Chang 'an is the capital of the Western Han Dynasty. As the political ruling center, economic management center, military command center and cultural etiquette activity center of the Western Han Dynasty, it is the historical epitome of the Western Han Dynasty. It was once a famous international metropolis in ancient times, also known as western Rome. The site of Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty is located in the northwest suburb of Xi City, Shaanxi Province. The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences began a systematic and comprehensive archaeological exploration and key excavation of Chang 'an site in Han Dynasty on 1956. At present, its distribution scope has been clearly defined, and the landscape and shape of the city wall, city gate, Miyagi, ancestral temple, village, armory, market, handicraft workshop area, important royal detached palace and garden entrance have been basically defined, and a large number of precious archaeological materials have been excavated.
The plane of Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty was almost square, and the direction was basically due north and south. The city walls are all rammed with loess, and the texture is hard. The rammed layer is generally 7-8 cm thick. The original height of the city wall is more than10m, and the bottom width is about16m. The east wall is about 6000 meters long, the south wall is about 7600 meters long, the west wall is about 4900 meters long, and the north wall is about 7200 meters long. The total area of this city is about 36 square kilometers. The east and west walls are relatively straight; At that time, due to its proximity to the Weihe River, the North City Wall was basically parallel to the river, showing a southwest-northeast direction; Due to accommodation, Changle Palace, Gaomiao and Weiyang Palace were built first. The south wall is full of twists and turns. There is a moat around the city wall, which is parallel to the city wall. The moat is about 40-45 meters wide and 3 meters deep. The distance from the city wall to the moat is generally 30 meters.
There are 12 gates in Chang' an, Han, with three on each side. Each gate has three doorways, and the width of each doorway is 6 meters, which is equivalent to the width of four tracks, that is, the so-called "three paintings open" and "twelve tracks" recorded in the literature. 12 city gates, except Klang Gate, Fu 'ang Gate, Xi 'anmen Gate and Zhangcheng Gate, which are not far from the entrance, Changle Palace and Weiyang Palace, all the other eight city gates have 1 street leading to the city. These eight streets are wide and straight, or east-west, or north-south, intersecting with each other, forming some D-shaped intersections and X-shaped intersections. The longest is Anmen Street, which is about 5400 meters long. The shortest is Luochengmen Street, which is about 800 meters long. The width of each street is between 45 meters and 56 meters, and there are two drainage ditches in the middle, which divide the whole street into three parallel strands. The width of the middle lane is about 20m, and the width of the roads on both sides is about12m. According to records, the middle one is called "Chidao", which is specially used for the emperor to walk.
Eight streets connected with eight gates in Chang 'an divide the city into 1 1 districts, with different functions and different architectural contents. 1 1 Zone, Weiyang Palace (including armory), Changle Palace (including high temple), Guigong, Gong Bei, Mingguang Palace, Dongshi and Xishi each occupy 1 Zone, and Curie * * occupies Zone 4.
Changle Palace is located in the southeast of Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty, covering an area of about 6 square kilometers. It was the temporary palace of Liu Bang, a great ancestor in the early Western Han Dynasty. After Hui Di proclaimed himself emperor in Weiyang Palace, Changle Palace became the Empress Dowager Palace of the Western Han Dynasty. There should be 1 palace gate around Miyagi, but the North Palace Gate has not been found so far. There are 1 east-west trunk roads in the middle of Miyagi, which run through the whole palace, reaching Bashengmen in the east and Zhishengmen Street in the west. The main palace building of Changle Palace is located in the south of the east-west main road.
Weiyang Palace is located in the southwest corner of Chang 'an, Han Dynasty, with a nearly square Miyagi plane and an area of about 5 square kilometers. The palace wall is rammed, about 7-8 meters wide. There are turrets in every corner of Miyagi. Miyagi is surrounded by 1 palace gates. There are three main roads in Miyagi. In the middle of Weiyang Palace, there is a main building-Qianou base site, and the empresses' palaces are mostly in the north of Qian Dian. Pepper room temple site, the first temple in the harem, is large in scale. Other palace buildings are mostly on the east and west sides of the front hall. In the north and northwest of Weiyang Palace, there are sites of royal offices such as Shaofu and Zhongfu. There are royal cultural buildings in the north of Weiyang Palace, such as Tianlu Pavilion and Shiqu Pavilion. More than 50 thousand inscriptions unearthed from the ruins of the central government office are the most authoritative archives for studying the economy and official system of the Western Han Dynasty.
Gong Bei, Mingguang Palace and Guigong are located in the north of Changle Palace and Weiyang Palace. At present, the scope of Gong Bei ruins has been determined, with a rectangular plane and a circumference of 4,660 meters. The archaeological investigation of Mingguang Palace is under way. The plane of the Gui Palace is rectangular, with a circumference of 5480 meters and an area of about 1.66 square kilometers. 1 South, North and East Palace Gate have been explored. Many large-scale palace building bases were found in the Gui Palace.
The armory, located between Changle Palace and Weiyang Palace, is the royal armory in Chang 'an City. The armory is surrounded by walls, forming a large courtyard with a rectangular plane, with a length of 7 10/0m from east to west and a width of 322m from north to south. * * * There are 7 warehouses and a large number of iron weapons have been unearthed.
Ritual buildings such as ancestral temple, Biyong and Sheji are located in the southern suburbs of Chang 'an. The site of Zongmiao includes 12 buildings, all of which have the same shape. Traditionally, it is considered as the "nine temples of Wang Mang" recorded in the literature. The plane of Biyong site is outside the circle, the main building is in the middle, and the building is on a circular rammed earth platform.
Dongcheng and Xicheng were located in the northwest of Chang 'an in Han Dynasty. Dongcheng is centered on commercial activities. Xicheng is centered on handicraft industry, and there are large areas of handicraft workshop sites in Xicheng, and pottery, metallurgy and coin workshop sites have been excavated.
Most of the ordinary residents of Chang 'an in Han Dynasty lived in the northeast of the city, and the palaces of a few royal families and dignitaries were near Weiyang Palace. Since 1980s, nearly 500 Han tombs have been cleared in the southeast corner of Chang 'an site, indicating that the Dragon Head located in the southeast of Chang 'an site was the most important burial area for ordinary residents at that time.
Archaeological data show that the drainage works in Chang 'an City have been systematized and the facilities are basically complete. The drainage in Chang 'an mainly depends on the drainage ditches on both sides of the street. The drainage facilities of palaces and government offices mainly include floor drains and ceramic drainage pipes.
There were Zhangjian Palace and Shanglin Garden in the west of Chang 'an in Han Dynasty. The layout of Zhangjian Palace mainly imitates Weiyang Palace. Its main building is the front hall, and there is a liquid pool in the northwest of the front hall. The base address of Shuangque outside the East Palace Gate still exists.
Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty occupies an important position in the history of China's ancient capital. The layout of Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty, such as the idea of worshipping the square, the concept of choosing the center, the regular gate configuration system, the chessboard road network, the pattern of "facing the city" and "left ancestors and right clubs", has typical significance in the layout of ancient Chinese cities and has a far-reaching impact on future generations. Over the past 50 years, the archaeological work of Chang 'an City in Han Dynasty has achieved fruitful results. These archaeological materials have become historical materials to reproduce this world-famous ancient metropolis, and people have seen a colorful and magnificent historical picture of the Western Han Dynasty.