For more than a millennium, Shaanxi, a landlocked province in the middle of the Yellow River, witnessed the rise and fall of more than a dozen Chinese dynasties.
It's where the Zhou Dynasty (about 1100-221 B.C.) aristocrats made sacred rites and music systems. It's where the Qin (221-206 B.C.)army eliminated six rival states and established China's first centralized autocracy. It's where the Han and Tang monarchs founded their capital of Chang'an.
Xianyang: Capital of the Qin Dynasty
With a surprisingly large scale, full-fledged infrastructure, and majestic palaces, Xianyang, the capital of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.), was considered a miracle in ancient Chinese architecture. It witnessed not only the unparalleled prosperity and mightiness of the Qin Empire, but also its sudden collapse after a 15-year history.
Located in the central Guanzhong Plain of Shaanxi Province, Xianyang was the capital of the State of Qin in the Warring States Period (475-221 B.C.) and the Qin Dynasty, and remained as the political, economic, and cultural center of feudal Chinese society for a considerably long period.
Qin Shihuang, the first feudal emperor in China, commanded his formidable military forces to make the famous eastern expedition, and then annexed and united the various "Warring States" into a single empire in 221 B.C. Thereafter a series of polices were initiated to enhance the imperial rein throughout the country.
On one hand, a well-developed road net, radiating from Xianyang and going eastward to today's Shandong Province and the Liaodong Peninsular and southward to Jiang Nan (today's Yanze River Delta), was completed to make nationwide transportation more convenient.
On the other hand, Xianyang began to be enlarged right after the country's unification in 221 B.C. Not confined to the original north bank of the Wei River (Weihe), Xianyang gradually reached out to the south bank, where some splendid new palaces were built.
Email to Friends
Print
Save