In 20 10, Xiangyang, a time-honored brand with a history of more than 2,000 years, was officially used in Xiangfan, Hubei. At the same time, the existing names of some cities (such as Huangshan and Baotou) are not as pleasant and meaningful as the old names (Huizhou and Jiuyuan respectively), and some people think that these cities should also change their old names.
▲ Xiangyang ancient city with a history of more than 2,000 years.
Among these numerous voices, the names of Chang 'an and Xi 'an are the most famous and important. Today, Xi is one of the national central cities and the economic, political and cultural center of northwest China.
Chang 'an, in the feudal era of more than 2,000 years, was regarded as the national capital for nearly 1,000 years, and Chang 'an also witnessed the prosperity of Han and Tang Dynasties, which can be described as one of the most important cities in ancient China. At the two sessions in Shaanxi Province and xi City, there will also be frequent proposals to rename Xi 'an Chang 'an.
But is Xi 'an really renamed from Chang 'an? What is the relationship between Xi and Chang 'an?
▲Xi Ankunming Tower-Modern Interpretation of Ancient Style
First, Guanzhong and Chang 'an.
The middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, as the birthplace of Chinese civilization, is the most densely populated area with the highest level of economic development in China from the origin of Chinese civilization until the economic center of gravity moved southward to the Yangtze River valley in the Southern Song Dynasty. Guanzhong plain, Heluo area (Luoyang) and eastern Henan plain (Kaifeng, Anyang, Shangqiu, etc. ) The valley is the earliest political and economic center in China (Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties) and the most concentrated area of early cities in China.
Among these areas, Guanzhong Plain is one of the most influential areas for later generations. The Zhou Dynasty originated here, and the Qin Dynasty unified the world on this basis. The political center from Qin Dynasty to Song Dynasty is also here, and Chang 'an City is also here, from the beginning to the glory.
In 350 BC, under the auspices of Shang Yang, Qin placed Xianyang County under the jurisdiction of literature and history (county, first-class administrative region) and established Xianyang City as a new capital by the Weihe River in Weicheng District, Xianyang City.
Since its completion, Xianyang City has rapidly developed into a leading metropolis in the Warring States period with the help of the good development conditions in Guanzhong area and the rising national strength of Qin State. After Qin Shihuang unified the six countries, he moved the120,000 family of the six countries to Xianyang, making Xianyang the only and absolute center at that time.
What about Chang 'an at this time? Strictly speaking, there is Chang 'an at this time, but there is no Chang 'an City. According to the ancient book Sanfu Huang Tu, which records the geography and urban construction in Guanzhong area, there is Chang 'an Township under Xianyang County at this time, which is located on the south bank of Weihe River in the south of Xianyang City. When the Palace of Xianyang City was built in Qin State, Gong Li Xingle Palace was located in Chang 'an Town.
This Xingle Palace is just one of many palaces in the Qin Dynasty, but in a few decades, it will become a wedge that determines the fate of Chang 'an.
The glory of the Qin Dynasty is fleeting, and Liu Bang and the Han Dynasty he founded became the ultimate winners in the troubled times at the end of the Qin Dynasty, and this new winner is about to face the problem of establishing the capital. After discussion among his ministers, Liu Bang decided to make its capital in Guanzhong Plain.
But at this time, Xianyang in Qin Dynasty had already become a ruin in the war at the end of Qin Dynasty, and there was nothing left for Liu Bang in Qin king Palace. Only Xingle Palace, located in Chang 'an Township, escaped the war because it was far away from Xianyang City. From the perspective of saving manpower and material resources, or indeed at the beginning of the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang decided to use the palace left by the Qin Dynasty to make Chang 'an its capital.
So in the first 202 years, Liu Bang ordered Chang 'an Township to be promoted to Chang 'an County to replace Xianyang County in Qin Dynasty, and built Changle Palace on the basis of Xingle Palace, and Chang 'an City began to be built in Han Dynasty. Two years later, the Changle Palace was completed, the Han Dynasty officially moved its capital to Chang 'an, and Chang 'an officially entered the historical stage of China.
Second, the peak of Chang 'an
When Chang 'an City was first built in Han Dynasty, it was limited by national strength, and the scale of the city was not large, which was not outstanding compared with Luoyang City, Wancheng City and Linzi City in the Central Plains at that time. However, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, with the continuous expansion of the city, the restoration of the national strength of the Han Dynasty and the prosperity of the Silk Road trade, Chang 'an City quickly ushered in a highlight moment.
According to historical records, the largest number of residents in Chang 'an City in the Western Han Dynasty was 246,000, and the merchants' trade was prosperous. In the market, you can buy all kinds of goods from all over the country and even the western regions. There is a saying in Xidu Fu that "people can't be careless and cars can't spin".
▲ Ban Gu's "Xi Du Fu" depicts the prosperous scene of Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty for later generations.
However, it is worth noting that more than two-thirds of the area of Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty was occupied by palaces, government agencies and aristocratic mansions, and the city showed more of the image of a political center. As the capital of the unified dynasty, Xianyang in Qin Dynasty was only 14 years, while Chang 'an in Han Dynasty was the capital of the Western Han Dynasty in 2 10 years, and 200 years was enough to make this city a symbol of the unified country.
Just like this, Chang 'an City is closely linked with a unified country. Even if the Eastern Han Dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang, Chang 'an still has the same capital status as Luoyang, and it is called the West Capital. During the nearly 400 years of chaos in the Three Kingdoms, the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties, under the dual influence of the military importance of Guanzhong Plain and the extremely high political status of Chang 'an, Chang 'an became the focus of various forces' struggle and continued its political hegemony.
The real peak of Chang 'an was in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty was in disrepair for a long time, so it rebuilt the new capital Daxing City in the south of Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty. The area of this well-planned city reached 2.4 times that of Chang 'an in Han Dynasty, even larger than that of Beijing in Ming and Qing Dynasties thousands of years later 1.4 times.
After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Chang 'an remained its capital and its name was restored. Chang 'an also ushered in the city's most glorious era-the population exceeded one million, the world's first international metropolis, where Asian and European cultures converge, a modern person who is deeply rooted in the hearts of all China people, and a prosperous Chang 'an who can represent the peak of China's ancient dynasty.
Third, the prosperity of Chang 'an is dead.
But prosperity will come to an end, and Guanzhong Plain also has its own upper limit of development. For Guanzhong Pingyuan, the agglomeration effect brought by the capital of the unified dynasty is both a development opportunity and a great challenge.
The establishment of the capital will not only attract a large number of people, but also include a large number of people who are not engaged in agricultural production, such as nobles, bureaucrats, businessmen and so on. The food supply required by such a huge population far exceeds the natural carrying capacity of Guanzhong Plain, which, as the earliest large-scale agricultural development area in China, has no potential for large-scale development. Therefore, both Han and Tang dynasties needed to allocate a large amount of grain through grain transportation to supply the needs of Chang 'an.
At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Chang 'an City suffered from repeated wars and defeats in Guanzhong Plain, resulting in a large loss of population, and its natural carrying capacity began to decline due to long-term high-intensity development. For the regime after the Tang dynasty, the huge cost of rebuilding the city, opening the grain transportation and absorbing the population made it very uneconomical to rebuild the Guanzhong area.
▲ After the Anshi Rebellion, the status of Guanzhong Plain declined, the political center of gravity moved to the Central Plains, and the economic center of gravity moved to the south.
At the same time, due to the constant war in the north and the massive population moving south, the economic center of China gradually shifted to the Yangtze River basin, which also required the capital of the dynasty to be closer to the Yangtze River basin. Therefore, in the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty, the capital was the intersection of the Grand Canal and the Yellow River in Sui Dynasty, and the capital of the capital city of Bianliang, making water transportation more convenient. From then on, Chang 'an was no longer a real dynasty capital.
▲ Compared with Chang 'an, Luoyang and Zhangzhou can save a lot of water transportation costs.
During the Five Dynasties, Song and Yuan Dynasties, Chang 'an City still existed, leaving only a small town with an area only one sixteenth of that of Chang 'an City in Tang Dynasty, and Chang 'an County was also there, but it also lost its position as a King County. As the economic center of gravity moves south and the political center moves east, Chang 'an becomes less and less important.
Perhaps when people recall the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties, they will still think of it. Now Chang 'an is still the center of northwest China and the seat of administrative districts at all levels, but compared with other local centers, it has disappeared from everyone's field of vision.
Fourth, Xi 'an was born.
It was not until the Ming Dynasty that this thousand-year-old city was once again full of vitality. After the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty conquered Chang 'an, the administrative division of Shaanxi Province-Fengyuan Road-Chang 'an County set by the Yuan Dynasty was basically retained. However, Fengyuan Road was renamed xi 'an House in order to stabilize the northwest, and the provincial governance and government governance were still in Chang 'an City. Xi 'an House is the embryonic form of modern Xi 'an City.
Later, in order to prevent Mongolia from invading from the northwest, Zhu Yuanzhang made his second son Xi 'an the king of Qin, built a new Qin Gong in Chang 'an and expanded the city, thus forming the Xi 'an city wall that we see today.
▲ The present Xi 'an City Wall was built in Ming Taizu period.
At this time, Chang 'an City was not only the county seat of Chang 'an County and Xianning County (which was divided into Chang 'an County in Tang Dynasty), but also the capital of Shaanxi Province and the capital of Qin Wang 'an, and its urban status was improved to some extent.
After rest and recuperation since the Song Dynasty, the ecological environment in Guanzhong area has been restored to a certain extent, and the population has gradually filled up. Chang 'an, which has been silent for more than 400 years since the end of the Tang Dynasty, has finally become a prosperous big city.
But it was also from this period that people gradually began to call Xi Anfu City the city, perhaps because of the improvement of the status of prefecture-level administrative units. The original impression that "Xi Anzhou and Xianning County are both in Chang 'an City, the county seat of Chang 'an County" has gradually changed into "Chang 'an County and Xianning County are both in Xi 'an City, the capital of Xi 'an City; Gradually, the names of Xi City and Chang 'an City began to be confused among the people. Gradually, Xi 'an's name finally replaced Chang 'an.
Five, all roads lead to the same goal
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Xi 'an gradually replaced Chang 'an as the name of this city, but Chang 'an did not disappear. Although the city is called Anshi, it is also the residence of Anzhou and Shaanxi Province, but the jurisdiction of the city still belongs to Chang 'an County and Xianning County, and Anzhou and Shaanxi Province can't control anyone and anything except their own yamen in the city, and the city is still the county seat of Chang 'an County.
▲ The administrative division map of Guanzhong area in Qing Dynasty shows that Chang 'an County, Xianning County and Xi 'an Prefecture use ideal cities.
However, a division adjustment in the Republic of China completely separated Xi 'an from Chang 'an. In the early years of the Republic of China, Xianning County was merged into Chang 'an County, and the establishment of Xi 'an Anfu was abolished. For a time, Chang 'an County was restored to the original appearance of the Han Dynasty.
However, in 1928, the National Government set the county seat of Chang 'an County outside Chang 'an County and established Xi 'an City. Chang 'an County is still working in the city, but it has lost its jurisdiction over the city.
Although Xi 'an was revoked and returned to Chang 'an County two years later, under the background of 1939 Anti-Japanese War, the superior government moved the government of Chang 'an County out of the urban area on the grounds of avoiding bombing-Chang 'an County left the county for the first time since it was founded two thousand years ago, and completely lost its county.
Three years later, the National Government established Xi 'an City again, and its jurisdiction included the area of "Bahe River in the east, Fenghe River in the west, Qinling Mountain in the south and Weihe River in the north". The former county seat of Chang 'an County officially became Xi 'an City.
Xi installed the city, which can be said to be "robbing" the original county seat of Chang' an County, and Chang' an County had to build a new county seat in the south of the city. Strictly speaking, the new county built in Chang 'an County is a continuation of Chang 'an City, which is still there, but there is no wall, no obvious boundary with the surrounding environment, and it is not so obvious.
At the beginning of Xi 'an's establishment, it did not have a long relationship with Chang 'an County. Until 1958, Chang' an county was classified as xi' an by Shaanxi province, and the administrative relationship of "Xi' anfu-Chang' an county" appeared in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In 2002, Chang 'an County with a history of 2,204 years ushered in a new historical starting point. This year, Chang 'an County was divided into districts from the county, and it was under the jurisdiction of Xi City, which really became a part of Xi City. With the continuous construction of the city, the urban area of Xi 'an and the original county town of Chang 'an are also merged together, and there is no wall barrier. From this moment on, Xi is Chang 'an and Chang 'an is Xi.
▲ Today's Xi Chang 'an, Chang 'an District (red box range) is once again connected with its original county.
Chang 'an and Xi 'an have never been two administrative units at the same level, and the changes of Chang 'an and Xi 'an are also closely related to the changes of China's administrative division system. From the establishment of county system in Qin Dynasty to the establishment of township-level administrative units in New China, county has always been the most basic administrative division in China. At that time, cities were basically county towns. For example, Xianyang City in Qin Dynasty was the county seat of Xianyang County, and Chang 'an City was the county seat of Chang 'an County.
▲ Administrative division map of Guanzhong area in Qin Dynasty
As for the administrative units above the county level, except for the two-level system at the county level in the early Qin and Western Han Dynasties, all other dynasties adopted a three-level administrative system similar to "province-government-county".
For example, Chang 'an County also has such changes:
Jing Zhaoyin-Chang 'an County (early Han Dynasty),
"A captain-Jing-Chang 'an County" (Han),
Gyeonggi-Jingzhaofu-Chang 'an County (Tang),
"Shaanxi Province-Xi 'anzhou-Chang 'an County" (Ming and Qing Dynasties).
It can also be seen that today's prefecture-level Xi 'an City has experienced:
"Civil History (Qin Dynasty)-Jing Zhaoyin (Han Dynasty)-Jing Zhaojun (Three Kingdoms, Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui Dynasty)-Jing Zhaofu (Tang and Song Dynasties)-Fengyuandao (Yuan Dynasty) -Xi Anzhai (Ming and Qing Dynasties) -Xi Ancheng (up to now)"
It was formed by such a change, not by changing the name of Chang 'an.
In fact, most of today's prefecture-level cities, like Xi 'an, were established on the basis of the "government" in the Ming and Qing Dynasties during the Republic of China. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, even the jurisdiction of a government city was in the hands of the county to which it belonged. When a city was built in the Republic of China, it was often built by drawing out the counties where the government was located-for example, An took the county seat of Chang 'an County, which was ruled by the government, and Guangzhou and Hangzhou also took Panyu County, which was ruled by guangzhou fu, and Hangzhou County, which was ruled by Hangzhou.
▲ Today's Guangzhou is also developed on the basis of Panyu County, guangzhou fu.
Chang 'an has never left people's lives since Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang established Chang 'an. Today, it is impossible for Xi 'an to change its name to Chang 'an, and there is no need to change its name.
After thousands of years of historical changes, hundreds of cities have changed their names, but the names are just code names after all. For today's An, if it can inherit the heroic spirit and Tang rhyme, inherit the historical context of the city for thousands of years, and really shoulder the heavy responsibility of driving the development of the northwest region, it is Chang 'an. This Chang 'an is not in appearance, but in blood.
▲ Many historic sites, such as the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, are precious wealth left to Xi.