ABSTRACT
Following the trajectory of Chinese capitals in historical progression, one finds a move towards east, and then south-east. Qin dynasty (221–207 BC), unifying China for the first time, built its capital Xianyang west of North China Plain. After the short-lived Qin was a long and powerful Han dynasty. The Former Han dynasty (Western Han, 202BC–AD9) established its capital city Changan (modern-day Xian) next to the ruins of Xianyang. It used another city Luoyang to the east of Changan as a secondary capital, to secure a better control of the North China Plain. The Latter Han dynasty (Eastern Han, AD25–220) maintained the dual capital system but elevated the eastern city Luoyang to the status of principle capital, to maintain a solid power base in the North China Plain. The following two major dynasties in Chinese history, Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–906), continued to use the two sites as their dual capitals, although Changan, now a much larger and formalized city, was the primary capital, which facilitated a balanced control of eastern and western regions. By then population and centre of grain production had moved further east and south-east, a situation which compelled the Tang court later on to move its administrative centre to the eastern city Luoyang. The next Chinese dynasty, Northern Song (960–1126), used Bianliang (modern-day Kaifeng) as its capital, a city further east of Luoyang. Now, well into the North China Plain, Song emperors in Bianliang could assert a direct control over central China and defend it against ‘barbarian’ invasions from the north and, at the same time, secure a better supply of grain and material resources from China’s economic centre, the south-east, known also as the lower Yangtze region or Jiangnan (Figure 1.1). Location of principle capitals in Chinese dynastic history. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203613481/554249b3-736e-4cd4-a4d0-1b344e3cdd13/content/fig1_1_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
