In the long history of history, the Afang Palace was burned, the Terracotta Army was buried deep underground, the majestic Qin and Han Palace, and the various curiosities of the Western Regions in Shanglin Garden gradually disappeared. However, the canals built by Qin and Han with massive manpower and material resources are like a network connecting the Wei, Jing, Luoshui and Yellow Rivers, irrigating the earth, and even today they still play a role, benefiting future generations, and becoming a wordless monument left by the Qin system on the land of Guanzhong .
The site of the southeast corner of the Han Chang'an City Wall is located in Weiyang District, Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province
Sui, Tang, and New Chang'an under the Great Fusion
Since the first year of the founding of Xinmang (9), the former glorious political center of the Western Han Dynasty, the Guanzhong region, has been in turmoil. First of all, Wang Mang's restructuring caused a lot of complaints, and the world was caught off guard. In the fourth year of the founding of the state of Tianfeng (17), the Chimei Green Forest Uprising broke out, and by the fourth year of Wang Mang's reign (23), the Green Forest Army invaded Chang'an, and Xinmang perished. In the first year of Guangwu Emperor Jianwu (25), the Chimei army again invaded Chang'an, and did not withdraw from Guanzhong until the third year of Jianwu.
In just over a decade, the Guanzhong region has been subjected to repeated wars and brutal damage, and even the imperial tomb has not been spared from the invasion, and the rest of the ruined scenes can also be speculated. After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial court had to move the capital to Luoyang. After that, although Guanzhong remained one of the important regions in the territory of the feudal dynasties, it never became the political center of the great unified dynasty for a considerable period of time.
In 500 years later, in the third year of Yong'an (530) of the Northern Wei dynasty, in order to quell the Wanqiu slaves who occupied Guanzhong in the Liuzhen Uprising, the Northern Wei minister Er Zhu Rong sent his disciples Erzhu Tianguang Shuai He Bayue and Hou Mo Chen Yue to suppress it, and most of the soldiers who followed them into Guan were Wuchuan town disciples of the Six Towns. In the ensuing turmoil, Erzhu Tianguang, He Bayue, and Hou Mo Chen Yue died one after another in just 4 years, and these Wuchuan disciples could only unite under Yuwen Tai, the eldest brother of the same township and He Bayue's deputy, and struggled to survive in the chaotic times.
No one could have imagined the later development of the story, and this group of soldiers from Wuchuan Town was like a fresh blood integrated into the land of Guanzhong Province. They joined forces with the locals and gave birth to a group that influenced future generations for hundreds of years like the children of Guanzhong in the past: the Guanlong Group. Just as the former Qin state singled out six, the Western Wei Northern Zhou established by the Guanlong clique single-handedly annexed the Eastern Wei Northern Qi of the remaining five towns with the power of one town, and finally ended the division completely in the hands of Emperor Wen of Sui and realized the great cause of reunification.
Similar plays have been performed in history, and the reasons behind the scenes feel familiar. The Guanlong Group is a group that integrates Xianbei, Xiongnu, Gaoche, Han and other ethnic groups, and its affairs are similar to Qin Guang's guest secretaries; After the establishment of Western Wei, a series of major reforms were implemented, which comprehensively refreshed the political system of the Qin and Han dynasties, just like the continuous institutional reforms of the Qin Dynasty: the establishment of officials in the name of Zhou Li evolved into the six departments of the three provinces of the Sui and Tang dynasties; The first prefectural military system became a magic weapon for the Sui and Tang dynasties to pacify the world; Deepening the Northern Wei rent adjustment system, which later evolved into the Sui and Tang Dynasty rent adjustment... It is precisely because of the reshaping of the "Qin system" into the "Sui system" that the Guanlong Group jumped into the center of China's historical stage in one fell swoop, and also gave a new lease of life to the long-dormant Guanzhong City, and the symbol that best represents this revival is the new Chang'an City of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
Emperor Wen of Sui's first major move was to build a new capital. When Western Wei was founded, the conditions were not good, and the capital could only be established on the ruined old city of Han Chang'an, and the emperor could only live in the Yongzhou capital for a while. After the Chan, Northern Zhou was busy fighting his mortal enemy, Northern Qi, so Yang Jian's Chang'an was a city with narrow streets, crowded palaces, and intertwined residential and office areas. Dissatisfied with this, he ordered the construction of a new capital on the southern slope of Longshouyuan, 21 miles southeast of the old city of Chang'an in Han, in the second year of the emperor (582), with Gao Ying as the director, and the deputy director Yuwen Kai in actual charge, leading the masters Liu Long, He Louzigan, Gao Longcha and others to jointly build it.
Tang Chang'an City Daming Palace Danfeng Gate restoration building, located in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
Under the auspices of Yuwen Kai, the main body of the new capital, the palace castle and the imperial city, were completed in only about 9 months. In the third year of the emperor's reign (583), the Sui Dynasty moved to the new capital, and named it Daxing because Yang Jian was made the Duke of Daxing in his early years. After the Sui Emperor succeeded to the throne, he successively dug canals to connect Daxing and Luoyang by water, and in the ninth year of Daye (613), about 100,000 people were mobilized to build Waiguo, laying the overall pattern of the city.
Although it consumed a lot of his own national strength, Daxing City was transferred to the hands of his relatives Li family before it was hot in the hands of the Yang family. In the first year of Wude (618), Li Yuan declared himself emperor and changed Daxing to Chang'an, making it the capital of the Tang Dynasty. In the middle and early Tang dynasties, successive emperors spared no effort to increase construction. In the fifth year of Emperor Gaozong's Yonghui reign (654), Emperor Gaozong ordered Yan Lide to build a castle for Chang'an, which had a city gate and no tower, at a cost of 30,000 guan (equivalent to one dollar per person registered at that time), and built a gate tower gate view for the nine gates in the south, east and west, of which the Mingde Gate in the south was the most spectacular. The city gate has a total of five doorways, the highest specification of the "Son of Heaven Five Gates", the outermost two doors on the left and right for carriages and horses to enter and exit left and right, pedestrians walk by the middle two gates, one of which is the emperor's royal road, the decorative stone threshold is extremely exquisite, carved with streamlined curly grass patterns, line carved mandarin ducks, and there is a relief lying lion on the top, paving out the royal style.
In the eighteenth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty (730), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang again ordered the construction of the outer city, and the city of Chang'an in Tang was finally finalized. The whole city is generally rectangular, except for the southeast part of the concave to avoid the Qujiang River, the rest are right angles, the outer contour of the city is about 9721 meters long from east to west, and about 8652 meters from north to south. Later studies have shown that Chang'an City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties covered an area of 83.1 square kilometers, making it the largest and most prosperous capital city in the world at that time, and the permanent population may have reached as many as one million (Wu Zetian). People from all over the world converged here: a large number of merchants from Persia, Great Food, and Sogdian came from the west along the road opened up by the Han Dynasty, wading a Silk Road starting from Chang'an in Guanzhong Province, and various Hu people shaped Tang Sancai is a portrayal of this road; Japanese, Baekje, Silla emissaries, monks, and international students crossed the sea from the East, and the epitaph stone of the Tang students who still have today is a testimony to their absorption of the nutrients of Chinese civilization, in addition to people from Tubo, Turks and other places.
In Guanzhong and Chang'an, it is not only material personnel who meet them, but also cultures from all over the world: Master Xuanzang set out from Chang'an City and arrived in India through Xinjiang and Central Asia, bringing back more than 600 Buddhist texts, but also bringing a new mode of thinking to Chinese philosophy; The Western Byzantine Great De Alopen also arrived in Chang'an, Guanzhong Province, where he spread the ideas of the Christian Nestorians, and the Big Wild Goose Pagoda and the popular Chinese monument of Daqin Nestorianism show the scene of Chang'an accepting all kinds of rivers and various ideas colliding with each other at this time.
From Zhenguan to Kaiyuan, Chang'an has become the center of the world, where ethnic groups from all over the world exchange and countless cultures merge. The Guanzhong region has been upgraded from the political center of China to the center of international politics, ushering in its best moment of cooking oil and flowers.
Transformed into a cultural powerhouse
Those who prosper will decline, this is a law of nature from which no one can escape. The prosperity of Tang Chang'an City came to an abrupt end in the Anshi Rebellion, and the subsequent successive wars between the clans and towns not only made Chang'an City dilapidated, but also completely destroyed the political and economic potential of the Guanzhong region. In the first year of Tianyou (904), the warlord Zhu Quanzhong took Emperor Tang Zhaozong hostage and moved the capital to Luoyang, demolished the Chang'an Palace before leaving, packed the demolished houses and transported them away, and the imperial capital became ruins.
Zhu Quanzhong's Youguo army made Han Jian then responsible for rebuilding Chang'an, and since the city was deserted and had few inhabitants, he "reduced the city" to facilitate defense. He abandoned the palace and outer contours of Tang Chang'an City, and only rebuilt the imperial city as a "new city". Chang'an New City opens one on each side, and the rest of the gates of the original Imperial City are closed, in addition, two small cities are built in the east and west of the new Chang'an City, and the county administration of Chang'an and Xianning counties is placed, and the three cities stand tall, each as horns to benefit the city defense, and the compressed Chang'an New City is the prototype of the later Xi'an City.
Chang'an's "shrinking city" is like a portrayal of the fate of Guanzhong. After the death of the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an never became the capital again, and the Guanzhong region never had a chance to become the political center of the country.
Although the Guanzhong region withdrew from the political center stage, it remained a key place in the western part of the imperial court from the Song and Yuan dynasties, while Chang'an and Xi'an after the Ming Dynasty remained the regional central cities in the northwest of the dynasties. Not only that, the heritage of the imperial capital and political center in the past thousand years has made the Guanzhong region stand out in the field of culture and ideology and shine.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Confucian school of science rose, and one of the four schools of science in the Northern Song Dynasty was called "Guanxue" because of its strong color in Guanzhong Dynasty, and the founder was Zhang Zai, the "Mr. Hengqu" born in Hengqu Town, Zheng County (present-day Mei County, Baoji City, Shaanxi).
The statue of Zhang Zai in front of the Zhang Zai Temple of Hengqu Academy is located in Baojimei County, Shaanxi
Zhang Zai was a young man who liked the military and was born in the Guanzhong region, which was invaded by Western Xia at that time, so he once wanted to write from Rong. It is said that in his early years, Zhang Zai wrote a letter to Fan Zhongxun, who was in charge of military affairs in the northwest at that time, saying that he was willing to contact people to attack Taoxi (present-day Linxia, Lintao, and Min County in southern Gansu). After being inspired by the Venerable Elder, Zhang Zaicai concentrated on studying, but he did not expect to get out of control, he first read the Confucian "The Mean" and felt that his meaning was not exhausted, and then read Shi Shi and Zhuang, thinking that the two were not enough, so he returned to the Six Confucian Sutras.
In the second year of Jiayou (1057), Zhang Zai was a jinshi, and Su Shi and Su Zhi were in the same department. After the exam, he studied "Yi" from Ercheng in Luoyang by the way. When Wang Anshi changed his law, he returned to Hengqu Town to concentrate on lecturing and cultivating many disciples, thus establishing Guanxue. Although Zhang Zai's lectures are also Confucianism, they pay relatively attention to practical problems and advocate the application of what they have learned, not only studying the art of war and the field system, but also covering natural sciences. Most importantly, he put forward the "qi-based" cosmology, which was the first philosophical system in the history of Chinese philosophy to systematically explain the operation of the universe with qi and yin and yang, and had a great influence on Chinese philosophical thought. By the Ming and Qing dynasties, officials even listed his works as required reading.
Not only Confucianism, but also Taoism has sprung up in Guanzhong. As early as the beginning of the fifth dynasty Song Dynasty, the Taoist priest Chen Lu, known as the "sleeping immortal", served in Huashan and left many legends, such as saying that he clapped his hands and laughed when he heard Zhao Kuangyin's yellow robe, telling the surrounding people that "the world is at peace." Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is nothing more than a myth that the Zhao brothers in the early Song Dynasty seized power and vigorously fabricated in order to convince the people.
With the spread of the Chen Wei myth among the people, Taoism in Guanzhong flourished. With the help of the Northern Song Dynasty Huizong Chongdao, on the occasion of the Jin Yuan, a new Taoist sect was born in Guanzhong, which was the famous Quanzhen Sect in later generations.
The founder of Quanzhen Sect was named Wang Zhe, known as Chongyangzi, and later generations often called him Wang Chongyang. He lived under the rule of the Jin people and tried to take the imperial examination, but only won the martial arts section and was appointed as a minor official in charge of the liquor tax. After he resigned from the government and returned to his hometown, it is said that at the age of 48, he met a divine man in the town of Ganhe (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi), which is said to be Lü Dongbin, and since then he has escaped to the Ultimate Nanshan Mountain to cultivate the road, and later accepted Ma Yu and other "Seven Sons of Quanzhen" as disciples, and traveled to and from the northern lands to preach. Wang Chongyang died in the ninth year of Jin Dading (1169), when his reputation was not yet prominent, but he could not prevent him from having a good apprentice. Qiu Zhiji, one of the seven sons of Quanzhen, gained great opportunities in the Yuan Dynasty and gained the trust of Genghis Khan, and the Quanzhen Sect was handed over to good luck. Wang Chongyang was posthumously honoured as the "Chongyang Quanzhen Kaihua Zhenjun" in the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1269), and was posthumously recognized as one of the five northern Taoist ancestors. The Ultimate South Mountain where he practiced also became a famous Taoist mountain, and Chongyang Palace was designated as one of the Three Ancestral Courts of Quanzhen.
The Chongyang Treasure Hall of Chongyang Palace is located in Xi'an, Shaanxi
Wang Chongyang's greatest contribution to Taoism was that he introduced the Middle-earth Buddhist monastic system into Taoism, which made Quanzhenism a big step towards religiosity. Before Wang Chongyang created Quanzhen, Taoist priests did not need to become monks and lived no different from those of ordinary people, while Quanzhen Sect set the precept that Taoist priests must live in palaces, not marry, and even not be bloody. Wang Chongyang's "borrowing" of Buddhism is not only the rules and precepts, but even the classics have been transferred to the whole body. He was the first to advocate that "Confucianism and Shihu are the same, and the three teachings have never been the same ancestral style", and made the Tao Te Ching, the Filial Piety Sutra and the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra compulsory classics. He proposed that cultivation is to cultivate the mind, and at the same time did not worship talismans, did not refine pills, and even denied the ascension in the day, completely abandoning the color of gods and gods in Taoism. After his collation, Quanzhen Sect obviously integrates Confucianism and Buddhism in theory, and the same theory has a natural affinity, which is easy to obtain the support and recognition of future generations of scholars. In terms of internal management system, Quanzhen Sect also draws on the experience of the Buddhist order to strictly discipline itself, which is easy to gain recognition from other strata of society. In other words, a large reason why Quanzhenjiao can become bigger and stronger is that the founders can integrate the essence of various cultures and use them for their own purposes.
Thousands of years are easy to die, no matter how powerful Wang Tu hegemony, under the erosion of historical waves, it will inevitably turn into dust. In the past, the Chang'an Emperor City was abandoned, and the Guanzhong Imperial Prefecture would inevitably withdraw from the political spotlight one day, but only tangible things disappeared, and when the Guanzhong region faded its political color, it still gave birth to cultural and spiritual wealth such as Guanxue and Quanzhen that had a more far-reaching impact on future generations, contributing to Chinese civilization. In this sense, it is probably not an exaggeration to say that the Chinese Guanzhong region is one of the most important tributaries of Chinese civilization and that the Guanzhong region is the key birthplace of Chinese civilization.