynasty throughout the early time of the Zhou Dynasty

Nao with Animal Mask Ornament · Shang Dynasty (continued)

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(continued) Name

Shape and function

Zhong

The zhong is a percussion instrument. It is a large but thin-sided bell with curved sides, a concaved stem, and rims that curl upward at the edges. It is suspended facing downwards from its handle and is usually found in sets

Example

Zi Fan He Zhong · Spring and Autumn period (continued)

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

493

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Bo

The bo is a percussion instrument. The body of the bo is getting rounder as time goes by. The instrument looks similar to the bianzhong, but with a flat opening, and can be suspended alone on the wall

Example

Bo with Coiling Snake Patterns · Spring and Autumn period (continued)

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(continued) Name

Shape and function

Zheng

The zheng is a percussion instrument that looks similar to the zhong but narrower and longer. With a long stem to hold, it is oriented upwards and will produce a sound when being hit. The zheng was used by troops on the march

Example

Bronze Zheng · Warring States Period Goudiao The goudiao is a percussion instrument that resembles the bianzhong in shape. With a long stem to hold, it is oriented upwards and will produce a sound when struck with a mallet, just like the zheng

Goudiao · Spring and Autumn period (continued)

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495

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Gu

The description of the gu’s functions can be found in ancient books and records of Western and Eastern Zhou dynasties. The “Futian” in “Minor Odes” of The Book of Songs (Shi Jing · Xiaoya · Futian) reads, “we play the zithers and strike the Gu (drums) to invoke the father of husbandry”. In ancient times, people would strike the drums to invoke the father of husbandry and pray for a prosperous year. The “Drummers” in “Officials of Earth” from Rites of Zhou (Zhou Li · Diguan · Guren) says, “[The Guren] are responsible for managing and teaching six types of gu (drums) and four types of jin (bells), to generate music and sounds that would boost the morale of the soldiers and farmers”

Example

Gu with Animal Mask Ornament · Shang Dynasty

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

Weapons Name

Shape and function

Ge

The ge (dagger-ax) is one of the most typical weapons of the soldiers in the Shang and Zhou dynasties. The ge is one of the earliest-known bronze weapons. It goes back to the Erlitou Culture period and remained in use in the Warring States Period and the Qin Dynasty. During which, the shape of the ge had changed, but its basic components remained almost the same

Mao

Example

Turquoise-inlaid Bronze Ge · Shang Dynasty

The mao (spear), an offensive weapon used to stab straight forwards in ancient times, is a very typical weapon used in wartime. The mao consists of a long helve and a spearhead with sharp-edged blades

Bronze Mao · Eastern Zhou Dynasty (continued)

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

497

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Pi

The pi was very popular in the early Warring States Period. The pi was found in both the northern and southern parts of China. Most of such weapon was unearthed in the State of Zhao and Qin. This proves that the pi was a very powerful weapon in ancient times

Shu

The shu is a renowned weapon used by soldiers on the chariot during warfare of the pre-Qin era. Records of the shu can be found in many ancient books and records. It has both offensive and defensive features. It is generally believed that the weapon developed from the bamboo or wooden stick used for hunting in the primitive society

Example

Bronze Pi · Qin Dynasty

Ji

Si Li Shu · Shang Dynasty

The ji (halberd) is a complex of the ge and the mao, namely a dagger-ax with a hooked spear. It could function as a combat weapon for thrusting and hooking and is more powerful than the ge or the mao

Bronze Ji · Qin Dynasty (continued)

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Yue

The yue is a long-handled arc-bladed hacking weapon, which serves as a battle-ax. Based on the research on the bronze yue unearthed, it is assumed that the weapon was very popular from the end of the Shang Dynasty throughout the Western Zhou Dynasty

Dao

The dao (knife) of the Shang and early Western Zhou dynasties can be divided into three categories: large, medium, and small, according to their size, with the general length of large knives being more than 30 cm, medium knives more than 20 cm, and small knives more than 10 cm

Example

Ya Chou Yue · Shang Dynasty

Jian

Bronze Knife · Shang Dynasty

The jian (sword) is a weapon for fighting in close combat which can be held and worn. From the Spring and Autumn period, throughout the Qin and Han dynasties, it had been a weapon commonly used by soldiers

Sword of King Goujian of Yue · Spring and Autumn period (continued)

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

499

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Nu

The nu (crossbow) is a weapon that evolved from the gong (bow). Taking the crossbow of the State of Chu in the Warring States Period as an example, the nu consists of three parts: a trigger and firing mechanism made of bronze, a wooden stock, and a bow. The firing mechanism installed at the rear of the stock is comprised of five parts, namely the ya (used for withholding the bowstring), wangshan (a kind of sighting device), xuandao (the very trigger), jisai (a piston), and shuzhou (axle pin)

Zu

Example

Bronze Crossbow inlaid with Gold and Silver · Western Han Dynasty

The zu (arrowhead) is the sharp, pointed part mounted on the front of the arrow shaft and fired far away with the bowstring. Bronze zu can be found in Erlitou Culture sites. Its shape has undergone changes over time

Bronze Arrowhead · Zhou Dynasty (continued)

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

(continued) Name

Shape and function

Kui

The kuijia (armor) is special metal clothing that people wear for protection in physical conflicts. It is also known as jiazhou or kaijia. The kui and the zhou are helmet-like hats that soldiers wear to protect their heads, while kai and jia are used to protect chest and abdomen

4.2.1.2

Example

Bronze Helmet · Shang Dynasty

From the Xianglu (Incense Burner) Back to the Ding: The Ceremonial Object with the Greatest Vitality

Treasure Tripod dedicated to the 21st century (a huge bronze ding)

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

501

Treasure Tripod of ethnic unity (a huge bronze ding)

The ding is a sacred symbol of Chinese culture. It is a cultural icon and represents the Chinese national identity. As historians have pointed out, China has used the ding as a symbol of its national culture in international exchanges and major domestic political events. For instance, China presented the Treasure Tripod Dedicated to the 21st century (a huge bronze ding) to the UN on October 21, 1995, commemorating its 50th anniversary. The central Chinese government presented the Treasure Tripod of Ethnic Unity (a huge bronze ding) to the Tibet Autonomous Regional government in 2001 in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the peaceful liberation of Tibet. The huge bronze ding now stands in the People’s Congress Hall Square, Lhasa, symbolizing the ethnic unity and prosperous all-around progress in different social causes in Tibet. These moves carry profound connotations.4 The ding, with a history of over 8000 years, is the most important ceremonial object in Chinese tradition and history. As early as the pre-Qin period, the ding has been considered the symbol par excellence of supreme political power. Thus, during the Zhou Dynasty, ding vessels were always placed in uneven numbers in a tomb, with a set of nine ding reserved for the king or emperor, seven for feudal lords, five for the ministers of state, and three for the members of the scholarly gentry class. The association between the ding and political power has always been obvious. Records can be found, for example, in “The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices” from Shi Ji: “Huang Di made three precious ding vessels, symbolizing heaven, earth, and man.” And in “The Third Year of Duke Xuan’s Reign” from Zuo Zhuan, Prince Man said “King Cheng put the cauldrons in place at Jiaru”. Jiaru is in present-day Henan, which was identified as the City of the King. King Zhuang of Chu asked the messenger sent by King Ding of Zhou about “the size and weight of the cauldrons”. In these contexts, the cauldrons serve as a symbol of the legitimate sovereignty of the Zhou Dynasty. It is also mentioned in “The Third Year of Duke Xuan’s Reign” from Zuo Zhuan: “the 4

Zhang and Liu [1].

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

last Xia king, Jie, possessed dimmed virtue, and the cauldrons were moved to the house of Shang … The last Shang king, Zhou, was violent and tyrannical, and the cauldrons were moved to the house of Zhou.” That is to say, when Xia Dynasty was overthrown, nine cauldrons were moved to the house of Shang; when Shang Dynasty came to an end, nine cauldrons were moved to the house of Zhou. Some scholars believe that as the Bronze Age comes to an end and the Iron Age begins, the ding lost its past glory. Such is a misunderstanding. Since there existed a variety of crucial ceremonial objecting, including bronzes like the ding, gui, yan, gu, jue, you, lei, zun, he, hu, fang, and zhong, as well as Jade de cong, bi, gui, huang, and zhang, it is hard to say which is of the most importance. When it comes to the imperial era, which is marked by the beginning of Qin and Han dynasties, many sacrificial vessels no longer bask in the same glory as they did during the pre-Qin period. The ding, however, has long remained as one of the most important bronze ritual objects of the country. It is used to symbolize the glorious and prosperous development of the state. According to “Annals of Qin Shi Huang” from Shi Ji, in the twenty-eighth year during the First Emperor’s reign, the emperor visited the provinces and districts of the east and Bohai. He “returned by way of Pengcheng, where he fasted and purified himself and performed sacrifices, hoping to recover the cauldrons (ding) of Zhou from the Si River. He ordered 1000 people to dive into the water and search for them, but they could not find them”. “Annals of Emperor Wu” from Book of Han says, in 166 BC, “a cauldron (ding) was obtained at the Fen River”. This period was thus renamed as “Yuanding” for the cauldron. In the period of Yuanding, the first year, “in the summer, the fifth month, an amnesty was granted to the empire and there was granted permission for universal drinking during five days”. Although the ding was a ritual object of ancient times, it was used as a significant sacrificial vessel in a different form that is known as the xianglu (incense burner) in Medieval China. The xianglu, which is believed to have derived from early bronze ding, is usually put at the center of an altar table, opposite to the tablet of the spirit to be worshiped. At the Thirteen Tombs of the Ming Dynasty in Beijing, you can find Five Stone Sacrificial Vessels (on a stone altar) at the center of an empty space in front of the Soul Tower which stands outside the Treasure Citadel of each tomb. The five vessels include one incense burner, two candlesticks, and two vases. The incense burner is set in the middle, which reflects the importance of this ritual object. Like the ding, the xianglu has a special place in the hearts of the Chinese.

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

503

Pottery rectangular ding · Erlitou Culture

Bronze ding · Erlitou Culture

Tai Bao Gui · Western Zhou

Rectangular ding with beast head and nipple-shaped nail pattern · Shang Dynasty

Zuo Ce rectangular ding · Western Zhou

Ding with water wave patterns · Western Zhou

Ding of Lord Mao · Late Western Zhou

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

Altar set · Western Zhou. This set of ritual bronzes is part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City. It was uncovered at Doujitai, Baoji, Shaanxi Province, China. The main component of the set is a rectangular altar table with eight rectangular holes on each side and two rectangular holes on each end. The table is covered with dragon patterns. Corrosion outlines on two you vessels and one zun vessel was etched onto the flat surface of the altar table. The two you vessels look similar in design, with stripes and phoenix patterns on each side separated by wide wings. The you vessel with a square base is 47 cm tall. The other one without a base is 46.4 cm tall. The 34.8-cm-tall central zun vessel is cast with a straight body with taotie masks interspersed with wings, topped by a flared neck, and is supported on a round foot. These three principal vessels share identical inscriptions, the character “ding”. A ladle is said to be found in a you vessel when it was unearthed. Other pieces of the set include a jia vessel, a he vessel, a gu vessel, a jiao vessel, four zhi vessels, and six bi vessels.

The character ding was given the meaning of grandeur and glory. There are Chinese idioms like “Wen Ding Zhong Yuan” (lit. to inquire of the ding; fig. to plan to seize power of the whole country), “Ding Ding Zhong Yuan” (lit. to put the ding in place; fig. to found a dynasty), and “Yi Yan Jiu Ding” (lit. one word worth nine ding vessels; fig. a solemn promise). This shows that the ding has always been an integral part of the sustained, non-broken five-thousand-year Chinese history. The meaning and value that the ding carries have evolved as the Chinese culture develops.

4.2.2 Jade Sacrificial Vessels 4.2.2.1

An Overview of Jade Wares

Chinese jade is “beautiful stones” selected by Chinese ancestors, gleaming with a warm glow. According to archaeologists and historians, Chinese jade articles existed in the early Neolithic Age in the primitive society, prevailing for 3000 years. China, known as “the land of jade”, has the longest history of using jade articles. Chinese people are known for their respect and love for jade which has a history of over 8000 years. Jade articles are the carrier and foundation of Chinese civilization, widely

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

505

related to lots of fields including social politics, etiquette, religion, and aesthetics. Ritual vessels were used in ritual ceremonies, while jade sacrificial vessels represent six kinds of articles including Jade huang, Jade cong, Jade bi, Jade gui, Jade zhang, and Jade hu, which were used to worship heaven and earth according to Rites of Zhou.

4.2.2.2

Jade Bi

Jade bi (a doughnut-shaped piece of flat jade with the hole’s diameter shorter than the width of the rim) is used to worship heaven. “On Living Utensils” (Shi Qi) from Er Ya recorded that “The radius of Jade bi is three times the length of the radius of its hole in the center, while the radius of the hole of Jade yuan is two-third of the length of the radius of Jade Yuan. The radius of Jade huan is two times the length of the radius of its hole in the center”. These flat circular jade articles are divided into three categories—Jade bi, Jade yuan, and Jade huan—based on the size of their holes in the center. According to archaeological discoveries, Jade bi originated from the Neolithic Age. Jade bi with different shapes and styles kept emerging until the Qing Dynasty, which could be widely used as accessories, burial objects, indicators of status, presents, and tokens.

Jade bi inscribed with symbols · Liangchu Culture period

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

Jade bi inscribed with symbols · Eastern Zhou Dynasty

Green Jade bi inscribed with dragon patterns · Eastern Han Dynasty

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

4.2.2.3

507

Jade Huang

The shape of Jade huang is like the half of Jade bi. Jade huang originated from Songze Culture in the mid and late Neolithic Age. According to Rites of Zhou, “Six kinds of jade articles are used to worship the heaven and earth. Yellow Jade cong is used to worship the earth and Blue Jade gui is used to worship the east. Red Jade zhang is used to worship the south and white Jade hu is used to worship the west, while black Jade huang is used to worship the north”.

4.2.2.4

Jade Cong

Jade Cong is a round internally and square externally cylindrical jade vessel, which is used to worship deities. In the mid and late Neolithic period which is about 5100 years ago, Jade cong was widely found in the relics of Liangchu Culture in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces, Shixia Culture in Guangdong Province, and Taosi Culture in Shanxi Province. Jade cong originated from Liangchu Culture is the one most widely excavated and spread, which is considered as the vessel used to worship the earth.

Jade Huang inscribed with patterns of grain · Eastern Zhou Dynasty

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

Green Jade Cong · Liangchu Culture period

4.2.2.5

Jade Gui

Jade gui (an elongated pointed tablet of jade held in the hands by ancient rulers on ceremonial occasions) is the jade sacrificial vessel used in banquets, sacrifices, and funerals as it represents luck. It has a long and narrow shape with a sharp upper part and a square lower end. The shape and size of a Jade gui depend on hierarchies of holders and usages. According to “Spring Rites Officials on Jadeware” from Rites of Zhou (Zhou Li · Chuanguan Dianrui), there are various kinds of Jade gui, such us Da Gui, Zhen Gui, Huan Gui, Xin Gui, Gong Gui, Gu Bi, Pu Bi, Si Gui, and Luo Gui, which usually were discovered in tombs of Zhou Dynasty. Shuo Wen Jie Zi (also known as Origins of Chinese Characters) recorded that “yan shang wei gui”, meaning “Jade gui is the sacrificial vessel which has a sharp upper part and a flat lower end”. Standard Jade gui with a sharp end existed in Shang Dynasty, prevailing in the periods of the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States. As an important ritual utensil, Jade gui which represented status was widely used as an ancient sacrificial vessel in sacrifices and ceremonies of the alliance.

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

509

Jade gui · Shang Dynasty

4.2.2.6

Jade Zhang

Jade zhang has a flat and rectangular shape with a knife edge on one end and a hole on the other end, which is similar to that of Jade gui. Shuo Wen Jie Zi, a book written by Xu Shen in the Eastern Han Dynasty, recorded that “ban gui wei zhang”, meaning “Jade zhang seems like half of the Jade gui”, which reveals that jade has

510

4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

the same shape with half of Jade gui split from the sharp end. This shape is in accord with unearthed relics, descriptions in historical documents, and images engraved on ancient tablets of “Jade zhang”.

Jade zhang · Erlitou Culture period

4.2 Ceremonial Objects

4.2.2.7

511

Jade Hu

According to historical documents, Jade hu represents white tigers, which is used to worship the west. It is a tiger-shaped article used to unleash troops. Jade hu with holes excavated in the tomb of FuZi in the Shang Dynasty is known as tiger-shaped jade pendants, and four out of which have full sculptured reliefs while the others have sculptured reliefs. They can only be used as decorations instead of ritual utensils. They also cannot be used to pray for rain or command troops. Thus, it is suggested that jade articles engraved with tiger patterns should be named “tiger-shaped jade wares”, out of which ones with a hole should be named as “tiger-shape jade pendants”. And those without a hole should be named as “tiger-shaped Jade hu”.

Jade hu during the Warring States Period

4.2.2.8

Jade Gui as Jade Sacrificial Vessel

Archaeological discoveries and historical documents illustrated the importance of Jade articles to Chinese civilization. As a kind of sacrificial vessel, jade articles are closely related to national politics and culture, out of which Jade gui is the most typical jade article with the strongest vitality, which is the materialization carrier of China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years. According to historical documents, Shun rewarded Yu with a Jade gui for his contribution to the water control during five emperor times, which laid a political foundation for the establishment of the Xia Dynasty. Some scholars believe that Jade zhang, the political token of the Xia Dynasty, is a black Jade gui. Shuo Wen Jie Zi recorded that “yan shang wei gui, ban gui wei zhang”, meaning “Jade gui is the ritual utensil which has a sharp upper part and a flat lower end. While Jade zhang seems like the half of Jade gui.” Zheng Xuan said that “jade gui represents that everything begins to grow in spring. And half of a jade gui is called Jade zhang”.

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4 Ritual Architecture, Sacrificial Vessels, and Characters

The gui and zhang represent valuable jade articles according to historical documents. “Sacrificial vessel”, one chapter of the Book of Rites, recorded that “jade gui and Jade zhang are of great value”. Kong Yingda wrote that “the gui and zhang are two most valuable jade articles, which don’t need to be wrapped. Feudal lords held jade gui to meet the emperor and held jade zhang representing moral integrity after the meetings. These two jade articles don’t need covers”.

Green Jade zhang · Longshan culture period

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Jade gui inscribed with patterns of birds and deity · Longshan culture period

Unearthed relics which are similar to Jade zhang and Stone zhang found at the Erlitou Ruins were discovered in other areas of China, stretching from the region of the upper Yellow River and the area of upper Yangtze River in the west, through the south to Guangdong, Fujian, and the north to the Great Wall area. Most of the Jade gui of the Xia Dynasty found in these areas originated from Erlitou Ruins. The spread and acceptance of Jade gui and Stone gui as political tokens manifested the cultural

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and political identity of other areas to Xia Dynasty. Shun rewarded the nobility of surrounding areas with Jade zhang and Stone zhang, while Yu was rewarded with Jade gui. As a political status symbol, Jade gui was attached with great emphasis by rulers. In Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, central governments awarded officials with Jade gui with different shapes, sizes, and decorative designs based on their titles of nobility and status.

Jade gui inscribed with the eagle pattern · Xia Dynasty

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Jade gui was attached with greater emphasis, serving as the materialization of China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years in the Qin and Han dynasties which are the end of the period of states and the start of the imperial era. Two sets of Jade articles were excavated in the relic of Yangzhu Temple of Zhifu Island of Yantai in Shandong in 1975. Each set includes a set of Jade gui, a set of Jade zhang, and two sets of Zhe. According to “The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices” from Shi Ji, The First Emperor proceeded east on his journey as far as the borders of the sea, “stopping along the way to perform rituals and sacrifices to the various famous mountains, and great rivers, and to the Eight Spirits and searching for immortal spirits such as Xianmen and his companions”. Of the “Eight Spirits”, “the fifth was worsas called Lord of the Yang and whipped at Zhifu”. “It is said that at the beginning of each year, sacrifices were offered at all of these places consisting of one set of sacrificial animals, though the jade and silk offerings presented by the shamans and invocators who directed the ceremonies were of various kinds and number”. Thus, the set of jade articles might be buried when the First Emperor worshiped the Lord of Yang on Zhifu Island. Jade gui was mainly used for sacrifice rituals and funerals in Han Dynasty. Jade Bi and Jade gui are the only two kinds of ritual jade out of six jade articles that can be used as ritual utensils. According to archaeological discoveries and historical documents, Jade gui had the longest and most glorious history among jade utensils.

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Jade gui · Han Dynasty

During the Western Han Dynasty, emperors used Jade gui to worship deities, ancestral temples, rivers, heaven, and earth. “Annals of Emperor Wen the Filial” from Shi Ji reads, the emperor used jade tablets (Gui) and offerings of silk in the

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service of the Lord on High and the ancestral temples. According to “The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices” from Shi Ji, An addition of two pieces of Jade gui each are granted to worship the Yellow River, Qiu River and the Han River. Altars and altar grounds should be extended and the jades and silks, and other sacrificial implements should be increased as may be proper to each place.

“The Annals of Emperor Ming the Filial” from Book of Later Han Dynasty records that “Shallow and stupid, I come into power and hold the Jade gui and Jade Bi to worship the heaven and earth humbly”. “Single Victim at the Suburban Sacrifices” from Book of Rites recorded that “guan yi gui zhang, yong yu qi ye”, meaning “the libations were poured from cups with long handles of jade, as if to employ also the smell of the mineral”. Archaeologists found relics of the practice of using Jade gui and Jade bi for sacrifice in the imperial mausoleum of the Western Han Dynasty. A large number of dark green Jade gui were excavated in the area between the current site and the relic of the mausoleum of the father of Emperor Gaozu of Han, which were considered as utensils for sacrifice. Several sets of sacrificial vessels including Jade gui and Jade bi were excavated in the relic of Yang mausoleum of Emperor Jing of Han (the second relic of Yang mausoleum). In the 1980s, Maoling Museum discovered Jade gui from Maoling burial pits in the southwest of the Mao mausoleum of Emperor Wu of Han. Sets of jade utensils in an east-westward arrangement were discovered between the Ping mausoleum of Emperor Zhao of Han and the mausoleum of Empress Xiaozhao of Han. The distance between each set is about 2 m. Each set contains Jade bi and Jade gui, out of which the diameters of Jade bi and Jade gui are 4.5 cm and 6.2 cm, respectively. The width of Jade gui is 2.3 cm. Each set contains one Jade bi in the middle with seven or eight Jade gui surrounding it. The sharp end of Jade gui was arranged toward the Jade bi. These articles are obviously buried for sacrifice. Sets of Jade gui and Jade bi were excavated in the south gate of the Yan mausoleum of Emperor Cheng of Han. Jade gui is still an important sacrificial vessel used in significant national activities after Han Dynasty. Some people believe that sacrificial vessels are no longer used as burial objects after Han Dynasty. Actually otherwise, Jade gui was excavated in the mausoleum of Crown Prince Huizhao of Tang. Jade gui and Jade bi used for Liaoji, an imperial sacrifice activity, were discovered to the east of relics of Hanyuan Hall of Daming Palace of the Chang’an City of Tang Dynasty. Jade gui is still used as an important sacrificial vessel for imperial mausoleums in the Ming Dynasty. Eight sets of Jade gui with the same shape and different decorative designs were excavated in the Ding mausoleum of Emperor Wanli of Ming Dynasty and his Empress, out of which the Zhen gui was incised with four sets of patterns of Shanxingwen and notches on the Zhen gui were gilded. Four sets of patterns represent four mountains. An imitation of Jade gui was discovered in the tomb of two concubines of Prince Yi of the Ming Dynasty in 1980.

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Jade gui excavated from Ding mausoleum · Ming Dynasty

Jade gui was also used as the instrument of Taoism after Han Dynasty. Jade gui ushered in transitions to tablets and memorial tablets. Some scholars said that according to the Book of Rites, feudal lords should hold a long narrow tablet while meeting the emperor, attending rituals of archery, and visiting other countries. The shape, size, and materials of tablets vary according to the status of holders, and these tablets are made of jade, ivory, and bamboo with different ornamentations. The shape and usage of tablets are similar to those of Jade gui, which means it might

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be the transition of Jade gui.5 In the Middle Ages, tablets held by the stone statues of the civil officials erected in the sacred way to the imperial tombs should be the transition of Jade gui. Tablets in ancestral halls and ancestral temples are used to worship ancestors, the shape, and culture of which are closely correlated with Jade gui.

4.3 Writing 4.3.1 Writing and the Formation of Civilization The formation of civilizations usually proceeds with the emergence of writing in human history. Four ancient civilizations including ancient Babylonia, ancient Egypt, ancient India, and China emerged four kinds of oldest writing systems. Cuneiform invented by Sumerians in the Tigris and Euphrates basin could date back to 5200 BC, which is the earliest written form in the world. Mesopotamia Plain is also known as the cradle of human civilization. Ancient Egyptian script is one of the oldest written forms in the world. Hieroglyphic marks engraved on the armor of the Egyptian pharaoh Narmer marked the emergence of the Egyptian civilization. The Harappa script that emerged in ancient India 4000 years ago indicated the origin of the South Asian Subcontinent civilization. The appearance of ancient Chinese characters 4000 or 5000 years ago marked the birth of the five-thousandyear Chinese civilization in East Asia. Thus, it can be seen that writing is of vital significance to civilization. Chinese characters are of the same nature as the ancient Chinese civilization, which is its sustained, non-stopping development. Cuneiform, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and Harappa text have already been put on the shelf. Egyptian hieroglyphics (Maya script) created by Mayans in Central America is the only ancient written form left by American civilization, prevailed in the mid-fifth century, while Maya glyphs vanished as colonists invaded Central America during the Age of discovery in the 16th century. As a result, Maya script becomes one of the ancient writing systems which have not been deciphered. All kinds of characters mentioned above are no longer used by any nation or ethnic group, and only a few paleography researchers still study them, while Chinese characters have been commonly used by Chinese people since they were created.

5

Xu [2].

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4.3.2 The Inheritance of Chinese Characters for 5000 Years In recent decades, a substantial number of documents about ancient characters have been discovered in archaeological researches around China. For example, tortoise shells carved with characters found in the relics of the mid-Neolithic Age in Jiahu, Wuyang of Henan Province, potteries carved with terra-cotta characters found in the relic of Liangzhu Culture in the Chenghu region of Wu County of Jiangsu Province, terra-cotta characters found in the relics of Longshan Culture in Dinggong village of Zouping County of Shandong Province, Moshu (black script) and potteries carved with terra-cotta characters found in the relic of Hongshan temple in Ruzhou City of Henan Province, Zhushu (red script) found in the relic of Tao temple in Xiangfen County of Shanxi Province. These archaeological discoveries proved that Chinese characters existed 2000 years earlier than the appearance of inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells of Yinxu. Chinese characters are as old as Chinese Civilization.

Characters engraved on tortoise shells in Jiahu

Potteries inscribed with symbols of Liangchu culture period

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Terra-cotta characters found in the relics of Longshan culture in Dinggong village of Zouping County

Inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells

Archaeological discoveries indicate that ancient characters of 5000 years ago and inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells can be traced back to the same origin. The change of character pattern, from inscriptions on bones or tortoise to inscriptions of bronze, big seal characters, small seal characters, official script, and regular script, marked different periods of China. China is the only country whose high school students can read and write historical documents and literature written in characters of 2000 years ago, which depends on the inheritance of Chinese characters

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for 5000 years. The inheritance is an important guarantee to China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years.

Inscriptions engraved on Ji Ying Ling De He · Shang Dynasty

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Inscriptions engraved on the Maogong cauldron · late Western Zhou Dynasty

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Inscriptions engraved on the bronze vessel · Qin Dynasty

Zi Yi of Guodian Bamboo slips of the Chu · Warring States Period

Divination by astrological and meteorological phenomena of Ma Wang Dui silk texts (part) · Western Han Dynasty

Lan Ting Xu (preface of the Orchid Pavilion) copied by Feng Chengsu · Tang Dynasty

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Inscriptions on Zhang Menglong stela (rubbings) · Northern Wei Dynasty

4.3.3 The Inheritance of Historical Documents About Chinese Characters Characters are endowed with the important social function of recording human history. Most Chinese historical documents are written in Chinese characters. China is the country with the most abundant and comprehensive historical documents in the world. Characters played an important role in the heritage of Chinese civilization. In ancient China, our ancestors invented the post of national historiographer. Cang Jie was the historiographer of Huang Di. More importantly, he was also the inventor of characters according to historical documents, which manifested the close

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relationship between characters and historical documents. Chinese historical documents written in Chinese characters were inherited from generation to generation, recording China’s un-fractured civilization of 5000 years, from The Book of Documents (Shang Shu), The Book of Songs (Shi Jing), The Book of Change (Zhou Yi), Zuo Zhuan, Hundred schools of thought in the pre-Qin period of China to “The Twenty-Four Histories”.

Rubbings of “Santishijing”

Hui An Xian Sheng Wen Ji imprinted from Fujian · Northern Song Dynasty

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Incomplete version of the Three Kingdoms in the library cave at Dunhuang, edition · Eastern Jin Dynasty

Copy of records of the Three Kingdoms, edition of Song Dynasty

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4.3.4 Chinese Characters Maintain the Contiguous Development of a United Multiethnic Country and China’s Un-fractured Civilization of 5000 Years First Qin Emperor further promoted the unification of the country through proactively unifying the writing system. The policy of “unifying of the writing system” abolished a large number of regional variant Chinese characters, simplifying the use of characters, which is an amazing achievement in culture. Liu Guangyu, a famous scholar, believed that Chinese characters bridge the gap between the difference of modern and ancient language. As Zijie said that Chinese characters can be used commonly within the whole country, from Heilongjiang province to Yunnan province. Chinese five-thousand-year history is recorded by Chinese characters. According to history, the pattern of Western letters originates from pictograms, and then it became spelling. As a result, Europe was divided into dozens of countries with different characters which cut off the connecting fabric between them. China would have been divided into Jiangsu country or Guangdong country if it followed the same path. As a country with various kinds of dialects, China cannot unify the pronunciation of its characters in phonetics. Chinese characters played a very valuable role in enhancing the solidarity among Chinese people.

Zijie clearly explained the function of Chinese characters as a communication tool as well as its great influence in solidarity and the unification of China and Chinese characters will continue playing this role.6 Chinese characters bridge the gap between the difference of modern and ancient languages, which contribute a lot to the formation of ethnic Han and the unification of China.

References 1. Zhang X, Liu W (ed) (2013) Huang Di and Chinese surnames. Henan People’s Publishing House, pp 95–109 2. Xu H (2009) The earliest China 《最早的中国》 ( ). Beijing Science Press, pp 117–118 3. Liu G (1995) The rediscovery of Chinese characters: the study of Chinese characters research of An Zijie 《“汉字需要再认识“——谈安子介的汉字研究》 ( ). J Lit Hist Philos

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Liu [3].

Chapter 5

The Concept of “zhong he” and National Identity

Abstract China’s 5000-year civilization is the only un-fractured one among all civilizations, which used to be a puzzle in the world. The reason for its consistency lies in the fact growing cohesion and unity of the Chinese nation throughout the time, which are manifested through “zhong (centrality)” and “he (harmony)”. While centrality is materialized by the capital cities, the layouts and designs of the imperial mausoleums as well as the combinations of the relics, harmony is represented by the corresponding relations between the local and the central. Together, they comprise the philosophy of “zhong he” in the Chinese culture. The reason behind the enduring vitality of Chinese civilization over thousands of years can be attributed to China’s unified “national identity” based on the concept of “family-country unity” and the shared structure of family and nation. Keywords Family-country unity · The shared structure of family and nation · National identity China’s 5000 years of civilization remain un-fractured mainly because of the strong vitality of its historical and cultural genes. What are the historical and cultural genes? This term comes from the academic term “gene” in genetics. Encyclopedia Britannica defines “gene” as a “carrier of hereditary information from generation to generation”.1 Genes control the basic structure and performance of life. They store all the information about the process of life from breeding, to growth and all the way to death, and complete the important physiological processes of life reproduction, cell division, and protein synthesis by replication, transcription, and expression. Just like the genes of the biological world, the historical and cultural genes are core culturesustaining factors that have been formed in the historical development of human beings, countries, ethnic groups, clans, and families. Therefore, the historical and cultural genes have long-term vitality. The gene of Chinese history and culture has been formed by the development of China and the Chinese nation through thousands of years. It belongs to China and the Chinese nation, which are usually described as the “un-fractured civilization of 1

Encyclopedia Britannica International (Chinese Edition), China Encyclopedia Publishing House, 2001, Beijing, P48.

© Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. 2022 Q. Liu, A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3946-4_5

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5000 years”. That is because of the key role played by its historical and cultural genes. In abstract terms, the historical and cultural genes are about the philosophical “centrality and harmony” and political “national identity”, while, in concrete terms, they are about the capitals and tombs which reflect the culture of the country.

5.1 Materialized Carrier of the “zhong he” Concept: Capital City and Mausoleum From the perspective of archaeology, the study of Chinese historical and cultural genes is mainly based on the elements of state formation. The core element of the country is the concept of “centrality and harmony” of national political culture reflected in the governance platform, i.e., the capital and its related political and cultural heritage. The ancient capital city is the center of national political rule, military command, cultural and ritual activities, and economic management. It is the epitome of ancient China. Its physical carriers in archaeology mainly include palaces, official offices, arsenals, ancestral temples, altars of the earth, and harvests and unearthed relics as platforms of the central government. Therefore, through the archaeological study of the concept reflected by the ancient capital and its relics, we try to understand how the “centrality and harmony” concept and the national identity in the Chinese historical and cultural genes have passed on. The concept of “centrality” revealed by archaeological discoveries and studies of ancient Chinese capitals is also recorded in the early documentation of Chinese history and culture. As “DalLüe” from Xunzi goes, “If you want to be close to the four sides, nowhere is better than the center. So the King must live in the center of the land under heaven.” When summarizing history, Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals writes in “Being Cautious in One’s Conduct” (Shenshi) from the chapter of “On Examining Divisions of Responsibility” (Shenfen), “kings choose the center of the land under heaven to establish the country”. “Centrality” and “harmony” are closely related. They are used together. They first appeared in the “Doctrine of the Mean”, which contains. Centrality is the great root from which grow all human actings in the world. And harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue. Let the states of centrality and harmony exist in perfection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish.

Sima Guang, Chinese historian in the Song Dynasty, believed that centrality and harmony govern all, from the heaven and earth, to the emperor and all the way to small things like insects and plants. The concept of “centrality and harmony” in the Chinese history and culture is embodied in the site selection and layout of ancient Chinese capital cities. The site selection and construction of ancient capitals are a big thing for the country, and the principle of “centrality and harmony” must be followed as part of

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Chinese history and culture. It means that the middle areas should be selected as the site of capital construction in ancient China. As “Baoxun” from the Tsinghua Bamboo Slips manuscript records, Yushun chose Lishan, the middle area, to build his capital, followed by Shangtang’s sixth-generation ancestor, Shangjiawei, who “sought the middle” in Songshan, thus the “center of heaven and earth” in the Chinese culture. These are plains located in the center of the land under “heaven and earth” (center of the world), so they are called the “Central Plains”. From Xia and Shang to Tang and Song dynasties, the capitals were all built here. That is also the origin of the Chinese idiom “those who get the Central Plains get the world”. “zhong” in “zhong guo”, the country name of China in Chinese, comes from “zhong he” (“centrality and harmony”). The inscription on “Hezun”, the bronze ware of the early Western Zhou Dynasty, discovered in Baoji, Shaanxi Province, in 1963, has some lines which mean that: The King of Zhou started to build the capital in Chengzhou. It coincided with the day of sacrifice to King Wu of Zhou…King Wen of Zhou was entrusted by God to rule the land under heaven. After ending the Shang Dynasty, King Wu offered sacrifices to heaven and promised to rule at this place which is the center of the land under heaven.

“Zhai Zi Zhong Huo” in the last sentence of the quoted inscription has “zhong” which means the center of heaven and earth (center of the world) and “Huo” which means “country”. As “Record of Trades” from Rites of Zhou records, “Guo Zhong Jiu Jing Jiu Wei” (meaning the capital has nine horizontal roads and nine vertical roads), in which the character “Guo” means the capital city. As “Censure of King Li’s Government” in “The greater Festal Odes” of The Book of Songs (Shi Jing· Daya· Minlao) writes: “caring for the central country and pacifying the four directions” (hui ci zhong guo, yi sui si fang). As Annotations of The Book of Songs by Lord Mao (Mao Zhuan) explains, “the central state (zhong guo) is the capital (jing shi) and the four directions (si fang) are the central plains or the country (zhu xia)”. As Shi Ji writes, “Shun went to the central country and assumed the throne”. In Collected Annotations (Ji Jie), Liu Xi said that “Where the emperors build capitals is in the center, thus called ‘central country’”. “Guo” in ancient China means the capital city, and the ancient Chinese chose the center to build the capital, so the capital city was also called “zhong guo”. Ancient documentation records that “zhong guo” is “Jing Shi”. The Imperial College of Peking (Jingshi da xuetang) of the late Qing Dynasty is actually the college in the “capital”. Archaeological discoveries indicate that the capitals before the Song Dynasty are all in the central plains, such as the Wangchenggang site in Dengfeng (“Yu’s capital Yangcheng” in the early Xia Dynasty), the Xinzhai site in Xinmi and the Erlitou site in Yanshi of the middle and late Xia Dynasty, the Shangcheng site in Zhengzhou, and the Shangcheng site in Yanshi of the Shang Dynasty. And Chengzhou and Wangcheng, the capitals of Zhou Dynasty are in Luoyang, and so are the capitals of Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei and Jin dynasties, the Northern Wei Dynasty, and Sui and Tang dynasties. After the Song Dynasty, which is the last dynasty in Central Plains, the capitals of Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties moved to Beijing. The movement started with Hailing King of the Jin Dynasty, who believed that “Yanjing is the center

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of heaven and earth”. It shows that the specific location of “the center of heaven and earth” can be different, but its underlying concept remains unchanged. Successive dynasties must select the center to build their capitals because of the concept of “centrality and harmony”. The capital city was built “in the middle of the land under heaven (i.e., the country)” as opposed to the “four directions” of east, west, north, and south, namely “Dongyi, Xirong, Nanman, and Beidi”. The “middle” reflects the supremacy of the country relative to the east, west, north, and south. Meanwhile, the “middle” also indicates the fairness and impartiality of the country toward all four directions, thus achieving the “harmony” of the country, which is the foundation for national unity. The further deepening of the concept of “centrality and harmony” in the layout and form of the capital city is manifested in the facts that the capital city has gates on all four sides, the palace is in the center of the capital city, and the palace has gates on all four sides too. The capital city was built in the center of the country. The palace was built in the center of the capital city. The temple was built in the center of the palace. There are three or five layers of doorways for each gate of the capital city or palace, and the road of the emperor and the middle road of the capital city are split into three lines of passage. The “three” and “five” all give supremacy to the “middle”. The main hall of the great court in the palace is in the middle, it is the highest, and it has no other buildings standing in front of it, a fact that again points to the supremacy of the central government as the representative of the country. The main hall of the great court is the center of state decrees. The capital is centered around the main hall of the great court, which is the base point of the central axis of the capital. The central axis is formed by connecting the three points, namely the main hall of the great court, the palace, and the main gate of the capital, which is a perfect embodiment of the “centrality” concept of the capital city. The archaeological discoveries have also provided proof of the concept of “harmony”. There are gates on all four sides of the capital cities and their palaces, which is true for Chang’an City in Han and Tang dynasties, Luoyang City in Han, Wei, Sui, and Tang dynasties, Kaifeng City in the Song Dynasty, Jindu of the Jin Dynasty, Dadu of the Yuan Dynasty, and Beijing City of Ming and Qing dynasties, which is the proof of the concept of “harmony”. The idea of “centrality” and “harmony” is the fundamental philosophical guarantee for China’s 5000 years of un-fractured civilization and its national unity. The concept of “centrality and harmony” in the layout of the ancient capitals and palaces is the gene of Chinese history and culture, because it has been recognized by all nationalities in China throughout its development over five thousand years, which is evidenced by both archaeological discoveries and ancient documents. Xianbei people moved southward from Daxing’anling and established the Northern Wei Dynasty first in Shengle in Inner Mongolia and then Pingcheng (Datong today) in north of Shanxi. With further development, they moved their capital to Luoyang (center of heaven and earth), inheriting the outlay of Chang’an City, capital of the Han Dynasty and Luoyang City of the Wei Dynasty. The building of Luoyang City as capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty deepened the concept of “centrality and

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harmony” epitomized by capitals, created the three-city system of China’s ancient capitals, improved the central axis of the capital, and further carried forward the entrance-building structure for palace gates of the capital cities of the pre-Qin period and Han and Wei dynasties. Archaeological discoveries show that the layout system of the Changhe Gate site, which is the main gate of the palace city of Luoyang in the Northern Wei Dynasty, has had a profound impact on future generations. After the mid-ancient era, the northern ethnic groups, Jurchen and Mongolian, entered the mainland and established the Jin, Yuan, and Qing dynasties. They inherited the tradition of “centrality” and “harmony” in Chinese historical and cultural genes formed over thousands of years and deepened the concept of national identity. In ancient times, “a tomb is like a capital city”. The tomb is located in the center of the cemetery. The main tomb passage, the main entrance of the cemetery, and the path to the tomb form the central axis of the tomb, bringing the concept of “centrality” from “this world” to “the underworld”. The earliest royal tomb archaeologically discovered is the Yinxu imperial tomb. At that time, “tombs usually had no grave markers”. But the coffin chamber of royal tombs has a tomb passage on each of its four sides, forming a “亞” shape, which is a Chinese character. The construction pattern of four tomb passages of the imperial tomb on the east, west, north, and south passed on to the Western Han Dynasty. When there was no cemetery, the four tomb passages symbolized the four directions of east, west, north, and south. With the emergence of cemeteries, a gate would be built for each of the four sides of the cemetery, just like the four-gate system for the palace city. The underground palace of an emperor’s tomb is the embodiment of “centrality”, while the four tomb passages and the four gates of the cemetery reflect the idea of “harmony”. The capital vis-à-vis national space, the palace vis-à-vis the capital city’s space, and the main hall of the great court vis-à-vis the palatial space are all embodiment of the idea that the country is in the center. The four directions symbolized by the four gates indicate “pluralism” in the “pluralistic one”. The four directions are put together as one in harmony, thus the pluralism of small units in relation to the harmony of big units and the pluralism of individuals in relation to the unity of the country. Pluralism in harmony and unity has become the fine historical and cultural tradition of the Chinese nation, forming the core culture of the 5000-year Chinese civilization.

5.2 Family-Country Unity and National Identity 5.2.1 Family-Country Unity The “family-country” concept is long in the historical and cultural gene of the Chinese people. It means that the general principle of running a family and running a country is the same. It can be said that the country is a “big family” and the family is a “small country”, which explains that running a family and running a country share the same general principle. The filial piety to the family and the loyalty to the country are very

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important sociological and political propositions in Chinese history, and they are also important philosophical concepts in China’s 5000-year-old undisrupted civilization. It is always the belief of the Chinese people that the country and the family share common general principles, which can be fully reflected in “centrality”. It is present in every aspect of our daily life. For example, when family members or friends eat together, the host or elder should take the central position of the table seating plan, with guests seated on both sides of the table. For a photo of the whole family, the photographer should arrange the positions in a way that allows the most senior elder (head of the family) to be in the center of the front line with other adults spreading on both sides in the front or second lines according to their seniority. Other examples include some residential buildings, such as Siheyuan, the traditional courtyard construction. Generally, a courtyard faces south. The principal room is the main building of the courtyard. It is located in the middle of the courtyard between the east and the west and in the center of the north side of the courtyard with wing rooms on the east and west sides of the courtyard. The main entrance of the courtyard is the south gate. The principal room is used by the elders of the highest generation in the family, and the wing rooms are used by the younger generations of the family. The layout of the courtyard and rooms not only reflects the Chinese cultural tradition of respecting the elderly and elders, but also demonstrates the authority and core position of the family head in the social unit—family. The above-mentioned layout of residential buildings is not only popular in the central plains, but also in areas of ethnic minorities. Some ethnic groups in the surrounding areas also used the courtyard pattern and the form of distribution of courtyard rooms, such as the “quadrangle” dwellings of the Manchu nationality in Jilin and the Hui nationality in Ningxia. Such layout is the common case for the quadrangle dwellings both in modern and ancient times. Courtyard houses in Beijing (Siheyuan) are typical of quadrangle dwellings. They have the following features: They sit in the north and face south; the rooms and the yard are symmetrically arranged with a north–south axis; the main entrance of the courtyard is in the middle of the south wall of the yard, opposite to the principal room; and wing rooms are on both sides of the yard. In addition to the large number of quadrangle dwellings of ordinary people, the residential courtyards of the high-ranking dignitaries also have such layout, but they are more like the layout of the palace of capital cities. The Prince Gong’s Mansion in Beijing is a typical example in this respect. From the east to the west, it is divided into three parts, i.e., the east, the middle, and the west. In front of the central part is the main entrance and the main hall and then the rear hall. The side halls are on both the east and west sides and in the back is the palace garden.2 In case of the residential houses of the Song Dynasty, the main entrance (south gate) and the main room (or hall) in the north form a north–south axis, with a garden behind the main room. A yard is formed between the main room and the main entrance, with wing rooms on both the east and west sides of the courtyard. Some houses are composed of multiple courtyards, such as the houses of dignitaries. But what they have in common with 2

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ordinary courtyard houses is the construction on the basis of the central axis of the courtyard with auxiliary buildings (wing rooms) on both the east and west sides of the central axis. As a case of the residential houses of the Tang Dynasty, the funeral objects unearthed from the Wang Xiutai’s Tomb in Changzhi, Shanxi Province, show that it was a medium-sized dwelling with three courtyards. The first courtyard has the main gate (south gate) at the southernmost of the house. There is a screen wall inside the gate. The screen wall is opposite to the principal room in the north, and wing rooms are on both the east and west sides of the principal room and the main gate. The major room of the second courtyard is in the north of the principal room, also with wing rooms on both the east and west sides of the courtyard. The third courtyard has only the northern room and is actually the backyard. During the Han Dynasty and the Southern and Northern dynasties, the houses were generally structured in a way that featured the Front Hall and the back room, similar to the palace layout with the imperial court in the front and the bedroom in the back. On both sides of the Front Hall and the back room are wing rooms for future generations. The courtyard complex at the Sanyangzhuang human settlement site of the Western Han Dynasty in Neihuang, Henan Province, was residential houses actually used by people at that time. Take the third house as an example: This is a two-courtyard building, sitting in the north and facing south, the first courtyard has a south gate, and its wing rooms are in the south. The second courtyard has the principal room in the north.3 In ancient China, residential houses were not just buildings, but also had deeper social and political significance. As Six Statues of the Tang Dynasty (Tang Liu Dian) records, “the size and shape of houses differ hierarchically from the emperors to officials and the common people”. However, the houses, whether of officials, or the common people or the royal family, follow a common rule, that is, the concept of “centrality” and “harmony”. On the physical level, “centrality” is reflected in the fact that the main building occupies the central position of the construction complex, while the subsidiary building is on both sides of or behind the main building. The above rules and regulations on the layout of houses of officials and common people from the Ming and Qing dynasties to the Han and Tang dynasties show that the main entrance and the principal room (central room) are in the “central” position of the residence, which is the honorable position. The philosophy of “family” is materialized by such outlay of the residence and so is the “country”. The spatial arrangement of family dinners and houses points to the dialectical unity of “centrality” and “harmony” in the Chinese civilization which has been undisrupted for five thousand years. For example, “centrality” is reflected by the spatial relationship between the main building of the house—the hall (the principal room) and the wing rooms. Specifically, the courtyard house sits in the north and faces south. The north has an upper position, thus having supremacy in Chinese culture, so the hall occupies the upper position, and the hall is opposite to the main entrance of the courtyard house, forming the central axis of the house. The east and 3

Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology [1].

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5 The Concept of “zhong he” and National Identity

west sides of the hall have wing rooms, which are inhabited by family members of younger generations. The house is the living space of the family. It embodies the respect for seniority in ancient Chinese families. The foundation for maintaining this social order is filial piety. The “country” is composed of tens of millions of “families”. The house is the spatial platform of the family, and the platform of the “country” is the capital city. The planning and design principles of the platform of the country in ancient China, such as “choosing the center to build the capital”, “choosing the center to build the palace”, and “the main hall of the great court being in the center”, are basically consistent with the design principles of the house of the family. Such design speaks of the supremacy of the country, which is represented by the capital, the palace city, and the main hall of the great court. It implies the “harmony” of the center with the four directions of east, west, south, and north and also the loyalty of the four directions toward the center, that is the “family-country philosophy” of filial piety to the family and loyalty to the country. Therefore, in the Chinese culture, there is such a saying as “the country is broken and the family perishes”. The country is like the mother, and the founding leader in the Chinese history is called the “father of the country”. Of course, as far as modern China is concerned, filial piety to the family is about filial respect for the parents and loyalty to the country is about patriotism. A comparative study of the “family” and the “country” shows that their underlying philosophy is the same. This family-country philosophy is integral to the 5000-year continuous civilization in China. The “family-country” sentiments are important part of the fine historical and cultural tradition of the Chinese nation.

5.2.2 National Identity National identity is the basic requirement for national citizens and social groups (including different nationalities and religions). That applies to the history and reality of all countries in the world. As an ancient country with five thousand years of continuous civilization, China has an even longer historical tradition in terms of national identity. National identity is higher than identity of any other kind, as it is essentially the political identity about the country. We can see that the palace buildings as part of national culture are highly respected not only by “nationals” but also by different religions in the sense that the various religious buildings in Chinese history, such as the main buildings of Buddhism and Taoism, are all modeled on the outlay and construction rules of palaces. The religions also take pride in such similarity of architecture design. For example, the temples and the grand halls of religious activities at the sacred Buddhist sites of Putuo, Wutai, and Emei Mountains, which remain well-preserved today, are all official-style buildings or Chinese-style buildings as architectural historians call them.

Reference

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The Chinese historical culture is not regional culture in China, nor is it like the culture of specific times, dynasties, or regimes, such as Chu Culture, Wu Culture, Shang Culture, or Song Culture, even less is it like the specific ethnic culture, such as Xirong Culture, Baiyue Culture, or Xianbei Culture. The Chinese historical culture is a pluralistic, unified culture, the essence of which is national culture. National unity and the continuation of national history and culture are maintained through the identification of national culture. National cultural identity is more deep-going, important, and fundamental than cultural identity of any other kind. From the era of five emperors to the periods of Xia, Shang, Zhou, Qin, Han, Wei, Jin, and Southern and Northern dynasties, then the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, the rulers and managers of different dynasties, different political entities and different ethnic groups have stood by the same concept of national culture. This is what we call national identity. This national culture based on national identity is the gene of the Chinese history and culture. This kind of gene remains unchanged despite changes in the people, ethnic groups or time within the country, thus shaping the 5000 years of un-fractured civilization of the Chinese history and culture, something unique in world history.

Reference 1. Henan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (2004) Courtyard sites of Han Dynasty in Sanyangzhuang, Neihuang County, Henan Province. Archeology (7)

Epilog

In 2016, the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, together with the Sichuan Library, held “Sichuan Forum: Lectures of Famous Museologists in Southwest China”, for which Gao Dalun, then Director of the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, invited me to give a lecture. Unfortunately, I had been tied up and could not have made it until its finale by the end of the year. On the afternoon of November 13, I gave a lecture on “An Archaeological Interpretation of the Un-fractured Civilization Over 5000 Years” at Sichuan Library. People from the Sichuan People’s Publishing House were in the audience. Shortly after my academic report, I was invited to dinner by them, including Zhou Ying, then Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Sichuan People’s Publishing House, over which they talked about my academic report that afternoon. They believed that from the perspective of either academic or social values, my report was so inspiring that they wanted to publish a book based on it. Given the enthusiasm of editors from the Sichuan People’s Publishing House, I agreed to compile this book. By the end of 2016, shortly after my lecture on “An Archaeological Interpretation of the Un-fractured Civilization Over 5000 Years” at “Sichuan Forum: Lectures of Famous Museologists in Southwest China” in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, I received many invitations for contributions and lectures from newspapers, universities, museums, libraries, and a few other institutions. On February 23, 2017, my paper titled National Identity is the Gene of the Chinese Nation was published in People’s Daily. On March 18, March 25, and April 8 of the same year, I was invited by Shanghai Museum, Capital Library of China, Northwest University, and other institutions successively for academic reports related to the Un-fractured Civilization of the Chinese Nation Over 5000 Years. Shortly after that, on July 19, 2017, I received an email from Zhang Tao stating that Un-fractured Civilization: An Archaeological Interpretation of China’s National Identity Over 5000 Years had been listed in one of the key publications of Sichuan Province in the first half of 2017, and now it also has been listed by the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China as a high-quality publication for the 19th CPC National Congress. Zhang Tao as Planning Editor and Chen Xin and Zou Jin as Editors in © Sichuan People’s Publishing House Co., Ltd. 2022 Q. Liu, A History of Un-fractured Chinese Civilization in Archaeological Interpretation, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-3946-4

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charge contributed greatly to the project initially, including the design of outlines and chapters. When I sent them all the manuscripts and some line drawings and photos in November 2018, they made tremendous efforts, from text editing to the selection of line drawings and plates (especially the addition of many new pictures) and layouts. Their dedication has deeply touched me. They are the editors of publishing houses that touched me most among those I have encountered in more than half a century of scientific research. As the book is put to print, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Zhang Tao, Chen Xin, and Zou Jin. Many thanks! Last but not least, I would like to thank Ziqi, my granddaughter, for helping me with a great deal of trivial yet meticulous works, including searching for references, collecting images, and proofreading texts when I was writing this book. Liu Qingzhu January 2020 at Taiyanggong, Xibahe Beijing Image Courtesy of Liu Qingzhu, Liu Chunying, He Qinggu, Sun Xinmin Li Xiangyang, Hao Qinjian, Shen Weilong The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Shaanxi Provincial Bureau of Cultural Heritage Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology Jiangsu Provincial Archaeological Research Institute Taipei Palace Museum Baoji Bronze Ware Museum Yuan Ming Yuan Society of China Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA Freer Gallery of Art, USA The British Museum, UK National Library of France www.redocn.com www.huitu.com