This Tang Dynasty princess is not simple, the "mansion" covers an area of 100,000 square meters, next to the best school

Elephant News reporter Zhao Yongtao Chen Zhengyi

On December 14th, the State Administration of Cultural Heritage "Archaeology china" major project important progress work meeting, reported that the project in Luoyang Zhengpingfang ruins in Henan Province is one of the important Lifang ruins in the Guochenglifang area of Luoyang City in the Tang Dynasty, and the literature records that the Tang Dynasty Confucius Temple, Guozijian, and Taiping Princess Residence (later changed to Anguo Female Taoist Temple) are located. What is the progress of the excavation of Zhengpingfang, and how was the residence of princess Taiping discovered? Elephant News reporters came to the excavation site of the site to unveil the mystery of Zhengpingfang.

The total area of the site is nearly 250,000 square meters, and the excavation area is only 1/10

In April 2020, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Luoyang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology formed a joint archaeological team to excavate the Zhengpingfang site. At present, it is determined that the site is 533.6 meters long from north to south, 464.6 meters wide from east to west, with a total area of nearly 250,000 square meters, and the square is divided into three parts: the western half square, the southeast district and the northeast district by the "D" shaped road.

Elephant News reporters saw at the excavation site of the site that the site with an area of 250,000 square meters was divided into two parts, north and south, and the entrance to the south side of the site was a line of tin houses, where archaeologists usually worked and lived.

The area being excavated can see neatly arranged square earth pits, Luoyang Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology researcher Wang Ju introduced, these pits are called exploration, in archaeological excavations are very common, Zhengpingfang in the exploration side of 10 meters long, an area of 100 square meters, has been planned 260 exploration parties, accounting for 1/10 of the entire site area.

Since the official buildings of the Tang Dynasty are basically symmetrical on the central axis, archaeologists can plan exploration parties on the central axis of each region, which can improve the probability of finding the remains.

Through excavations, three courtyards side-by-side in the southeast area were found, with north-south passages separating the courtyards, and there were pavilions (or buildings) at the northern end of the passage. The east road and middle road of the courtyard are three entrances, which are speculated to be the Confucius Temple and the Guozijian. In the northwestern region, five large rammed earth platforms were found on the central axis, distributed from south to north, surrounded by walls (or corridors).

Documentary records + archaeological excavations confirmed that the residential area of the Taiping Princess can reach 100,000 square meters

According to the Chronicle of Henan, "Zhengpingfang ... Tang had Confucius Temple, Guozijian... There is also the Anguo Female Taoist Temple, the residence of Princess Ben Taiping. Researcher Wang Ju introduced that the excavation of the Zhengpingfang site belongs to the archaeology of xinshi, that is, there are relevant records in the existing literary and historical data, "We speculated that there was a residence of Princess Taiping before excavation. ”

In the Tang Dynasty, Lifang was surrounded by a square wall, and there were generally cross streets inside, leading to the four gates of Lifang, but Zhengpingfang was different, the internal road was "D" shaped, and the western half of Zhengpingfang became one, which was the residence of the Taiping Princess. Among them, the east-west street in the square is about 10 meters wide, and the north-south street is about 8.7 meters wide, that is, the east wall of the Taiping Princess's residence encroaches on some roads, and the north wall of the house is 2.1 meters beyond the square wall, which is unimaginable in the Tang Dynasty, which is difficult to imagine in the Tang Dynasty, which is strict in the Lifang system, and also reflects the noble status of the Taiping Princess from the side.

The entire site covers an area of nearly 250,000 square meters, and the residential area of the Princess Taiping occupies the western half, with an area of more than 100,000 square meters, which is also much beyond the general residential regulations of the magnates.

The Guozijian and Confucius Temples in the ruins are of greater value for research

Researcher Wang Ju believes that the other two buildings besides the Taiping Princess Residence are more valuable for research, and experts speculate that they are the Guozijian and Confucius Temple in Luoyang in the Tang Dynasty.

Guozijian (国子監) was the central official school after the Sui Dynasty in ancient China and was the highest institution of learning in the ancient Chinese education system. In the first year of Wu De (618), The Tang Dynasty set up the Guozi School, with a school quota of 300 students, all of whom were the children of nobles and 24 teachers. In the first year of Zhenguan (627), Tang renamed Guozixue to Guozijian and became an independent educational administrative body.

Guozijian was the most important central official school in the Tang Dynasty, and the main purpose of running the school was to train officials for the state, so most of the students of Guozijian had to pass the selection examination to become officials. The basic process is to submit the name to the Guozijian, pass the examination and then send it to the Provincial Examination of the Ministry of Rites, and after passing, you must also participate in the quanxuan examination held by the official department, and only after passing can you officially become an official. Therefore, Guozijian was an important source of state officials in the Tang Dynasty, and its importance was self-evident.

The Confucius Temple was originally the Confucius Family Temple, because confucius was given political importance in many dynasties because of its importance in Chinese history and culture. Through the perfection of the Tang Dynasty, a model of sages and sages jointly worshipping Confucius was formed. The Confucius Temple sacrifice system has been fully operational so far, and the monarchy has achieved control over cultural authority through the collation and improvement of the ceremonial system, and the Confucius Temple sacrifice provides conditions for the centralization of imperial power through the educational platform.