Capital cities of Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907)
Location: Xi'an, Shaanxi Province
Period: 582-907
Excavated from 1956 to the present

Significance: Capital Daxing (or Chang'an) of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) was one of the most prosperous international metropolises at that time. The find has offered precious material objects for the study of the structure, layout, historical continuity and changes of the metropolis of both Sui and Tang dynasties.

Introduction

Stone head of chi, a footless dragon: piece of building (up-left); Rectangular earthen brick with lotus design: piece of building (bottom, side length is 31.5 cm)
Present-day Xi'an of Shaanxi Province has been the capital of a number of dynasties including: the Western Han (202BC-8AD), the Sui (581-618), and the Tang (618-907). It was named Chang'an, Daxing and then Chang'an respectively. At the end of the Tang, Chang'an was completely destroyed. The site covers an area of about 83.1 square kilometers.

During the Sui Dynasty the construction of Daxing (the name was later changed to Chang'an) was commissioned by Emperor Wen Di at the foot of the Longshou Mountains, just slightly to the southeast of the Han Chang'an location and encompassing present day Xi'an. On the 9th of February, 583, the city was completed. The outer wall was 36.7 kilometers in circumference (eighty-four square kilometers) and was made of rammed earth nine to twelve meters in thickness.

When the Li family conquered the Sui in 618, the same capital was used except for the renaming of the city from Daxing to Chang'an (meaning "eternal peace"). The city was designed in the shape of a near-perfect square comprised of the outer city, the imperial city and the palace. The imperial city was located in the north center of the outer city, and the palace in the south of the imperial city. The streets of Chang'an were arranged in a grid pattern with fourteen running in a north-south direction and eleven running from east to west. The widest street was 220 meters in width. Each major street had two drainage canals dividing it into three lanes.

Chang'an was geographically located on a north-south axis. From the palace in the north the emperor would face south when seated in his hall of audience thereby symbolically occupying the position of the Pole star as the pivot of the universe. All four cardinal directions were associated with specific animals, elements, and colors. All important cities, tombs, temples, residences, and so forth, faced south in line with fundamental concepts of geomancy which dictated that one's back should always be towards the north so as to ward off harmful and too powerful Yin influences. One therefore faced the south from which healthy Yang emanations could be received.

A large number of cultural relics were found in the site, including construction components and kilns. About 205 gold and silver wares have been unearthed, which is the largest and most valuable excavations of the Tang since the founding of new China.