Xi'an is the capital city of Shaanxi Province, the largest city in the northwest region, and one of the central cities of the country. In 2018, the total economic volume of Xi'an reached more than 800 billion yuan, reaching a relatively high level, and even surpassed many provincial capitals in the central and southwest regions. After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, Xi'an lost its status as the capital of the empire. However, in the Ming and Qing dynasties, Xi'an became the first choice for moving the capital. So why is this a problem? Today, let's talk about this complex issue.
First, let's talk about xi'an's status. Xi'an is located in the core position of the Guanzhong Plain, which has fertile land and a large area of arable land, which has become the main reason why many dynasties chose to set the capital in Guanzhong. From the perspective of military defense, the Guanzhong area is also very perfect. The Guanzhong Plain can also be called the Guanzhong Basin because the surrounding geological structure of the Guanzhong Plain is very complex and easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was very difficult to attack the Guanzhong region from all directions, southeast, and northwest, thus ensuring the security of the imperial ruling center. Starting from the Western Zhou Dynasty, a series of dynasties and regimes such as Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang were all fixed in Guanzhong.
Among them, a total of thirteen regimes have set the capital of Xi'an. Before the establishment of the Song Dynasty, China's dynasties basically chose the capital between the two cities of Xi'an and Luoyang. Of course, the capital of Xi'an also has some practical problems. As the capital of the empire, it must have a large non-working population, and relying on the grain production in the Guanzhong region, it was no longer able to meet the consumption of the Jingshi. Therefore, it is often necessary to transfer grain from Taiyuan, Luoyang and other places. In view of the long period of grain transportation and the serious loss of the middle way, some dynasties directly chose to move the capital to Luoyang. For example, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, the capital of the empire was in Xi'an, but the emperor basically lived in Luoyang.
During the reign of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the climate changed dramatically, resulting in a reduction in grain production in the Guanzhong region, and even the varieties of crops changed. An important reason why the Sui Dynasty Emperor devoted his efforts to digging the Grand Canal was to alleviate the grain pressure in the north. At the end of Tang rule, large-scale peasant uprisings and warlord melee broke out, and both Xi'an and Luoyang were severely damaged. At the beginning of the establishment of the Song Dynasty, due to the economic decline, there was no ability to rebuild Luoyang and Xi'an, but chose to directly set the capital Kaifeng. After the Sui Dynasty Emperor excavated the Grand Canal, Kaifeng became a water and land hub city along the Grand Canal, responsible for the transfer of various materials, and the economy was very developed, similar to the current role and status of Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province.
After the Song Dynasty, none of the regimes of the dynasties chose Xi'an as their capital. After the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty, in order to take into account both the Central Plains and the northern grasslands, the Yuan Dynasty fixed the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, which is now Beijing. Since the location of the capital had changed, the route of the Grand Canal was subsequently changed. The Grand Canal no longer passes through Henan Province, much less shaanxi Province. After the Yuan Dynasty established the provincial system, Xi'an became the capital of Shaanxi Province. Note, however, that Xi'an still has a high status and is the largest city in the Northwest Region.
After the Ming Dynasty expelled the Yuan Dynasty forces, the capital was Nanjing. However, the founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang believed that Nanjing's location was too far south, which was not conducive to the administration of the northern region. What's more, in the face of the counterattack of the Northern Yuan regime, after the capital is Nanjing, the reaction speed of the Ming Dynasty may be relatively slow. Because, Zhu Yuanzhang sent the crown prince Zhu Biao to inspect the northern region and choose the location of the imperial capital. Zhu Biao has been in Kaifeng, Taiyuan, Luoyang, Xi'an and other places in the north for more than 1 year. In the end, Zhu Biao believed that the capital of Xi'an was the most suitable, because Xi'an itself had its own defensive attributes and was convenient for commanding garrisons throughout the northwest. But Zhu Biao ignored an important issue, that is, grain production and economic level.
With the sudden death of Zhu Biao, Zhu Yuanzhang was very sad and did not have the energy to continue to consider the issue of moving the capital. By the time of Zhu Yuanzhang's death, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was still in Nanjing. After the successful rebellion of Zhu Di, the King of Yan, he moved the capital to Beijing. Thus, the Ming Dynasty nominally had two capitals. Please note that the administrative divisions of many provinces in China were determined during the reign of the Ming Dynasty. For example, Henan Province, Shandong Province, Jiangxi Province, etc., were in the need of military defense, and the Ming Dynasty abolished Gansu Province and incorporated Gansu Province into Shaanxi Province. Thus, Shaanxi Province in the Ming Dynasty was basically equivalent to several provinces today.
In the mid-17th century, the Ming Dynasty, which was also facing internal and external troubles, collapsed. Subsequently, the Qing Dynasty outside Guanwai began to enter Guanguan on a large scale, and for more than 10 years, it established its rule over the provinces of the Central Plains. Before the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the capital was in Shengjing, which is now Shenyang. After entering the customs, the capital will be Beijing. In addition, coupled with the famous Chengde Palace, in fact, the Qing Dynasty had more than one capital. However, at the end of the Qing Dynasty's rule, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded the capital, and the Qing imperial family did not choose Shengjing and Chengde, but directly passed through Shanxi and fled to Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi Province.
Because it was not known when the Eight-Nation Alliance would withdraw, the Qing Dynasty began to discuss the issue of moving the capital, including Xi'an, Wuhan, Chengdu, Nanjing, and so on. Among them, Xi'an has the highest voice, because Xi'an has advantages in all aspects. However, with the smooth progress of the negotiations, the Eight-Power Alliance gradually withdrew, and the Qing Dynasty stopped the plan to move the capital. However, judging from the situation of the Ming and Qing dynasties, although Xi'an is not the capital, it is definitely one of the alternative cities for the capital. Once the capital had problems, Xi'an became the first choice for moving the capital. For various reasons, for more than 1,000 years after the Song Dynasty, Xi'an has not had the opportunity to become the capital. However, Xi'an is still the capital of Shaanxi Province and the largest city and national center in the northwest region.
In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in view of The importance of Xi'an in the northwest region, Xi'an was once promoted to a municipality directly under the central government. At that time, China had a total of more than 10 municipalities directly under the central government, and Xi'an City belonged to one of them. In the 1950s, with the stability of the national situation and the needs of economic development, Xi'an city became the capital city of Shaanxi Province again. For people in the northwest region, whether in terms of distance or economic strength, Xi'an is a target city for their own efforts. Xi'an is a very tolerant city, and you can almost hear the dialects of each region, such as Henan, Sichuan, and so on.