remains are more than 3,000 tombs, 2,200 sacrifi cial burials,
and about 200 residential foundations, along with thousands
of artifacts in bronze, bone, ivory, jade, stone, pottery, and
horn as well as a few fragments of painting. A rectangular
Shang wall has been found at Anyang, but the most impor-
tant part of the settlement is at Xibeigang, west of the walled
area. Xibeigang was the location of the royal cemetery, with
at least 13 large-scale tombs dated from 1250 b.c.e. or slightly
earlier until 1046 b.c.e. Much of the residential architecture
lay in yet another area, just north of the village of Xiaotun
and south of the walled enclosure. Xiaotun is the site of the
important tomb of Lady Hao, consort of King Wu Ding, who
ruled in the 12th century b.c.e.
From Yinxu through the rest of Chinese history, the
names of all primary capitals, their dates, and their rulers are
known. Between 1045 and 256 b.c.e., the period of the Zhou
Dynasty, China’s main capitals were near Xi’an and Luoyang.
Hundreds of other walled cities were built during this period
as well. Th e fi rst part of the Zhou, sometimes known as West-
ern Zhou (1045 b.c.e.–771 b.c.e.) because its capital was in
the western of the two locations, had two capitals, Feng and
Hao, located southwest and northeast of each other, about
7½ miles southwest of Xi’an. Ten building foundations, more
than a thousand tombs, and caches of bronze goods have
been excavated in the area of the two cities.
Th e most important capital of the second half of the
Zhou Dynasty, known as the Eastern Zhou (770 b.c.e.–
256 b.c.e.), is one of China’s most famous ancient cities.
Wangcheng, literally “ruler’s city,” part of a larger city in
the environs of Luoyang, is described in the “Kaogongji (Re-
cord of Craft smen)” section of the Rituals of Zhou, a book
that describes imperial and offi cial rites and ceremonies
of the Zhou Dynasty. Th e text sets forth a prescription for
an idealized city, square in shape with three gates at each
side from which three-lane thoroughfares run through the
city. Th e only interruption to those streets is the centralized
palace area. It includes the ruler’s hall of audience, temples
to the ancestors and to soil and grain, and markets. Th is
idealized city plan may never have been achieved, but the
description has been viewed as a standard against which all
later Chinese imperial cities are compared.
Besides the major capitals, each of the states contend-
ing for power in the fi rst millennium b.c.e. built at least one
capital. More than 100 state capitals from this period have
been excavated. Among the most famous is the city at Qufu,
in Shandong Province, where Confucius taught around 500
b.c.e. Its plan may have followed the prescription for a royal
city in the Rituals of Zhou. Like Qufu, other cities of ma-
jor states of the Zhou, including Linzi, capital of the state
of Qi in Shandong; Xiadu, capital of the state of Yan, just
south of Beijing in Hebei province; Handan, capital of the
Zhao state in Hebei; and Houma, capital of Jin in southern
Shanxi Province, all had walled palatial sectors and at least
one more walled area either adjacent to or surrounding the
palace-city.
CHINA’S FIRST IMPERIAL CITIES
China’s fi rst emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi, who unifi ed existing
states in the formation of his empire in 221 b.c.e., built his
national capital northeast of the early Zhou capitals Hao and
Feng. Remains of palaces and countless other foundations
have been uncovered, as well as pits that contained thousands
of life-size warriors to guard the emperor in the aft erlife.
However, the outer boundary of the capital at Xianyang has
not yet been determined.
Like their Zhou predecessors, the two great capitals of
Han China—the earlier capital in the west, Chang’an, of the
Western Han (202 b.c.e.–9 c.e.) and the later capital in the
east, Luoyang, of the Eastern Han (25–220 c.e.)—are known
through extensive documentation and equally extensive ex-
cavation. Chang’an is probably best known for the irregular
shape of its outer wall: only the eastern boundary is a straight
line. About 16 miles in perimeter, the length corresponds
fairly closely to the 62 li (a Chinese unit of distance that var-
ied over time) recorded in texts. Th e wall was between 39 and
52 feet at the base and rose more than 39 feet. Th e one ac-
commodation to the ideal prescription for a city described in
Rituals of Zhou was the presence of three gates on each side.
From them emanated eight major streets, none stretching the
full expanse of Chang’an in any direction.
More unusual was the presence of six palaces, fi ve inside
the walls and one beyond the western boundary. Th e palaces
occupied most of the space inside the walls, and probably
the placement of city walls was a response to the positions
of palaces. Largest was Changle palace, a little over 2 square
miles and built on the ruins of a palace from Qin times (221–
207 b.c.e.). Weiyang palace, opposite it on the western side
of Chang’an, was almost 2 square miles. Between them was
an armory. Excavation and theoretical reconstruction have
been conducted at each palace site. Extensive excavation has
also been undertaken in the southern suburbs, the location of
an ancestral temple complex that consisted of 11 individual
halls and other ritual structures. Nine mausoleums for em-
perors and empresses spread north of the Wei River, north
of Chang’an, and four more royal tombs lie in the southeast.
Kilns, bronze foundries, and a mint were located in the mar-
ket area in the northwestern area of Chang’an within the city
walls. Th e population of Chang’an during the Han Dynasty
was nearly 250,000.
Although its population was twice that of Chang’an and
its shape more regular, the Eastern Han capital at Luoyang
was less than half the size of the earlier capital. Th e nearly
rectangular city, whose eastern and western walls, compared
with the lengths of its northern and southern walls, were pro-
portionately 3:2, had 12 city gates, 10 major street segments,
and two palaces. Th e palaces were not used simultaneously.
Like Chang’an, Luoyang had ritual structures for the same
ceremonies and sacrifi ces in its southern suburbs. Luoyang,
with its two palaces, should be viewed as a transitional im-
perial city in Chinese history, whereas Chang’an was largelycities: Asia and the Pacific 217