Abstract: In recent years, there have been many new archaeological discoveries in the West City of Chang'an City, Tang Dynasty, mainly involving cross streets, stone bridges, stone culverts, streets and ditches, plank bridges, brick water culverts, wells, ash pits, bone workshops and some important Buddhist relics. These new discoveries provide valuable materials for the study of the planning pattern, commercial heritage structure, Buddhist culture, and prosperity and change of the West Market. Studies have shown that many commercial relics in Xishi are based on the "front shop and back shop" pattern of opening stores on the street and integrating post-store manufacturing and processing. Xishi market is not only a distribution center for commodity exchange and trade, but also a large-scale commercial complex integrating processing and manufacturing, housing, entertainment, and transportation.
Tang Chang'an City West City, located in the southwest of the Imperial City to the north of the city, is symmetrical from east to west of the East City (located southeast of the Imperial City) (Figure 1). The Eastern and Western Cities of Chang'an City, originally built in the second year of the Sui Kai Emperor (582), were then called metropolises and Liren Cities, and in the Tang Dynasty, they were called East And West Cities, and the scale was quite large.
Dongshi and Xishi are the most prosperous commercial activity venues and national economic activity centers in Tang Chang'an City, as well as the largest international economic and trade center and commodity distribution center in the 7th to 9th centuries, and are also the starting point and important symbol of the world-famous "Silk Road".
Since the end of the 1950s, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has begun to conduct systematic archaeological exploration, excavation and research on the Tang Chang'an City, including Dongshi and Xishi, and has gone through more than half a century, and through the efforts of several generations, a large number of precious archaeological materials have been obtained. Archaeological data from the east and west cities, covering the market scope, square walls, square doors, streets, water systems, cross streets, shops, workshops and municipal offices. Archaeological data are the empirical evidence of social production and life in Dongshi and Xishi at that time, and also the most objective and direct embodiment of human activities at that time. With the deepening of archaeological work and research, our understanding of the historical features of Chang'an East and West Has become clearer and clearer.
The archaeological work in the east and west cities, the west market has carried out relatively more, and the data are also relatively rich. Especially in recent years, through many multi-regional archaeological exploration and excavations, the Xishi site has made many important new archaeological discoveries, such as Northeast Cross Street, Northwest Cross Street, Bone Artifact Workshop, Scripture Building, etc. The new archaeological data is very important for the study of Xishi and Tang Chang'an City. In recent years, the author has had the privilege of participating in the archaeological exploration, excavation and data collation of the Xishi site many times. At present, he has written a good article on the new archaeological discoveries and related research in Xishi, so as to teach the Fang family.
I. Overview of the archaeological work in Xishi Over the Years
Since 1957, the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (known as the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) has sent a task force to the Tang Chang'an City to carry out archaeological work surveys, excavations and research, and gradually accumulated rich academic materials and foundations. The archaeological survey and excavation work related to the West Market over the years is as follows:
From 1957 to 1959, the survey was mainly carried out in the east and west cities of Chang'an City and some of the streets and lifangs, and some small-scale excavations were also made to verify the survey. In addition, the Class of 1957 of the Archaeology Department of the History Department of Northwestern University also conducted a survey of the West Market in the 1960s.
From the end of 1960 to the end of 1962, three excavations were made at the Site of Xishi, but the scale of the excavations was not large, and in the accumulation layer of the site and its upper part, a large number of bricks and ceramics, porcelain fragments, iron nails, fragments of iron rods and small iron tools, and some stone carvings, as well as other relics, were excavated.
Around 1975, the class of 1975 of the Archaeology Department of the Department of History of Peking University conducted a survey of the West Market.
From 2005 to 2006, the Xi'an Tangcheng team cooperated with the archaeological work of Datang West City to conduct large-scale archaeological exploration in the east-central area of the West City site, covering an area of more than 200,000 square meters. At the same time, local excavations were carried out, covering an area of about 6,000 square meters, of which the largest harvest was part of the archaeological excavations carried out in the area of Northeast Cross Street and South Avenue in The West Market. The ruins of the Northeast Cross Street in Xishi, the remains of the stone slab bridge on the north side of the street, the brick aqueducts on both sides of the street, and the remains of some commercial shops were discovered and excavated. In addition, a large-scale handicraft bone ware workshop was excavated in the north of Xishi South Street, and a large amount of aggregates and a small amount of semi-finished bone ware were excavated, which provided valuable information for studying the structure and layout of the bone handicraft industry and market in the Tang Dynasty.
From 2008 to 2009, during the construction of the Datang West City project, the West City Cultural Relics Protection and Restoration Team found and excavated the remains of the road in the western section of Xishi North Avenue, the stone culvert in the middle section of North Street, the well, and the brick water culvert in the northwest area of the West City Site.
In 2016, the Xi'an Tangcheng team cooperated with the archaeological work of the third phase of Datang West City to conduct large-scale archaeological exploration and sexual and excavation in the southwest of Xishi. Workshop sites were also discovered and a small amount of aggregate and semi-finished bone tools were unearthed.
Second, the main archaeological achievements and harvests of xishi in the past
Most of the main archaeological achievements and harvests in Xishi were obtained by exploration and excavation in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It mainly includes exploration, measurement and excavation of the west market area, square walls, streets, and shops on both sides of the street. These achievements and harvests have created a precedent for the systematic archaeological research of Xishi and laid a solid foundation for the research of Xishi.
(i) The extent of the West Market
Archaeological surveys have shown that the site of Xishi is south of the northwest branch of China Aviation Equipment Company in Lianhu District, Xi'an City, north of The East Taoyuan Bridge, east of the East Taoyuan, and west of the Mijia Bridge. The plane is rectangular, the range is measured in the north and south of 1031, east and west 927 meters, "north and south occupy the land of two squares, east and west, south and north 600 steps (892 meters), four sides of the two doors, (in the city) set four sides of the street each hundred steps", an area of 0.96 square kilometers.
(ii) Mill walls and doors
During the archaeological excavations from 1959 to 1962, there were still rammed walls on the north and east sides of the West Market, and the base of the wall was about 4 meters wide. The walls around the West Market, the east and west walls measured 1031 meters from north to south, and the south and north walls measured 927 meters from east to west.
Xishi Gate Site (Fangmen Gate): Although no remains of the City Gate have been found in the archaeological work, according to the distribution of the streets in the city, and with reference to the clear shape of the han Chang'an City East and West City, the Tang Chang'an City West City should also be as recorded in the literature "two gates on each of the four sides" (that is, one city and eight gates).
(iii) Streets of West Market
One of the important achievements of archaeological work in the late 1950s and early 1960s was the archaeological achievements and understanding of the "well" street structure in Xishi. Archaeological work has shown that there are two parallel streets in the west city, each running north-south and east-west, each 16 meters wide, and the four streets cross vertically and horizontally into a "well" shape, dividing the entire city into nine rectangular areas (Figure 2). This also fully shows that the "four streets in the city" contained in the literature are reliable. The four streets in The West City, arranged in the shape of a "well", can be called East Main Street (that is, the north-south street on the east side of the "Well" street), West Main Street (north-south street on the west side), South Street (east-west street on the south side), and North Street (east-west street on the north side). The "well" shaped North Street is located 336 meters south of the Beifang Wall of xishi, the east street is located 293 meters west of the west wall of the west market, the north-south second street is 309 meters apart, the east-west second street is 327 meters apart, and there are also streets parallel to the wall on the inner side of the city's four surrounding walls, with a width of 14 meters.
(4) Shops on both sides of Nishiichi Street
In the street-facing part of the West Market, archaeological excavations have also found some house architectural ruins, which are distributed along the street and are poorly preserved, most of which only have a part of the wall foundation or living surface. From the excavation point of view, the scale of the house is not large, the width of 4 to 10 meters (about one to three rooms), the depth of more than 3 meters, from the location point of view, should be some of the street-facing commercial shops at that time. The overall layout of commercial stores in the West City is still uncertain, but it is known that "the (West) City stores are as wild as the East Market".
There are five remains of shops that have been excavated and investigated by archaeology: South end of East End Street, South of Middle North Street, South of Middle Street of South Street, South of East Street, and Middle of West Street (Table 1).
(5) Ditches on both sides of the streets of Xishi Andi and water canals in the city
On both sides of the street, there are ditches parallel to the street. Ditches can be built roughly in two parts, morning and evening, overlapping up and down. Early furrows were narrower. The early furrow floor is 0.75 meters wide and the upper mouth width is 0.9 meters. The walls of the ditch were not bricked, and both walls of the ditch were accompanied by wooden planks, and columns were erected outside the planks to prevent the collapse of the ditch wall. Both walls of the late ditch were made of rectangular bricks, and the upper part of the ditch was mostly destroyed, and the bricks on the ditch wall no longer existed. The bottom of the ditch is tiled with plain square bricks (most of them are destroyed and do not exist). The width of the trench mouth and the bottom of the ditch is 1.15 meters and the depth is 0.65 meters. The ditch mouth is flat with the late street surface. Late brick ditch, 1960, 1961, 1962 at the east end of South Street. The excavations on North Street are the same.
Archaeological work in the West Market and the nearby Lifang survey and drilling, found that when the Yong'an Canal flows through the east side of the West Market, there is a branch canal of about 140 long, about 34 meters wide and about 6 meters deep that extends west along the north side of the South Street of the West City, running through the city. This branch canal may be the remnant of the water channel in the Tenth Volume of the Chang'an Zhi: "There is a pond northwest of (West) City, worn by Shamen Facheng in Chang'an Zhong (701-705 AD), and the Yong'an Canal is annotated as a release pond.
Third, the new archaeological discoveries in the West Market in recent years
The new archaeological discoveries in Xishi in recent years are mainly made in the 2006 and 2016 Datang Xishi archaeological projects, in addition, from 2008 to 2009, the infrastructure project of Datang West City also cleaned up and excavated some important relics and relics. The content covers cross streets and stone bridges, stone culverts, streets and ditches, plank bridges, brick water culverts, wells, ash pits, bone workshops and some Buddhist relics.
(1) Northeast Cross Street and Northwest Cross Street
1. Northeast Cross Street with slate bridge
Northeast Cross Street, that is, the intersection of West Market East Street (north-south direction) and North Street (east-west direction). From July to August 2006, the author led a team to carry out archaeological excavations, with an excavation area of more than 2,500 square meters. Excavations have shown that cross street is buried 1.8 meters below the surface, and the width of East Avenue and North Avenue is 16 meters, and the street pavement is relatively poorly preserved. On both sides of the street, some small cubicles have also been excavated to remain the remains of the building, the base site is about 3 meters deep, the preservation is poor, the pattern is not very clear, it should be the remains of the shops facing the street (Figures 3 and 4).
It is worth mentioning that on the north side of Northeast Cross Street (that is, at the intersection of North Street and East Avenue), a stone bridge remains have also been excavated (Figure 5). The bridge is 5.5 meters long from east to west and 1.75 meters from north to south, and is a stone bridge for crossing the upper part of the east-west road ditch on the north side of Cross Street (north-south traffic). The workmanship of the stone bridge is exquisite, and the side walls at both ends of the bridge are paved with huge strips of stone, and the middle of the inner side wall is made of two square stone slabs erected, and the bottom is paved with masonry and the upper part is covered with stone slabs. The covered stone slab is large in shape, placed from north to south, spread out from east to west, and the whole is oblique, high in the south and low in the north. There are a total of 7 stone slabs on the bridge deck, each stone slab is 1.75 long, 0.75 wide and 0.25 meters thick, and there are "butterfly-shaped" grooves at the edge connection between the stone slabs, and there are obvious rust marks in the grooves, which should be the iron card traces of the fixed stone slabs. The east and west ends of the stone bridge are connected to the brick ditch on the north side of the street, and its function is equivalent to a section of the road ditch here, which is 0.9 meters wide and about 1.25 meters high.
In addition, we excavated some larger bluestone blocks in the ditch on the south side of Northeast Cross Street (that is, the south side of the intersection of North Avenue and East Avenue), which are of the same material as the stone bridge masonry, and the bluestone block was found in exactly the north and south of the remains of the stone bridge excavated on the north side. Combined with the comprehensive judgment that the remains of the slate bridge have also been excavated on the south side of the Northwest Cross Street (see below for details), it is speculated that the south side of the Northeast Cross Street should also have a stone bridge, but it has been destroyed.
2. Northwest Cross Street
That is, the intersection where West Street (north-south direction) and North Street (east-west direction) meet. In 2006, the author led the team to explore and excavate the above-mentioned Northeast Cross Street, and also conducted exploration and test excavation of Northwest Cross Street, and excavated the street surface and ditches on the south side of Northwest Cross Street. Excavations show that buried 1.6 meters under the surface, the north-south West Avenue road width is 16 meters, the east-west North Avenue only reveals parts, the width of the street pavement should be the same as the excavated Northeast Cross Street North Avenue width of 16 meters, the Northwest Cross Street is seriously damaged, poor preservation. According to archaeological measurements, the excavated northwest cross street and the northeast cross street have an east-west distance of 305 meters, which is basically consistent with previous archaeological measurements.
(2) Stone culvert in the middle of North Avenue
In 2008, in the northeast of the residential foundation pit of the first phase of the Datang West City Project, the remains of an east-west "Tang Dynasty Stone Slab Bridge Site" were cleared out, which was buried about 1.5 to 2.5 meters below the surface, with an east-west residue length of 5.6, a north-south width of 1.70, and a height of 1.58 meters (Figure 6). Both sides of the wall are paved horizontally with huge strips of stone, the bottom is paved, and the top is covered with stone slabs, and the covered stone slabs are larger, placed north and south, and spread out from east to west. The vertical wall masonry on the north and south sides is well preserved, but the top is seriously damaged, and only one stone slab remains, which is 1.72 long, 0.7 wide and about 0.25 meters thick. Overall, the workmanship is exquisite, but the stone used, the size is different, and many pieces of masonry are reused for the secondary reuse of building stone.
Regarding the dating of the "Tang Dynasty Stone Slab Bridge Site", the cleaners believe that it is the late Tang Dynasty according to the accumulation of strata and combined with the relevant situation of the stone slab bridge found in Northeast Cross Street, which is also consistent with the archaeological excavations in Xishi over the years.
Regarding the nature of the "Tang Dynasty Stone Bridge Ruins", the cleaners believe that it is "the stone bridge ruins on the south side of the Northwest Cross Street in Xishi", which is debatable. The structure and location of the "well" street in the west market are relatively clear, and the east-west distance of the second street (that is, the east street and the west street) in the north-south direction is 305 to 309 meters, and the east-west second street (north street and south street) is 327 meters apart from the north and south has also been confirmed by years of archaeological work. After archaeological measurements, it was found that the remains were located about 210 meters west of the Northeast Cross Street (the original site is now preserved and displayed in the TangXiShi Museum) excavated in 2006, and about 100 meters east of the Northwest Cross Street, slightly west of the middle section of The North Street of the West Market. It is undeniable that the remains are indeed located on the south side of the road on West Market North Avenue, but the location is not Northwest Cross Street. In addition, from the perspective of the shape, the slate slab covered by the top of the remains is tiled, which is slightly different from the slate slab of the slate bridge found on the north side of northeast cross street, which is slightly different from the south high and north slope laying, more like a water culvert. Therefore, the nature of the relic is that it is a hidden water-crossing culvert on the south side of the road in the middle of North Avenue, which is not a big problem. Or it is set up here as a stone bridge in use, or as an accessory to the construction of large surrounding buildings, but it is not conclusive. On both sides of the road of other major streets in the West Market, including North Avenue, the late ditches are mostly brick, and special locations will be different, such as the Northeast Cross Street, but on the north side of Cross Street, stone masonry is used in parts, and stone bridges are set up. The particularity of the setting of the stone culvert found on the south side of the road in the middle of North Avenue is beyond doubt, but the specific nature needs to be further analyzed. Therefore, it is temporarily called "the stone culvert in the middle of North Avenue".
(iii) Streets and ditches
In 2006, archaeological exploration confirmed a section of 535 meters of West Market North Avenue and a section of 370 meters of East Street and West Street, and carried out partial excavations. The results showed that in the late period (equivalent to the late Tang Dynasty, the same below) the street surface was 1.5 to 1.8 meters deep from the surface, 16 meters wide from north to south, and the road soil thickness was about 0.3 meters, and the road rutting traces were more obvious. On both sides of the street, there are also ditches. The ditch was built in two parts, morning and evening, and there are traces of restoration and repair. In the early period (corresponding to the Sui to Tang Dynasties, the same below) the ditch wall was attached with wooden planks, and columns were erected outside the planks to prevent the ditch wall from collapsing, and now there are still some traces of decayed wooden planks and pillar holes (Figure 7). Late trenches were made of brick and were built on top of early ditches that were rebuilt or displaced.
1. Late streets and ditches
(1) Brick ditch in the middle of South Avenue
In 2006, archaeologists excavated a section of late east-west brick ditch on the north side of the middle street of South Avenue. The ditch is buried 1.5 meters under the surface, the width of the ditch is 0.9 to 1.0 meters, the depth is about 1 meter, and the vertical walls on both sides of the ditch are bricked and the bottom is paved with bricks, and the workmanship is exquisite. Judging from the excavated relics phenomenon, the brick laying methods of the vertical walls on both sides of the ditch are obviously different, among them, the north vertical wall of the ditch is all paved with horizontal bricks, and the south vertical wall is made of "one ding and one vertical" at the bottom (Figure 8), which should be caused by the repair of the brick ditch in the process of use. Combined with the results of previous archaeological excavations, the above streets and brick ditches should be the remains of the late Xishi period (late Tang Dynasty).
(2) Ditches on both sides of the road at northeast crossroads
In 2006, archaeological excavations at the Northeast Cross street, late brick ditches were found on both sides of the street where the east-west and north-south intersections (that is, parts of the east section of North Avenue and the north section of East Avenue), but they were poorly preserved. Among them, on the north side of Cross Street, that is, the ditch on the north side of North Avenue is relatively well preserved, and the east-west excavation is more than 20 meters long, divided into two sections, the eastern section is connected with the east end of the cross street slab bridge, and the western section is connected with the west end of the cross street slab bridge. The ditch is 1.0 to 1.1 meters wide and about 1 meter deep. Bricks on both sides of the vertical wall and bricks at the bottom remain intermittently. On the south side of Cross Street (i.e., the south side of North Avenue), the east side of Cross Street (east side of East Avenue), and the west side of Cross Street (west side of East Avenue), the damage was extremely severe, and only sporadic brick remnants were found.
2. Early streets and ditches
(1) Streets and ditches in the middle section of North Main Street
In 2008, in the northeast of the residential foundation pit of the first phase of the Datang West City Project, about 30 meters west of the stone culvert site in the middle section of the above-mentioned North Avenue, a section of rutted pavement and water ditches was excavated. After archaeological measurements, it was found that this remain is located about 240 meters west of Northeast Cross Street, which is actually part of the middle section of The Street and the ditch of Xishi North Street. The pavement is buried about 4.0 meters below the surface, 16 meters wide from north to south, and 5 meters in length from east to west. The ruts on the road are densely distributed and clearly printed, the ruts are in an east-west direction, parallel or staggered, and the rutting spacing is about 1.3 meters (Figure 9). Judging from the archaeological anatomy, the pavement of this street is exquisitely made, first the upper ground of the loess soil is leveled or filled to form a subgrade (about 0.2 meters thick), and then a layer of relatively pure loess is laid on the roadbed to form a pavement (0.15 meters to 0.3 meters). The road surface part has been trampled for a long time, and the rolling soil is extremely hard. In addition, on the north and south sides of this section of the road surface also found the remains of the road ditch, the road ditch is an earthen ditch, the upper mouth width is 1.3, the bottom width is about 1 meter, and there are also wooden baffles and wooden pile traces on both sides of the ditch, the baffles and wooden piles have decayed, and only a small number of decay and pile holes remain. It is not difficult to judge from this that this section of the street and the soil-like ditch should be the early remains of the West Market.
(2) Ditches and plank bridges south of the middle section of North Main Street
In 2008, in the northeast of the residential foundation pit of the first phase of the Datang West City Project, south of the stone culvert in the middle section of the above-mentioned North Avenue, two ditches were found, both in a north-south direction and parallel from east to west. For the sake of description, according to the discovery of morning and evening, it is referred to as "North Avenue South Water Ditch 1" and "North Street South Water Ditch 2".
North Avenue South Gully 1
It is located 30 meters west of the south side of the stone culvert in the middle section of North Avenue, and the excavation length is 37.5 meters north and south. The ditch is north-south, buried 4 meters below the surface, the width of the upper mouth of the ditch is 0.6, and the depth of the ditch is 0.6 meters. There are also more neatly arranged wooden pile holes along the two sides of the ditch, of which the west wall is a row, the middle section of the east wall is more than 10 meters range for two rows, and the second row range extends to the north and south but becomes a row. The spacing of the wooden pile hole is 0.2 to 0.4 meters, the diameter of the hole is 5 to 8 cm, and the remains of the baffle are seen on the outside of the wooden pile hole, and the baffle has disappeared, only the black-brown decaying wood ash traces are seen. According to the remaining wood ash traces excavated at the site, the wooden baffle is about 2 to 3 centimeters thick and about 0.25 meters high. In addition, in the northerly position of the middle section of the ditch, traces of tiled planks were also found on the upper surface of the ditch, and the range of the laid planks was about 10 meters north and south, which should be a simple plank bridge for traffic. On the east wall of ditch 1 at the southern end of the boardwalk, a small drainage outlet was also found, which consisted of a simple façade of four bricks, two of which stood diagonally into the side walls, and a single brick at the bottom and a single brick at the top. On the west wall of the ditch 1 at the southern end of the boardwalk, corresponding to the east and west of the small drainage outlet, a section of brickwork was also found, with 5 floors of bricks and a residual height of 0.27 meters. The inner side of the brick is close to the wall of the ditch, and there is a wooden pile hole on the outside of the brick, and the black-brown silt can be seen under the brick, so the bricklaying in this section should be caused by the repair and reinforcement of the ditch during the use of the ditch (Figure 10).
During the excavation of Shuigou 1, more ceramic pieces were unearthed, and the vessels were shaped with pottery cups, clay pots, pottery stones, pottery projectiles, porcelain cups, white porcelain bowls, yellow glazed porcelain bowls, etc., of which pottery cups, porcelain cups, and white porcelain bowls were the most, and more than 10 pieces were found each. In addition, two Hu ren heads were found on the surface of the ditch, one for Sancai and one for plain noodles. The top of the Hu people's head and both cheeks have a perforation, and the perforation on the top of the head is relatively large, and the shape is unique, which seems to be an instrument that can be played (Tao Xi). Among them, the Sancai Bearded Man wears braided hair, deep eyes and high nose, and a duck-like mouth. The head is 0.35 meters high and 0.3 meters wide, with a hole diameter of 7 mm on the head and a hole in the cheeks of 4 mm. The head of the plain face hu is half of the finished blank tire, unglazed, only the front half of the head is molded, the shape of the half of the head is molded, and the shape of the back half of the head has not yet been molded. The face of the mold is the middle of the hair, the deep eyes, the high nose, and the kind face. The billet head is 0.65 meters high and 0.5 meters wide, with a hole diameter of 7 mm on the top of the head and 3.5 mm for the cheek.
North Avenue South Gutter 2
It is located 3 meters east of the south side of the stone culvert in the middle section of North Avenue, 30 meters east of South Water Ditch 1 of North Avenue, and the excavation length is 40 meters north and south. The ditch is also oriented in a north-south direction and is distributed in parallel with the north street south ditch 1. The ditch is also buried 4 meters below the surface, with a residual width of 0.5 meters and a residual depth of 0.5 to 0.8 meters. Due to the serious damage, only in some sections of the ditch can be seen traces of wooden pile holes and baffles, which have decayed and traces of wood ash can be seen. There are more brick and tile fragments and ceramic pieces left in the ditch, and the vessels are shaped with clay pots, clay pots, pottery cups, pottery sheep, pottery stones, porcelain bowls, etc., and several pieces of bone ornament fragments have been found at the north end of the ditch. In addition, a large number of Fragments of Tang Sancai were found in the south of the ditch near the east wall, with a accumulation range of 0.3 meters from east to west and 5 meters from north to south. These Tang Sancai fragments are shaped by beans, poppies, pillows, etc., and animal images such as chickens and camels have also been found.
(iv) Brick water culverts
In 2008, a brick water culvert remains were excavated at the west end of the north end of the residential foundation pit of the first phase of the Datang West City Project and more than 70 meters southwest of the stone culvert on the south side of Xishi North Avenue. The remains are 13.65 meters long from north to south, 1.2 meters wide from east to west, and 1.5 meters high. Buried about 4.5 meters under the surface, north-south, the whole rectangular brick is made of bricks, which can be roughly divided into three parts: the top of the ticket, the vertical wall on both sides and the bottom surface. Among them, the top of the coupon is a single brick tile horizontal arch coupon, the damage is more serious, only the middle of the top of the east wall remains 4 to 6 layers of arch bricks; the two sides of the vertical wall bricks are horizontally paved, the upper and lower layers of the seam masonry, the vertical wall bricks still retain 10 layers, the east-west thickness of 0.38 meters, the height of 1 meter; the bottom surface of the culvert tile single-layer brick, the south high and the north low, the masonry regulations are neat, and the workmanship is exquisite (Figure 11). The bricks in each part of the culvert are of the same specification, and they are all rectangular plain jomon bricks. The bricks are 38 cm long, 19.5 cm wide and 9.5 cm thick. In addition, the vertical wall bricks on both sides of the north end of the water culvert are slightly inclined to the north, slightly horn-shaped. In addition, in the north-west of the west wall of the water culvert, it was also found that there was an east-west brick water channel about 1 meter wide from north to south and connected with the vertical wall of the culvert and the bottom surface, which was more damaged, because there was a modern building superimposition in the upper part of the east-west brick water channel, so it was not cleaned up and excavated.
Archaeological surveys have found that the brick water culvert is located about 70 meters south of the northwest cross street of Xishi, adjacent to the east side of Xishi West Street (north-south direction). In addition, the bricks used in the water culvert are rectangular plain rope pattern bricks, which obviously have the style of Sui to early Tang Dynasty. Combined with the stratigraphic accumulation and the preliminary judgment of previous excavation results, this water culvert should be a large-scale groundwater culvert in the middle of West Avenue of Xishi Ruins and south of Northwest Cross Street in the early (Sui to early Tang Dynasties).
(v) Wells and ash pits
In 2008, in the archaeological cleanup of the first phase of the residential foundation pit of the Tangxi City Project, many wells and ash pit remains were also found, including 47 wells and 12 ash pits in the Tang Dynasty.
The author has now extracted several important relics data, mainly explaining the location of the discovery of the remains, the units of the relics, the types of relics, the excavation and cleaning situation, etc., hoping to provide more reference materials for the comprehensive research of xishi.
1. Well
(1) Well No. 23 (No. 2008TCXJ23)
It is located 2.7 meters east of the south end of The South End of Ditch 1 in the middle of North Avenue, with an opening 3.5 meters below the surface. When it was found, the wellhead was covered with a ceramic cylinder mouth facing down, and the ceramic cylinder was flat edge, curved abdomen, small flat bottom, and the diameter of the cylinder mouth was 1 meter. Well No. 23 was excavated and cleaned 0.5 meters from the wellhead downwards, and there was a section of bricklaying (which should be used to strengthen the well wall) on the west side of the well wall, with a height of 1.4 meters and a surface width of 1.1 meters. The brick surface has obvious smoke marks, which should be caused by incineration after abandonment. The well was cleared down along the outer side by 0.2 meters, and it was found that there was an early ash pit on the east and west sides of the well wall that was broken by the well, and the flat section plane of the ash pit on the west side was irregularly circular, 0.85 meters from north to south and 0.6 meters from east to west, and 2 repairable clay pots and 1 three-colored pot were found at 0.5 meters from the wellhead in the pit, and ceramic pieces, copper coins, etc. were scattered. The ash pit on the east side is square in plane, with a side length of 1.8 meters, and the pit is 0.4 meters away from the wellhead, and a relatively complete sancai beard head was found, combing hair, deep eyes and round eyes, high cheekbones, eagle hook nose, a perforation on the top of the head and two cheeks, and the perforation on the top of the head is relatively large and the shape is unique. The head is 3.5 cm high and 3 cm wide, with a hole diameter of 7 mm on the top of the head and a hole in the cheek of 4 mm. It seems to be an instrument that can be played (Tao Xi) (Fig. 12). In addition, in the fill soil cleared down to 0.3 meters from the mouth of the well, a relatively complete stone fish was found, with a fat shape, the fish was 8 cm long and 4 cm wide.
(2) Well No. 26 (No. 2008TCXJ26)
It is located in the northeast of the brick water culvert. The well opening was found 7 meters below the surface and the upper part was destroyed. The exposed port plane is irregular, 1.7 meters long from east to west, 1.4 meters wide from north to south, and 1.5 meters deep. No bricks were found on the wall of the well, the exposed port was 0.2 meters down to the depth of 1.3 meters at the bottom of the well, and a large number of relics were buried, and the vessels were shaped with clay pots, pottery pots, pottery stones, stone spinning wheels, lotus tiles, etc., of which gray clay pots were the most numerous, as many as more than 20 pieces (Figure 13).
(3) Well No. 38 (No. 2008TCXJ38)
Located 4 meters east of the north end of ditch 1 on the south side of the middle section of North Avenue, the well opening was found 7 meters below the surface, and the upper part has been destroyed. The exposed port is circular in plane, with an inner diameter of 0.95 m and a residual depth of 2.9 m. The bricks in the well wall are more uniform, with a length of 31.5, a width of 14.5 and a thickness of 4.5 cm. The soil in the well is soft and contains more bricks. 1.1 meters down from the exposed mouth, 1 square brick was found, the brick side was 36 long and 7 cm thick; the exposed mouth was 1.2 to 1.3 meters down, and 1 square foundation stone was found, with a side length of 38 and a thickness of 9 cm; 1 round stone pestle, 45 long and 13.5 cm in diameter; 1 piece of stone right, bridge-shaped button, round bottom of the ball belly, 22 in height, 18.5 in abdominal diameter, 16 cm in bottom diameter, weighing 9.6 kg; more than 100 copper coins, mostly Kaiyuan Tongbao, and also saw Sui Five Baht, Qiyuan Heavy Treasure, etc.; 1 iron axe, rusted, axe face length 10, Width 7 cm (Fig. 14). Cleaned to 2.7 meters below the exposure port, a large number of small black carbon blocks were seen, the soil was reddish brown, and the well wall also had obvious smoke marks, which should be caused by fire. Then clean up to the bottom of the well to see the sand and see a large number of iron, serious rust, identifiable shaped with a hexagonal iron ring, paper-shaped iron hoop, iron chain and so on.
2. Ash pit
(1) Ash pit No. 1 (No. 2008TCXH1)
It is located in the center of the West Market North Street Road, 3 meters east of the early rutted road in the middle section of North Avenue mentioned above. The opening is buried about 3.5 to 4.0 meters below the surface, and the plane is in the shape of a "zigzag", which is actually an ash pit formed by the connection of the two square pits in the north and south. The north side of the pit is square in plane, with a side of 1.5 meters, and the south side of the pit is rectangular in plane, 1.4 meters in the east and west, 0.9 meters in the north and south, and the depth is about 1.5 meters. The soil filled in the ash pit is mostly green water rust soil, and the soil is loose. A large number of animal bones were found 1.1 meters below the opening of the rectangular pit on the south side, and the accumulation layer was 3 to 4 cm thick, mostly animal horns, leg bones, foot bones, and scraps under the bone. The north side of the square pit opening 1.15 meters below, almost the same depth as the south side of the pit, but also found a large number of waste aggregate accumulation, the accumulation layer thickness of 3 to 4 cm, mostly strip bone, tapered bone and a large number of yellow bone meal. In addition, a porcelain cup was found around the aggregate at the south wall of the south side pit, the north wall of the north side pit and the junction of the north and south pits. It is not difficult to see that this ash pit should be a bone waste pit in the center of the early roads of West Market.
(2) No. 7 Ash Pit (No. 2008TCXH7)
It is located 12 meters west of the middle of the south ditch 2 of the above-mentioned North Avenue. The exposed port was buried about 4.0 meters below the surface and had been destroyed when it was found. Excavations have revealed that the ash pit was actually an early circular earthen well with an exposed diameter of 0.95, a bottom diameter of 0.6, and a residual depth of 2.05 meters. The soil in the well is soft and contains more pottery cylinder fragments and small pottery balls. Among them, three small pottery balls with a diameter of 3.2 cm and nearly 60 small pottery balls with a diameter of 1.8 cm were found (Figure 15). Most of the small pottery balls are fired, mostly green and red, and the pottery ball surface is decorated with rings. There are also some unburned clay balls, which are brown and have no ornamentation on the plain surface. It is speculated that it should be finished products, semi-finished products and mud blanks abandoned by nearby handicraft workshops.
(6) Bone workshops
1. North side bone ware workshop on South Avenue
In 2006, not far from the east side of the middle south of West Street in Xishi, archaeological excavations not only unearthed more exquisite bone tools, but also found a large number of remnants of processed bone tools and special bone waste accumulation sites. It is speculated that this may be a large-scale workshop in The West Market that processes and manufactures bone tools. As one of the excavators, in 2017, the author invited the Science and Technology Center of the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to sort out the excavated bone tools and aggregates. The following is a summary of some of the excavations and aggregate finishing.
The bone tool workshop "Not far from the east side of the middle south of West Street" is located about 20 meters on the north side of the road in the middle of West City South Street and about 60 meters northeast of Southwest Cross Street in West City. Archaeologists have found a large number of bricks, tiles and more circular and square pits, wells, and architectural site remnants under the surface of this range, with a depth of more than 40 meters from north to south. In the northern part of the architectural ruins, a place of bone waste was also found, and more exquisite bone artifacts (bone hairpins, bone cards, carved bone ornaments, etc.) were excavated, as well as a large number of animal horns, animal bones and other bone scrap fragments. In addition, tools for processing and making bone tools have been unearthed.
It was found that 1412 pieces of bone-related relics were unearthed this time, including finished products, raw materials, blanks, residual materials and semi-finished products, as well as relics such as food waste. Among them, a total of 1235 bone-making relics of the identifiable species can be identified. There are 10 species of cattle, horses, donkeys, goats, sheep, deer, bactries, antelopes, elephants and mussels (see Table 2 for specific quantities and proportions).
Only one copper engraver was found in the bone-making tools, and no other bone-making tools were found. Through the observation of processing traces, combined with the level of metal smelting technology in the Tang Dynasty, it is speculated that the flake cutting tool in bone making should be a saw. In addition, according to the smoothness of the surface of the bone, it is speculated that there should be grinders such as grinding stones during this period. More than 20 finished bone tools, 2 semi-finished products, 1 defective product, and nearly 30 corner residues were found. Finished bone tools include bone hairpins, bone plutonium, ivory grates, bone beads (suspected spindles) and so on. According to the preliminary judgment, this should be the site of a large-scale handicraft workshop in Xishi, and it is one of the important distribution centers for processing and manufacturing bone tools. It is worth mentioning that this bone tooling workshop is also located in the north of the street frontage shop on the north side of West Market South Street, which should be the addition workshop inside the market frontage bone tool shop.
In terms of the number of identifiable specimens, overall, the number of cattle is the largest, followed by ivory, horses and goats, and the number of other animal species is small.
2. South Side Bone Ware Workshop on the South Side of South Avenue
In 2016, the Xi'an Tangcheng team conducted exploration and excavation of the southwest of Xishi in order to cooperate with the third phase of the Tangxi Project. Among them, on the south side of the road at the western end of Xishi South Avenue, a small number of animal horns, animal bone aggregates and semi-finished bone tools have also been excavated, and the excavation situation is similar to that in 2006, but the scale is significantly smaller. Judging from the comprehensive excavations, there should be an osteology shop and an osteoarted workshop.
(vii) Buddhist relics
In the process of archaeological excavations in recent years, the Xishi site has also unearthed some Buddhist relics, which are more important.
1. Good karma mud Buddha statue
In 2008, it was found in well No. 11 in the middle of the first phase of the foundation pit in Xishi (no. 2008TCXJ11, which was measured to be located more than 10 meters south of the water ditch 2 on the south side of the north street of the Xishi ruins). The Buddha statue is vertically rectangular, red pottery, 15.5 meters high, 13.6 cm wide and 3 cm thick (Fig. 16). It is sand gate-shaped, with a flat back, no ornamentation, and a single niche on the front, with a molded Buddha statue. The statue of Buddha in the niche is decorated with a round body and a head light, and has a treasure cover decorated with tassels, facing to the left. Wearing a right shoulder robe, sticking to the muscles, the left hand caressing the knee, the right hand holding a jewel, the right leg drooping under the seat, the body is thin, sitting comfortably on the corset. On the left and right sides of the Buddha statue, six cloud-like vine branches protrude radially, and between the branches there are Buddhas who sit on their knees, kneeling with their palms together, lions, evil spirits, and so on. Judging from the shape and content of the Buddha statue in the niche, it should be a combination of Jizo Bodhisattva and the six figures (heaven, man, asura, hell, hungry ghost, and beast).
2. Bronze statue
In 2008, it was found in well No. 7 (No. 2008TCXJ7) in the middle of the first phase of the foundation pit in Xishi, and the actual measurement was located about 40 meters east of the middle section of the West Street of the Xishi Ruins. Well No. 7 is an early Tang Dynasty well, and along with the bronze statue, there are 2 celadon pots, 3 red clay pots and 1 toy small porcelain dog. The bronze statue was unearthed in Well 2. The bronze statue is badly corroded and its face is not clear. The statue consists of two parts, the Buddha's body and the square base, with a height of about 10 cm and a base side length of 2.5 cm. The statue is a standing Buddha, dressed in robes and a thin body, standing on a four-legged square seat, decorated with a peach-shaped backlight (Fig. 17).
3. Stone carved scriptures
In 2009, it was found in the southwest of the second phase of the foundation pit in Xishi (the southeast corner of Dongtaoyuan Village), and the actual measurement is located in the southwest corner of the Xishi site. Eight edges, inscribed on the line "Buddha said that the face burns hungry ghosts (Gan) □ (dew) taste Da Drani" scriptures. The inscription occupies four prisms, and the other four prismatic surfaces have no scriptures. It is 117 cm high and about 8 cm wide (Fig. 18).
The original text of the scripture:
"The Buddha said that the noodles burned the hungry ghost gan □ (dew) tasted the Great Dravidian. Daedeok Sanzang □ (Bhagavad Gita) Muke translation, omitted from the large book. i.e. chanting □ (summoning?) Please say: / Namur Bodhisattva. One. Gadodo. Two. Tha Gaya. Three. It must be recited seven times in the heart. The food nectar is delicious, and the mantra is recited at that time. Buddha's Monthly Reception (Love?) The bodhisattva summoned him. At that time, all the six hungry ghosts of the ten/square went to visit. That is, to recite the wonderful words of the summons: Oh. _ (one). pull. Bodhisattva. Two. Gadodo. Three. Thagatha Dora. Four. It must be recited seven times in the heart. Buddha's Monthly Reception (Love?) Bodhisattva/Speech has been recited. It is the hungry ghosts who breathe through the throat with this force, and the fierce fire is extinguished, and the body and mind are calm. The walker should first sprinkle water, take □ (water) in the morning or in the middle of the day, face east, add/□ (掬) seven times, and sprinkle it in the air. Its water one truth (drop?) The ground is turned into ten pieces of nectar paste. The ghosts and gods are full and full. That is to say, the magic words □ (曰): Namo □ (Su) PuRry Yeah. One. Tillers. Two. Pity him. Three. /Yo. Four. Su Pu Pu Pu. Five. Xue Pu. Quote six. congratulate. Quote seven. It is the hungry ghosts who clap their hands together and look up at the walkers, such as seeing their parents. That is, the name of Nan Wu □ (Zhe?) ）。 That is, recite the mantra three times. Watch all the hungry ghosts gather. / Nan Wu Duo Bao RuLai Zhen Yan Zhi: □ Mo Bo Zhen Emperor. One. Limp. pull. Emperor Yu. Two. Phew. Three. Pooh Pooh. Four. Second wife. Three wives. bellow. Cow tone quote. Recite it seven times. Call the name of Miaosheng Rulai has been. / i.e. recite the magic words: (曩?) Mo □□ pity him. pull. Tillers. Nan Wu ru body as if the mantra: (曩?) Emperor Mo Po. One. Su Pun also. Quote one. Nan Wuguang was as he said. /(曩?) Emperor Mo Po. One. Tail complement homage. pull. Since then, the taste of large manna has been omitted. It must be learned and learned. Who (only?) There are wise men. See as a benefit and not a holder. When it is known that this person has lost a lot of profit□ (person). / Beyond the □ of six billion deaths and deaths, he decided to give it before Maitreya. A good man performs the Guanyin line. All the sages regard □ as sons. This person's merit is like Maitreya Bodhisattva. Heavenly King Zhenyan: /Mo □□ is not much of a southern voice. pull. Murova Mahabharata. □。 congratulate. pull. / Yuan he and the fourteenth year of the year have been (him) Hai March 25 established the sentient beings platform disciple Zhang Yuan. Brother Shiqing. ”
Fourth, the discussion of related issues
(1) Shops and workshops reflected in the new archaeological data of The West Market
There are five remains of shops that have been discovered in the past for the commercial remains of Xishi: South end of East End Street of West Market South Street, South of Middle Street of North Street, South of Middle Street of South Street, South of East Street, and Middle of West Street (see the above for details).
In recent years, there have been many archaeological works and new discoveries in The West Market, which also contains many new understandings of commercial relics such as new shops and workshops. The main ones are: Northeast Cross Street Restaurant, Northeast Cross Street East Restaurant, South Street Middle Bone Ware Shop and Workshop, North Street Middle Section Toys, Musical Instruments, Food And Merchandise Shop, West Street North Section Pottery Shop, South Street West Section Bone Ware Shop and Workshop, etc. (Table 3).
It is not difficult to see that the remains of the above eight shops belong to different industries, which confirms the layout of the city according to row partitions recorded in the literature.
Regarding the industries in Xishi City, there are as many as 220 lines recorded, such as the Wang Huishi Shop on Xishi North Avenue ("Fayuan Zhulin And Dependents" quoted in "Meditation Collection"), "The Former Coat Shop of the Municipal Bureau, the Place where Miscellaneous Goods are Sold" ("Xijing Xinji", vol. 3), liquor stores (Guangji, vol. 76, citing "National History" and "Jiwen"), Orchid Liquor Store (Li Taibai Collection, vol. 6, "Juvenile Xing"), Shu Shu Xing (Guangji Vol. 157 cites "Yi Shi"), Bu Zhi (Guang ji vol. 216 cites "Originalization"), The Medicine Seller (in the Supplement to the History of the Tang Dynasty), the Drinking Drinking Pharmacist (Guangji Vol. 219 cites the Yutang Gossip), the Medicine Shop (The Book of the Visiting ceremony of the Tang Dynasty, Vol. 4), the Oil Indigo Shop, the Fa Candle Shop, the Pancake Shop, the Scale Shop, the Silk Shop (The Guangji Vol. 363 Cites the Qianzhizi), the Drum Shop (The Guangji Vol. 436 Cites the Continuation of the Xuanwei Record), the Yi Shop (the Guangji Vol. 452 cites the Biography of Shen Jiren), and the Hu Shang who collected treasures (the Sequel to the Youyang Zatan, Vol. 5, The Tale of the Temple Tower) and the Persian Mansion (Guangji) Volume XVI cites the Book of continuing mysteries) and so on. Specific to more industries, Mr. Tatsuhiko Meio has conducted a comprehensive and detailed study. Therefore, the discussion and narrative will not be repeated here.
(ii) Rethinking of the internal spatial planning of the West Market
The internal planning of the West Market is basically the pattern of the Nine Palaces, which is basically the same from the perspective of literature and archaeological results. Xishi occupies a huge area of Erfang land, the internal architectural planning layout, industry distribution, etc. are still unclear, and archaeological data is limited to the square wall, two vertical and two horizontal 4 "well" shaped main roads (streets), road ditches and the remains of street shops. Although some researchers have restored the city's planning based on historical documents and architectural layouts, there is a lack of archaeological evidence.
With the accumulation of archaeological data, the internal spatial structure of the West Market has also been more presented. Including the distribution location of shops, the nature of shops, cross streets, architectural sites, wells and some important excavated relics reflect the shape layout information, etc., it also provides strong empirical evidence for the understanding of the spatial pattern of the West Market. In 2006, archaeological excavations in The West Market revealed two cross streets, morning and evening ditches next to the streets (wooden baffles and wooden columns in the early days; brick canals in the late period) and involved the inner and outer edges of the "well" shaped main road (street) frame. In 2006, on the north side of the middle section of Xishi South Street, a large number of brick and tile building remnants were found on the street, reaching a depth of more than 40 meters from north to south, and a place of bone waste accumulation was also found at the north end of these building remains, and more than 1,000 pieces of bone-related relics were unearthed, including finished products, raw materials, blanks, residual materials and semi-finished products, as well as food waste. In 2008, on the south side of the middle section of North Avenue, a large amount of bone scrap was found, and the three-color finished products and semi-finished products were found on the south side of the street. There are also ditches 1 and 2 on the south side of North Avenue, which are parallel to east and west, and are connected to North Avenue vertically and horizontally (actually Quxiang Road ditches), which are empirical data for the planning and layout of the streets in the West Market. In 2015, archaeologists excavated three Tang Dynasty roads, shops and workshops in the eastern part of the central part of The East City. On the east side of the road, a dense distribution of water wells, cellar wells, seepage wells, ash pits and lying mud ponds were found, and excavations of stones, stone mortars, bone scraps, jade waste, etc., speculated that this may be a jade and bone shop and a workshop in the east city. Although the planning layout within the framework of the above main road has limited gains, it confirms that the planning layout of the curved lane street and the main road in the planning layout within the framework of the main road are basically similar, and the overall layout mode of setting up shops on the street and adding workshops after the shops is added.
The overall layout of the shops on the street side of the West Market, followed by workshops, has been confirmed by the excavation results of multiple sites in 2006, 2008 and 2016. This kind of front-end shop, the back of the store is attached to the workshop of different sizes, which constitutes a one-stop "front shop and back shop" pattern of opening a store on the street and manufacturing and processing in the store (after the store). This pattern also shows that xishi (similar to the east market) is not only a distribution center for commodity exchange and trade, but also a large-scale commercial complex integrating processing (handicraft workshops), residences (Persian residences, Beifang new houses, etc.), entertainment (miscellaneous operas, orchid liquor stores, etc.), and caoyun. It is the largest shopping mall in ancient China and the earliest in the world! Its function, scale, and international influence are incomparable in the ancient times of the world.
In addition, it is now in the Forest of Steles Museum "Lu Ziqian's Epitaph", which records some important clues that reflect the planning and layout of the West Market, and has more important research value. Zhiwen roughly means that Lu Qianzhi Lu Fan was a medical practitioner in Xishi, and his father died on April 10, 857, the eleventh year of Da Zhong. Lu Qian, who mourned the death of his father, fell seriously ill and died on June 21 of that year in the private area of Jinxing in Xishi. He was only 18 years old. The term "Jinxingli" mentioned in the epitaph may be the name of one of the two squares in the West Market. It is also not excluded that one of the many shop names in the West City is not excluded. Although there is still no in-depth research and academic conclusion on the term "Jinxingli". But at least it can be explained that the huge area inside the West City is still planned, which has important reference value for us to study the internal planning layout of the East and West Cities.
For the refinement of the internal planning layout of the eastern and western cities and related research, new archaeological discoveries and new data have yet to be obtained.
(3) Examination of newly discovered Buddhist relics in Xishi City
1. Preliminary examination of the stone carvings in Xishi
From the inscription, it can be seen that the scripture was established by Tang Xianzongyuan and Zhang Yuan and Zhang Shiqing in the fourteenth year (819). Judging from the content of the scriptures, the scriptures inscribed are Tang Ba (Tuo? Mu Ke's translation of the Buddha's Sayings Burning Hungry Ghost Gan □ (Dew) Taste of the Great Dravidian Sutra. In this comparison, the existing Tang Bhagavad Gita translation of the "Buddha Says to Give Hungry Ghosts Manna Flavor Da Dravidian Sutra" is more consistent with the content of this sutra, and the content of the Tang Shicha Nanda translation of the "Buddha Says Save the Face of the Hungry Ghost Dravidian Mantra Sutra" and the Tang Bukong translation of the "Buddha Says to Save the Flame Mouth Hungry Ghost Dravidian Sutra" are also relatively close.
It is worth noting that the scriptures engraved on this line are scrawled, and there may be typos or missing words in the text, such as the translator Mu Ke may be Mu A, and the glyphs are similar. In addition, in the sentence "Nan Wuru is like a body like a true word", it is suspected that Nan Wuru has missed words after it.
Some of the contents of this sutra, such as the mantra of The Treasure Andra and the Body, are found in the Buddha's Sayings on Saving the Hungry Ghost of the Flame Mouth. In addition, the True Words of the Heavenly King may be similar to the True Words of the Emperor Shi Tianwang in the Eight Great Laws for the Preservation of the World. All of the above verses can be found in the 21 volumes of the Taisho Collection.
It should be noted that according to the inscription found in this sutra at the Site of Xishi, the scriptures are all compiled from the Da Ben (Da Ganlu Wei Sutra), so if what is said is correct, it is now believed that the contents from the three sutras may have belonged to the same "Buddha Says That The Face Burns the Hungry Ghost Manna Flavor Da Dravidian Sutra" during the Tang Dynasty. In addition, some of the Sanskrit characters used in the scriptures are also different from those of the present, which may also indicate the existence of different translations in the Tang Dynasty, and do not exclude typos and typos caused by the artificial reasons of this line engraver.
The reasons for the establishment of the Nishishi Sutra and related rituals can be explained from the Sutra of the Buddha saying that the Hungry Ghost Manna Flavor Dadrani Sutra, Volume 1.
"Buddha says moon love. If there is a person who is happy to receive my great compassion dharma. He shall be on the eighth or fifteenth day of the white moon. Fragrant soup bath coated with wonderful fragrance. Wear white food and three white food (called cheese japonica rice food or cloud barley) to raise a sad heart. Swear to all sentient beings to be happy. At sunrise in the east. Or when the night moon is complete. In a clean place. Or the moonlit night dew. As a three-cubit perfume mandala (yun tandi also) with incense clay painted on the ground. Remove the evil. The altar opens four doors (if the elbow is out at the beginning of the day. As a quadrangle altar. If it is the height of the moonlit night. As a full moon) must be four umbilicus milk to rest its four corners. Four bottles of perfume and four doors are required to hold the mouth of the bottle at any time with five-colored grass and trees. Whiskers of incense four corners of the cloth a furnace ann center. And with a lamp its lamp with Su An in the middle seat. Retake four pygmy flower water and japonica rice. Make a lotus pedestal in the center of the altar. Variegated silk is applied to its stage. Place a Buddha-shaped or Avalokiteshvara. This gate houses Yan Luo and others. The East Gate houses God and so on. Say a little. It is decorated with various veils. The only way to burn incense is to use Aga Lu incense (Tang Yun Shen Shui xiang) as the Fa has been concluded. The walker faces south towards the west gate. Place a stove in front of the seat to burn the charcoal. First take the su buttermilk and the vessel. The walker first invited the Ten Buddhas and the Earth Bodhisattva Vajra Draco Ghost God. Don't mess with the six sentient beings. As Xiang said. See this already. Weeping and weeping for help. Fu Xiang flew to the place where he was flying on the treasure flower platform. The body massage shed tears like rain. To extinguish its fire to accompany the mourning. Pain through the bone marrow (if the heart does not correspond. When thinking of all hungry ghosts as one loves one's father and wife) has been contemplated fourteen times. That is, the place where yu Zhongzhong has come to love a son very much. Thought out. Facing the East. Summon all hungry ghosts from the Ten Directions. Recite this call fourteen times. The ghosts are floating all over the place. The second is to open the throat to get relief. That is, perfume in the altar of milk rice fragrant flowers, etc. Return the place with a food. The walker takes a pinch of cheese. Recite the food. Throw it in the fire three times. If it is satisfied a thousand times. Then there were an infinite number of hundreds of hungry ghosts here by him. There is no gap between all the agglomerations. Rejoice in eating. That is, the present body and the walker's language. The entourage intends to do all that is done and not to disobey. The practitioner is to teach the teachings to bring liberation. When er is in time. The Ten Directions of The Earth are now the Buddhas of the Distant Praise. The Remembrance of The Re-teaching of Bodhi. All bodhisattvas rejoice and love. All the Heavenly Dragons will incense flowers and all kinds of prostitutes to perform the practitioners. The walker is by the power of the gods. Not to be on the throne is to get a hundred thousand that by the Tadrani Gate. Hundreds of thousands of samadhi doors. Good man. Let's take it for example. It is man who appears on fire and cannot burn. Water cannot drown. Poison cannot harm. The knife cannot hurt. To sit and receive is to dwell in the ten places. Buddha's words of love. It is a famous Shi Manna flavor large altar field method. If you want to be in a hurry, samadhi and so on and Ajanta bodhichitta. To enter the Great Mandala. If you can't do it for a disadvantage. But as mentioned above, it is accepted according to the law. Everything is done. ”
It is not difficult to see that the reason for the production and establishment of the Scripture Building in Xishi City should be that a specific person performs rituals in a specific place in Xishi City, exceeds the limit for the deceased, and prays for the blessing of the living, which should be basically the same as the establishment of scripture buildings in other places in Tang Chang'an City to rationalize Buddhism and practice rituals. At the same time, this also shows the fact that buddhism was advocated in the Tang Dynasty and Buddhism prevailed in Chang'an City. The discovery of the Xishi Scripture Building, the Bronze Statue and the Tao Buddha Shrine also reflects that the Xishi is not only a trading place, but also one of the Places of Buddhism in Chang'an City, providing us with new physical research materials for us to understand the life of the people in Xishi in the Tang Dynasty.
2. Xishi Shanye Mud Buddha Statue Examination
The newly discovered mud Buddha statue in NishiShishi, judging from the shape and content of the Buddha statue in the niche, should be the statue of Jizo Bodhisattva. Similar mud Buddha statues were excavated in Tumen Village, Xi'an City in 1956, and in 1986 at the site of Liquan Temple in Liquanfang, north of Xishi, there is also a similar shape of buddha statues, and there is also a similar shape in the gilded bronze statues excavated at the site of Liquanfang Liquan Temple in the 1970s.
Jizo is the great bodhisattva of Mahayana Buddhism. The Xuan-class translation of the Mahayana Collection of The Ten Wheel Sutras describes it as "tolerable and immovable, like the earth, contemplating deeply, like a secret." Hence the name.
Jizo Bodhisattva specializes in liberating samsaric beings from the six realms. Belief in Jizo Bodhisattva has become popular in China since Xuanzang translated the Jizo Ten Wheel Sutra in the second year of Yonghui (651). Believers also triggered the creation of statues of Jizo in order to seek supreme merit.
The earliest surviving Jizo statue is found in the Longmen Yaofang Cave in the first year of Lin De (664), after which a large number of Jizo statues appeared. Jizo's images are mainly in the form of a sand gate and a bodhisattva. The shape of the shamen is stated in both the Northern Liang translation and the Xuanzang translation of the Ten Wheel Sutra, "It is jizo bodhisattva who makes the image of shamen", and mentions that he has "ruyi beads" on both hands. The bodhisattva form is recorded in the Eight Great Bodhisattva Mandala Sutras, which is written in the eight great bodhisattvas, and the Jizo Bodhisattva wears a crown on his head and a tassel, "with his left hand under the navel and the right hand covering the palm downwards." "The Longmen Grottoes, Dunhuang Grottoes, Northern Sichuan and Chuanzhong Grottoes of the Tang Dynasty, where the Jizo statues are more concentrated, mainly appear in the shape of bodhisattvas and shamens. Most of the objects in the hand are jewels and tin rods, and it is more common to sit comfortably. The statue of Shanye Mud Jizo found in Xishi City should be a statue of Shamen, and the six images on the left and right sides of Jizo should represent the heavens, people, asuras, hell, hungry ghosts, and animal paths in the six paths. The combination of Jizo Bodhisattva and the Six Dao Diagrams should also be related to the six sentient beings of the Jizo Realm. Therefore, there is no doubt that this good karma mud found in The West Market is a jizo and a six-way theme.
Shanye mud began in the early Tang Dynasty, and production flourished. The main reason is that the practice of worshiping Buddhism is extremely popular, and the devotees compete to make statues to express piety, in addition, because the copper material in the early Tang Dynasty was mainly used to cast money and mirrors, and all other utensils could avoid using copper without using copper. It is easy to use clay to make images, simple in process, and convenient for mass production.
As the political and cultural center of the Tang Dynasty and the place where Buddhism flourished, Tang Chang'an City unearthed a large number of good karma mud and the richest content. Judging from the excavation site, there are monasteries, palaces, Lifang, etc. all over Chang'an, and the discovery of the Shanye Mud Buddha statue in Xishi Provides new information for the study of Shanye Mud in Tang Chang'an City, and also provides indispensable physical materials for us to study Buddhist activities in Xishi City and the development of Buddhist culture in Tang Chang'an City.
(4) Buddhist relics within Nishishi City
The Tang Dynasty was a prosperous period for Chinese Buddhism, with Xishi as the center, including Fangli, west and south of the Imperial City, and was the most densely distributed area of Buddhist monasteries in Tang Chang'an City, which owned nearly two-thirds of the Buddhist monasteries in Chang'an City. Xishi provides the most important public activity space for the capital, in addition to commercial facilities, Xishi also has a Buddhist hall and a release pond.
According to the Biography of the Song Monk, Zhou Jingshi's "Fa Cheng Biography": "In Chang'an, in the city of Jingzhaoxi, he dredged Dakan and called Haichi Yan (also known as "Haichi" in the new record of the "Two Capitals"). The Yong'an Canal is injected into it as a place for release. The Ikegami Buddhist House Sutra Building is all built. ”
The location of the release pond in the west market is first seen in the "New Record of the Two Capitals" Volume III: "There is a sea pond in the northwest of the city, which is thought to be the place of release." Volume 10 of the Chronicle of Chang'an also records that there was a release pond in the northwest of Xishi: "There is a pond in the northwest of (Xi)City, and the Shamen Facheng in Chang'anzhong (701-705 AD) wears it, and the Yong'an Canal is branched to note it, thinking that it is a release pond."
The remains of the "Buddhist House Sutra Building" on the West Market Release Pond do not yet have clear archaeological data. However, as an important public activity space in Tang Chang'an City, Xishi is also indispensable for frequent Buddhist activities in the city. The newly discovered bronze statues, mud Buddha statues of Shanye, and stone carved scriptures at the Site of Xishi are the evidence of Xishi's Buddhist activities.
These newly discovered Buddhist relics at the West Market site were unearthed at different sites in West Market. Among them, the bronze statue was excavated in the east of the middle section of west street, and the buddha statue of Shanye mud was unearthed in the water on the south side of North Avenue, these two sites are in the northwest of The West City, very close to the release pond, the location of the bronze statue and the mud of shanye was found in the northwest area of the west city, but the Activities of the citizens of this area in addition to their own reasons, occasionally related to a series of Buddhist activities in the northwest release pool of the West City are also unknown. In addition, the excavation site of the stone carving is located in the southwest corner of the West City. There is no record of a temple in the southwest corner of Xishi City, but there is a Yuan Temple in Chonghuafang, which is adjacent to the southwest of Xishi City. According to the "Epitaph of Mi Gong (Sa Bao), the Great Leader of the Tang Dynasty", which was found in Xi'an, and compared with the records in the volume of the "Xixi Cong Dialect", it can be seen that there is a Yuan Temple in Chonghuafang, southwest of Xishi. There should be a large-scale Buddhist worship site in the West Market, but it is not known whether this is related to the Yuan Temple in the southwest, which is close to Chonghuafang.
As mentioned above, there are also places of religious activities for foreign ethnic groups in Central and Western Asia, such as The Persian Hu Temple and yuan temple around The West City. Since the fourth year of The Tang Dynasty (621), the Zoroastrian temples believed in by the people of Central Asia and West Asia, the Hu Yuan Ancestral Temple or the Persian Hu Temple, have been built successively, and by the third volume of the "New Record of the Two Capitals" written by Wei Shu in the tenth year of the new century (722), there were as many as four (Bu Zheng Fang has Hu Yuan Ancestral Hall, Yining Fang has Yuan Ancestral Hall, and Liquan Fang has Persian Hu Temple and Yuan Ancestral Hall), so it can be seen that there are a large number of Central Asian and West Asian people living in Xishi and its vicinity, and some of them are "Shang Hu" who have trekked to sell them. Huke". Some have long since settled here and become residents of the interior. These peoples of Central Asia and West Asia who settled or prospered in the interior, in Chang'an City, where Buddhism prevailed, and religious activities around and within Xishi Were also inevitable.
(5) The prosperity and change of the West Market from the perspective of archaeology
Xishi is also known as the "Golden City", and since Zhenguan, it has been a place to gather money. After Longshuo, the prosperity of Xishi far exceeded that of Dongshi, and reached its peak in the late Tang Dynasty, which was also confirmed in archaeological excavations in Xishi. According to the remains of roads (streets) and housing sites excavated in the West Market, on top of the early pavement and housing foundation, there is also a layer of middle and late pavement and housing foundation superimposed. Most of the excavated objects on the early road surface are Relics of the Sheng Tang Dynasty, and there are also copper coins of "Qianyuan Heavy Treasure", which can be seen that the early pavement has been used until the time of Suzong after the Anshi Rebellion, so it seems that the formation of the two layers in the middle and late periods should be after Suzong. In the late pavement, the ditches on both sides of the road were not only widened but also built with brick walls and brick bottoms, and the late ditches were connected to the brick dark water channels in the streets and alleys. It can be seen that the drainage system (and possibly the zoning and layout) of the Late Tang Dynasty Xishi made a relatively complete and comprehensive improvement to meet the needs of the time, which undoubtedly showed the prosperity and development of industry and commerce in the Western Market in the late Tang Dynasty.
The West city and the east city of Tang Chang'an City, in terms of form, belong to the closed centralized market system in the classical Chinese city system, that is, a number of similar commodities are gathered together, composed of "wanton" units, with special management agencies, and concentrated in a place with walls on all four sides, opening the city gate to form a complete and relatively closed commercial area. The Middle East City and West City of Tang Chang'an City are composed of "wanton" (such as: brazen, liquor store, clothing shop, fierce wanton, etc.) or equivalent to "wanton" "line", "shop" (such as: iron row, meat row, silk row, medicine shop, indigo shop, legal candle shop, etc.) as the unit, the city also has a special management agency - the municipal bureau and the Peace Bureau.
In fact, this closed municipal system is completely contrary to the economic activities of developing cities. At the beginning of the founding of the new dynasty, when the war had just subsided, social production had not yet recovered, and the urban economy was not very active, it was completely feasible to limit commercial activities to a fixed market area and open and close on time. But with the prosperity and development of urban economies, the use of closed walls to restrict the exchange of goods has been contrary to social reality. In particular, with the development of national strength and the enhancement of Sino-foreign exchanges, the "international metropolis" of the heyday of feudal society such as Tang Chang'an was extremely active in social economy, and urban trade was particularly frequent. The old municipal system has become an obstacle to urban life and economic development, and it is inevitable that the sale and purchase of goods will break through the fixed restrictions of the wall and free trade. That is to say, when a system moves from its initial perfection to its ultimate prosperity, it is likely to be pregnant with its imminent disintegration.
In the middle of the Tang Dynasty, expanding the market had become a common requirement at that time, and both Chang'an City and the general city had a tendency to break through the old market system. For example, in the "Edict" of the 29th year of the New Century (741), which prohibited the purchase of nine or more guest houses, it was pointed out that some officials built shops for rent in the "near field" of Chang'an East and West Markets. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's "Edict" only criticized them and did not remove them, which shows that the situation is inevitable. At the main points of water and land transportation near local cities, bridge markets and fish markets have gradually emerged.
In the late Tang Dynasty, the demand for expanding the market was more urgent, and the things that undermined the old market system were endless. This is mainly manifested in the fact that in addition to the existing markets in Beijing and some local cities, some shops have also been opened in Lifang, and the transactions in the market have been liberalized. Then there is the emergence of night markets.
The commercial activities that emerged from the old municipal system not only facilitated the needs of urban residents, but also adapted to the increasingly prosperous urban economy and promoted social and economic development. So there was a color valerian shop in Xuanyang Fang in the capital Chang'an. Fengyi Fang has shops that rent funerary utensils. The Biluo store in Changxingfang is a food store that deals with Western flavors. The flax cakes in Fuxingfang and the wontons in Fuxingfang are both famous foods. The tea shop in Yongchangfang not only specializes in tea but also has a tea house. Chongrenfang in the northwest of Dongshi Has been "one street spoke, so two cities fell", and Yanshoufang in the northeast of Xishi has also been "pushed as the most prosperous". According to the "Tang Liangjingcheng Fang Kao" and "Youyang Miscellaneous Tricks", in addition to the two cities, the Lifang near the two avenues from Tonghuamen to Kaiyuanmen and Chunmingmen to Jinguangmen is also the main distribution place for commerce. This indicates that the market in the capital Chang'an tends to be free. In the local cities, in the seventh year of Tang Xuanzong's reign (853), the city seals of the prefectures and counties were abolished, and the markets in local cities tended to be free. In recent years, the archaeological work of Yangzhou City in the Tang Dynasty has also shown that in the late Tang Dynasty, it was possible to open shops on the street.
The Tang Dynasty was an important period when China's classical closed centralized market system developed to its peak and began to turn to change. This kind of change is necessary for social and economic development and is also a historical necessity. In the last five generations of the Tang Dynasty, building shops on the street has become a legal act. In the Song Dynasty, with the rapid development of the commodity economy, the organization of chambers of commerce and industry markets were established one after another, and shops for daily necessities and tea houses of tile liquor stores were set up throughout the city. The new municipal system of "all cities are cities" has entered the stage of history.
Postscript: In the process of writing this article, I have received the guidance and help of Mr. An Jiayao, Mr. Zhao Chao, Mr. Gong Guoqiang, and Mr. Gong, and I would like to thank you together! The line diagram in the text is drawn by Li Zhenyuan, and the photo is taken for years and years.