On December 16-22, 2021, Yuelu College invited Professor Nancy S. Steinhardt of the University of Pennsylvania to give a series of lectures on "The Chinese Capitals Beyond the Chinese Capital" in the form of an online Tencent conference. Professor Xia Nanxi is a professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, a curator of Chinese art at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1981, taught at Bryn Mawr College from 1981 to 1982, and joined Penn in 1982 and has been teaching ever since. He has published "Chinese Architecture: A History" (2019), "Liao Architecture" (1997), "Chinese Imperial City Planning" (1990) and other books, published more than 100 academic articles, and participated in more than 400 public lectures and conferences. It enjoys a high reputation in the field of architectural history research in China and even East Asia.
Professor Xia Nanxi
The lecture series revolves around the theme of "The Capital City of China Beyond the Capital of China", extending vertically from the early city site of the Hinterland of China in the Neolithic Era to the capital of the Yuan Dynasty and today's Beijing City, spanning the history of Chinese civilization for 5,000 years; at the horizontal level, it transcends the capital city system of the Central Plains Han Dynasty, and extensively explores its extensive impact on china's frontier regions, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and other East Asian worlds, as well as Mongolia, Russia and other northern steppe regions and the Central Asian world, spanning thousands of miles of mountains and rivers, reflecting the grandeur and global vision. It has attracted the continuous attention of more than 1,000 online audiences, including universities and social figures at home and abroad, and triggered great academic repercussions.
The first lecture of Professor Xia Nanxi's lecture series, "From the City Wall to the Great Capital", was presided over by Associate Professor Deng Guojun of Yuelu Academy, who has made great achievements in the field of pre-Qin city sites and spatial concept research, and was held online on December 16, 2021 at 8:00 pm. Starting from the ruins of the city walls, this lecture will explore the development of China's capital. First of all, Professor Xia basically sorted out the main city walls and sites from prehistory to the early Shang period in China in chronological order, such as the Banpo Ruins of Xi'an in Shaanxi, the Chengtoushan Ruins in Lixian County, Hunan, the Liangzhu Ancient City in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, and the Shimao Ruins in Yulin, Shaanxi, etc., and pointed out that their settlements and urban structures were from simple to complex, and gradually reflected the development process of centripetalism, orderliness and more clear functional zoning. Professor Xia Nanxi systematically analyzed the symbolic nodes, spatial relations, internal and external order, and hierarchical order, and paid special attention to the importance of the city wall or moat, which has an important compartmentalized attribute, in the ancient Chinese urban tradition. Secondly, Professor Xia Nanxi focused on the development of cities, especially capitals, during the Xia Shang Zhou period. In the process of analyzing the foundation sites of The First and Second Buildings of Erlitou, Professor Xia particularly suggested the structural characteristics of the quadrilateral of such building sites, and noticed the structural characteristics of the front porch of the two-column parallel standing. In her analysis of the Yanshi Corpse Township Mall in Henan, she specifically suggested the moats in such cities and pools, as well as the layout characteristics of the square cloisters and atriums in the palace building area, reflecting the spatial design concept of early Chinese capitals. Third, the excavation of the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan Province, is of great significance for us to understand the functional zoning layout of the royal residential area, the aristocratic residential area and the handicraft area in the capital city in the late Shang Dynasty. It is worth noting that Professor Xia did not analyze the layout of the Shang Dynasty capital in isolation, but compared it with other early city sites in Europe, Africa, Central America, and Southeast Asia, and summarized the characteristics of early urbanization in ancient China.
In the analysis of the capital cities of the Zhou Dynasty and the capitals of various princely states during the Western Zhou and Eastern Zhou (Spring and Autumn and Warring States) periods, Professor Xia focused on the ruins of the Pre-Zhou Dynasty in Qishan, Luoyang, the ancient city of Qufulu, the qidu in Linzi, the yanxiadu in Beijing, the handan in Zhao in Hebei, and the houma in Shanxi, etc., and summarized them into single cities and twin cities according to the difference in the situation of the city wall encirclement. In the Zhou Dynasty, Professor Xia also paid great attention to the distribution pattern of ceremonial buildings such as the Zhongzong Temple in the capital, and also mentioned the floor plan of the tomb planning of the King of Zhongshan, the "Zhaoyu Map". Finally, Professor Xia analyzed the situation of the capital cities of Xianyang, Chang'an and Luoyang during the Qin and Han Dynasties, and explored the geographical distribution of major urban elements such as miyagi, imperial city, market and ceremonial architecture. For example, in her analysis of Chang'an in the Western Han Dynasty, she combined Song Minqiu's "Chang'an Zhi", Yang Shoujing's "Water Commentary", Li Haowen's "Chang'an Zhitu", "Chang'an County Chronicle" and other documents, put forward the proposition that Han Chang'an City did not follow the principles of capital planning formulated in the "Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji", and questioned the academic circles' "Big Dipper" and "Nandou" theory about the direction of Chang'an City Wall. With the completion of ceremonial buildings in the southern suburbs such as the Ming Hall, Peiyong and Jiumiao in the late Western Han Dynasty, the ceremonial axis of the southern extension of Chang'an was gradually established. More importantly, it extended from Chang'an to the north and east respectively, to the so-called Shuofang (present-day Hetao region of Inner Mongolia) in the Han Dynasty and the Jieshi Palace in the southern part of the Shandong Peninsula. Extending west and south from the central point of Han Chang'an, it can also reach Kunlun and yangtze river where the legendary Queen Mother of the West resides, in order to determine the core position of her son of heaven in the center. It is worth noting that in terms of the proportion of the urban area occupied by miyagi and the population of the capital, several palaces in Chang'an in the Western Han Dynasty occupied most of the area in the city; Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty was reduced to the southern and northern second palaces connected by the fudao, and the population of the capital city was twice that of Chang'an in the Western Han Dynasty. At this time, the local central cities represented by Chengdu in the Eastern Han Dynasty also gradually developed, forming a unique local architectural style. In short, Professor Xia Nanxi combined a large number of archaeological data and used relevant knowledge in the field of urban planning to present the evolution trend of the spatial layout of major cities from the pre-Qin to Qin and Han dynasties, and proposed the transformation of Qin and Han in the process of urban development in ancient China.
The second lecture, "The Capital City of China from North to South (200-600)", was presided over by Pu Xuanyi, a teacher from the History Department of Yuelu Academy who is engaged in the study of the history of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and was conducted online at 9:00 p.m. on December 19, 2021. The lectures specifically introduced the basic principles and visual characteristics of the capital planning of the Three Kingdoms of China to the Southern and Northern Dynasties in chronological order and the division of the north and south. Specifically, during the Three Kingdoms period, Professor Xia Nanxi described cao wei yicheng (曹魏邺城) (present-day Linzhang County, Hebei) and Luoyang city in more detail, and compared the three cities of Yicheng with the jin yongcheng of Luoyang. In terms of similarities, both Yecheng Santai and Jin Yongcheng are located in the northwest corner of the capital, with distinct defensive characteristics and military fortress nature; in terms of specific differences, Yecheng Santai is located outside the walls of Yecheng, and Luoyang Jinyongcheng is located inside the city. Another important feature of the layout of Northern Yicheng during the Cao Wei period was the juxtaposition of the two axes of Miyagi and Yaju District. The characteristics of this dual-axis pattern also extended to Luoyang of Cao Wei and Luoyang of the Western Jin Dynasty. At the time of this dispute between the three kingdoms, alongside the Cao Wei capitals of Yicheng and Luoyang, the capitals of the Shu Han Dynasty, Chengdu and the capital of the State of Wu, Wuchang and Jianye (present-day Nanjing, Jiangsu) were also established. In terms of the layout of the capital city, Chengdu and Jianye did not follow the model of Cao Wei Yecheng, but combined their surrounding environmental characteristics, especially the characteristics of the water system, to form a capital city pattern with their own characteristics. In particular, the Wu capital Jianye continued to serve as the capital of the Eastern Jin Dynasty after the Eastern Jin Dynasty moved south, and gradually developed from a single-weight city wall of the Wu State and a double city wall in the Eastern Jin Dynasty to a triple city wall of the Liang Dynasty, reflecting the imitation of the northern capital, especially Luoyang: if the name of the Suzaku refers to the Imperial Road, some of the city gates are also the same as the Wei and Jin Luoyang. From the Two Han Dynasties to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the general development trend of China's capital cities was from a multi-palace system and a two-palace system to a single palace system. Miyagi's location also gradually stabilized in the center of the capital, or at the northern end of the central axis.
By the time of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Professor Xia Nanxi keenly observed many similar layouts and structures in regional capitals such as Gansu, Henan, Jiangsu, and Sichuan. The reconstruction of Yecheng and Chang'an City in the later Zhao Shile and Shihu periods further developed the pattern of the northern capital palace and the axis of the Imperial Palace, and the Yecheng rebuilt by Shi Le actually formed five parallel axis architectural complexes. Located in present-day Jingbian County, Shaanxi Province, the capital of the Xia Kingdom, Wancheng was built by Helian Bobo, and is said to have adopted harsh quality control methods, which were very strong and strong, and still retain a large number of remains of the city wall and building foundation. After the Northern Wei Dynasty conquered this area, the Tongwan City was gradually abandoned, but the ruins were still relatively intact. It is worth noting that in Zhangye, Gansu, there was also a capital city established in strict accordance with the system of five parties and five elements, and the green, red, white and black occupied the four directions of east, south, west and north respectively, corresponding to the four seasons of March, June, September, December and spring, summer, autumn and winter, reflecting the characteristics of high order and etiquette, similar to the Mingtang system of the pre-Qin and Han dynasties. In order to enable the audience to understand the external form of such capitals, Professor Xia used the excavation of pottery towers from tombs in the Hexi area to explain them more intuitively. On the whole, during the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there were three types of capital cities in China, one was located in the center, one was located in the north, and the other was such as Tongwancheng, which had the nature of a fortress, and a large number of cattle and sheep for the city's residents to eat were located in the city.
As a result, Professor Xia Nanxi extended his perspective to the Goguryeo regime active in northeast China and the northern part of the Korean Peninsula during this period, and introduced and analyzed in more detail the spatial layout and archaeological findings of ji'an domestic cities, Marudu mountain castles, and three mountain castles near Pyongyang, located in present-day Jilin, Liaoning, and northern Korea. In her view, Ji'an Domestic City and Marudu Mountain Castle are all models of using mountain terrain and adapting to local conditions, showing an irregular city wall form. The fifth-century Goguryeo capital, located near the present-day capital of Korea, Pyongyang, can also be divided into different parts, such as the inner castle, the middle castle, the outer castle, and the north city. However, these four cities are not a ring-like structure of layers, but a trend of gradual expansion along a one-way or two-way gradual expansion from a small area. The shape of the small town with only 500 meters square is very regular, and it is probably modeled after The Chinese Palace Castle.
As for the Northern Wei Dynasty, After a brief account of his old capital, Sheng Le, Professor Xia Nanxi mainly discussed the construction of the capital of Pingcheng (平城, in present-day Datong, Shanxi) and the discovery of nearby grottoes and excavated tombs, and also touched on Luoyang, where Emperor Xiaowen moved the capital. As far as the spatial pattern of the daido Shengle is concerned, there is a great similarity between it and the Goguryeo Royal City; the tombs of the Tuoba nobles excavated near Shengle also depict scenes of their horseback shooting. From Shengle to Pingcheng, the Northern Wei Dynasty gradually transformed from a steppe nomadic regime into a medium-prototype empire. More Confucian ceremonial buildings such as the Ming Hall, which have the characteristics of central plains politics and culture, also began to be built in Pingcheng. Compared with the previous capitals, the most important new landscape in the Northern Wei capital is the construction of the pagoda, as exemplified by the Yongning Temple Pagoda in Luoyang. Outside the capital, the Fangshan Siyuan Floating Map in the northeast of Pingcheng, the Yungang Grottoes in the west of Pingcheng, and the Longmen Grottoes in the southwest of Luoyang in Northern Wei all show the important position of Buddhism at that time. From the time of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the proportion of Miyagi's land area in the entire capital was even smaller. Between the inner city and the outer Guocheng wall, a large number of uniform inner squares appeared. This checkerboard-style capital layout model, which was also inherited by the Sui and Tang dynasties Chang'an and Luoyang, became one of the main features of China's so-called "medieval capital". At the end of the lecture, Professor Xia also briefly talked about the capital of Eastern Wei and Northern Qi after the division of Northern Wei, Yicheng (邺南城), and Chang'an, the capital of Western Wei and Northern Zhou, and sorted out some important architectural, archaeological and artistic remains of this period, such as the Xiangtangshan Grottoes, the ruins of the Zhao Pengcheng Buddhist Temple in Yicheng, the Yici Huizhu in Hebei, the tomb of LouRui of Northern Qi in Taiyuan, and the tomb of Xu Xianxiu. In general, although Professor Xia's lecture is called "The Capital City of China from North to South", it mainly focuses on the capital city in the north during this period, and involves less about the south. She widely used the archaeological materials of the capital and tombs, referred to the records of the historical materials such as the "Record of Examination Workers", and enhanced the audience's understanding and grasp of the characteristics and evolution trends of the so-called "medieval capital city" during the Three Kingdoms and the Two Jin Dynasties through the presentation of a large number of intuitive and vivid maps, photos and floor plans.
The third lecture, "Tang Dynasty Model and The Restoration Capital System", was presided over by Associate Professor Xie Yifeng, who has recently paid much attention to the planning and architectural space of the capital in the Middle Ages and related research results, and was held online at 9:00 p.m. on December 20, 2021. Professor Xia Nanxi focused on the analysis of the development model of the capital city of the Tang Dynasty, and conducted an in-depth discussion on the restoration of the capital system, and then included the capital cities of the same model in the world, especially in East Asia. She first reviewed the development of the more representative capitals of the Tang Dynasty (Pingcheng, Yicheng, Luoyang, etc.), and then focused the discussion on the Sui and Tang Dynasties Chang'an. In the Tang Dynasty, merchants from the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Sogdia and Persia flocked to chang'an, Luoyang, Yangzhou and Guangzhou, which became international metropolises where Hu merchants gathered. As far as the capital form of The Sui and Tang Dynasties Chang'an is concerned, it is generally square, but it is broken by Qujiangchi and Daming Palace in the southeast and northeast directions, forming an irregular polyline. The inner squares in the city are like chessboards, dividing the huge capital into relatively independent spaces, and specific groups of people live in specific squares. The characteristics of Miyagi castle in the north still continue the tradition of the Northern Dynasty; the imperial city's yaju district is located directly south of Miyagi Castle, continuing the layout characteristics of Northern Wei Luoyang, and does not form a dual-axis pattern. The low terrain of Taiji Palace was not conducive to the health of the emperor, so after Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong of Tang, he built Daming Palace in Longshouyuan, in the northeast corner of Chang'an City. Over the past few decades, archaeologists have excavated important building sites such as The Hanyuan Hall, the Linde Hall, the Sanqing Hall, and the Danfeng Gate in the Daming Palace ruins area. As the main hall of Daming Palace, Hanyuan Hall is located on a towering platform, reflecting the magnificent atmosphere of the Tang Dynasty; the Sanqing Hall has the nature of a Taoist palace to a certain extent, undertaking The taoist ritual function, reflecting the tendency of the Tang Dynasty to respect the Tao and the old. After Emperor Xuanzong of Tang ascended the throne, he expanded his residence to Xingqing Palace, with Longchi in the center. The Huaqing Palace and Renshou (Jiucheng) Palace, located on the outskirts of Chang'an, also reflect the extension of imperial power around Chang'an. Unlike Chang'an, Luoyang's Palace City was not located on the middle road, but was located in the northwest of the capital. The entire urban space of Luoyang in the Sui and Tang dynasties is also divided on both sides of Luoshui, unlike Luoyang in Northern Wei, which is all located north of Luoshui. From this point of view, although the capital planning of The Sui and Tang Dynasties Chang'an and Luoyang reflected the continuation of the Northern Dynasty to a certain extent, it also showed its own characteristics, and to a certain extent broke through the inherent paradigm of the Northern Dynasty capital. In addition, she also made a brief analysis of Yangzhou in the Tang Dynasty, which owned the sub-cities and Luocheng, highlighting its important position and the characteristics of the gathering of merchants.
Second, Professor Xia set his sights on Japan, which had close ties with the Tang Dynasty, and conducted a detailed analysis of its capital cities of the Asuka, Nara, and Heian periods. At this time, Japan underwent quite dramatic changes, that is, gradually shifted from the multi-capital system to a single capital system, forming a series of important capitals represented by Fujiwara Kyo, Heijo Kyo, Nagaoka Kyo, and Heian Kyo. In Fujiwara Kyo, the capital of the Asuka period, Miyagi castle was not located on the north side of the capital city like the Miyagi of the Northern and Tang Dynasties, but was located in the center. As far as the capital of the Nara period, Nara, a more standard square area was formed, but there was no complete city wall. At this time, the Japanese capital still had two independent parallel axes of Miyagi and Yaju, rather than forming a single axis of Miyagi and Yaju as in Luoyang of Northern Wei and Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty. This makes people lament that although the Japanese Asuka and Nara periods were about the same as the early Tang Dynasty, they were imitated by the earlier Chinese capitals of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. The above observations and analyses pose a certain degree of challenge to our assumption that the Japanese capital should have fully emulated the Tang system. In terms of Tang-style architecture inside its capital, the Horyu-ji Temple and Todaiji Temple in Japan provide an important reference for us to understand Tang Dynasty architecture.
Finally, Professor Xia analyzed the phenomenon of fudu in East Asia, and explained the urban form and related problems of the Bohai Wujing, Liao Wujing, Jinliujing and other multi-capital systems one by one, emphasizing the continuous influence of the Tang Dynasty capital on the surrounding areas and later dynasties. In her opinion, the Five Capitals of bohai cannot be simply traced back to the tradition of the Central Plains Han Dynasty, and Goguryeo also had a multi-capital system. Archaeological excavations of the Bohai Kingdom Shangjing Buddhist Temple site, in its column network structure similar to the Tang Dynasty Foguang Temple East Hall, are both internal and external trough structures, reflecting the Bohai State's architectural style of the continuation of the Tang Dynasty regulations. Subsequently, Professor Xia turned his perspective to the Mongolian Plateau and the Western Regions to the north and west of the Tang Dynasty, and systematically reviewed the history of the Western Turk Khaganate, the Eastern Turk Khaganate, the Uighur Khaganate and the Tubo Empire, especially the site of Tingzhou City, which was rich in archaeological excavations, and in the form of its Que Gate, the city used the style of Han-style architecture (three out of the Que) to highlight the characteristics of its city gate. The remains of Chinese roofs, tiles and other architectural components of the Uighur Khaganate and the frescoes inside the tomb also reveal to a certain extent its imitation of the Han-style architecture of the Central Plains, reflecting the radiation and influence of the Tang capital and architectural style in the Mongolian plateau and the so-called "Inner Asia" region. In the Liao Dynasty's Shangjing, Tokyo, Nanjing, Zhongjing and Xijing, Shangjing Linhuangfu was first established, divided into the imperial city in the north and Seoul in the south, reflecting the layout of the two cities; Liaoning Nanjing is located in today's Beijing city, and Miyagi is located in the southwest of the capital, which has not yet been well explained. Today, the Tianning Temple Pagoda in Beijing's Xicheng District is still a remnant of the buildings that continue to this day in the Liaoning Nanjing era. There are the Liao Dynasty, Buddhism Changlong, there is the saying that "Liao is to release waste", the Zhongjing Pagoda, which was re-installed in the Qing Dynasty and basically maintained the Liao Dynasty system, and the Huayan Temple and Shanhua Temple in Xijing (present-day Datong, Shanxi), show the charm of Liao-style Buddhist architecture and its continuity relationship with Tang-style architecture. As for the Shangjing HuanglongFu of the Jin Dynasty, it is also a form of two cities, reflecting the imitation of Liao Shangjing; the Jinzhong Capital was expanded on the basis of Liao Nanjing.
In the course of the lecture, Professor Xia Nanxi combined literature and a large number of archaeological data to demonstrate the spatial layout of the city, and fully paid attention to the mutual confirmation and tension between the documentary records and the archaeological data. What is slightly surprising is that in the course of the whole lecture of the third lecture, Professor Xia did not focus on chang'an and Luoyang, the most prominent capitals of the Sui and Tang dynasties, and gave a detailed and in-depth analysis, but instead sorted out the Han-style city sites in the surrounding areas of the Tang Dynasty and the continuation and development of the so-called fudu system in the Bohai, Liao, and Jin dynasties for a long period of time and a large space, reflecting the profound meaning of his research on "the Chinese capital beyond the Chinese capital".
The fourth lecture, "Chinese Cities in the 1220s-1360s," was moderated by Associate Professor Feifei Wong, who studied the history of the Song and Yuan dynasties, especially the history of Buddhism in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and was conducted online at 9 p.m. on December 22. The theme of the lecture is the Chinese cities of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. Professor Xia Nanxi first briefly introduced the expansion process of the Mongol Empire, and briefly introduced the city sites such as Karahot. It is particularly noteworthy that she also quoted a map from the Yuan Dynasty book Shi lin Guangji to analyze the people's understanding of the territory of the Mongol Empire, noting the slightly exaggerated depiction of the Great Wall in the map. Although this depiction of the Great Wall largely inherits the tradition of the Song Dynasty, the great wall at this time is no longer the boundaries of the opposing regimes, but different regions of the unified Mongol Empire. The Mongol Empire expanded from the steppe, and in a relatively short period of time, through the efforts of three generations of monarchs, Genghis Khan, Wokoutai Khan and Möngke Khan, developed into a huge empire that accounted for one-half of the territory of the Asian continent, and later divided into the so-called four khanates, with Hala and Lin (or simply Helin) as the capital of the early Mongol Empire.
First, let's look at Helin. Today's Helin ruins have been submerged in the vast grassland, and a Tibetan Buddhist monastery has been built on the site of the former main hall. According to the descriptions of Western missionaries, there was a "tree"-like device in the Helin Palace at that time, and different kinds of drinks flowed out of the branches of the "tree" in different directions. This design is probably from the hands of European craftsmen. The layout of the main hall is reminiscent of the Church of Santinis in Europe. At this time, the capital of the Mongol Empire and the forest became the meeting place of Eastern and Western architectural styles. At this time, on the Mongolian plateau, the Chinese architectural style also left many traces, and a large number of Chinese-style tiles and coins are now stored in the National Museum of Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, which clearly reflects the influence of the Han Chinese style in the Central Plains on this area. In Helin City, a large building with seven rooms in width and seven rooms in depth also attracted the attention of Professor Xia Nanxi. According to her deduction, this is most likely a "pavilion" similar to the Great Compassion Pavilion of Longxing Temple in Zhengding, Hebei. Another possibility is the square hall (Tso Chin Hall), which is quite common in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries today.
The second thing to analyze is the meta capital. There is a record of Shangdu in marco polo's travels; in the pen of the English Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Shangdu is the mysterious and beautiful "Shenadu" in his heart. Judging from the archaeological plan of Yuan Shangdu drawn at the end of the last century to the beginning of this century, Shangdu is also divided into miyagi, imperial castle and outer castle triple wall, miyagi castle is surrounded by corner towers, seven gates of the outer castle, running through the east-west main street and the north-south street leading to the center of the capital city in a ninety-degree intersection, forming a T-shaped skeleton. The prominent building located at the intersection of the central street of the capital is a multi-storey Han-style pavilion, Daan Pavilion. In Marco Polo's Travels, mysterious buildings such as the Crystal Hall are also described; Zhou Boqi focuses on a temple of incense with a magical smell. The architectural landscape of Buddhist monasteries and other religions outside the city shows the Mongol Empire's tolerance for multiple religions. The Han chinese bureaucrat Liu Bingzhong attempted to design the sacred capital of the empire using important concepts from traditional Chinese classics such as the I Ching, integrating cultural elements of the Central Plains Han Dynasty into the Mongolian capital with a northern steppe character. In terms of the details of the remains of the excavated cultural relics, the architectural components decorated with aotou and a five-clawed dragon also highlight the typical characteristics of the Central Plains Han Dynasty.
The next thing to talk about is Dadu, which is today's Beijing City. Most of the capital has three gates in the east, south and west, and two gates in the north, and there are also three city walls, which to a considerable extent continues the spatial layout of the Yuan Shangdu. The difference is that Shangdu Miyagi is similar to Nanjing, Liaoning, and is located in a corner of the capital, while the Miyagi of The Capital is located in the southerly center of the capital, reflecting the tendency of the Son of Heaven to choose the middle. Kublai Khan accepted Liu Bingzhong's suggestion and built a temple in Dadu. From this point of view, he is already determined to become a Chinese monarch. Interestingly, the Yuan Dynasty retained the Yuan Dynasty's yuan of the three seas (Beihai, Zhonghai and Nanhai), the Western Garden of today's Beijing. Qionghua Island and Wanshou Mountain, which are located in it, are considered to be similar to the Gengyue in Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, reflecting the connection with Taoism and immortal beliefs. Also known as Yuan Zhongdu, located in zhangbei county of today's Zhangjiakou in Hebei, it also largely continues the spatial layout of dadu.
In addition to the four capitals of the Mongol (Yuan) Empire mentioned above, Professor Xia Nanxi skillfully used multilingual documents, combined with inscriptions, documents and archaeological materials, vividly analyzed the diverse architectural styles of the Mongolian Yuan Empire, and gave a summary of the archaeological sites of the Mongol Empire such as the ruins of the ancient city of Aolunsumu in Inner Mongolia and the site of Shazamhot in Mongolia, and through the evidence of its Chinese-style Aoshou and Wadang and other architectural components, revealed the fact that Han-style architecture had an impact on the Mongolian Plateau and even the southern Russian steppe region through the Mongol Empire. In addition, its revelation of important relics such as the site of Heishantou In Heilongjiang, the ruins of Yingchang Ancient City in Inner Mongolia, and the site of Jining Road reflect the deep influence of Han-style architecture and capital planning in northeast China. All in all, the Han-style city site is no longer limited to the scope of traditional Chinese civilization at this time, but with the expansion of the territory of the Yuan Dynasty as far as Northeast Asia, Central Asia and other places, and integrated with local cultural characteristics, reflecting the radiative influence of the Central Plains culture on this eastern Asia in the special historical environment of the Yuan Dynasty.
In summary, Professor Xia Nanxi's series of lectures not only closely revolves around the core of China's capital, but is not limited to the scope of China's capital in the classical sense, but also includes the Korean Peninsula, Japan, Northeast China, the Mongolian Plateau and Central Asia, and even the Southern Russian Steppe Region. If the evolution of China's capitals during the pre-Qin and Han dynasties to the Wei and Jin dynasties was more of an inward-looking change, it more reflected the internal pluralism and the characteristics of the separation of the south and the north; the Chinese capitals of the Sui, Tang and Yuan dynasties were more reflected as an outward extension, that is, the significant influence and radiation effect of the so-called Han-style capital form system in the border areas and even outside the control of the Chinese regime.