for city planning.23 As one of the builders of the new city, he could not have failed to notice them.
Gates
We are not going to concern ourselves with the stylistic or architectural evolution of city gates here, since the information revealed by archaeological and documentary research is far too scanty. I can only deal with the numbers of gates and their locations.
As is recorded in documentary sources, Linzi the capital city of Qi24 of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, had thirteen gates.25 This is partially confirmed by archaeological work that has unearthed eleven gates so far. The eastern and western sides of the city walls have yielded only one gate each. More might be discovered in the future.26
Han Chang'an, as the first capital city of the Han dynasty had a total of twelve gates. With all its irregularity in outline, the city allocated three gates to each side of the city 27
Later Han Luoyang also had twelve gates. However, it assigned only two gates to the north yet four gates to the south.2** Northern Wei Luoyang kept all the gates in their previous positions except the middle gate of the western wall. The gate was moved northwards, renamed Xiyangmen29 (Sunset Gate) and was linked by an east-west street with its counterpart in the east, Dongyangmen3^ (Sunrise Gate). The east-west street ran across what had been the Gold Market of the Later Han dynasty. Another gate was added in the northern part of the western wall for the convenience of Emperor Gaozu.(See Maps 5,6)31
The northern city of Ye had seven gates. The city, being a horizontal rectangle, allocated three gates in the south, two in the north one each in the east and west.52 The southern city of Ye, which was a southern extension of the northern city, had eleven gates of its own. Three of them were in the south, and four each in the east and west. In the north the southern city retained the three southern gates of the northern city. In all, it had fourteen gates.33
It seems from the Warring States to the end of the Northern dynasties, the number of gates for major cities varied a great deal. By the time the Sui rulers built their
Sui shu 68/1589-90; Zhou li 41/24-5.
See, Qi j i bu as quoted in Q i sheng 4/2-3. Xin Zhongguo/212.
Wang Zhongshu "Zhongguo"/506. Wang Zhongshu "Zhongguo"/507.
sun
sran
Q ie la n ji Preface/1-4. Shui Jing Zhu 10/351.
See Jiajing Zhande fu zhi 8/1, for number o f southern gates in the northern city; see ~ 8/13, for other
gates o f the southern c i t y ,.
21 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33
2 E arly Influence: Shape, G ates &. R oad
own capital, they had a choice ranging from seven to fourteen gates for a major city. Of course, other possibilities may have existed which archaeology has not yet revealed.
For Sui-Tang Chang’an, thirteen gates were planned from the outset. The three eastern gates were linked by three east-west streets with their counterparts in the western wall. At the mid-point of the southern wall was the main gate of the city, Zhuquemen34 (the Vermilion Bird Gate), on either side of which was planted a gate at equal distance. These three southern gates opened northwards onto three straight northbound thoroughfares, the central one of which, the Vermilion Bird Gate Street, ran through the Vermilion Bird Gate upwards until it ended in the southern gate of the palace city, Chengtianmen35 in the extreme north. Two other major streets on either side ran through the city to two gates in the northern wall.36
The choice of thirteen as the total number of gates by the builders of Sui-Tang Chang'an is hardly surprising in view of the assortment of gate numbers that could serve as examples. It is amazing to notice how well the gates and their locations matched the Kao gong ji prescriptions as annotated by the Han Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan.37 The Kao gong ji stipulates three gates for each side wall. On this Zheng Xuan comments: "The emperor('s capital) should have thirteen gates, (twelve of) which are matched by the twelve earthly branches".3**
From this we may assume that, although it may have received influence from Northern Wei Luoyang in its choice of numbers of gates, Sui-Tang Chang'an allocated its gates in a way that was not only different from any existing cities, but also matched the the Kao gong ji principle in Zheng Xuan's interpretation better than any other cities before.
Road Network
It is almost impossible to reconstruct with any amount of accuracy the major road structures of ancient cities simply by relying upon documentary sources. We have to focus our attention on those cities whose morphology have been confirmed by
34.
3S]
36
37
38
]
The calculation o f the number o f the northern gates has always been tricky. This is perhaps why Tang liu dian does not give any precise information on the number o f the northern city gates. According to Sui shu
only one gate (Guanghua Gate) was built. But according to other sources, there must have been three other gates that opened onto the Forbidden Park: Jingyao, Fanglin (Hualin in Sui times) w est o f the Palace City and Xing'an east o f it. Three more gates linked the Palace City on the north with the Park o f the Western Within, from west to east: Xuanwu, Anli and Xuande (Zhide in Sui times). If w e count out the last three gates which served as entrance to a small, enclosed park, there were four northern city gates altogether.
Tang liu dian 7/4,6; Sui shu 29/808; Tang Hang jing 2/34, 1/2.7. f t ft , R . J* R .
tmnMan-
Jia Gongyan, the Tang commentator, interprets the m essage differently. He claims the total number o f gates should be twelve. Although this came about much later than the construction o f Sui-Tang Chang'an, similar viewpoints may have been in the air at the beginning o f the Sui dynasty. B u t obviously Zheng Xuan's view prevailed and was acted upon. See, Zhou li 41/24, commentary by Zheng Xuan; also
2 Early Influence: Shape, Gates & Road
archaeology.
Linzi, the capital city of Qi, has yielded a number of streets within the city walls. Although a planned road network did exist, the roads were by no means regular. They were either oblique in relation to the city walls, or twisted and turned as they ran along. As a result, there were few rectangular intersections.39
In Chang'an of the Former Han dynasty, eight main streets have been discovered. They were not systematically planned but were straight and ran along the cardinal north-south or east-west directions.40 By comparison, the road network of Later Han Luoyang (Map 5) was better planned and even more so was the case with Northern Wei Luoyang, which was almost superimposed upon the earlier city. The streets were inevitably straight except for the one linking Pingchang Gate41 and Guangmo Gate42 in Northern Wei Luoyang.(Map 6) But in neither case were streets symmetrically distributed.43
The reconstruction of the road network of the northern city of Ye is difficult owing to its very poor state of preservation and the scantiness of relevant documentary record.44 But, in the Wei duf u by Zuo Si45 the following record is kept: "Travellers carriages yield their right of way at intersections" which is commented on by Li Shan46 with: "Each of the (major) streets of Ye has its red and black street towers right in front of the eastern, western, northern and southern gates. The streets running between the gates are the thoroughfares."47 From this we may surmise with reservation that two intersecting thoroughfares may have been in existence then.
The information on the southern city of Ye's road network is even more scanty. It is recorded that there was a north-south street named South street, south of the palace, leading all the way to the city's southern main gate Zhumingmen.48 East of this street was the Ancestral Temple of the eastern Wei dynasty. A north-south modem street is still in use in what would have been the mid-southern part of the city. No mention is made of this street in the recent archaeological report, though it is marked on the map 49 Its identification with the South street needs further confirmation.
There were eleven streets running north-south and fourteen streets running east- west in Sui-Tang Chang'an. Disregarding the four streets running along the inner side of
Xin Zhongguo/212.
See Wang Zhongshu "Zhongguo"/505. The Japaneses scholar Koga Noboru attempts a reconstruction of the the road network o f Han Chang'an, basing upon documentary sources. Later archaeological discoveries do not lend much support to his effort. His recon true ted road network is far more regular. See, Koga Noboru "Kan pur an" /28-60.
T i n
Wang Zhongshu "Zhongguo"507, 510. Yu W eichao/15-16.
Wen xuan 6/102 and commentary.
Jiajing Zhangde fu zhi 8/13,16; "Yecheng"/9.
39 40.' 41. 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 38
2 Early Influence: Shape, Gates &. Road
the city wall, we are left with nine north-south streets and twelve east-west streets. According to Zheng Xuan's interpretation of the Kao gong ji the road network should consist of nine north-south streets and nine east-west streets. Here Sui-Tang Chang'an matches the Kao gong ji prescription for the north-south streets in Zheng Xuan's interpretation, but differs greatly from Jia Gongyan’s50 explanation which came much later than the city itself.51 It seems that for the first time since it had been known to public, the Kao gong ji was consulted and in part followed to create the road structure for a new capital.
2 Early Influence: Ritual
Ritual Centres52
Let the zong miao (the Ancestral Temple) be on your left (east) and the she ji (the State Temple) on your right (west).
The Kao gong j i 53
The Ancestral Temple and the State Temple are the only two ritual centres mentioned in connection with city-planning in the Kao gong ji, which specifies their positions in the city.54
During the earlier part o f the Former Han dynasty, the Kao gong j i was allegedly interpolated by Prince o f Hejian55 into the Zhou li as a substitution for the lost chapter Winter Officials (Dong guan).56 The content o f the Zhou li with Kao gong j i was virtually unknown to the public until the end o f the Former Han dynasty. Hence its authenticity was often in doubt.57 However, the same instructions for temple construction appear in Li j i (the Book o f Rites ) allegedly edited by Dai Sheng5^ who was active during the latter part o f the Former Han dynasty.5^
Instead o f building a temple complex to accommodate the spirits o f the deceased emperors and their ancestors, the Former Han dynasty scattered the imperial temples within and without the city walls. Their relative position to the State Temple was never taken into consideration.60
The Former Han Confucian scholar Liu Xiang61 insists that both Ancestral Temple and the State Temple should be in the west (right). He Xiu, a Later Han scholar, living in the second century AD, interprets the prescription even more loosely:
52 52 54 55 56 5/ 58' 59! 60
On the functions of the ritual centres, see Chapter 4 below.
Zong miao was the Imperial Ancestral Temple. She ji was the State Temple for she (god of earth) and ji (
god of harvest). She ji also embodied the destiny of the state. The emperor is supposed to face south, so left indicates east and right west. See, Zhou li 41/24-5.
Specifications for another ritual structure, ming tang (Bright Hall) are also provided, but not in relation to city-planning. See, Zhou li 41/27-8.
m z
Suishu 32/925. Huang Yunmei/37-56.
*t$
Siku ti yao 21/168. Although attributed to earlier writers, the Li ji was only made known to the public towards the end of the Former Han dynasty by Liu Xiang, whose son Liu Xin was responsible for the "rediscovery" of the Zhou li with Kao gong ji. The passage in question in Li ji reads: "As to the position of the founding spirits of the state, the State Temple should be on the right, while the Ancestral Temple on the left." See Li ji 46 ("Ji yi" 24)70 and commentary, ^ij [aj, %\\ ffc, f£.
Sanfu huang tu /57-60. One illustrative example is found in Han shu which records that Huidi, the second emperor of the Han dynasty once had a covered gallery built between the cenotaph and the temple of his father Gao zu. Shusun Tong a ritual adviser, hinted at the inappropriateness of the matter. The emperor was scared, and ordered the destruction of the gallery, but was prevented from doing so by Shusun Tong who remarked that nothing done by the emperor could be considered wrong. To end this dilemma, another temple was built in a old temple site north of the Wei River. See. Han shu 43/2129-30.
2 E arly Influence: R itual
if one emphasizes kinship, the Ancestral Temple should be in the west, alternatively, if one observes propriety, the Ancestral Temple should be in the east62
In 25 AD, Liu Xiu62 established the Later Han dynasty in Luoyang. The following year saw the the construction of the State Temple west of the Ancestral Temple. For the first time, the location of the State Temple and the Ancestral Temple was in keeping with the Kao gong ji 's prescription. But the principle was by no means sacrosanct. We have observed above that He Xiu's interpretation of the Kao gong ji is extremely flexible. The best scholar on Confucian rites of the Later Han dynasty, Ma Rong64 offers two opinions on the situation of ritual centres. While reiterating the principle, he claims that, according to another source, the emperor should have five State Temples, in the centre and the four suburban areas of the city.65
But, in 45 AD, the State Temple was moved to somewhere within the Upper Eastern Gate (Shangdongmen),66 casting to the winds all Confucian propriety.67
During the following Cao Wei and Jin dynasties, the Ancestral Temple was always located in the south of the city, east of what would be the Northern Wei Yongning Monastery. (Maps 5,6)68
There is no way of ascertaining the exact location of the State Temple of the Cao Wei and Western Jin dynasties in Luoyang. But, since the Ancestral Temple was situated east of the main northbound street, the State Temple may have been west of it as is required by the Kao gong ji. Our supposition is reinforced by the fact that immediately after the Western Jin dynasty perished, the Jin court in exile established the Eastern Jin dynasty in Jianye69 (present-day Nanjing) where Emperor Yuan70 ordered the construction of the State Temple west of the Ancestral Temple, which was in keeping with the practice of the Western Jin court in Luoyang.71
In the northern city of Ye, the State Temple and the Ancestral Temple were erected, probably in compliance with the Kao gong ji requirement72
When the rulers of the Northern Wei dynasty made Pingcheng their capital, they constructed their ritual centres in accordance with the Kao gong ji principle.72 The
62 6S (Ä (& 66 61 68- 69 to] 71
]
72 73 Zhou li 41/642-3 commentary.S'J #
ji a
Xii Han shu 9/3200-01, 3201, note [1]. Professor Hans Bielenstein's study on Later Han Luoyang is by far
the most comprehensive single work on that city. However, it deals mainly with the functional aspects of the city, and barely touches upon morphology. Cf. Bielenstein/1-142.