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102-534: Chang'an ( [ʈʂʰǎŋ.án] ; traditional Chinese : 長安 ; simplified Chinese : 长安 ; pinyin : Cháng'ān ) is the traditional name of Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo , in what is now the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in

204-553: A Nestorian Christian Sogdian woman, Lady An (安氏), who died in 821, and her Nestorian Christian Han Chinese husband, Hua Xian (花献), who died in 827. These Han Chinese Christian men may have married Sogdian Christian women because of a lack of Han Chinese women belonging to the Christian religion, limiting their choice of spouses among the same ethnicity. Another epitaph in Luoyang of a Nestorian Christian Sogdian woman also surnamed An

306-509: A certain extent in South Korea , remain virtually identical to traditional characters, with variations between the two forms largely stylistic. There has historically been a debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters . Because the simplifications are fairly systematic, it is possible to convert computer-encoded characters between the two sets, with the main issue being ambiguities in simplified representations resulting from

408-591: A city in a rectangular shape, with an inner surface area of 30 sq mi (78 km). The areas to the north that jutted out like appendages from the main wall were the West Park, the smaller East Park, and the Daming Palace , while the southeasternmost extremity of the main wall was built around the Serpentine River Park that jutted out as well. The West Park walled off and connected to

510-603: A hotly contested region among various states to come. It was the site of a pivotal battle in 328 between the Han-Zhao and Later Zhao dynasties which established the latter as a hegemonic power in the north. The city changed hands several times throughout the Sixteen Kingdoms period, as it was also controlled by the Former Yan , Former Qin and Later Qin dynasties. The Jin dynasty, which had relocated south of

612-416: A large lake within its bounds that was bigger than the latter two lakes combined, connected at the southern end by a river that ran under the main walls and out of the city. There were five transport and sanitation canals running throughout the city, which had several water sources, and delivered water to city parks, gardens of the rich, and the grounds of the imperial palaces. The sources of water came from

714-622: A major administrative reorganization of Luoyang city. Yanshi City was reorganized into an urban district (Yanshi District), while Jili District and Mengjin County were merged into Mengjin District. This reorganization effectively doubled the urban area of Luoyang. As its name states , the Old Town of Luoyang is located on the north bank of the Luo , a southern tributary of the middle reaches of

816-591: A military officers and openly celebrated their Christian religion and support Christian monasteries. Central Asians like Sogdians were called "Hu" (胡) by the Chinese during the Tang dynasty. Central Asian "Hu" women were stereotyped as barmaids or dancers by Han in China. Occasionally, "Hu" women would be involved in prostitution as the "Hu" women in China were at times in occupations that doubled as illicit services. During

918-529: A more modest scale, yet was never fortified. The modern Kyoto still retains some characteristics of Sui-Tang Chang'an. Similarly, the Korean Silla dynasty modeled their capital of Gyeongju after the Chinese capital. Sanggyeong , one of the five capitals of the state of Balhae , was also laid out like Chang'an. During Tang, the main exterior walls of Chang'an rose 18 ft (5.5 m) high, were 5 mi (8.0 km) by six miles in length, and formed

1020-460: A new palace called Weiyang Palace ( 未央宮 ; Wèiyānggōng ) was constructed 5×7 li . Prime minister Xiao He convinced Liu Bang that both the excessive size and multiplicity of palaces was necessary to secure his rule by creating a spectacle of power. In 195 BC, his son, Emperor Hui of Han began the construction of the walls of Chang'an and finished them in September 191 BC. The grid north of

1122-515: A period of disorder, during which warlord Cao Cao held the last Han emperor Xian in Xuchang (196–220), Luoyang was restored to prominence when his son Cao Pi, Emperor Wen of the Wei dynasty , declared it his capital in 220 AD. The Jin dynasty , successor to Wei, was also established in Luoyang. At the height of Jin rule, Luoyang had a population of 600,000 and was probably the second largest city in

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1224-661: A stream running through the Forbidden Park and under the northern city wall, two running streams from outside the city in the south, a stream that fed into the pond of the walled East Park, which in turn fed into a canal that led to the inner city. These canal waterways in turn streamed water into the ponds of the West Palace; the lake in the Xingqing Palace connected two canals running through the city. The canals were also used to transport crucial goods throughout

1326-404: A sub-central city. As part of this development, authorities decided to expand the urban area of Luoyang. This not only facilitated planning and coordinated use of resources and infrastructure in Luoyang, but also allowed for better integration towards Zhengzhou, as Yanshi, Jili and Mengjin previously separated the Luoyang urban area from Zhengzhou. On 28 March 2021, the central government approved

1428-869: Is 産 (also the accepted form in Japan and Korea), while in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan the accepted form is 產 (also the accepted form in Vietnamese chữ Nôm ). The PRC tends to print material intended for people in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, and overseas Chinese in traditional characters. For example, versions of the People's Daily are printed in traditional characters, and both People's Daily and Xinhua have traditional character versions of their website available, using Big5 encoding. Mainland companies selling products in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan use traditional characters in order to communicate with consumers;

1530-547: Is 7.079 million. Situated on the central plain of China, Luoyang is among the oldest cities in China and one of the cradles of Chinese civilization . It is the earliest of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China . The name "Luoyang" originates from the city's location on the north or sunny ( "yang" ) side of the Luo River . Since the river flows from west to east and the sun is to the south of

1632-713: Is also celebrated for the cultivation of peonies , its city flower. Since 1983, each mid-April the city hosts the Peony Culture Festival of Luoyang. More than 19 million tourists visited Luoyang during the 2014 festival. "Spring in Luoyang" ( 洛阳 春 ; Luòyáng Chūn ), an ancient Chinese composition, became popular in Korea during the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) and is still performed in its dangak (Koreanized) version Nakyangchun ( 낙양춘 ). Lou Harrison , an American composer, has also created an arrangement of

1734-506: Is one of the famous banquets passed on for generations in the history of Chinese cuisine, consists of 8 cold and 16 warm dishes all cooked in various broths, gravies, or juices. The water here has two meanings: one is that all the hot dishes have soup-tang soup water; the other is that each dish is served after another smoothly just like flowing water. It comprises a wide selection of ingredients, simple and versatile, diverse tastes, sour, spicy, sweet and salty, comfortable and delicious. Luoyang

1836-532: Is the most common way to get into the city from either Xi'an or Zhengzhou . Luoyang has a bus system of around 30+ lines. Taxis are also a common sight in the city. Line 1 of Luoyang Subway opened 28 March 2021. Line 2 opened on 26 December 2021. The main station for conventional rail services is Luoyang railway station on the Longhai railway . Guanlin railway station on the Jiaozuo–Liuzhou railway has

1938-493: The Chinese Commercial News , World News , and United Daily News all use traditional characters, as do some Hong Kong–based magazines such as Yazhou Zhoukan . The Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified characters. DVDs are usually subtitled using traditional characters, influenced by media from Taiwan as well as by the two countries sharing the same DVD region , 3. With most having immigrated to

2040-468: The 2010 census , the 5 "built-up" urban districts held a population of 1,857,003, making it the fourth-largest city in Henan . The entire area of Luoyang's municipal government held 6,549,941 inhabitants total. With the 2017 designation of Zhengzhou as a National Central City, Henan Province in 2020 proposed a new development plan for Zhengzhou Metropolitan Area, which called for the development of Luoyang as

2142-631: The Duke of Zhou for the remnants of the captured Shang nobility. The Duke also moved the Nine Tripod Cauldrons to Chengzhou from the Zhou dynasty capital at Haojing . A second Western Zhou capital, Wangcheng (also: Luoyi) was built 15 km (9.3 mi) west of Chengzhou. Wangcheng became the capital of the Eastern Zhou dynasty in 771 BC. The Eastern Zhou dynasty capital

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2244-528: The Kensiu language . Luoyang Luoyang ( simplified Chinese : 洛阳 ; traditional Chinese : 洛陽 ; pinyin : Luòyáng ) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city , it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyang to

2346-834: The Qing dynasty . The population was reduced to that of an average county. However, for one last time, Luoyang city was the capital of the Republic of China for a brief period of time during the Japanese invasion. By 1949, Luoyang's population was 75,000. After the People's Republic of China was established, Luoyang was revived as a major heavy industrial hub. In the first five-year plan of China , 7 of 156 Soviet-aided major industrial programmes were launched in Luoyang's Jianxi District , including Dongfanghong Tractor Factory, Luoyang Mining Machines Factory and Luoyang Bearing Factory. Later, during

2448-640: The Shanghainese -language character U+20C8E 𠲎 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-20C8E —a composition of 伐 with the ⼝   'MOUTH' radical—used instead of the Standard Chinese 嗎 ; 吗 . Typefaces often use the initialism TC to signify the use of traditional Chinese characters, as well as SC for simplified Chinese characters . In addition, the Noto, Italy family of typefaces, for example, also provides separate fonts for

2550-552: The Tang dynasty , the area that came to be known as Chang'an included the area inside the Ming Xi'an fortification, plus some small areas to its east and west, and a substantial part of its southern suburbs. Thus, Tang Chang'an was eight times the size of the Ming Xi'an, which was reconstructed upon the site of the former imperial quarters of the Sui and Tang city. During its heyday, Chang'an

2652-481: The Third Front construction, a group of heavy industry factories was moved to or founded in Luoyang, including Luoyang Glass Factory. Industrial development significantly shifted Luoyang's demographic makeup, and about half of Luoyang's population are new immigrants after 1949 from outside the province or their descendants. The prefecture-level city of Luoyang administers 7 districts and 7 counties : During

2754-655: The Tibetan Empire . In 765, Chang'an was besieged by an alliance of the Tibetan Empire and the Uyghur Khaganate . Several laws enforcing segregation of foreigners from Han Chinese were passed during the Tang dynasty . In 779, the Tang dynasty issued an edict which forced Uighurs in the capital, Chang'an, to wear their ethnic dress, stopped them from marrying Chinese females, and banned them from pretending to be Chinese. Between 783 and 784, Chang'an

2856-678: The Xia , Shang , and Zhou dynasties . The total number of exhibits on display is 1,700. China's only tomb museum, the Luoyang Ancient Tombs Museum , opened to the public in 1987 and is situated north of the modern town. The Gaocheng Astronomical Observatory (also known as the Dengfeng Observatory or the Tower of Chou Kong) stands 80 km (50 mi) south-east of Luoyang. It was constructed in 1276 during

2958-630: The Xia dynasty king Tai Kang moved the Xia capital to the intersection of the Luo and Yi and named the city Zhenxun ( 斟鄩 ). In 1600 BC, Tang of Shang defeated Jie , the final Xia dynasty king, and built Western Bo, ( 西亳 ), a new capital on the Luo River. The ruins of Western Bo are located in Luoyang Prefecture. In 1036 BC a settlement named Chengzhou ( 成周 ) was constructed by

3060-684: The Yangtze river after the upheaval, was even able to recover the city on a few occasions. In winter 416, during Liu Yu's northern expedition against the Later Qin, Luoyang fell to the Jin general Tan Daoji . In 422, the city was captured by Xianbei -led Northern Wei dynasty . The Liu Song dynasty , which succeeded the Jin, briefly recovered the city in 430, but by the 460s, Luoyang was definitively under Wei control. In 493 AD, as part of his sinicization campaign, Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved

3162-516: The Yellow River . The districts of the modern urban center include both banks and some of the surrounding mountains. The countryside controlled by the municipal government includes still more rugged land: mountains comprise 45.51% of the total area; hills, 40.73%; and plains, 13.8%. Luoyang has a highly continental dry-winter humid subtropical climate ( Köppen climate classification : Cwa ). Extremes since 1951 have ranged from −18.2 °C (−1 °F) (unofficial record of −20 °C (−4 °F))

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3264-599: The Yuan dynasty by Guo Shoujing as a giant gnomon for "the measurement of the sun's shadow". Prior to the Jesuit China Missions , it was used for establishing the summer and winter solstices in traditional Chinese astronomy . Luoyang is the foundation of Confucianism, the birth of Taoism, the first transmission of Buddhism, the formation of metaphysics, and the origin of neo-Confucianism. All kinds of cultural thoughts are integrated and symbiosis here, and

3366-407: The compass , paper making and printing among the four great inventions of ancient China were born here. Luoyang is also the cultural root and ancestral lineage of the global Chinese, more than 100 million Hakka ancestral home in the world, 70% of China's clan name originated here, Heluo culture represented by "Hetu Luoshu" is the ancestral source of Chinese civilization. Water Banquet , which

3468-399: The 220s, but with the establishment of three separate kingdoms, rather than a unified empire. On April 4, 190 AD, Chancellor Dong Zhuo ordered his soldiers to ransack, pillage, and raze the city as he retreated from the coalition set up against him by regional lords all over China. The court was subsequently moved to the more defensible western city of Chang'an (modern Xi'an). Following

3570-706: The Eastern Han dynasty, thus making Luoyang the eastern terminus of the Silk Road during the Han dynasty. In 166 AD, the first Roman mission , sent by "the king of Da Qin [the Roman Empire], Andun" ( Marcus Aurelius Antoninus , r. 161–180 AD), reached Luoyang after arriving by sea in Rinan Commandery in what is now central Vietnam . The late 2nd century saw China decline into anarchy: The decline

3672-655: The Nine Markets, was the eastern economic terminus of the Silk Road. Access to the market was from the Northeast and Northwest gates, which were the most heavily used by the common people. The former connect with a bridge over the Wei River to the northern suburbs and the latter connected with the rest of China to the east. An intricate network of underground passages connected the imperial harem with other palaces and

3774-806: The Northern Palace were 3 km apart and connected by The Covered Way. In 26 AD, the Altar of the Gods of the Soils and Grains, the Altar of Heaven, and the Temple of the eminent Founder, Emperor Gao of Former Han were inaugurated. The Imperial University was restored in 29 AD. In 48 AD, the Yang Canal linked the capital to the Luo. In 56 AD, the main imperial observatory, the Spiritual Terrace,

3876-502: The People's Republic of China, traditional Chinese characters are standardised according to the Table of Comparison between Standard, Traditional and Variant Chinese Characters . Dictionaries published in mainland China generally show both simplified and their traditional counterparts. There are differences between the accepted traditional forms in mainland China and elsewhere, for example the accepted traditional form of 产 in mainland China

3978-556: The Tang era still standing. After Zhu Quanzhong moved the capital to Luoyang, the Youguo Governorate ( 佑國軍 ) was established in Chang'an, with Han Jian being the jiedushi ( 佑國軍節度使 ). Han Jian rebuilt Chang'an on the basis of the old Imperial City. Much of Chang'an was abandoned and the rebuilt Chang'an, called "Xincheng (lit. new city)" by the contemporary people, was less than 1/16 of the old Chang'an in area. The rest of

4080-532: The United States during the second half of the 19th century, Chinese Americans have long used traditional characters. When not providing both, US public notices and signs in Chinese are generally written in traditional characters, more often than in simplified characters. In the past, traditional Chinese was most often encoded on computers using the Big5 standard, which favored traditional characters. However,

4182-475: The West Palace (guarded behind the main exterior wall) by three gates in the north, the walled-off enclosure of the Daming Palace connected by three gates in the northeast, the walled-off East Park led in by one gate in the northeast, and the Serpentine River Park in the southeast was simply walled off by the main exterior wall, and open without gated enclosures facing the southeasternmost city blocks. There

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4284-588: The Western Han period, the Eastern Han government settled on Luoyang as the new capital. Chang'an was therefore also sometimes referred to as the Western Capital or Xijing ( 西京 ) in some Han dynasty texts. In 190 AD during late Eastern Han, the court was seized and relocated back to Chang'an by the notorious Prime Minister Dong Zhuo , as it was a strategically superior site against the mounting insurgency formed against him. After Dong's death (192)

4386-640: The capital from Datong to Luoyang, moving over 150,000 people to the site by 495, and started the construction of the rock-cut Longmen Grottoes . More than 30,000 Buddhist statues from the time of this dynasty have been found in the caves. Many of these sculptures were two-faced. At the same time, the Shaolin Temple was also built by the Emperor to accommodate an Indian monk on the Mont Song right next to Luoyang City. The Yongning Temple ( 永宁寺 ),

4488-492: The capital was moved back to Luoyang in August 196, and to Xuchang in autumn 196. By this time, Chang'an was already regarded as the symbolic site of supreme power and governance. The 25.7 km long city wall was initially 3.5 m wide at the base tapering upward 8 m for a top width of 2 m. Beyond this wall, a 6.13 m wide moat with a depth of 4.62 m was spanned by 13.86 m long stone bridges. The wall

4590-404: The city in 740. Within the West Park was a running stream and within the walled enclosure of the West Palace were two running streams, one connecting three ponds and another connecting two ponds. The small East Park had a pond the size of those in the West Palace. The Daming Palace and the Xingqing Palace (along the eastern wall of the city) had small lakes to boast. The Serpentine River Park had

4692-631: The city into nine distinct gridded sectors ( listed below by cardinal direction ). The narrowest of these streets were 82 ft (25 m) wide, those terminating at the gates of the outer walls being 328 ft (100 m) wide, and the largest of all, the Imperial Way that stretched from the central southern gate all the way to the Administrative City and West Palace in the north, was 492 ft (150 m) wide. Streets and roads of these widths allowed for efficient fire breaks in

4794-407: The city of Chang'an. For example, in 843, a large fire consumed 4,000 homes, warehouses , and other buildings in the East Market, yet the rest of the city was at a safe distance from the blaze (which was largely quarantined in East Central Chang'an). The citizens of Chang'an were also pleased with the government once the imperial court ordered the planting of fruit trees along all of the avenues of

4896-414: The city was overrun by nature and was used for agriculture. Then the northern and eastern city wall was expanded a little and the official name of the city was changed from Jingzhao , which means capital city, to Xi'an in Ming dynasty . Traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages . In Taiwan ,

4998-418: The city was reconquered by Liu Yu of Eastern Jin , who founded the Liu Song dynasty in 420. The city was lost to Northern Wei by 439. When Northern Wei split in two, Chang'an became the capital of Western Wei (535–557), and also of its successor state Northern Zhou (557–581). The Sui and Tang empires occupied the same location. In 582, Emperor Wen of the Sui dynasty sited a new region southeast of

5100-443: The city, such as charcoal and firewood in the winter. Locations and events in the southwest sector of the city included : Locations and events in the south central sector of the city included : Locations and events in the southeast sector of the city included : Locations and events in the west central sector of the city included : Locations and events in the central sector of the city included : Locations and events in

5202-404: The city. These passages were controlled by underground gatehouses and their existence was unknown. In 200 BC after marking the boundaries of the three prefectures, which comprised the metropolitan region of Xianyang , Liu Bang appointed Xiao He to design and build the new capital. He chose to site the city on ruins of the Qin dynasty Apex Temple (formerly, Xin Palace). This old Qin palace

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5304-417: The common people since Liu Bang was sealed off, was turned into an imperial park again. In the center of the park was a recreation of the three fairy islands in Kunming Lake . Chang'an was briefly the capital of the Western Jin dynasty from 312 to 316. It was also the capital of Former Zhao (318–329), Former Qin (351–385) and Later Qin (384–417). In 417, a century after the Western Jin lost Chang'an,

5406-464: The east central sector of the city included : Locations and events in the northwest sector of the city included : Locations and events in the north central sector of the city included : Locations and events in the northeast sector of the city included : The West Palace to the north included : The West Park grounds included : The Daming Palace grounds included : The East Park grounds included : For different buildings and locations in

5508-399: The entire city, the total numbers for each were : Citywide events of Chang'an include : Much of Chang'an was destroyed during its repeated sacking during the An Lushan Rebellion and several subsequent events. Chang'an was occupied by the forces of An Lushan and Shi Siming , in 756; then taken back by the Tang government and allied troops in 757. In 763, Chang'an was briefly occupied by

5610-418: The first and the only empress in Chinese history – Empress Wu , moved the capital of her Zhou dynasty to Luoyang and named it as Shen Du (Capital of the God). She constructed the tallest palace in Chinese history, which is now in the site of Sui Tang Luoyang city. Luoyang was heavily damaged during the An Lushan Rebellion . Epitaphs were found dating from the Tang dynasty of a Christian couple in Luoyang of

5712-422: The first from 200 to 195 BC when the palaces were built; the second 195–180 BC when the outer city walls were built; the third between 141 and 87 BC with a peak at 100 BC; and the fourth from 1 BC–24 AD when it was destroyed. The Xuanpingmen gate was the main gate between the city and the suburbs. The district north of the Weiyang Palace was the most exclusive. The main market, called

5814-442: The inhabitants after retaking the city. Chang'an was finally retaken by the Tang government in 883. In 904, the warlord Zhu Quanzhong ordered the city's buildings demolished and the construction materials moved to Luoyang , which became the new capital. The residents, together with the emperor Zhaozong , were also forced to move to Luoyang. Chang'an never recovered after the apex of the Tang dynasty, but there are some monuments from

5916-493: The inverse is equally true as well. In digital media, many cultural phenomena imported from Hong Kong and Taiwan into mainland China, such as music videos, karaoke videos, subtitled movies, and subtitled dramas, use traditional Chinese characters. In Hong Kong and Macau , traditional characters were retained during the colonial period, while the mainland adopted simplified characters. Simplified characters are contemporaneously used to accommodate immigrants and tourists, often from

6018-725: The mainland. The increasing use of simplified characters has led to concern among residents regarding protecting what they see as their local heritage. Taiwan has never adopted simplified characters. The use of simplified characters in government documents and educational settings is discouraged by the government of Taiwan. Nevertheless, with sufficient context simplified characters are likely to be successfully read by those used to traditional characters, especially given some previous exposure. Many simplified characters were previously variants that had long been in some use, with systematic stroke simplifications used in folk handwriting since antiquity. Traditional characters were recognized as

6120-682: The majority of Chinese text in mainland China are simplified characters , there is no legislation prohibiting the use of traditional Chinese characters, and often traditional Chinese characters remain in use for stylistic and commercial purposes, such as in shopfront displays and advertising. Traditional Chinese characters remain ubiquitous on buildings that predate the promulgation of the current simplification scheme, such as former government buildings, religious buildings, educational institutions, and historical monuments. Traditional Chinese characters continue to be used for ceremonial, cultural, scholarly/academic research, and artistic/decorative purposes. In

6222-916: The merging of previously distinct character forms. Many Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between these character sets. Traditional characters are known by different names throughout the Chinese-speaking world. The government of Taiwan officially refers to traditional Chinese characters as 正體字 ; 正体字 ; zhèngtǐzì ; 'orthodox characters'. This term is also used outside Taiwan to distinguish standard characters, including both simplified, and traditional, from other variants and idiomatic characters . Users of traditional characters elsewhere, as well as those using simplified characters, call traditional characters 繁體字 ; 繁体字 ; fántǐzì ; 'complex characters', 老字 ; lǎozì ; 'old characters', or 全體字 ; 全体字 ; quántǐzì ; 'full characters' to distinguish them from simplified characters. Some argue that since traditional characters are often

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6324-519: The much ruined Han dynasty Chang'an to build his new capital, which he called Daxing ( 大興 ; 'Great prosperity'). Daxing was renamed Chang'an in the year 618 when the Duke of Tang, Li Yuan, proclaimed himself the Emperor Gaozu of Tang . Chang'an during the Tang dynasty (618–907) was, along with Constantinople ( Istanbul ) and Baghdad , one of the largest cities in the world. It was a cosmopolitan urban center with considerable foreign populations from other parts of Asia and beyond. This new Chang'an

6426-400: The new Emperor, and second, it allowed him to redirect their energy toward defending the capital from invasion by the nearby Xiongnu . His adviser Liu Jing described this plan as weakening the root while strengthening the branch. After the necessary political structure was set up, the area of the capital was divided into three prefectures and construction began. At its founding in 195 BC,

6528-404: The new Luoyang on the site of the existing city using a layout inspired by his father Emperor Wen of Sui 's work in newly rebuilt Chang'an. During the Tang dynasty , Luoyang was Dongdu ( 東都 ), the "Eastern Capital", and at its height had a population of around one million, second only to Chang'an, which, at the time, was the largest city in the world. During an interval in the Tang dynasty,

6630-407: The northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi Huang of the Qin dynasty , China's first emperor, held his imperial court and constructed his massive mausoleum guarded by the Terracotta Army . From its capital at Xianyang , the Qin dynasty ruled a larger area than either of the preceding dynasties. The imperial city of Chang'an during the Han dynasty was located northwest of today's Xi'an. During

6732-556: The official script in Singapore until 1969, when the government officially adopted Simplified characters. Traditional characters still are widely used in contexts such as in baby and corporation names, advertisements, decorations, official documents and in newspapers. The Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative in Southeast Asia regarding simplification. Although major public universities teach in simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications such as

6834-700: The original standard forms, they should not be called 'complex'. Conversely, there is a common objection to the description of traditional characters as 'standard', due to them not being used by a large population of Chinese speakers. Additionally, as the process of Chinese character creation often made many characters more elaborate over time, there is sometimes a hesitation to characterize them as 'traditional'. Some people refer to traditional characters as 'proper characters' ( 正字 ; zhèngzì or 正寫 ; zhèngxiě ) and to simplified characters as 簡筆字 ; 简笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'simplified-stroke characters' or 減筆字 ; 减笔字 ; jiǎnbǐzì ; 'reduced-stroke characters', as

6936-419: The palaces was built at this time with a 2° difference in alignment to the grid of the palaces. The city remained quite static after this expansion. Emperor Wu began a third phase of construction which peaked on 100 BC with the construction of many new palaces. He also added the nine temples complex south of the city, and built the park. In 120 BC, Shanglin Park, which had been used for agriculture by

7038-444: The palaces. The overall form of the city was an irregular rectangle. The ideal square of the city had been twisted into the form of the Big Dipper for astrological reasons, and also to follow the bank of the Wei River. The eight avenues divided the city into nine districts. These nine main districts were subdivided into 160 walled 1×1  li wards. About 50–100 families lived in each ward. Historically, Chang'an grew in four phases:

7140-454: The political and military center of China. By 2 AD, the population was 246,200 in 80,000 households. This population consisted mostly of the scholar gentry class whose education was being sponsored by their wealthy aristocratic families. In addition to these civil servants there was a larger underclass to serve them. Initially, Emperor Liu Bang decided to build his capital at the area south of Luo River, which according to Chinese geography

7242-430: The population of Changan was 146,000. During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han , the diplomat Zhang Qian was dispatched westward into Central Asia . Subsequently, Chang'an city became the Asian gateway to Europe as the point of departure of the Silk Road . On 4 October 23 AD, Chang'an was captured and sacked during a peasant rebellion . The emperor, Wang Mang was killed and decapitated by the rebels two days later. After

7344-833: The predominant forms. Simplified characters as codified by the People's Republic of China are predominantly used in mainland China , Malaysia, and Singapore. "Traditional" as such is a retronym applied to non-simplified character sets in the wake of widespread use of simplified characters. Traditional characters are commonly used in Taiwan , Hong Kong , and Macau , as well as in most overseas Chinese communities outside of Southeast Asia. As for non-Chinese languages written using Chinese characters, Japanese kanji include many simplified characters known as shinjitai standardized after World War II, sometimes distinct from their simplified Chinese counterparts . Korean hanja , still used to

7446-612: The privilege to live closer to the central avenue. Chang'an's layout influenced the city planning of several other Asian capitals for many years to come. Chang'an's walled and gated wards were much larger than conventional city blocks seen in modern cities, as the smallest ward had a surface area of 68 acres, and the largest ward had a surface area of 233 acres (0.94 km). The height of the walls enclosing each ward were on average 9 to 10 ft (3.0 m) in height. The Japanese built their ancient capitals, Heijō-kyō (today's Nara ) and later Heian-kyō or Kyoto , modeled after Chang'an in

7548-496: The river, the sun always shines on the north side of the river. Luoyang has had several names over the centuries, including Luoyi ( 洛邑 ) and Luozhou ( 洛州 ), but Luoyang has been its primary name. It has also been called Dongdu ( 東都 ; 'eastern capital') during the Tang dynasty , Xijing ( 西京 ; 'western capital') during the Song dynasty , or Jingluo ( Chinese : 京洛 ; lit. 'capital Luo'). During

7650-442: The rule of Wu Zetian , the only female emperor in Chinese history, the city was known as Shendu ( 神都 ; 'divine capital'). Luoyang was renamed Henanfu ( 河南府 ) during the Qing dynasty but regained its former name in 1912. The greater Luoyang area has been sacred ground since the late Neolithic period . Several cities – all of which are generally referred to as "Luoyang" – have been built in this area. In 2070 BC,

7752-521: The set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the Standard Form of National Characters . These forms were predominant in written Chinese until the middle of the 20th century, when various countries that use Chinese characters began standardizing simplified sets of characters, often with characters that existed before as well-known variants of

7854-592: The short Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period , Luoyang was the capital of the Later Liang (only for a few years before the court moved to Kaifeng ) and Later Tang dynasty. During the North Song dynasty , Luoyang was the 'Western Capital' and birthplace of Zhao Kuangyin, the founder of the Song dynasty. It served as a prominent cultural center, housing some of the most important philosophers. This prosperity

7956-587: The south, Sanmenxia to the west, Jiyuan to the north, and Jiaozuo to the northeast. As of December 31, 2018, Luoyang had a population of 6,888,500 inhabitants with 2,751,400 people living in the built-up (or metro) area made of the city's five out of six urban districts (except the Jili District not continuously urbanized) and Yanshi District , now being conurbated. By the end of 2022, Luoyang Municipality had jurisdiction over 7 municipal districts, 7 counties and 1 development zone. The permanent population

8058-436: The southern section of the main outer wall, and three gates along the eastern section of the main outer wall. Although the city had many different streets and roads passing between the wards, city blocks, and buildings, there were distinct major roads (lined up with the nine gates of the western, southern, and eastern walls of the city) that were much wider avenues than the others. There were six of these major roads that divided

8160-576: The tallest pagoda in China, was also built in Luoyang. The city reached a population of 600,000 at its height during the Northern Wei. The city was destroyed by the warlord Gao Huan , who captured the city and forced its population to move to his capital at Ye in 534. The old city was the site of numerous battles between Western Wei (and its successor Northern Zhou ) and Eastern Wei (and its successor Northern Qi ) between 538 and 575. When Emperor Yang of Sui took control in 604 AD he founded

8262-636: The traditional character set used in Taiwan ( TC ) and the set used in Hong Kong ( HK ). Most Chinese-language webpages now use Unicode for their text. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommends the use of the language tag zh-Hant to specify webpage content written with traditional characters. In the Japanese writing system , kyujitai are traditional forms, which were simplified to create shinjitai for standardized Japanese use following World War II. Kyūjitai are mostly congruent with

8364-985: The traditional characters in Chinese, save for minor stylistic variation. Characters that are not included in the jōyō kanji list are generally recommended to be printed in their traditional forms, with a few exceptions. Additionally, there are kokuji , which are kanji wholly created in Japan, rather than originally being borrowed from China. In the Korean writing system , hanja —replaced almost entirely by hangul in South Korea and totally replaced in North Korea —are mostly identical with their traditional counterparts, save minor stylistic variations. As with Japanese, there are autochthonous hanja, known as gukja . Traditional Chinese characters are also used by non-Chinese ethnic groups. The Maniq people living in Thailand and Malaysia use Chinese characters to write

8466-518: The ubiquitous Unicode standard gives equal weight to simplified and traditional Chinese characters, and has become by far the most popular encoding for Chinese-language text. There are various input method editors (IMEs) available for the input of Chinese characters . Many characters, often dialectical variants, are encoded in Unicode but cannot be inputted using certain IMEs, with one example being

8568-490: The vicinity. The Han capital was located 3 km northwest of modern Xi'an . As the capital of the Western Han, it was the political, economic and cultural center of China. It was also the eastern terminus of the Silk Road , and a cosmopolitan metropolis. It was a consumer city, a city whose existence was not primarily predicated upon manufacturing and trade, but rather boasted such a large population because of its role as

8670-422: The wall. These gates were distributed three a side and from them eight 45 m wide main avenues extended into the city. These avenues were also divided into three lanes aligned with the three gateways of each gate. The lanes were separated by median strips planted with pine, elm, and scholar trees . Bachengmen Avenue was an exception with a width of 82 m and no medians. Four of the gates opened directly into

8772-587: The words for simplified and reduced are homophonous in Standard Chinese , both pronounced as jiǎn . The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han dynasty c.  200 BCE , with the sets of forms and norms more or less stable since the Southern and Northern dynasties period c.  the 5th century . Although

8874-729: The work. Residents of Luoyang typically speak a dialect of Zhongyuan Mandarin . Although Luoyang's dialect was a prestige dialect of spoken Chinese from the Warring States period of the Zhou until the Ming dynasty , it differs from the Beijing form of Mandarin which became the basis of the standard modern dialect . Asteroid (239200) 2006 MD13 is named after Luoyang. The city can be reached by highways, trains or planes. Long-distance buses are also an option although they generally tend to take longer. High-speed rail

8976-704: The world after Rome . At the start of the 4th century, Luoyang was subjected to repeated attacks during the War of the Eight Princes and Upheaval of the Five Barbarians under the Jin. In 311 AD, rebel forces of the Xiongnu -led Han-Zhao dynasty sacked and razed the city in an event known as the Disaster of Yongjia . For the next two centuries, Luoyang would cease as a major population hub, but remained

9078-415: Was a Forbidden Park to the northwest outside of the city, where there was a cherry orchard , a Pear Garden , a vineyard , and fields for playing popular sports such as horse polo and cuju (ancient Chinese football ). On the northwest section of the main outer wall there were three gates leading out to the Forbidden Park, three gates along the western section of the main outer wall, three gates along

9180-533: Was accelerated by the rebellion of the Yellow Turbans , who, although defeated by the Imperial troops in 184 AD, weakened the state to the point where there was a continuing series of rebellions degenerating into civil war, culminating in the burning of the Han capital of Luoyang on 24 September 189 AD. This was followed by a state of continual unrest and wars in China until a modicum of stability returned in

9282-485: Was again occupied by rebels during the Jingyuan Rebellion . In 881, Chang'an was occupied by the rebel Huang Chao , who made it the seat of his Qi Dynasty. In 882, the Tang dynasty briefly regained control of Chang'an. However, the Tang forces, although welcomed by the inhabitants, looted Chang'an before being driven back by the forces of Huang Chao. In revenge, Huang Chao conducted a systematic slaughter of

9384-481: Was constructed. For several centuries, Luoyang was the focal point of China. In AD 68, the White Horse Temple , the first Buddhist temple in China, was founded in Luoyang. The temple still exists, though the architecture is of later origin, mainly from the 16th century. An Shigao was one of the first monks to popularize Buddhism in Luoyang. The diplomat Ban Chao restored the Silk Road during

9486-478: Was discovered and she was put in her tomb by her military officer son on 22 January, 815. This Sogdian woman's husband was surnamed He (和) and he was a Han Chinese man and the family was indicated to be multiethnic on the epitaph pillar. In Luoyang, the mixed raced sons of Nestorian Christian Sogdian women and Han Chinese men has many career paths available for them. Neither their mixed ethnicity nor their faith were barriers and they were able to become civil officials,

9588-503: Was in modern Luoyang . This location was the site of the holy city Chengzhou , capital of Eastern Zhou . However, the strategic military value of a capital located in the Wei Valley became the deciding factor for locating the new capital. To this end, it is recorded c 200 BC he forcibly relocated thousands of clans in the military aristocracy to this region. The purpose was twofold. First, it kept all potential rivals close to

9690-434: Was laid out on a north–south axis in a grid pattern, dividing the enclosure into 108 wards and featuring two large marketplaces , in the east and west respectively. Every day, administrators of the two marketplaces would beat gongs three hundred times in the morning and evening to signify the start and stop of business. People who lived in the wards were not allowed to go outside after curfew. Officials with higher ranking had

9792-502: Was later expanded to 12–16 m at base and 12 m high. The moat was expanded to 8 m wide and 3 m deep. The expansion of the wall was likely a solution to flooding from the Wei River . The entire city was sited below the 400 m contour line which the Tang dynasty used to mark the edge of the floodplain. Twelve gates with three gateways each, according with the ritual formulas of Zhou dynasty urban planning , pierced

9894-570: Was mainly caused by Luoyang undergoing new developments and reconstruction during this period. During the Jurchen Jin dynasty , Luoyang was the "Middle Capital". Since the Yuan dynasty , Luoyang was no longer the capital of China in the rest of the ancient dynasties. During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Luoyang was razed and rebuilt twice. Its walls were destroyed by peasant rebels in the late Ming period. The city walls were then rebuilt during

9996-402: Was meant to be the earthly mirror of Polaris, the apex star, where the heavenly emperor resided. This site thus represented the center of the earth lying under the center of heaven with an axis mundi running upward from the imperial throne to its heavenly counterpart. The ruins were greatly expanded to 7×7 li in size and renamed Changle Palace ( 长乐宫 ; 長樂宮 ; Chánglègōng ). Two years later,

10098-541: Was moved to Chengzhou in 510 BC. Later, the Eastern Han dynasty capital of Luoyang would be built over Chengzhou. Modern Luoyang is built over the ruins of Wangcheng, which are still visible today at Wangcheng Park. Qin Shi Huang's chief minister, Lu Buwei, was given Luoyang. Lu began programs to develop and beautify Luoyang. It is said that Liu Bang visited Luoyang and considered making it his capital but

10200-620: Was on January 17, 1936) to 44.2 °C (112 °F). The Longmen Grottoes south of the city were listed on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in November 2000. Guanlin—a series of temples built in honor of Guan Yu , a hero of the Three Kingdoms period —is nearby. The White Horse Temple is located 12 km (7.5 mi) east of the modern town. The Luoyang Museum (established 1958) features ancient relics dating back to

10302-533: Was one of the largest and most populous cities in the world. Around AD 750, Chang'an was called a "million-man city" in Chinese records, with modern estimates putting it at around 800,000–1,000,000 within city walls. According to the census in 742 recorded in the New Book of Tang , 362,921 families with 1,960,188 persons were counted in Jingzhao Fu ( 京兆府 ), the metropolitan area including small cities in

10404-483: Was persuaded to reconsider by his ministers to turn to Chang'an instead for his capital. In 25 AD, Luoyang was declared the capital of the Eastern Han dynasty on November 27 by Emperor Guangwu of Han . The city walls formed a rectangle 4 km south to north and 2.5 km west to east, with the Gu River, a tributary of the Luo River just outside the northern eastern walls. The rectangular Southern Palace and

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