The ancient capitals of China can surprise an unprepared person with their numbers. There were four of them, but in the past century the list was expanded to 7 capitals. We will briefly review each of them.
Beijing
The first capital of ancient China, like allthe rest was located near the mountain range. The first settlements in this area existed since the first millennium BC. er During the Zhou dynasty, a military fortress was built here. In 1368 the Ming Dynasty was established. For some time, the capital was moved to Nanjing, but the emperor Yongle returned the capital of the Ming dynasty to Beijing. The architecture of modern Beijing is largely a legacy of the Ming and Qing dynasty. During the reign of the last of them, the famous Peking Gardens, the Old Summer Palace, were built. During the Ming Dynasty, the Temple of Heaven, the Imperial Palace, was built. It was the emperor Yongle transformed Beijing, making it look like a chessboard.
Nanking
By the way, the capital of ancient China, the time of the first emperor - Shanghai. However, scientists have not listed this city and Shanghai is not considered one of the historical capitals.
Nanjing is one of the most ancient citiesOf china. It was the capital of ten dynasties and the Republic of China. Today is the capital of Jiangsu. Nanjing is conveniently located between the other two capitals of ancient China - Beijing and Shanghai. In translation, the name of Nanking means "Southern Capital". The city was founded in the V century. BC er It was here that the largest number of the most dangerous uprisings took place. By the way, this is where the founder of the Ming dynasty is buried. In 1853, the city became the capital of the Taiping state, which was ruled by Hong Xiutian. In 1912, under the pressure of revolutionaries, the city became the capital of the Republic of China.
На сегодняшний день Нанкин представляет собой developed center. Every day more and more foreigners stay here. The city is replenished with hotels, skyscrapers and luxury shopping centers. Like Shanghai, it turns into a cosmopolitan city.
Changyan
The list of ancient capitals of China continues in the cityChang'an, whose name in translation means "long peace". During its time of existence, managed to visit the capital of several states in China. However, today in its place is the city of Xi'an.
The first settlements appeared during the Neolithic times.The capital of Chang'an became during the reign of the Tang Empire. As in Beijing, the building resembled a chessboard. In the middle of the 8th century, more than 1 million people lived here, which by then the yard made the city the largest in the world. During the Ming Dynasty, the capital was moved to Beijing, and Changyan was renamed Xi'an.
Luoyang
Столица Древнего Китая, историю которой мы сейчас consider, also was one of the most ancient cities. Luoyang City was the capital of various Chinese states. The history of the city begins in the XI century. BC er It is believed that this is the first metropolitan Chinese city, which was built according to a well thought-out plan, taking into account the cosmological semantics. In 770 BC. er Luoyang became the capital of the Zhou Empire. After that, it was the capital of the kingdom of Wei, the Three Kingdoms and the Western Jin Dynasty.
It reached its heyday during the Sui, Tang, and Sun epochs.Luoyang became the cultural capital of Changyang. The construction of the Eastern Capital, as it was then called Luoyang, began during the sui dynasty. In just 2 years, it was possible to build a completely new, transformed city. However, all the buildings were significantly damaged during the end of the Tang era, which was marked by frequent wars. The revival of Luoyang began during the rule of the Yuan and Ming dynasties. Today it is a small, relatively modern province.
Kaifeng
The historical capitals of China have been complementedthree cities. One of them is Kaifeng. He had a huge variety of names: Bianlian, Dalyan, Liang, Banjing. The capital of the city was during the Song Dynasty from 960 to 1127. During the rule of the Han dynasty, the city had a great military importance. However, soon the kingdom of Wei built its capital on this territory, calling it Dalyan. When the kingdom of Wei was defeated by the kingdom of Qin, the city was destroyed and abandoned. During the reign of the empire, Eastern Wei City was again called Kaifeng. Many times the city changed its name at the request of the rulers. Kaifeng under different names was the capital of the Late Han, Late Qin, Late Zhou. According to scientists, in the period 1013-1027 the city was the largest in the world.
During its existence, the city many timesdestroyed by military intervention or natural disasters. This did not prevent the rulers to rebuild it every time and make it the capital of their state.
Hangzhou
List of ancient capitals of China continues the townHangzhou, which today is a province. In ancient times, before the Mongol invasion, the city was called Lin'an. It was the capital during the Southern Song dynasty. At that time, it was the most populated city in the world. Today the city is famous for its natural beauty, huge tea plantations and Lake Xihu. There are two important historical monuments here - the 30-meter Baochu Pagoda and the Yue Fei Mausoleum. The city remains the historical center. Every weekend, hundreds of Chinese come here to see famous monuments. In addition, Hangzhou is a powerful industrial center. It is also called the city of a thousand Chinese corporations. It produces a huge amount of goods. The international airport provides an opportunity to get from Hangzhou to any large city located in Southeast Asia.
Anyang
Today the city is smallcity district. Anyang was created after the kingdom of Qin united China into a single empire. Under Sun's empire, Anyan’s administrative division became two-tier. In addition, the city became the center of the gathering of authorities of Xiangzhou. At the end of the Sui Empire, an amazingly large-scale uprising against the government began here. The city became much impoverished due to the fact that it became the scene of hostilities during the insurrection of An Lushan.
In the summer of 1949, after winning the civilWar, the Communists organized the province, the city of subordination of which became Anyang. For many years, Anyang was part of different areas and regions. In 1983, the Anyang city district was created.
Today we learned about the seven ancient capitals of China.A history book can tell a lot more, but the history of China is incredibly huge and complex, so investing in the scale of the article is very difficult. However, we learned the most important and most interesting things about the historical capitals of China, and also a little plunged into the historical roots of cities and learned their current state. In any case, the capital of ancient China is of great interest not only for researchers, but also for ordinary tourists. China is a mysterious country that fascinates with its diversity and brightness.
