It is six times larger than the Forbidden City in Beijing
Han Chang'an City Weiyang Palace National Archaeological Site Park
Photo: Wang Xinmin
Han Chang'an City was the capital of the Western Han Empire (2nd century BC - 1st century AD) in ancient China, and was founded in 202 BC. Its site is located on a plateau south of the Wei River in the northwest suburb of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, south of the Qinling Mountains, west of the Soap River, and north of the Wei River.
Weiyang Palace is about 3 kilometers northwest of Xi'an City and about 2 kilometers north of the south bank of the Wei River, located at the highest point of Longshouyuan in the southwest to northeast direction where Han Chang'an City is located.
General plan of the ruins of Weiyang Palace
Statue of Han Gao Zu Liu Bang
In the fifth year of Emperor Gao(202 BC), Liu Bang sent Xiao He to build the Changle Palace. Two years later, the Changle Palace was built. In the seventh year of Emperor Gao (200 BC), Liu Bang began to build the official imperial palace, Weiyang Palace, which continued to be supervised by Xiao He. Xiao He's principle of Weiyang Palace construction is to reflect the "heavy prestige" of the emperor with the magnificence of its architecture. The requirement for the construction of the imperial palace is that "the order of death is added to future generations".
In the ninth year of Emperor Gao (198 BC), Weiyang Palace was built, and soon after, Gao Zu held a large state banquet in the front hall of Weiyang Palace and wished his father a happy birthday, but Gao Zu still used Changle Palace as the imperial palace.
After Liu Bang's death, his son Liu Ying took the throne, starting with Weiyang Palace as the imperial palace, and the Western Han Dynasty did not change its system. In the last years of Xinmang, Weiyang Palace suffered severe damage in the war. In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, although the Guangwu Emperor issued an edict to repair it, it was difficult to restore the grandeur of the past.
Weiyang Palace, as the most important palace in the capital of the Western Han Empire, was the power center of the Han Empire and was located in the southwest corner of the Han Chang'an City. With its grand scale, the large main hall in the center and various surrounding buildings, it highlights the urban cultural characteristics of the imperial power.
Shing mun. Xi'an Gate Ruins, Han Chang'an City has a total of 12 city gates, each wall has 3 city gates, Xi'an Gate is a city gate to the west of the southern city wall, because it is located in the west of Anmen and named.
Xi'an Gate has three doorways: East, Middle and West, of which the West Gate Road has been destroyed, and only the East Gate Road and the Middle Gate Road remain. The width of the east doorway and the middle doorway is 8 meters each, minus the position of the foundation stones on both sides, the actual width of the doorway is 6 meters each, and the depth is 19 to 20 meters. The rammed earth partition wall between the doorway is 14 meters wide, and on both sides of the doorway, many huge foundation stones are closely arranged.
Weiyang Palace is one of the largest palace complexes in ancient China, with a total area of six times the size of the Forbidden City in Beijing, pavilions and pavilions, landscapes and ponds, and listed among them, and its architectural form has profoundly influenced the architecture of the palace in later generations, laying the basic pattern of palace architecture in China for more than two thousand years.
"Shape victory" is the Han Chang'an City, but also the basic idea of weiyang Palace site selection, "shape victory" that is, the advantages of mountains and rivers and terrain are superior, which is convenient for military defense.
Weiyang Palace, the main palace of the Western Han Empire, the political center and national symbol of the Han Dynasty, was built in the seventh year of Han Gaozu (200 BC), built by Xiao He, a heavy minister of Liu Bang, and built on the basis of Qin Zhangtai.
Weiyang Palace is located on the Longshouyuan, the highest southwest corner of Han Chang'an City, because it is in the west of Changle Palace, which was also known as the West Palace in the Han Dynasty.
Since the completion of Weiyang Palace, the emperors of the Western Han Dynasty have lived here and become the government decree center of the Western Han Empire for more than 200 years, so in the poetry of later generations, Weiyang Palace has become synonymous with Han Palace.
Weiyang Palace as the administrative hub of the central government, many major historical events of the Western Han Dynasty have occurred here: Zhang Qian set out from here to open up the Silk Road; Beauty King Zhaojun came out here and pro-Huns; Zhao Feiyan also lived here.
In the ancient Chinese palaces before the Ming and Qing dynasties, Weiyang Palace occupied a special position. First, because it is the largest ancient Chinese palace, surpassing the famous Daming Palace, Xingqing Palace and Taiji Palace of the Tang Dynasty. Second, Weiyang Palace is an ancient imperial palace used by the emperors of the Seven Dynasties of the Western Han Dynasty, Former Qin, and Northern Zhou for hundreds of years, and was still being repaired during the Wuzong period of the Tang Dynasty (841), when Xiao He had built Weiyang Palace for more than a thousand years.
Gaotai architecture prevailed in the Warring States period, and some important palace buildings in Chang'an in the Western Han Dynasty inherited this tradition and were further developed in terms of architectural scale and skill. Weiyang Palace, represented by the former hall, Shiliang Pavilion, Tianlu Pavilion and Bailiangtai Pavilion, is a masterpiece in the ancient high-platform palace architecture in China.
The meaning of "Weiyang" is very simple, that is, there is no disaster, no disaster, containing the meaning of peace, longevity, eternal life and so on. The Han people liked to name it, reflecting the prevalence of social thought at that time in pursuit of immortality and longevity.
In the documents handed down from generation to generation and in the excavated documents and cultural relics, "Weiyang" mostly appears at the same time as "long live" and "extend life", including auspicious meanings. This is particularly evident in the Han Dynasty Wadang script, such as "Changsheng Weiyang", "Changle Weiyang", "Changle Weiyang Prolonging Life and Eternal Life", etc.
It also appears in a large number of bronze mirror inscriptions, such as "Sauvignon Blanc, No Forgetting, Chang Guifu, Le Wei Yang", "Long Live the Thousand Autumns, Long Live The Long Happiness, The Heart lovesick, Don't See and Forget" and so on. In addition, "Weiyang" is also one of the most commonly recorded names in Han Jian, as for "Hou" at the top and "slave" at the bottom, there are people with this name. It can be seen that in the Han Dynasty, "Weiyang" and "Changle" were the spoken Ji languages of all classes in the country.
In the seventh year of Zhenguan (633 AD), Emperor Taizong Li Shimin imitated Liu Bang, the ancestor of Han Gao, to set up a banquet at Weiyang Palace to wish his father Li Yuan a happy birthday. In the fifth year of Huichang (845 AD), Emperor Wuzong of Tang also restored 249 palaces in Weiyang Palace. Weiyang Palace became one of the most famous palace buildings in ancient China.
The front hall of Weiyang Palace is a "great dynasty", and there is an end gate in front. To the east of the hall there are two halls of Xuanming and Guangming, in the west there are two halls of Kunde and Yutang, and in the west of the hall there is also the Hall of the White Tiger, where Emperor Hancheng received the Xiongnu Shan Yu.
The ruins of the front hall, located slightly to the east of the upper part of Weiyang Palace, are the ruins of a group of high-rise buildings. The base of the front hall is about 415 meters long from north to south, and about 165 meters wide from east to west, and is divided into three levels from south to north, which are raised step by step, and the highest point in the existing north is about 20 meters above the ground.
Archaeological exploration shows that the foundation of the front hall was artificially added using the highlands of Longshou Mountain. There are 5 rammed earth foundation sites distributed from south to north on the foundation, of which 3 are large palace building sites, and 4 courtyards are formed between the rammed earth foundation sites.
The front hall is the main hall of the Weiyang Palace, which is fifty zhang long, fifteen zhang deep, and thirty-five zhang high, and all the emperors' ascension to the throne, wedding and funeral ceremonies, and court meetings are held here. The ruins of the Qiandian Temple are one of the largest, best-preserved and most representative gaotai palace architectural sites in the ancient Chinese capital.
The ruins of the front hall (Site No. 1), the front hall is the most important main building of Weiyang Palace, located in the middle of the whole palace, and other important buildings surround it. The base of the front hall is 350 meters long from north to south, 200 meters wide from east to west, high in the north and low in the south, and the highest point in the north is 15 meters above the present ground. The base site can be divided into three low, medium and high countertops from south to north.
Foundation stones in the ruins of the front nave
Ruins of house buildings in Area B of the Front Hall (East-West)
Ruins of houses in Area B of the Front Hall (North-South)
The ruins of the Pepper Room Hall (Site No. 2), the Pepper Room Hall is located on the north side of the front hall, is where the Queen lives, the reason why it was named the Pepper Room Hall, because the walls of the palace are painted with powder made of the flowers of the pepper tree, the color is pink, it has an aromatic taste, and it can protect the wooden structure of the palace, which has the effect of preventing moths.
The Ruins of the Central Government Office (Site No. 3), the site of a large enclosed courtyard building located 850 meters west of the ruins of the front hall, have unearthed a large number of bone sticks with written characters, judging from the contents, the main function of the building is to manage the county state workers.
Shaofu Ruins (No. 4 Site), a group of large-scale architectural complex sites, located 430 meters northwest of the Qiandian ruins, have unearthed a large number of relics such as the "Tangguan Drinking Supervision Chapter" sealed mud.
"Oizumi Fifty" coin
"Immortal Infinity" Wadang
According to the field (basic) survey of modern archaeologists, Weiyang Palace is nearly square, with a circumference of 8560 meters and an area of about 4.6 square kilometers.
On the east slope of the highest part of the ruins of the front nave, there is a bunker that is not known when it was built.
Han Chang'an City and Ancient Roman City represent the centers of the two great empires of the East and the West, and Weiyang Palace, as the decision-making place and headquarters of the Western Regions of Hantong, witnessed the origin of the Han Empire in actively seeking dialogue and exchanges and promoting the "Silk Road", a cultural route of long-distance transportation and exchanges for mankind.
Guided tour of the open area of Weiyang Palace Ruins Park
After the Western Han Dynasty, Weiyang Palace was still the administrative place of Xinmang, Western Jin, Former Zhao, Former Qin, Later Qin, Western Wei, Northern Zhou and other dynasties, and was also classified as part of the Forbidden Garden during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, which existed in 1041 and was the most used dynasty and the longest-existing imperial palace in Chinese history.
Here is the remains of a water canal, which is speculated by archaeology to be an open channel. After the nullah flows out of Cangchi, the main channel flows from south to north, flows out of Weiyang Palace, and then turns to the east, passing through Changle Palace and leaving the city.
The walls of the weiyang palace are built around the four sides of the palace, the width of the wall is 8-10 meters, the east and west palace walls are 2150 meters long, the south and north palace walls are 2250 meters long, and the circumference of the palace is 8800 meters. This is a remnant of the palace wall in the southwest corner of Weiyang Palace, layer by layer of rammed earth, clearly visible.
From the history books, it was found that Weiyang Palace had a total of major records of destruction, once in the fourth year (23 years) of the New Mangdi Emperor, and the first army invaded Chang'an and burned Weiyang Palace; The other time was in the third year of the Eastern Han Dynasty (192), when Dong Zhuo was accused of triggering a fierce war in Chang'an City, and Weiyang Palace was severely damaged; Another time was in the last year of the Tang Dynasty, when wars broke out frequently, the political center moved east, and Weiyang Palace was reduced to ruins.
Weiyang Palace restoration map, according to records, Weiyang Palace has Xuan room, Qilin, Jinhua, Chengming, Wutai, Hook Yi and other halls, as well as phoenix, Tongguang, Qutai, White Tiger, Yilan, Wuyuan and other pavilions more than 40, there are six hills and a number of pools, nearly 100 large and small portals, and changle palace also built a pavilion road communication.
On March 4, 1961, the ruins of Han Chang'an City (the front hall of Weiyang Palace) were announced by the State Council as the first batch of national key cultural relics protection units.
Weiyang Palace is the eastern starting point of the Silk Road, and on June 22, 2014, at the 38th session of unesco's World Heritage Committee in Doha, Qatar, the ruins of Weiyang Palace were served as the "Silk Road: Chang'an" for the three countries of China, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. A site in the road network of the Tian shan corridor was successfully inscribed on the World Heritage List.
Taken on November 3, 2021 in Weiyang Palace National Heritage Park, Han Chang'an City, Xi'an, and edited in Xi'an Wenjing Community on November 6 (some photos and texts are selected from the Internet, thanks to the author).
Author: Wang Xinmin
Editor-in-charge: Huang Sumei's "White Wave Love"