When we think of Kaifeng, we must think that this is a thousand-year-old city. This was the most well-known metropolis in ancient times, and even in some dynasties it was the most prosperous city in the world. In the thousands of years of history of our country, there are too many ancient capitals in addition to Kaifeng. Like Chang'an, there was a grand situation of the Wanyi Dynasty. There are also Luoyang and Yangzhou are also among the ranks of the ancient capitals. But today we will talk about Kaifeng, the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty.
The most prosperous city during the Tang Dynasty was Chang'an, and Luoyang was only built during the Wu Zetian period. But at the end of the Tang Dynasty, both cities began to decline, because we know that the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty was built in Kaifeng, and the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty was built in Hangzhou. The regime was built in these two places, and naturally it gradually declined. However, we can glimpse the prosperity of Kaifeng at that time in the "Qingming River Map" that has been handed down.
Kaifeng, also known as "Bieliang", once had 8 dynasties choose to build a capital in this city, a proper thousand-year-old capital. In fact, as early as the Xia And Shang period, this ancient city was deeply valued, and many local governments chose this treasure land, but the title of "汴" was changed to "汴" in the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and later in the Five Dynasties period, many dynasties chose to build the capital here, and it was during this period that Bieliang gradually replaced luoyang, Chang'an and other large cities. To become the economic center of the whole country and even the world.
When we were in school, we all learned that our country was constantly in war from the end of the Tang Dynasty until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and the original Chang'an and Luoyang were the strongholds of the Tang Dynasty. These small countries are naturally unwilling or dare not move the nest of others, so they turn their attention to the beams that can be attacked and retreated. It just so happens that this place is beautiful, the terrain is flat, and the surrounding area is full of developed transportation. Such a place was suitable for the rulers to establish a capital, and it was also convenient to rule the rest of the country, and Bieliang became the best choice for the emperors.
In fact, it was the Northern Song Dynasty that really carried forward the state and built it into a world metropolis. At that time, Zhao Kuangyin's yellow robe was added to his body, and the Northern Song Dynasty was established. He set his capital in Kaifeng, and various constructions followed suit. Don't look at the Song Dynasty, which did not unify the whole country in the history of our country, and was often bullied by those minority regimes to pay reparations. But the truth is that the Northern Song Dynasty is only weak in military strength, and the economy of others is also one of the best in so many dynasties in China, and it can even be said that it is one of the most developed dynasties in China's history. Although the Song Dynasty was militarily weak, the rulers were very stable internally, because the Song Dynasty had always emphasized literature over military force, and was quite rich. Under the management of the Song Dynasty, the prosperity of the Song Dynasty reached its peak during the Chongning period, and Kaifeng was naturally the first most prosperous city in the world at that time.
In the "Map of the Upper River of the Qingming Dynasty", the living conditions of the people of Kaifeng at that time were truly recorded. People's lives are rich and stable, all walks of life live and work in peace and contentment, and business is extremely developed. Our current "night market and morning market" began to develop in the Song Dynasty, and even some emperors of the Song Dynasty were very fond of night markets. The curfew was also broken in the Song Dynasty, and people could walk around the night market until the early morning hours, and then they could continue to visit the morning market, which showed the economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty. At that time, the life of the people of the Song Dynasty was also colorful, and compared with today, there may be no Internet, and people's entertainment projects and nightlife may be even more exciting than we are today.
But after the Song Dynasty, to be precise, after the Northern Song Dynasty, as China's economic center gradually moved south, coupled with the Southern Song Dynasty set the capital in Hangzhou, Kaifeng was lonely, although the skinny camel was bigger than the horse, but Kaifeng gradually lost its former prosperity. Later, the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty, and the Qing Dynasty all chose to set the capital in Beijing, and even our new China also set the capital in Beijing.
Today's Kaifeng is located in the middle of our motherland, located in Henan Province, which is indeed inconvenient for the whole country to radiate Kaifeng, and the infrastructure and economic development of Kaifeng are indeed not qualified to become the capital. Not only that, today's Kaifeng is only a prefecture-level city in Henan Province, and even Henan is the provincial capital. From the world-class metropolis in ancient times to today's third- and fourth-tier cities and even second-tier cities can not be evaluated, gradually becoming the ancient city in people's hearts, rather than synonymous with prosperity. It can be seen that history is floating and sinking, and the big waves are sandy.
However, such an ancient capital of the Eight Dynasties still has rich tourism resources, and the historical background is not generally thick. It gave birth to the "Song culture" of the Upper Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, the Lower Qiyuan, the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and it can even be said that Kaifeng is synonymous with the Song Dynasty to some extent. This ancient city is almost a witness to our Chinese culture, and has a history of more than 4,000 years. We are also fortunate to live in today's country, in our country has the ability to protect this ancient city and the precious historical heritage left to us by the ancestors, as future generations we should understand the changes of this ancient city, a copy of the "Eight Dynasties Ancient Capital", you deserve it!