Ruins of Liaoshangjing
During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, the Khitan tribes in the north of Yanshan rose up and established the Liao Empire. Its regime accepted Han civilization to a high degree, and was the main opponent of the Song regime thereafter, and the Song and Liao dynasties can be called a new round of southern and northern dynasties. Shangjing Linhuangfu was the earliest capital city after the establishment of the Khitan regime, and it was also the most important capital city, which played an important role in the history of the Liao State.
1. Regulation of Liaoshangjing
The historical Liao state had five capitals, namely Shangjing Linhuangfu (present-day Balin Zuoqi, Inner Mongolia), Zhongjing Dadingfu (present-day Chifeng, Inner Mongolia), Zuojing Liaoyangfu (present-day Liaoyang, Liaoning), Nanjing Jingjinfu (present-day Beijing), and Xijing Datongfu (present-day Datong, Shanxi). The Emperor of the Liao State implemented the Four Seasons Bowl, that is, the Emperor and his tooth tent endlessly paraded back and forth between the five capitals throughout the year, reflecting the nomadic nature of the Khitans, it seems that the Khitan does not have a stable political center, but in fact, the status of liao shangjing is above the other four capitals, and it has always been the main capital of the Liao state.
Liao nobles
We will talk about the regulation of Liaoshangjing in light of the excavation results of the Liaoshangjing site in Lindong Town, BalinZuoqi, Inner Mongolia today. In 916, Yelü Abaoji established the Khitan state, and in 947 changed the name of the country to Liao, in order to facilitate the following to be called Liao. In 918, Jeroboam decided to establish a capital at the "West Building". The History of Liao says that Shangjing Linhuang Province was returned to Dong Commandery during the Han Dynasty, and the Liao Taizu Abaoji was established here in the third year of the Divine Book (Khitan year number, 918 AD). At that time, the Rebbe Shangshu and the Han People Kang Moji were responsible for the construction. But it is still unknown who designed Shangjing.
Emperor of the Liao Dynasty
Bird's eye view of Liao's Shangjing, Shangjing is in the shape of a "day", bounded by the Shali River that passes through the city, the northern city is the imperial city also known as the inner city, and the southern city is Seoul, also known as the outer city. The imperial city was inhabited by the Khitans, and within the imperial city there was a palace, which was inhabited by the emperor; Seoul was inhabited by Han Chinese and merchants. This is also the origin of the famous northern and southern official system, "the state system governs the Khitan and treats the Han people with the Han system."
The imperial wall is rammed earth, with an average height of 6-9 meters. According to the excavations at the current stage of the site, it can be determined that the imperial city has four gates, namely the North Gate Arch Gate, the West Gate Qiande Gate, the South Gate Dashun Gate, and the East Gate Dong'an Gate; the Miyagi City has three gates, namely the West Gate Xihua Gate, the East Gate Donghua Gate, and the South Gate Chengtian Gate. Unlike the Han people who were southbound and honored, the Khitan initially worshipped the east and respected the east, which can be seen in the regulation of the east gate of Miyagi and the imperial city being higher than that of other gates. The east gate of the two palaces is a three-way structure, that is, a very large city gate hole, which has three gates corresponding to three roads; and the other gates are one door and one. Under the guidance of the eastward emperor, Liaoshangjing was the only imperial palace in Chinese history to lay out the buildings in miyagi with an eastward central axis. Starting from Donghua Gate, the main building was built in a due west direction.
Liaoshang Jing sand table
Within the imperial city, in addition to the khitan living residences, there are several landmark buildings. First of all, there are the official residences of the various provinces, followed by the Confucius Temple, the Buddhist Temple, and the Taoist Temple, which shows that the Khitan practiced religious freedom. Seoul is poorly preserved, the excavation results of the ruins are less, and in general, the han city wall is 2-4 meters high, and the area is smaller than that of the imperial city.
In general, the construction of Liao Shangjing not only embodied the Han imperial power ideology, but also preserved the customs of the Khitan tribe.
Liaoshang Jinghancheng
Second, the political status of Liaoshangjing
In 947, the Khitan state changed its name to Liao, the Khitan Khan changed his name to emperor, and Shangjing became the political center of the Liao Empire. By the time of Emperor Xingzong of Liao, the five capitals system of the Liao state was established, but compared with Shangjing, the remaining four capitals were not so much capitals as well-defended fortified fortresses. The remaining four were valued by the Liao Emperor more because of their military status than because of their political significance. Only Shangjing is located in the interior and is the capital city operated by Apaoji in the era, so the political status of Shangjing is very prominent.
Khitan people
Because there was only one emperor and had to wander around according to the seasons, the Liao state set up a left-behind post in Shangjing, which was especially like the left-behind officer set up in Nanjing after the Ming Dynasty moved the capital to Beijing, responsible for all the affairs of the emperor when he was not in the capital, and had great power.
During the reign of Emperor Taizong of Liao, there was a stay-behind guard at the beginning. "Emperor Taizong was personally recruited, and (Yelü Lihu) often stayed in the capital division", but at this stage, staying behind was only a privilege, and not an informal official position. It was not until 943 that the "History of Liao" had the phrase "Shangjing left behind to guard Yelü Diyuan", and it did not officially appear as an official position. Liushou was a typical Han official name and a temporary dispatch, which systematically belonged to the southern official, who was the supreme leader who guarded the capital in the absence of the emperor. However, according to historical evidence, the person who became this official was not necessarily a Han Chinese, but a loyal vassal trusted by the Liao Emperor. When the emperor returned to Beijing, the authority to stay behind was automatically lifted. In addition to the remaining guards themselves, the remaining guards are also equipped with a subordinate officer. The most famous Shangjing stayer is Han Derang, who had an ambiguous relationship with Empress Xiao in the TV series "Yan Yuntai". Han Derang and his father Han Kuangsi were both left behind in Shangjing, and Han Derang "remotely entrusted the envoys of the Zhangde Army, and acted on behalf of his father Kuang Si as Shangjing's stay-in-residence, and he was very famous for knowing the affairs of Jingjing."
Han Derang and Empress Xiao
The Liao state (which began in 916) existed for a total of 210 years, and there were a total of 37 people left in Shangjing, accompanying the Liao state throughout, of which 22 were Yelü royals, 10 were Xiao Hou clans, and 5 were Han officials. More than half of these 37 people were kings and lords. This shows the importance of Shangjing and Shangjing left behind.
Third, the economic status of Shangjing
The strategic position of Shangjing is not prominent, and the transportation is not very convenient, but the economic structure of the Liao state is two modes, the Liao people are nomadic, and the Han and Bohai people are farming. Liaoshangjing is actually the link between the nomadic and agricultural areas of the Liao.
The economy of Shangjing is dominated by agriculture. Shangjing is close to Huangshui, so it is called "Linhuang". Surrounded by a flat grassland, the flat land is abundant, and it is a good farmland. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Khitan frequently went south to the Central Plains to plunder population and goods, calling it the "Valley of Grass". At the beginning of the establishment of the Liao State, it plundered no less than 400,000 Han Chinese, and most of these 400,000 Han people were placed as serfs in the grassland around Shangjing to be responsible for reclamation. In 926, the Khitan destroyed the Sinicized Bohai state, and a large number of Bohai people were also migrated to the vicinity of Shangjing to serve as serfs. Whether it is a Han or a Bohai, farming experience is very rich, so Shangjing agriculture has been developed.
Khitan slaves
The types of cash crops grown in Liaoshangjing are extremely rich, and the staple foods are rice, millet, millet, etc.; vegetables include onions, ginger, garlic, leeks, celery; fruits include pears, dates, apricots, peaches, and even watermelons. Hu Zhao, a literati bureaucrat who had been exiled in Khitans, recorded in the "Record of Traps" that the Khitans used farm fertilizer to plant watermelons.
Agriculture is the main economic model of Shangjing, because of the nomadic habits of the Liao state, although Shangjing is the main capital, it is by no means as large as the Han capital, so the agriculture of Shangjing basically satisfies self-sufficiency. For example, after the middle of the Liao Dynasty, there were often floods and droughts in Shangjing, but the Liao State relied on the storage of the household granary to survive the famine, "private wealth and wealth of the people to revitalize their plight, the people of the ministry are happy"; for example, during the Liao Daozong, there was a flood in Shangjing, but because the imperial court issued a price parity, it quickly stabilized the market.
Wen Shijun said
As one of the five capitals of the Liao State, the Liao State has always had a very prominent position in both politics and economy, and is the main capital of the Liao State, whose status is similar to that of the Northern Song Dynasty's Tokyo Kaifeng. However, with the fall of the Liao state, Linhuang Province immediately declined. By the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty, Linhuang Mansion had been abandoned. In 2011, the state began archaeological excavations of the Shangjing site, and It was only in Liaoshangjing that people's vision reappeared.
bibliography
Yang Jialuo: Compilation of Liao History, Ding Literature Bureau, 1973.
Statement: Drafts of khitan political history, People's Publishing House, 1986.
Qu Shengnan: "Research on the Agricultural Radiation Zone Centered on the Liao Dynasty and Shangjing", Master's Thesis of Inner Mongolia Normal University, 2021.
(Author: Haoran Wenshi Purple Orange)
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