In China's vast history for thousands of years, there are many places that have been capitals. These places are either higher than the splendid land, or the city of mountains and rivers. Among so many cities, if you want to say which two cities have done the most capitals, that is, Xi'an and Luoyang. So who is the real ancient capital of the Thirteen Dynasties in Xi'an and Luoyang?
Before that, we need to determine the criteria for judging the ancient capital.
First of all, the dynasty whose capital was built in the city should be recognized by orthodox history, not the transitional regime. For example, Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty's new python regime, Wu Zetian's Wuzhou regime, dashun regime, and so on. Second, the city, where the highest decrees should be cashed, is the political center of the country. Not the emperor's central coinage place, the capital, nothing else.
Well, with the above criteria in mind, let's talk about Xi'an and Luoyang in terms of the course of history. Have done what regimes are the capital.
Photo of the ancient city wall of Xi'an
Xi'an is located in the hinterland of the Guanzhong Plain, this deep-rooted, accumulated historical city has the posture of the Qinchuan Tianfu for 800 miles, and the power of natural danger to the country of the Four Races. Entering can drive eastward for a long time, sweeping the world, and retreating can be concentrated and dangerous. When raising soldiers, such a unique city has made Xi'an the first choice for many dynasties in Chinese history.
The earliest dynasty in history to build a capital in Xi'an was the Western Zhou Dynasty, and around the middle of the 11th century BC, King Wu of Zhou set the capital at Hojing after destroying the Shang, in the area of Chang'an District, present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, which was the beginning of the history of making the capital of Xi'an.
In 771 BC, Western Zhou was destroyed by inuyasha.
The second person to build a capital in the Xi'an area was Qin, and the capital of Qin moved to Xianyang in 350 BC until its demise in 206 BC, and the capital city remained in Xianyang.
At present, scholars have different opinions on the urban scope of Xianyang, the capital of Qin, but it coincides with the jurisdiction of today's Xi'an City, of course, there is no doubt. Therefore, from this point of view, the history of Xianyang, the capital of Qin, can also be counted as part of the capital of Xi'an.
After the fall of the Qin, the capital in Xi'an was built by the Western Han Dynasty, and the former site of the Han Chang'an City was in the northwest of present-day Xi'an. At that time, it carried the vitality of the Han Empire. At the same time, it also witnessed the spirit of Chinese of that era to work hard and be proactive.
After the establishment of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Liu Xiu moved the capital to Luoyang. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the world was in chaos, and the Liangzhou warlord Dong Zhuo, who controlled the government, was forced by the military pressure of Dong Dong in the Kwantung Region. In 190 AD, he kidnapped Emperor Xian of Han and moved west to Chang'an. Chang'an once again became the capital of the Han Empire. However, at this time, Chang'an City did not bring Dong Zhuo long-term safety. It was only two years after moving west to Chang'an, and only two years after moving west to Chang'an, Dong Zhuo became the ghost of Lü Bu's sword.
In the last years of the Western Jin Dynasty, Chang'an once again briefly played the role of a capital. After the Yongjia Rebellion, Sima Ye was proclaimed emperor in Chang'an in 313 AD, which was the historical Emperor of Jin. At that time, the Western Jin Dynasty was already about to fall, and Emperor Huan's monarchs and subjects persisted for four years in the midst of wind and rain. Finally, he was forced to surrender to the Han state established by the Huns in 316 AD. In this way, the Western Jin Dynasty spent its last days in Chang'an.
After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, northern China entered the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms.
During this period of wolf smoke, Chang'an successively served as the capital of Former Zhao, Former Qin, and Later Qin, three regimes.
In the late Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei, Yuan Xiu, due to the bullying of the powerful minister Gao Huan, led his courtiers to Chang'an in 534 AD, and since then Northern Wei has split into Western Wei and Eastern Wei, and Chang'an has become the capital of Western Wei.
In 557 CE, The Western Wei chancellor Yuwen Hu established Yuwen Jue as emperor and established the Northern Zhou regime, still with Chang'an as its capital.
In 581 AD, the Northern Zhou dynasty minister Yang Jian became emperor of Zhou and established the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian was the famous Sui Wen Emperor, and China's history has since entered the glorious Sui and Tang Dynasties.
After the founding of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian believed that the Han Chang'an City had been used since the Western Han Dynasty and was limited by the narrow space of the place where it was located. There was no room for further expansion of han chang'an city, and at this time, Han chang'an city was no longer suitable for the capital of the new dynasty, and Yang was determined to build a new capital. In June 582, the second year of the kai huang, Yang Jian ordered the establishment of a new capital city southeast of Han Chang'an City through the urban area of Xi'an. Because Yang Jian was once named the Duke of Daxing in his early years, the new capital was named Daxing City.
The Sui Dynasty moved to the new capital, the Sui Dynasty was short-lived, and the Later Tang Dynasty continued to use it as its capital until Tang Zhaozong and Li Ye moved the capital to Luoyang in 904 AD under the pressure of Zhu Wen.
Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty was once a cosmopolitan metropolis, which witnessed the vigor of the early Tang Dynasty, the glory of the Tang Dynasty, and also witnessed the struggle of the Middle Tang Dynasty and the decline and fall of the Late Tang Dynasty.
After the fall of the Tang Dynasty, Xi'an was no longer chosen as the imperial capital by subsequent Chinese dynasties.
Although Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, once established the state of Xi'an as emperor, because the Dashun regime was not among the orthodox, this short history was not counted in the history of the founding of the capital in Xi'an.
From this, we can count that the dynasties that once had Xi'an as the capital were Western Zhou, Qin, Western Han, Former Zhao, Former Qin and Later Qin, Western Wei, Northern Zhou, Sui and Tang Dynasties, a total of ten, but there were two special circumstances, one was that emperor Xiandi of Han was forced to move the capital to Chang'an at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The other is the last year of the Western Jin Dynasty, when Emperor Huan of Jin stayed in Chang'an for only three years before he collapsed.
However, the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Western Jin Dynasty and the Liang Dynasty were after all orthodox dynasties, and in the last years of the two dynasties, the capital of Chang'an dingdu was also dominated by the will of the state, so it can also be counted as Xi'an has been the capital for a total of twelve times.
After talking about Xi'an, let's talk about Luoyang again.
Photo of Luoyang Bell and Drum Tower
Luoyang is located in the center of the world, the geographical position is superior, convenient, and the natural conditions are unique. The allusion to the Central Plains occurred in today's Luoyang.
Thanks to these advantages, many dynasties in Chinese history have set their sights on Luoyang.
The first dynasty in history to have its capital luoyang was the Xia Dynasty.
In the later Shang Dynasty, it was also once fixed in the vicinity of Luoyang.
After the Zhou Dynasty destroyed the Shang Dynasty, in order to better control the Yin Merchant immigrants, the city of Luoyi was established south of the Mountain and north of Luoshui. After Inuyasha attacked the hokage capital, the king of Zhou Ping saw that the hose capital was broken, and in 770 BC, Dongqian fell to Yi.
After the fall of the Zhou Dynasty, Luoyang once again became the capital of a national dynasty, starting during the Eastern Han Dynasty, starting with the Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu until Emperor Xian of Han was coerced by Dong Zhuo to move west to Chang'an.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Xian of Han once accompanied Cao Cao and lived in Xudu. After Cao Pi replaced the Han Dynasty, he moved the capital back to Luoyang.
Thereafter, the Western Jin Dynasty, which replaced Cao Wei, continued to make Luoyang its capital.
Until 311 AD, Luoyang was attacked by the Han army established by the Xiongnu, and after the Northern Wei dynasty ended the war during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, the seventh emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty, Emperor Xiaowen Tuoba Hong, was a monarch who admired Han culture, and in order to further promote the Sinicization reform, he moved the capital of Northern Wei from Pingcheng to Luoyang in 494 AD, and Luoyang once again became the political center of northern China.
After the establishment of the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Wen of Sui took Daxing City as its capital during the era. During the reign of the Sui Emperor, Luoyang's political status rose, and the Sui Emperor ordered the construction of the eastern capital Luoyang and moved the capital to here.
In the last year of the Tang Dynasty, in 904 AD, Zhu Wen forced Tang Zhaozong to move the capital to Luoyang, and in the last years of the Tang Dynasty, Luoyang became the capital of the Tang Dynasty.
In 907 AD, Zhu Wen became emperor of the Tang Dynasty, established Hou Liang, and the capital was initially in Kaifeng, and the capital was moved to Luoyang in 900 AD.
In addition to Later Liang, the dynasties that had Luoyang as their capital during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period also included the Later Tang and Later Jin.
Through the summary of the above historical order, the dynasties that have built the capital in Luoyang in history are Xia, Shang, Eastern Zhou, Eastern Han Cao, Wei, Western Jin, Northern Wei, Sui, Tang, Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, a total of thirteen dynasties.
From the above comparison, it can be seen that there are twelve dynasties or regimes in Xi'an, and thirteen dynasties or regimes in Luoyang, so Luoyang should be the thirteen dynasties.
Of course, Xi'an and Luoyang both have an irreplaceable and important position in Chinese history, and both inherit the unceasing lifeblood of the Chinese nation since ancient times. It can be called the Gemini constellation in the starry sky of Chinese history, and the two peaks in the mountains of Chinese civilization.
Today, when we walk on the streets of Xi'an and wander the things in Luoyang, we can still feel the thickness and breadth from the depths of civilization, and we can still touch the turbidity and indistinctness derived from historical deposits, in this sense, whether it is the dynasties that built the capital, Xi'an and Luoyang are equally extraordinary and great.