Sui-Tang Chang'an (A.D. 582-904)
Date
1988
Authors
Xiong, Cunrui
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Abstract
Sui-Tang Chang'an was the capital of Sui-Tang China from AD 582 to 904.
With a population of over one million in the 8th and 9th centuries, and with a walled area
of 84 square km, it was then the largest city in the world.
It has been widely accepted in the academic world that Sui-Tang Chang'an was
built under the influence of non-Chinese cultures. My research, however, shows that not
only such influence was non-existent, but the planning of the city followed the
Confucian canonical prescriptions more faithfully than any of its predecessors. This
thesis goes on to survey the various aspects of Chang'an, focusing on the palace
complexes, the central and local administrations, ritual centres, marketplaces and the
business community, residential wards and foreign residents, monastic institutions,
recreational activities, and the final destruction of the city.
Chang'an itself was presumably "governed" by the Metropolitan Prefecture and
its two subordinate urban county administrations: Chang'an and Wannian. But the
power of these officials was largely eclipsed by that of central government
The emperor and his entourage lived in the three spacious palaces in the northern
part of the city while the central government organs were concentrated in the Imperial
City. The residential areas, where the overwhelming majority of the populace lived,
designed, in accordance with the time-honoured ward system, which reached its apogee
in Sui-Tang Chang'an with 110 symmetrically laid out wards rigidly governed by
curfew hours. But as time went on, the system gradually broke down under the
influence of burgeoning business activities, which spilled over from the markets into the
residential areas of the city. Hand in hand with commerce, religion thrived with
Buddhism and Taoism predominating, but various minor foreign cults were introduced
via Chang'an's considerable population of foreign residents from the steppe lands,
Central and Western Asia.
Entrepreneurs, merchants, scholars, entertainers, and soldiers all participated in
an urban culture that was increasingly characterized by commercialism, while foreigners
with their exotic trades and religions contributed to a prevailing cosmopolitan
atmosphere.
To examine Sui-Tang Chang'an in perspective, parallels are made with earlier
and later capitals in China, including Han Chang'an, Han-Wei Luoyang, Northern Wei
Luoyang, Bian and Hangzhou, and occasional references are made to such Western
cities as Rome, Constantinople, Cordova and others.
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