nomadic culture in the ward system of Pingcheng, for which there is no proof at all.156 The existence of a ward system in Northern Wei Luoyang is well documented. Ho Ping-ti goes so far as to claim that Northern Wei Luoyang must have been the first city in Chinese history to have designed blocks of regular shape and uniform size on a large scale. This fact alone would ensure its importance in the history of city planning in China. To prove the irregularity and small sizes of the wards in cities before, he has recourse to the Sanfu huang t a , 157 where Han Chang'an is alleged to have had 160 small residential blocks(/w /z),158 of which only ten names survive, and the Taiping yu lan which records only 45 ward names of Western Jin Luoyang.159 Soon after Ho Ping-ti published these views, they were being taken as facts by scholars such as Lu Yaodong. As we have demonstrated above, the term li was extensively in use in the meaning of "ward" before the Qin dynasty. The later use of li as a unit of length measurement was borrowed from one side of an idealized square ward li. The Gu liang zhuan161 records that there were 300 bu in a li (in one side of a li). This is an indication that huge residential quarters had been in use before the Qin dynasty. This prescription was faithfully acted upon by the Northern Wei rulers when they built Luoyang, where
1fO
each side of a residential ward measured 300 bu. Archaeology has now conclusively demonstrated that a well-planned ward system was in practice during the Han dynasty.163
For Western Jin Luoyang, which was a precursor of Northern Wei Luoyang, the Yuan Henan zhi lists not only 47 li but also 22 fang, a term then synonymous with li. This, plus Xiucheng fang, which occurs in the Taiping yu lan, makes the total number of Western Jin ward names 70 in all.164 According to Ho Ping-ti’s calculation, 44
156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164
the collator o f the Zhonghuashuju edition suspects that nan (south) being the misprint for bi (shut), in that
the case, the text should reacL'with the wards closed" instead o f "the southern wards". The gist o f the problem here is not the situation o f wards in relation to the palace, but rather the building o f wards in the outer city which happened to be south o f the palace city. When Pingcheng started serving as their capital, the Tuoba people still lead a quite nomadic life. After their conquest o f Liangzhou and Huanglong, they began constructing their capital on a massive scale. The western part o f the old Pingcheng was set apart as the palace city. It is against this background that the outer city was built, partly surrounding the palace.
(Nan Qi shu 57/984-5.) This does not seem to prove the origin o f the Northern W ei Luoyang zoning policy
which, according to Prof. Ho's hypothesis, concentrated m ost o f the wards in the southern part o f the city. Lu Yaodong/33.
KM
Ho Ping-ti "Loyang'779, footnote [56]; ~ "Beiwei"/236. Lu Yaodong/33.
Gu liang zhuan 12/16. Qie lan j i 5/349.
The Han dynasty city at Wuji, in Wu'an county, Hebei province, is discovered to have been divided into ten blocks with each o f them measuring approximately 380 metres by 175. See, M eng Hao et al./43-
Yuan Henan zhi 2/29. The difference between a li -ward and a fang-w aid lies chiefly in the fact that li is
the general term for neighbourhoods in both urban and rural areas while fang is only used in reference to
city wards. Mr. Sogabe Shizuo is o f the opinion that the fang o f Western Jin Luoyang were all situated in
the palace city and quotes Taiping yu lan 157 as its proof, where ten fang are listed. In Yuan Henan zhi, 22 fang are listed, embracing all the fang in Taiping yu lan except Xiucheng fang. The fact that in
2 Early Influence: Ward
Northern Wei ward names are registered in the Luoyang qie lan j i .165 This is far less than the 70 ward names recorded for Western Jin Luoyang. Among the 44 wards listed in the Luoyang qie lan ji, at least Limin, Xiaojing, Yinian, and Y i s h o u , 1^ 6 are taken over from the Western Jin dynasty. Furthermore, we have proved that all the major cities from the Former Han to the Northern Wei dynasties had a ward system. Some of them are recorded as being well-planned (the northern city o f Ye and Northern Wei Pingcheng in particular).
In sum, Northern Wei Luoyang's ward system was directly inherited from previous capitals. As it happened, it is the first major city in Chinese history for which detailed information on the ward system has survived. But, it does not follow that the city is unprecedented in terms of regular ward-planning and individual ward size. Well- planned ward systems with wards o f similar area can be shown to have existed long before Northern Wei Luoyang.
Two entirely different total numbers o f Northern W ei Luoyang wards have come down to us. In the Luoyang qie lan ji, the number is 220, while in other sources
1 6 7
it is 320 or 323. We are inclined to adopt 220 as the right figure, because, 320 wards, each o f them measuring 300 bu by 300, are far more than the the greater city
168
could contain.
In the southern city o f Ye, which was an imitation o f Northern Wei Luoyang, the urban area consisted o f 40 0 fang-wards.169
The city o f Sui-Tang Chang'an was divided into 110 wards. Their sizes vary from 500m by 550 to 838 m by 1125. The so-called unprecedented size o f the Northern W ei Luoyang ward measuring 300 bu (approx.486 m) by 300, is dwarfed by
165 166 167'
168
169
Yuan Henan zhi, all the li -wards are quoted from a lost work Jin gong ge ming (The Names o f Western Jin Palace Structures) and are listed under Luoyang cheng zhong (inside Luoyang city), while the fang -wards listed under Luoyang gong (Luoyang Palaces), lends support to Mr. Sogabe Zhizuo's view. But the sheer number of fang (23, perhaps, still incomplete) and the commercialized as well as plebeianized fang names such as Xianchang (Great Prosperity), Suifu (Peaceful Happiness), Yanlu (Prolonged Emolument), Fuchang (Happy Prosperity), Shoucheng (Accomplished Longevity) and Sheli (Buddhist Relics) incline us to doubt their enclosure in the palace area. Some names suggest professional or trade activities (Yangsui [Bronze Concave Mirrors], Yiwen [Written Works] etc.) which were incompatible with inner- palace life. See, Sogabe Shizuo/7; Yuan Henan zhi 2/29.
& ntt ^ ssi, k %
ft i . * &
Ho Ping-ti "Loyang'7100. 2 # . 2 # .
See, Qie lan ji 5/349; 320 is recorded in Wei shu 8/194,18/428; Tong jian 144/4498. Also see, Ho Ping- ti "Beiwei"/229.
Twenty years ago, Prof. Ho Ping-ti was at pains to prove the impossibility of the figure 320 which had been considered by both Fan Xiangyong and Zhou Zumuo as correct Su Bai and Wang Zhong shu, writing much later, took opposite sides (Su for 220, Wang 320), without referring to either Ho, Fan or Zhou. See Su Bai/51-52, note [1]; Wang Zhongshu "Zhongguo"/515 note[81].
This figure is based on Jiajing Zhangde fu zhi. During the Northern Qi dynasty, Ye was divided into three counties. According to Sui shu the three capital counties - Ye, Linzhang and Cheng'an - consisted of respectively 135,114 and 74 li -wards. The total number is 323. (See Sui shu 27/761.) For detailed information on the three counties, see Wang Zhongluo Beizhou di li zhi 10/905-6, 9 2 9 -3 0 .^,