Site Selection Conditions of China's Capital Cities in Past Dynasties
First of all, the location of the ancient capital is strict with natural conditions. The so-called natural conditions, the first is the landscape conditions. There is a good saying, we chose the water with the mountains on the back of the capital, which is for construction. The capital is a complex, just like building a house. Building a house requires lighting, sunrise, terrain, and large terrain. What's the purpose of water facing the mountain? The water on the back of the mountain is of course for the needs of life. There are also security requirements. Therefore, the terrain is very important for the capital, because it is the political center. It should consider political security, its economic development, or the development and operation of a normal society. Therefore, we cannot ignore the basic economic conditions and basic environmental conditions.
Second, we should consider being in the middle and the world in the middle. Whether in Xia Dynasty or Shang Dynasty, it should try to take into account that its capital should be able to control its country easily. But the concept of the central part is not entirely the central part of the whole country. For a long time, I think that the capital of China, according to my statistics, is Xi 'an, with more than 900 years of Beijing and more than 800 years of Luoyang, basically in the middle of this period. It's in the middle. It is also a transportation hub. The ancients attached importance to traffic. First of all, many roads were built by later generations, and it is impossible without road conditions. For example, after Qin Shihuang came to power, he would build roads. In fact, there are various roads in the national transportation network centered on Xianyang, including straight roads, all the way to Baotou, and from Xi 'an to Baotou. What about the west? It is also built in the south, all the way to the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River. Some of them are connected by plank roads. So because there were no necessary transportation facilities at that time, you couldn't meet and meet your requirements. Therefore, in the location of the capital, these factors, that is, geographical location and geographical location, are very concerned.
The other is the human and economic development conditions. Humanistic conditions, including its origin and development. For example, Qin people originated in Longdong and western Shaanxi, so his capital is his base camp. His capital is often in Chang 'an. We say that the Western Zhou Dynasty mainly originated in the present Qishan and Fufeng areas. It is a generation in Baoji area, so he set the capital there. Another cultural background, this area should be said to be relatively developed or advanced, with developed economy. We can't say that the economy is too bad and the natural conditions are too bad. But at the very least, life cannot be maintained, which is a necessary condition for manufacturing its capital. For example, after Qin made Xianyang its capital, the Han Dynasty didn't always stay in Luoyang, but made Chang 'an its capital, which is a very important reason. At that time, people thought Chang 'an was divided into nine grades. The upper, middle and lower levels are divided into up, up, down, up, middle, down, up, down, down, down, and so on, which are divided into nine grades. Now the so-called northwest, Weihe River basin and Guanzhong area are originally the upper class and are called "land of abundance". Now our land of abundance refers to Chengdu Plain, and then to the land of abundance. Let Zheng Guo, a very famous expert in water conservancy engineering, build a canal for him and name it Zheng Guoqu, named after him. Zheng Guoqu is the water leading to the Jinghe River. As we all know, there is an idiom called "distinct". It is the water of Jinghe River and Weihe River, one is clear and the other is turbid. The introduction of Jinghe River to Weibei Plateau has greatly improved the local output and national strength. That's why it was the capital at that time. Food should be the most basic. The more backward the society is, the longer its history is and the more important it is to people. It should be said that food is becoming less and less important by now. The more advanced the society, the smaller the proportion of diet in the economy, so agriculture is very important to an ancient society. Luoyang includes Luo Yi River Basin, Yi River and Luohe River. This place should be said to be good in all aspects of agricultural production. Beijing is a place.
Not only agriculture, but also another aspect of the economy, and the eastward shift of the economic center of gravity is also related to the economy. I think, as for the location of the capital, these aspects are very important. It is not a single factor, but also a military factor. For example, the Yuan Dynasty, of course, its main birthplace is the North, Inner Mongolia or Mongolia. For example, the northeast region. But why did the Ming Dynasty build Beijing? It should be said that in the Ming Dynasty, the north was much more threatened by external military than the south, and the south did not threaten it. In the Ming Dynasty, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties were the same. In this case, it should be more advantageous to place the military command center of the political center in Beijing than in the south and Nanjing. That's why it was chosen in Beijing. Including Nanjing in Liao country and Zhongdu in Jin country, neither go north nor south. The important reason is the location problem. It depends not only on one hand, but also on many factors, both military and civilian. There are also political; There is also a human environment; There is also the geographical environment; Comprehensive factors, and different times have different characteristics, so-called different times have different characteristics, because different times have different political requirements; For example, in the Han Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, its main threat came from the Huns, who came from the north and the west. So it was placed in Chang 'an and became Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Relatively speaking, the threat of Xiongnu at that time was much smaller than that of the Western Han Dynasty. It is easier to command, and it is easier to command the western regions in order to fight against the Huns. Another Liu Xiujia's base camp is in Nanyang, which is in the south of Luoyang, which is closer to here. Judging from the development of his regime, it is better to put it in Luoyang. So as the capital, I think not only China, but also many countries in the ancient world were formed by many factors. In the end, where did you choose such a result, and sometimes the choice was not good, which led to the collapse of the dynasty. There are many such examples in history.
The relocation of Kyoto must also consider various geographical factors: ① Kyoto should be built in an economically developed and wealthy area to maintain the material needs of the ruling group; (2) Kyoto should be located in the central part of the country, or have convenient traffic conditions, so as to facilitate the implementation of government decrees and control internal and external affairs; (3) Kyoto should choose natural conditions where risks can be defended, so that it will not be destroyed by external forces and the country can maintain long-term stability. In history, it is impossible for any regime to choose the location of the capital that fully meets the above three conditions. It can only choose a relatively favorable location according to the main contradictions at that time, so the choice of the capital often reflects the general situation of that period. Conversely, once the capital is determined, it will also have a certain impact on the political, military and economic development of the whole country.