Chinese City

Urbanism
and

Evolution
and
Development

7607 tp.indd 1 1/19/10 10:44:02 AM

January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

This page intentionally left blank

 Chinese City
Urbanism
and

Evolution and
Development

Victor F S SIT
Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong

World Scientific
NEW JERSEY • LONDON • SINGAPORE • BEIJING • SHANGHAI • HONG KONG • TA I P E I • CHENNAI

7607 tp.indd 2 1/19/10 10:44:03 AM

 Published by
World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
5 Toh Tuck Link, Singapore 596224
USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601
UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

CHINESE CITY AND URBANISM

Evolution and Development
Copyright © 2010 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval
system now known or to be invented, without written permission from the Publisher.

For photocopying of material in this volume, please pay a copying fee through the Copyright
Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. In this case permission to
photocopy is not required from the publisher.

ISBN-13 978-981-4293-72-3
ISBN-10 981-4293-72-5

Typeset by Stallion Press

Email: enquiries@stallionpress.com

Printed in Singapore.

Lixi - Chinese City and Urbanism.pmd 1 3/22/2010, 7:36 PM

January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

Contents

Introduction vii
Preface ix
About the Author xiii
List of Maps and Figures xv
List of Tables xxi

Chapter 1: Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin

and Stages of Development 1

Chapter 2: From Village to Proto-Urban Settlements

of Late Yangshao Period 16

Chapter 3: Longshan City-States 29

Chapter 4: Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State

of the Xia 45

Chapter 5: Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze

Metallurgy 63

Chapter 6: From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial

Cities: Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States 88

Chapter 7: The Administrative City of Qin and Han 113

Chapter 8: Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 134

Chapter 9: Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 160

v
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

vi Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Chapter 10: Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction

and Resurgence after the Yuan Dynasty 189
Chapter 11: Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian
Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 212
Chapter 12: People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist
Approach 243
Chapter 13: Message from Chinese Urbanism 279
Bibliography 310
Index 325
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

Introduction

The purpose of the volume is to treat the progress of history,

civilization and urban development of China together in order to
demonstrate the unique qualities of Chinese civilization.
The author used historical dynasties as the vertical dimension,
starting from the pre-urban origin of round-moat village settlements
of the Yangshao Period, until the most recent transitional city under
the present “socialist market system”. There are a total of 13 chapters,
covering a time-span of roughly 6,000 years.
In the long process of historic evolution, China’s civilization had
been strengthened and enriched to become a system of values and
behavior generally known as Confucianism. The system is based on
the primary goals of striving to maintain harmonious man-land, or
man-heaven as well as man to man relationships, with a pragmatic
inclination on application through administrative means, the rule of
law, and widespread education. The system had been extended to a
large territory from its core in central China, even reaching Korea,
Japan, central Asia and Southeast Asia, in addition to the nomadic
peoples in China’s periphery. The Chinese city had served as the
container and service platform of the system and an incubator for
its new additions and modifications in later dynasties. Thus, the
nature, function and structure of the city and the entire city-hierachy
in China and these spatial arrangements, were, in reality, a material
reflection of the progression of Chinese civilization and its territorial
extension.
The volume also discusses the theoretical context of the unique-
ness of the Chinese urban evolution and compared it with experi-
ences in the West. It treated major events, economic development,
territorial changes, and developments in technology, art and culture,

vii
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

viii Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

military as well as administrative system in the dynasties as urban

change dynamics. It therefore has succinctly put together in this
volume 6,000 years of Chinese cultural history.
Besides using a large amount of Chinese literature, including
materials on recent archeological finds, the volume has explored
substantial Western literature on relevant issues with the purpose
of putting the Chinese experience in a global context.
The author has included in the volume over 100 maps and line
drawings selected from his collection accumulated over 30 years
as a university teacher and researcher of urban geography and the
Chinese city. They provide vivid and readily apprehensible illustra-
tions for illuminating key points on the structure of the Chinese city
and the geopolitical situation of China in major historical periods.
They too add details through graphic techniques to the text treatment
of the subject matters, and are themselves visually valuable, forming
another unique feature of the volume.
The volume targets at a wide spectrum of readers, including all
who are interested in culture and civilization, cities, urban planning
and economic, philosophic, political and historical developments
of China.
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

Preface

Chinese civilization is the only surviving ancient civilization and

Confucianism has been its predominant value system throughout
the ups and downs in China’s long history. Starting from the
Zhou Dynasty, China had experienced a total of 13 dynasties or
about 3,000 years. Acheological evidence, however, indicated that
China had emerged as a civilization long before that. When the
Shang and its earlier pre-history period are added, then China’s
process of civilized development has stretched over a length of
5,000 years.
As two commonly used terms, “civilization” and “culture” have
often been taken to mean the same thing. In this volume, I have
adopted a narrow definition of “culture” by referring it to a local
region, i.e. a local culture, or a situation before the emergence of
civilization. Hence, I have implied that “culture” is under and
within civilization. That is to say, there may be an urban culture, or
urban culture of the Song within Chinese civilization, or that there
existed several regional cultures in the Yangshao Period before the
emergence of civilization in China in the Longshan Period.
Chinese civilization rests on the pact of values generally known
as Confucianism which had its roots in Late Neolithic and was
systematized and codified by Confucians in Eastern Zhou. It was
contained in the Confucian collection of the Four Books and Five
Classics. In brief, the Confucian ideology is about man-land relations,
or the relationship between Man, Earth and Heaven. Such a model of
relations is extended to Man and his past world (ancestral worship),
and men with men (the five relationships). Its main principles are

ix
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

x Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

harmony, respect and rank orderliness. Confucianism had sup-

ported a thriving agricultural economy in China, leading to its
material progress, expansion and relative stability. It had also been
the basic principles behind the evolution of institutions and policies
of the Chinese government in various dynasties, as well as the code
of behavior of ordinary citizens. These principles had also been
reflected in the role, planning, and structure of the city in traditional
China, as the city was the most important container, platform, and
seat for administration, education, and services for the vast Chinese
countryside. In this volume, the central role of the Chinese city in
spreading and implementing Confucianism has been given repeated
treatment. It serves to underline that, to a large extent, the evolution
of the city in traditional China may be equated with the evolution of
Chinese civilization.
It is generally accepted that Chinese civilization is distinct from
many other civilizations, particularly the Western civilization. Thus,
logically, the Chinese city is dissimilar to the Western city. It is futile
to claim either the Chinese or Western city as “true” city, the same
way as one should not treat either Chinese or Western civilization
as “true” civilization. In fact the Chinese city is a subset of cities
and possesses unique features and roles to reflect the uniqueness of
Chinese civilization.
As Chinese civilization had emerged from a village based
agricultural economy, the Chinese city has all along been left
aside in the study of Chinese civilization. The Chinese city as a
container and node of Chinese civilization has not been adequately
understood nor studied. However, in the study and understanding
of a civilization, to approach and analyze related issues through its
major containers or most concentrated nodes is an effective means.
Indeed, to apprehend Chinese civilization and Confucianism from
the rural side is inadequate and indirect. In the city where the traits
of civilization are dense, numerous, and highly concentrated, one
can track the evolution and identify the traits of civilization much
more effectively.
For the above reasons, the present volume has adopted the
city-approach in viewing and analyzing the evolution of Chinese
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

Preface xi

history and its civilization. I have also used a large amount of maps,
particularly city landuse maps, of different historical times in China
to portray more vividly the evolution and special features of Chinese
civilization.
It has been my long cherished ambition to thoroughly examine
the nature of the Chinese city and its evolution, against the context
of basic concepts in urban geography developed in the West since
World War Two. Throughout my long teaching career in University
of Hong Kong, I had taught the course of Urban Geography to
Geography undergraduates. In the meantime, I researched on the
Chinese city and broadened my reading on cities in other ancient
civilizations. I later developed these into the specialist courses of
“Chinese Cities”, and “City in History”. My efforts also yielded an
edited work: Chinese Cities, published by Oxford University Press
in 1985. Then, a detailed exposition and analysis of the Chinese
city, using the national capital, was published by Wiley in 1993,
entitled Beijing: the Nature and Planning of a Chinese Capital City. The
present volume represents the culmination of my life-long interest
and research on the Chinese City.
I am grateful to many of my colleagues and friends in the aca-
demic and non-academic circles who have been giving me encour-
agement all along, and to University of Hong Kong for providing
me with an excellent research environment and support.
However, my most important support has come from my wife
and children. My wife, in particular, has taken an important part in
reading and improving the draft innumerable times and shared the
pride in my work which formed a significant psychological boost
that enabled me to engage steadfastly in the research and writing of
this volume.
Since 1978, China has re-emerged as a global power. This
volume may contribute a part in helping people to understand the
complicated root system that has supported this gigantic “China
tree” in millenniums since the “big house” in the middle reach of the
Yellow River in Yangshao Period of Late Neolithic.
Finally, let me dedicate this volume to the Chinese people, and
peoples of the world, in the hope that Heaven, Earth, and Man
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

xii Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

(Tian, di, ren) will play their respective role properly, so that we may
advance into the ideal world of the Great Unity (Datong).

Victor F.S. Sit

Director & Chair Professor of Geography
Advanced Institute for Contemporary China Studies
Hong Kong Baptist University
August, 2009
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

About the Author

Professor Victor Fung Shuen Sit is a Fujianist born in Guangzhou

in 1947. He was raised and educated in Hong Kong since 1950,
and obtained his B.A. (Hon.) and M.A. degrees from University of
Hong Kong. During 1974–77 he studied in the London School of
Economics in the UK and obtained a Ph.D. degree there. From 1947
to 2007 he had been a professor in the Department of Geography,
University of Hong Kong. He is currently Founding Director of the
Advanced Institute For Contemporary China Studies, Hong Kong
Baptist University.
Professor Sit has authored and edited more than 40 books, and
published over 100 papers in international academic journals, with
city, regional development, infrastructure and economic strategy as
their main themes. Books related to the present volume include:
Beijing: the Nature and Planning of a Chinese National Capital, Chinese
Cities, China’s Regional Disparities, The Geography of Hong Kong and
Macau, and Hong Kong Development Atlas.
His publications demonstrate the fusion of perspectives and
methodologies of the East and West. Many are published bilingually
in Chinese and English, one of the distinct features being the unique
angle he takes in analyzing and interpreting the traditions and
history of China.
Besides being a dedicated teacher and researcher, Professor Sit
has also participated actively in politics. He had been a member of the
Preparatory Committee for the Hong Kong Special Administrative
Region, Election Committee for the Chief Executive of the Hong
Kong SAR, and, in 1993–2008, served as a Deputy of the National
People’s Congress of China.

xiii
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

This page intentionally left blank

January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

List of Maps and Figures

Figure 1.1 (a) Comparative Dates of the Seven Ancient

Civilizations. (b) Locations of the Major Ancient
Civilizations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 1.2 China’s Relief Regions and Three Topographic
Steps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 1.3 China’s Agricultural Land and Forests. . . . . . 6
Figure 1.4 Regional Cultures in Middle Neolithic. . . . . . 7
Figure 1.5 Distribution of Legendary Tribal Groups. . . . 9
Figure 1.6 Pre-historic Sites where Copper Bronze wares
have been Unearthed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Figure 2.1 Neolithic Settlement of Yangshao Jiangzhai

Phase I. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Figure 2.2 Big House of Dadiwan Site. . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 2.3 Construction of Pounded Earth Wall. . . . . . . 25
Figure 2.4 Pre-historic Urban Sites in Yangshao and
Longshan Period. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 2.5 Structure of Chengtoushan Site. . . . . . . . . . 26

Figure 3.1 Cluster of Liangzhu Sites. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Figure 3.2 Distribution of Archeology Sites of Longshan
Period. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 3.3 Eight Major Settlement Clusters of Longshan
Period in Lower and Middle Reaches of
Huanghe (Yellow River). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 3.4 Models of Settlement patterns in Longshan
Period. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 3.5 Chengziya Longshan Settlement Cluster. . . . . 39

xv
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

xvi Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Figure 3.6 Plan of Pingliangtai City Site. . . . . . . . . . . 42

Figure 4.1 Core Areas of Erlitou Early Shang and Early

Zhou Cultures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 4.2 Core District of Xia Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 4.3 Distribution of Erlitou Sites: Their Geographical
Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 4.4 Erlitou Site of Xia Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 4.5 Erlitou F1 Site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Figure 4.6 Plan of F2 Erlitou Site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Figure 5.1 Polities in the Shang Period. . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Figure 5.2 The Realm of Shang Against Present Day
Provinces and Major Cities. . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Figure 5.3 Locations of Erligang Settlements and Metal
Resource in Shang Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 5.4 Tributary Model of the Political Economic
System in the Erligang Period. . . . . . . . . . . 75
Figure 5.5 Plan of the Zhengzhou Site. . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Figure 5.6 Plan of the Yanshi Site. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure 5.7 Palace of Longpan City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Figure 5.8 Archaeological Sites in Yinxu of Shang in
Present Day Anyang. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Figure 6.1 Polities in Western Zhou. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Figure 6.2 The Realm of Zhou Against Present Day
Provinces and Major Cities. . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Figure 6.3 The Ideal Layout of the Palace and Imperial
City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Figure 6.4 (a) 3-Dimension View of Chengzhou of Zhou
Dynasty. (b) Plan of Chengzhou of Zhou
Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Figure 6.5 Royal Palatial Quarter of Zhongzhou:
Reconstructed View and Plan. . . . . . . . . . . 102
Figure 6.6 Major States’ Cities and Transport Routes in the
Warring States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

List of Maps and Figures xvii

Figure 6.7 Linji of the State of Qi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Figure 6.8 Plan of the Capital of State of Lu: Qufu in
Shangdong Province. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111

Figure 7.1 Extent and Prefectural Headquarters of Qin

Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Figure 7.2 Territory and Neighbors of West Han. . . . . . 117
Figure 7.3 Economic Centers in West Han. . . . . . . . . . 121
Figure 7.4 Location of Changan of Han Dynasty
Compared to Changan of Tang Dynasty. . . . . 126
Figure 7.5 Landuse and Plan of Changan in Han Dynasty. 128
Figure 7.6 Plan of Luoyang in East Han. . . . . . . . . . . 130
Figure 7.7 Plan of Louyang in East Han Shown in Old
Chinese Classics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Figure 8.1 The Break-Up of China in the Three Kingdoms

Period (about 262 AD). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Figure 8.2 The Grand Canal of Sui and Tang Dynasty. . . 138
Figure 8.3 Territory of Tang Dynasty in Taizong’s Reign. . 139
Figure 8.4 Principal Pilgrimages of Chinese Buddhist
Monks to India. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Figure 8.5 Postal Roads in Tang Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . 145
Figure 8.6 Changan during Sui and Tang Dynasties. . . . 151
Figure 8.7 Bird’s Eye-View and Plan of Changan of Tang
Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Figure 8.8 Palace and Imperial City of Changan of Tang
Dynasty (from Chinese Classics). . . . . . . . . 153
Figure 8.9 Plan of Luoyang in Bei Wei. . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Figure 8.10 Landuse of Guangling (Yangzhou) in Tang
Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157

Figure 9.1 Polities in China During North Song (AD 1111). 161
Figure 9.2 Song China: Political and Commercial Situation. 169
Figure 9.3 Major Markets’ Shopping Streets and
Entertainment Centers of Kaifeng in Late North
Song. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

xviii Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Figure 9.4 Detail of Qingming Shanghe Tu. (a) Example

of a 3-Storey Restaurant (b) Shops and Stall
on Bridge (c) A Drugstore and (d) Artisans
Working in a Street. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
Figure 9.5 Administrative and Commercial Landuse of
Linan (Hangzhou) in South Song. . . . . . . . . 182
Figure 9.6 Details of Linan, the Captial of South Song as
Presented in Chinese Classics. . . . . . . . . . . 183
Figure 9.7 Redrawn of Plan of Pengjiang of South Song
from an Engraved Stone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Figure 9.8 Minzhou Port (Ningbo) of North Song. . . . . . 186

Figure 10.1 The Mongol Empires, 1294. . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Figure 10.2 Layout of Dadu of Yuan Dynasty 1341–1368 AD. 192
Figure 10.3 Extent of Ming Dynasty about Mid 15th
Century. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Figure 10.4 Nanjing in Ming Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
Figure 10.5 Plan of Nanjing of Ming Dynasty Redrawn
from Chinese Classics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Figure 10.6 Layout of Beijing in Ming Dynasty 1573–1644
AD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Figure 10.7 Datong in Ming Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

Figure 11.1 Extent of Qing Dynasty in Early 17th Century. 215

Figure 11.2 Major City Types in Qing China. . . . . . . . . 218
Figure 11.3 Major Ports and Chief Commercially Productive
Areas in East Asia 1600–1940. . . . . . . . . . . 224
Figure 11.4 Foreign Encroachment on China 1900. . . . . . 227
Figure 11.5 Changing Boundary of Guangzhou. . . . . . . 232
Figure 11.6 3-Dimension Plan of Gangzhou in Qing
Dynasty Redrawn from Old Classics. . . . . . . 233
Figure 11.7 Guangzhou (Canton) 1895–1911. . . . . . . . . 234
Figure 11.8 Landuse and Layout of Xian in Qing Dynasty. 235
Figure 11.9 The Wuhan Cities 1865–1890. . . . . . . . . . . 236
Figure 11.10 Foreign Concessions’ Settlements in Shanghai
in Late 19th Century. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

List of Maps and Figures xix

Figure 11.11 City of Shanghai in the 1930s (Showing the

River and Street Pattern in Chinese). . . . . . . 240

Figure 12.1 Industrial Distribution in China Before 1949. . 248

Figure 12.2 Major Mineral Resources in China. . . . . . . . 249
Figure 12.3 Major Industrial Centers Constructed in the
1950s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Figure 12.4 Major Industrial Centers Constructed in the
1960s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Figure 12.5 Distribution of Cities in China with Population
of Over One Million 1953–1981. . . . . . . . . . 255
Figure 12.6 Status of the 34 Cities in China with Population
of Over One Million in 1981. . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Figure 12.7 Estimated Major Interprovincial Migration
Flows 1966–1997. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Figure 12.8 Population Pyramid and Age Structure of
Selected New Cities (in %). . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Figure 12.9 Sex Ratio of Different Age Groups in Selected
New Cities (Year of Data in Bracket). . . . . . . 259
Figure 12.10 Employment Structure in Selected New Cities
(in % employed). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263
Figure 12.11 Spatial Organization of the Chinese City. . . . . 264
Figure 12.12 Types of Settlement in Nanjing City Region. . . 265
Figure 12.13 Political Division and Urban Units of Beijing. . 267
Figure 12.14 Degree of Marketization and Stages of China’s
Transition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Figure 12.15 The Three Extended Metropolitan Regions
(EMRs) of China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Figure 12.16 Shenzhen’s GDP and Its Composition (in 100
mil Yuan). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Figure 12.17 Land Use Structure of a Transitional City:
Shenzhen (2005). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

This page intentionally left blank

January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

List of Tables

Table 1.1 Pre-historic Cultures of Huanghe and Yangzi

Valleys and their Characteristics. . . . . . . . . 8
Table 1.2 Chronology of Chinese History by Dynasty. . . 14

Table 6.1 Population and Size of the Army of the Warring

States. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Table 7.1 Population of the Qin and Han Dynasties. . . . 119

Table 7.2 Urbanization in the Han Dynasty. . . . . . . . . 124

Table 8.1 Population and Dynastic Changes in 220–907

AD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Table 8.2 Spatial Distribution of Tang Population (in
millions). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Table 8.3 City Distribution in Broad Regions. . . . . . . . 146

Table 9.1 Polities in China During Song Dynasty. . . . . . 163

Table 9.2 Population of the Song Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . 164
Table 9.3 Number of Administrative Division of Selected
Regions in Tang and Song Dynasty. . . . . . . . 172

Table 10.1 Population in the Yuan and the Ming. . . . . . . 193

Table 10.2 Number of Administrative Divisions in Ming
and Song. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Table 11.1 Periodization and Population of the Qing

Dynasty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Table 11.2 State Revenue of the Qing (million taels). . . . . 220

xxi
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-fm FA

xxii Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Table 11.3 Foreign Commodity Trade of China, 1828–1904. 223

Table 11.4 Regional Population and Urbanization
1843–1893. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Table 12.1 Population and Level of Urbanization in the

PRC (1949–2004). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Table 12.2 Reported and Estimated Population
Movements, 1953–1975. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Table 12.3 Proportion of Male and Female in the
Population of Selected Cities. . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Table 12.4 Dominance of the Three Super-Cities in Major
Industrial Products, 1981 (% of National Total). 261
Table 12.5 Key Economic and Social Data for the Three
EMRs, 1999. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Table 12.6 Main Urbanization Features of the two PRC
Periods Compared. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Table 13.1 Outline of the Evolution of the Traditional

Chinese City. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

Chapter 1

Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin

and Stages of Development

Local Origin of the Chinese

China is the only surviving ancient civilization, and is probably also
the world’s earliest. Contrary to the conventional view which has
been held for many years, as shown in Fig. 1.1, that the Sumerian
and Egyptian civilizations are probably the world’s oldest, recent
archeological discoveries in China and India have shed new light
on the possibilities of the very early start of these two civilizations.
In any case, the Sumerian, Egyptian and Harappan civilizations
have long perished. The much more recent civilizations in the
Americas, i.e. Maya, Aztec and Inca had also vanished under the
brutal and insane destruction of the Spanish colonists, what remain
today being some archeological and cultural relics. Even the ancient
writing of the Sumerians and Egyptians were only successfully
deciphered about two centuries ago. Thus among the world’s ancient
civilizations, Chinese civilization not only shared the ideal climatic
and geographical situation for the emergence of early agriculture
and its increasing prosperity, but also enjoyed a large territorial size
of such situation that continues to the present. These two factors,
size and continuity, may be part of the reasons that explain the
expansion and continuation of the Chinese civilization. The present
writing system in China can be directly traced back to the oracle
bone scripts of the Shang Dynasty of about 3,500 years ago as
detailed in a later chapter. Indeed, they also share many features
with character-like inscriptions or ideographs found on porcelains

1
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

2 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

of the Yangshao Period ( ) of about 6,000 years ago. The new

discovery of more than 2000 pictographs dating back to 7,000–
8,000 years in Damaidi ( ), at Beishan Mountain in Ningxia in
2007 may prove that Chinese writing is the oldest in the world, as
scholars who studied them had drawn the initial conclusion that
they are similar to ancient Chinese characters and can be identified
as such (Xinhua, 2008). The Chinese urban culture, shaped by the
role, shape, structure and the planning principles of the city, shows
a consistent pattern that transacts the proto city of the Longshan
Period to the contemporary Chinese city. We believe, therefore, that
Chinese civilization and the Chinese city form a unique system that
is rooted locally, i.e. it is endogenously derived and is distinct from

Fig. 1.1. (a) Comparative Dates of the Seven Ancient Civilizations. (b) Locations
of the Major Ancient Civilizations.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin and Stages of Development 3

Fig. 1.1. (Continued)

other urban cultures, particularly those of the West that evolved from
Europe since the Middle Ages. This system was brewed within the
Neolithic settlements some 6,000 years ago. It has hence persisted
and defied the conventional urban-rural dichotomy. Underlining
such Chineseness is the long developed man-land relationship and
its due management under the principles of “Man-Land Unity” and
the call of Heaven in the development of a civilized society.
From the 1920s till the present, many Western scholars thought
that China had no pre-history. They subscribe to a theory of “inva-
sion” which holds that the Chinese people came from decendents
of the alleged earliest hominoid in East Africa — “Lucy”, at around
100,000 years ago (Jacobs, 1996). Chinese civilization, including its
agricultural technology and bronze metallurgy, is imported from
West Asia or the Near East, to the extent that Shang China is said
to be a possible outpost of the Sumers (Daniel, 1968). Scholarly
work in China based on recent archaeological finds and analysis of
classic texts have largely refuted the “invasion” or migration claims
in respect of the origin of the Chinese people and its civilization.
Indeed Asia is one of the continents that was home to the early
ape that later evolved into Modern Man. Within the continent most
of the fossils of the early man discovered so far were concentrated
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

4 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

in China. Ramapithecus fossils of about 14 million years old — the

Kaiyuan Ape was found in Yunnan province. Its later variety, i.e.
Lufeng Man of 8 million years ago was also unearthed there. Fossils
of those of the earliest hominoid, Australopithecus, were discovered
in Shanxi and Anhui. They are the Eastern Man (Dawn Man), and
Butterfly Man (Fanchang Man) of 2.5–4.5 million years ago. Thus
China ranks with East Africa as one of the two proven cores of early
mankind. Remains of the Homo Erectus, direct ancestor of the Homo
Sapien, were found almost all over China and cover a wide range
of dates from Wushan Man (2.0 million years ago) to Peking Man
(500,000 years ago). They evidenced the logical and gradual spread of
the human race from southwest China to the rest of the country. Sim-
ilarly, fossils of both early Homo Sapiens (300,000–100,000 years ago)
and late Homo Sapiens (50,000–18,000 years ago) were unearthed in
many provinces. These fossils show consistent physical character-
istics of the Modern Man in China, i.e. features of the Mongoloid,
hence they support strongly the local origin of the Chinese people
(China10k.com, 2004; Chan, 1985; Lin, 1989; Zhang, 2003).

Diversity of Early Cultures

State support and encouragement of archaeological diggings and
researches in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) since 1949 have
led to major new discoveries and improved understanding of man’s
activities and its evolving cultures in the prehistoric times of the
Neolithic Age in the country. After entering the Neolithic Age
at around 10000 BC, a number of regional cultures had evolved.
Domesticated millet and rice were found respectively in the middle
reaches of the Huanghe and the Yangzi at around 8000 BC, testifying
the local origin of these grains and local dynamics in agricul-
tural development. The multi-centric start of China’s agricultural
revolution was a product of environmental conditions and man’s
adaptations. The vast territory of China covers 9.6 million sq km, and
on it are varied relief of plateaux, mountains and river plains. Most of
the plains that are conducive to early agriculture are in the major river
basins of the Huanghe (Yellow River), Yangzi (Changjiang), Zhujiang
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin and Stages of Development 5

Fig. 1.2. China’s Relief Regions and Three Topographic Steps.

and Liaohe (Liao River) that straddle a large range of latitudes and
longitudes, resulting in different types of climate (Figs. 1.2, 1.3).
Figure 1.4 shows major regional cultures in China around 5000–
4000 BC. These settled communities relied primarily on farming
and domesticated animals, supplemented by hunting and gathering.
They also developed a distinct Chinese artistic tradition despite
notable regional variations in architecture, pottery and burial cus-
toms, brought about by communication and cultural exchanges
among them as have been evidenced by their artifacts. In North
China, two major cultural groups — Yangshao and Dawenkou, and
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

6 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 1.3. China’s Agricultural Land and Forests.

two in South China — Daxi and Hemudu emerged as dominant and

affected later developments in China (Table 1.1).
The Yangshao culture was developed from earlier cultures of
Cishan, Peilingang and Laoguantai, etc. in the central plains of North
China drained by the Huanghe and its tributaries. The region is later
called Zhong Yuan (middle earth, ) and nicknamed “the cradle of
Chinese civilization”. It is also related to the Hongshan culture found
north of Bohai Bay that later evolved into the Banshan, Majiayao
and Machang cultures. Their artifacts are typified by the painted
pottery formed by stacking clay coils into the desired shape and then
smoothened with scrappers. They are often painted red and black
with the brush. The coastal cultures of Lower Huanghe and Lower
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin and Stages of Development 7

Fig. 1.4. Regional Cultures in Middle Neolithic.

Yangzi are noted for grey and black pottery, distinct tripod stands,
and the use of the potter’s wheel — the first in China. Jade wares
that are symbols of social status and power are also characteristics of
these cultures (Table 1.1). To sum up, around 5000 BC, the Chinese
were able to make objects out of jade, spunk and weaved cloth, blew
melodies in seven musical scales and carved signs in stone, pottery
and wood as numeric records or signs of family/tribal ownership
or already had a system of writing to be proven by further analysis
of the Damaidi finds. About 3000 BC, they raised silkworms, knitted
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

8 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Table 1.1. Pre-historic Cultures of Huanghe and Yangzi Valleys and their
Characteristics.

Date (years Yangzi Culture Huanghe Culture

before 2000 AD)

7000 Hemudu, Zhejiang: jade, Yangshao, Henan, etc.:

paddy, pottery colored pottery, millet, etc.
6500 Daxi, Hunan: walled city Banpo, Shaanxi: millet,
proto-writing pottery;
Dawenkou, Shandong:
pottery, proto-writing
5300 Chengu: walled cities, Longshan, all along
bronzes; Liangchu, Huanghe: walled cities
Zhejiang: earthen black pottery, bronzes
“pyramid”, proto-writing,
bronzes
4000 Sanxingdui, Chengdu: Erlitou, Henan: bronzes,
dazzling bronzes, defended walled city of
undefended walled city of Xia Dynasty
state of Shu

Source: He (2004).

cloth with silk and also developed bronze metallurgy (Zhao, 2002;
Wary, 2002; Chang, 2002; Chang, 1999; Barnard, 1983).
The diverse cultures of China’s regions evidenced by archae-
ological finds of the past few decades correlate well with major
tribal groups and their major activities told in ancient Chinese
texts, especially the first three chapters of China’s first official
history: Historical Records, (Shi Ji, ), a large volume of 600,000
characters written by Sima Qian (145–86 BC). The three chapters
are entitled: “Records of the Five Emperors”, “Records of the Xia
Dynasty” (“ ”) and “Records of the Shang Dynasty” (“ ”).
Figure 1.5 shows the approximate geographical locations of the
major tribal groups. The Huaxia tribes ( ) comprised many,
including Taotang, the tribe of Huang Di (Yellow Emperor, ) and
Yao ( ); Xiahou, the tribes of Yu ( ), and Yaoyu, the tribe of Shun ( ).
The Huaxia tribes later merged under Huang Di who also became
the head of the federation of chiefdoms for the whole of China to
form the predominant “Han” race. The Eastern Tribes (Dongyi, )
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin and Stages of Development 9

Fig. 1.5. Distribution of Legendary Tribal Groups.

include Chiyou, who was killed by Huang Di in the hegemonic wars

for leadership, and the Shang tribe that founded the new dynasty
after the Xia.

When Did China Crossed the Threshold of Civilization?

Using the three main indicators of civilized societies, i.e. bronze
metallurgy, writing and urban settlements, China had probably
crossed the threshold of civilization somewhere in late Yangshao
to middle Longshan (3000–2500 BC, ) or even earlier as the
Damaidi discovery may indicate.
Early bronze wares were found in a number of Yangshao sites
(Fig. 1.6) in different parts of the Huanghe basin. The earliest find,
a bronze blade, is dated 4675 BC ± 135, as early as the first found
in the Near East. Red copper wares were also found in Hongshan
sites (3500 BC) in Northeast China. Unearthed copper wares are
increasingly numerous as we approach the Longshan Period (2800–
2300 BC). They include foundries, slags and finished wares that
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

10 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 1.6. Pre-historic Sites where Copper Bronze wares have been Unearthed.

are of an extended range of utility, as many are small tools and

daily utensils, besides articles for worshipping and ceremonies,
and decoratives. This long period of development pre-dated the
advanced metallurgy of the Xia and Shang dynasties. It has charted
and evidenced the path and local origin of gradual development of
bronze metallurgy in China.
Cuniform writing on clay tablets of the Sumers dated up to
3100 BC. They contained about 1,500 ideographs. Yet in China,
writing was done mostly on bamboo slips and cloth which were
highly perishable, especially in the humid and warm weather of
the one-third of China near the coast that was most densely settled.
They too perished easily in times of major floods which happened
particularly frequently in late Longshan and during the middle of
the Shang Dynasty. Archaeological evidence supported legends that
portrayed the sudden disappearance of the Longshan assemblage
and destruction to Longshan city walls in the last century of the third
millennium BC and the forced relocation of the Shang capital from
present day Zhengzhou to Anyang. The proven surviving earliest
writing in China is therefore contained in strange media which were
for very limited or special purposes. Marks on pottery have been
found from Yangshao to later times. These earlier inscriptions on
pottery, such as those found in Banpo (3250 BC) and Dawenkou
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin and Stages of Development 11

(2500 BC) are mostly of a single or a few marks. A few contain several
and the maximum found is 12 ideographs. The structure and strokes
of these ideographs are close to those of oracle bone inscriptions
found 1,200 years later. Many Chinese scholars believed that they
are the fore-runners of later Chinese writing.
The accepted earliest writings that survived are oracle bone
inscriptions (jiaguwen, ) and bronze inscriptions (zhongdingwen,
) that belong to late Shang (1300 BC). Oracle bone inscriptions
are writing related to divination by the Shang king or his priest to
solicit instructions and prophecies from gods. The writing is done
either on a piece of tortoise shell or shoulder blade of a cattle, and
contains questions asked by the king related to weather, climate
and matters of state such as war and peace, and the interpretation
of god’s answers. Such a practice by the royalty seems to have
started only in late Shang and lasted until the Warring States.
Zhongdingwen is inscribed on ritual/ceremonial bronzewares. Most
are from Western Zhou. The one with the longest essay inscribed
contained 497 characters, a special ware that King Xuan used to
admonish his duke Maogong Yin. The two types of scripts represent
a very matured writing system. The total of 150,000 bone pieces so
far unearthed contained about 5,000 different characters of which
about 1,000 have been decoded. They are very similar to modern
Chinese writing.
Due to their perishable nature, the earliest bamboo slip writing
survived dated to Western Zhou (1100 BC), while the earliest remains
of cloth writing are of the Warring States (500 BC). These early
writings are very similar to oracle bone and bronze inscriptions.
They share many of the characteristics of modern Chinese writing
of more than 3,000 years later. Thus most Chinese scholars agree
that the system of writing represented by oracle bone inscriptions
should have wider and more popular applications in both trade and
administration in the well developed chiefdoms or early states that
pre-dated the Shang, possibly extending 2,000–3,000 years back in
time to late Yangshao. The recent discovery at Damaidi, as previously
mentioned may push the time of emergence of writing in China back
to about 7,000 years ago.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

12 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

With better tools and secured food through agriculture and the
domestication of animals, permanent settlements appeared in the
plains and lowlands of China’s major river basins and the eastern
coast, and the Modern Man in China emerged from “pre-tribal”
communities of late Paleolithic. A new society, the “tribal” society
started and lasted roughly till 3000 BC, at which time there was
a major turn, leading to the emergence of the “ancient states”.
Urban settlements that appeared at the time completed the list of the
three indicators for a civilized society. This happened more or less
concurrently with the appearance of writing and bronze metallurgy
of late Longshan by which time some permanent agriculture-based
settlements had grown into incipient cities (Chu, 2001; Yan, 1992,
2000; Chang, 2002; He, 2004).
The earliest legendary chiefdom was allegedly founded by Fuxi
about 7700 BC. It was succeeded by Yandi (Fire Emperor) at about
5000 BC. At about 4000 BC, Zhong Yuan and the lower reach of
Huanghe, including Shandong, were occupied by the contending
forces of Yandi and other off-springs of Fuxi. Among the latter, the
Yellow Emperor (Huangdi) finally subdued Yandi’s tribe, and then
the leading tribe of Dongyi — Chiyou. This was probably the time
between late Yangshao and early Longshan. Then, constant warfare
had led to the construction of walls on the basis of earlier moats of
major settlements for defence. A few of these have survived today.
Sima Qian’s Historical Records has its first chapter devoted to these
events. Archaeological finds provided some support to these claims.
The later history of the Xia and Shang dynasties recorded by Sima
Qian have gained better support from the writing on oracle bones
and archaeological finds which have unveiled some of these city sites
and their artifacts. In 1973, a book of bamboo slips was unearthed
in Hunan at Mawangdui near Changsha. In it, a lost book written
500 years earlier than Sima Qian was quoted many times. This book,
entitled Four Books of the Yellow Emperor, contains the statecraft of the
emperor. It provides new light to the existence of the emperor and
events of his time, besides existing archaeological finds. According
to Sima Qian, both Yandi and Huangdi’s tribes at the time had built a
number of cities. The capital of Yandi’s tribe is at Yim, and Huangdi’s
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin and Stages of Development 13

at Diqiu (Fig. 1.5). Archaeological evidence confirmed the existence

of incipient urban forms at about 4000 BC in the Huaxia and Dongyi
regions, as well as in the middle reach of the Yangzi which will be
presented and discussed in ensuing chapters (He, 2004).
As fore-runners of incipient urban settlements, large moated
settlements, with their central square and the “big-house”, mark the
foundation of early Chinese urbanism, i.e. the patriarchal system of
combining the worship of gods (later evolved into the worship of
Heaven) and ancestral worship in the Chinese tribal society. Such
a trend persisted in the historic development and evolution of the
Chinese city till the present.
In Table 1.1, the characteristics of early urban development
in Erlitou (Xia dynasty) and those that pre-dated it have been
briefly noted. The chronology of the Chinese history is illustrated
in Table 1.2. In the forthcoming chapters we shall follow the time
sequence to deliberate on the evolution of Chinese civilization as
seen through its progressive changes in the city’s role, structure and
the urban settlement distribution pattern.
Chapters 2 and 3 will deal with the leap from the large moated
village of Late Neolithic to proto-cites in Longshan. These very early
settlements have already developed ingredients of the Chinese city
of later dynasties.
Chapter 4 heralds the first hereditary empire, the Xia Dynasty.
This and Chapters 5 and 6 deal with the establishment of the system
of Rites and Heaven and ancestral worships and the spread of
such fundamentals of Chinese civilization from its core area to its
periphery through the feudal system of the “Sandai” (the 3 dynasties
of Xia, Shang and Zhou). The Qin and Han dynasties, as told in
Chapter 7, laid the foundation of a bureaucratic state which later
dynasties up to the Qing had generally followed. Though the Qin
and its preceding Warring States periods saw significant diversions
from the Rites, these conventions were strengthened and put into
more vigorous practice in the Han Dynasty in general. It leads to the
formalization of the Chinese city in its layout and the reconfirmation
of its largely administrative and educational roles in a Confucian
society ( ).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

14 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Table 1.2. Chronology of Chinese History by Dynasty.

Year Period/Dynasty Society

Pre-history
2704–2100 BC Five Emperors Late Neolithic, tribal society
2070–1600 BC Xia Stone and bronzes, territorial
state
Historic
1600–1046 BC Shang Bronzes, territorial state
1046–771 BC Western Zhou Bronzes and iron, feudalism
770–221 BC Eastern Zhou, Warring Iron, contending states
States
211–206 BC Qin Empire, unification,
authoritarianism
206 BC–220 AD Han
220–280 Three Kingdoms China divided
265–420 Jin

420–589 Southern dynasties China divided
386–534 Northern dynasties
581–618 Sui
618–907 Tang

907–960 Five dynasties China divided
902–979 Ten Kingdoms
960–1279 Song China divided in South Song
1271–1368 Yuan Ruled by minority
1368–1644 Ming
1644–1911 Qing Ruled by minority
1949–date Peoples’ Republic Socialist

Chapter 8 treats the second revival of Confucianism ( ) and

its impact on the urban society and the city. Yet it underlines the fact
that Confucianism and the qualities of openness and worldliness
are not mutually exclusive as illustrated by the urban life and
global influence of Tang’s capital city Changan. The Song dynasties
represent both the revival of Confucianism after China was divided
and its disarray for several centuries. In this chapter, Chapter 9, we
also point out the new surge of mercantilism and popular urban
culture in the new Chinese city of the Song. Again, Confucianism
had demonstrated accommodativeness to technological changes and
intensified commercial interests.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch01 FA

Introducing the Chinese Case: Its Origin and Stages of Development 15

Both the Ming and Qing dynasties, in Chapters 10 and 11,

followed closely the principles of Confucianism in urban growth and
management of society. The relationship between Man and Land
or Man and Nature ( , , ) had perhaps
attained its highest level given the state of technology and the
dependence of society on an agricultural economy. The self-imposed
isolation of both dynasties in their later day from the rest of the world
in general had been very unfortunate, leading to the forced opening
of China by the West in the later part of the Qing dynasty.
The People’s Republic (PRC) again turned against the West in its
first 3 decades as revealed in Chapter 12. It followed a new “socialist”
course in urban development and city planning and administration.
Recently, the PRC has resorted to opening and reform to enhance
globalization amid market forces. However, we also noted the
persistence of Confucianism in this new round of evolution.
Chapter 13 concludes the Chinese experience by comparing it
with major paradigms based on Western experiences. It indicates the
uniqueness of the Chinese case and argues that Confucianism is a
viable model for man’s adaptation to Land and Nature in sustainable
urban development.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

Chapter 2

From Village to Proto-Urban Settlements

of Late Yangshao Period

Proto-Civilizations
In Mid Neolithic (6000–5000 BC), sedentary living based on cultiva-
tion had become prevalent in China. Stone tools used for farming
such as hoes, sickles and grinding tools for grains have been found
all over the country, and large grain stores have been discovered.
With such advancements in agriculture, large settlements appeared
and spread in China’s river basins and plains. Two of these, the
site at Cishan, is 80,000 m2 in area and at Jiahu it is 50,000 m2 .
Most houses of this period are around 20–30 m2 in size, round
in shape and are subterranean half-pits, i.e. partly dug into the
ground. Rectangular or square structures are few. Most settlements
are protected by a circular moat and organized internally along
tribal lines, generally of one to two blood-related tribes. At the center
of the settlement is the “big house” — the residence of the tribal head
and a place for meeting and worship. The “big house” may be up
to 140 m2 in size, like the one at Xinlonghua. Other than the “big
house”, there is little difference between the houses in their internal
structure, function, house-wares and utensils. Burial examinations
also revealed that members of these tribal settlements are more or less
equal even in their afterlife as the tomb size and grave goods seem
reasonably similar, though the female has slightly more grave goods
than the male — a characteristic feature of the matriarchal society
(Yan, 1989).

16
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

From Village to Proto-Urban Settlements of Late Yangshao Period 17

Changes began with the start of Late Neolithic (5000 BC), particu-
larly in Mid to Late Yangshao (4000–2800 BC). In this long prehistoric
period, further development in agriculture and handicrafts had
stimulated social change. We focus on three main cultural groups:
Yangshao (in the middle and lower reaches of Huanghe), Hongshan
(Northeast China), and Hemudu (Lower Yangzi), to witness the
gradual appearance of a proto-civilization and the evolution of pre-
city settlement forms that incorporate some typical features of later
Chinese cities.
At the Hemudu site ( , suburb of Ningbo) in the Yangzi
Delta, remains of paddy fields, water tanks and channels for
irrigation have been unearthed. Bone and wooden ploughs are
also found. They point to an advanced and large scale irrigation
technology. In addition, the site has yielded a heap of 400 m ×
0.7–0.8 m fossilized rice grains. Rice was also found to have extended
northwards to parts of the Huanghe Basin where millet was the
staple grain. There, large stone hoe for turning the soil, and pot-
tery sickle for harvesting are found. Chicken, pigs, dogs, water
buffaloes and cattle were domesticated and pottery figures of these
animals are unearthed in many sites. Alongside improved stone
farm tools, stone-tool making began to become specialized. Specialist
workshops making different types of utensils appeared, and jade
workshops had become one of such specialization, though jadewares
were still coarse, resembling the stoneware of the time. The slow
turn-table wheel was widely used for shaping. Red or painted, more
refined, lustrous, and varied in shape are the main characteristics of
products of the ceramic industry. China’s earliest evidence of bronze
metallurgy is also evident in several sites in Dawenkou, Majiayao
and Hongshan. They include small tools such as fish hooks and
knives and ornaments, such as ornamental rings, casted in single
and bi-piece moulds. As mentioned before, weaving was evidenced
as well (Zhao, 1998).
Increasing economic surplus naturally enhanced non-
agricultural occupations and the gradual emergence of a class
society, as it provided incentives and the need for inter-settlement
and inter-community interaction in the form of trade and exchanges.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

18 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

It too led to quarrels and struggles for good farmland and control of
water resources for irrigation. The rise of power and domination of
an elite class in a settlement, and over a larger region that included
a group of settlements had led to class separation. One possible
evidence lies with the increased divergence in the number and
type of grave goods found between the large tombs of a few elites
and those of ordinary members of the community. In Dawenkou,
each of the large tombs in its northern section possesses over 100
(and a few up to 200) pieces while the common/small graves in
the southern section have only a few and some even none at all.
It is a sharp contrast to the generally equalitarian situation in the
earlier phase of 5000–3500 BC, which also showed little sign of
inter-settlement/tribal group exchanges.
The complex core of a few large settlements formed by the
extravagant temple for ancestral worship, the large graves of elites
in Niuheliang, and the palatial central structure of Dadiwan II all
point to an elite class in a complex society, who commanded large
material and labor resources, with notable spatial, wealth and social
distance between them and the common people. They too point to
the possibility of control by such elites over a much larger region than
before. Such administrative and religious structures and ritual grave
goods in the form of larger than real size stone spears and axes, and
jadewares in such shapes, link some of these elites with religion that
had obviously become an important justification for their monopoly
of the military and management roles in these communities.
With increased productive capability, privatism was evidenced
in the later years of the period. In the early part, e.g. in Jiangzhai I,
all burials are of singles; no adult male and female, nor father and
son are found in a single grave whereas later on, e.g. in Dawenkou,
co-burial of female and male adults was the order of the day,
signifying the start of the patriarchal society. In 3500–3000 BC, the
frequent appearance of wine drinking utensils, ritual pottery, and
specialization in pottery, stone and jade production are indicative of
a more complex society, and regional trade and exchange existed,
though possibly still managed and executed at the settlement level
rather than by the individual (Zhao and Zhao, 2002).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

From Village to Proto-Urban Settlements of Late Yangshao Period 19

Settlements in Late Yangshao

The impact of technological and social changes of Late Neolithic on
the settlement pattern can be examined under a number of leads.
First, settlements increase in size as well as in number. Take Henan
as an example, the settlements so far discovered in the province
that belong to Mid and Late Neolithic are of a ratio 70: 800, i.e.
the number has increased by more than ten times. In general, the
area of a settlement reached 50,000–100,000 m2 , about five times the
average size in Mid Neolithic. Large settlements are in the region
of 200,000 m2 ; the largest found so far exceeds 1 million m2 . Second,
with increased inter-settlement interaction which included armed
conflicts, the defensive moat was strengthened. At the end of Late
Neolithic, the former defense facility in the form of the circular
moat had leap-frogged into the much stronger means — the wall,
in a few locations and ushered in the proto-city in China. Third,
further internal differentiation within the settlement is also evident:
a decrease in tribal independence and an increase in centralized
settlement management by the elite as found in Dawenkou and
Hongshan. In general, tribal independence was still the rule, as the
differentiation between the proto-city and the surrounding village
lies only in areal size but not yet in quality. We may view them more as
protected or fortified settlements. We can take Jiangzhai I, Dadiwan II
and Chengtoushan as examples to illustrate the evolution of these
proto-urban forms (Wang, 2002; Xu, 2000; Zhao, 2002).

Jiangzhai I
The archaeological site at Jiangzhai ( ), about 15 km away from
the present city of Xian, is composed of four chronological lithic
assemblages. The lowest layer, Jiangzhai I is representative of a large
tribal settlement of the Wei Valley in the early part of Late Neolithic
(about 5–4000 BC). The original settlement is a large composite
village containing five tribes (Fig. 2.1) covering roughly 50,000 m2 . At
present 17,000 m2 has been excavated. The settlement is surrounded
by a round-shaped moat and protected by additional watch posts.
It has evolved into three clearly divided functional components; the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

20 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Source: Yan (1969).

Fig. 2.1. Neolithic Settlement of Yangshao Jiangzhai Phase I.

residential quarters, workshops for pottery and stone tools, and the
burial ground.
Within the excavated areas are 260 identifiable house sites. Those
of Jiangzhai I numbered around 120, and they are arranged into five
groups with an estimated total population of 450–600. Each group
seems to be a tribe that comprises large, medium and small houses for
couples, families and the tribal chief. The “big house” of a tribe is 70–
120 m2 in size, being the residence of the chief and the tribe’s old-age
members, besides serving as a tribal meeting place. The medium-
sized house is 20–40 m2 , for housing a single-parent household of
up to 7–8 kids. Each tribe possesses its own animal ring for the
safe-keeping of up to 20 animals at night. Storage pits are found
close to the houses. Communal kilns for pottery are located on the
western margin of the settlement by the side of a stream, whereas
burial grounds are located outside the moat, to the east. Graves
are possibly clustered by tribe. Burial pots for children are located
within the settlement next to residences. Most small and medium
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

From Village to Proto-Urban Settlements of Late Yangshao Period 21

houses are circular in shape and are subterranean, with a thatched

roof supported by poles.
Thus the settlement combines five blood-related tribes each
of which is economically independent. The economic and daily
activities, even that of affairs related to afterlife seem to have been
organized around the tribe. Intra-tribal distance, both functional and
spatial, is minimal, as is reflected by the uniformity of grave goods
found in the tribal cemeteries.
At the settlement level, cohesion and settlement independence is
reflected by the spatial arrangement of the houses of the five tribes.
All structures, particularly their doors, are facing the large central
open space, a clear uni-centric or centripetal pattern that underlies
the subsistence and self-contained nature of the village economy. As
a largely “closed-system”, inter-settlement exchange and interaction
may not be significant at all, and the defensive moat marks the desire
for security in this late matriarchal society (Yan, 1994, 1998).

Dadiwan II
Towards the later part of Late Neolithic, in Late Yangshao (3500–
2800 BC), settlement size increased and its internal structural fur-
ther changed to reflect the gradual emergence of an elite class
and increased inter-settlement and regional exchanges, including
trade and warfare. Some regional centers or sizeable settlements of
resources or those at convenient transportation locations had become
specialized functional centers. Dadiwan II is the largest political
center of that period so far discovered. It is believed to be the seat of
the Yandi tribe that had held sway over a millennium in the middle
reach of Huanghe.
Dadiwan ( , ) in Chinese literally means the site of the
Grand Emperor. It covers an area of 11 million m2 on sloppy ground.
It is divided into a number of quarters, each has a central focus
of importance, large structures built on a pounded earth platform.
Each quarter may therefore accommodate a tribe, like the situation
found in Jiangzhai I. However, at the center of the site is a large
palatial structure named F901 by archaeologists (Fig. 2.2). It is a
multi-room structure of 290 m2 with a covered front-yard of 130 m2 .
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

22 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 2.2. Big House of Dadiwan Site.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

From Village to Proto-Urban Settlements of Late Yangshao Period 23

In this atypical and extra-large “big house”, is a large front hall

supported by two huge circular columns that measure 90 cm in
diameter. In the centre of the hall is a large fire pool of 2.5 m diameter.
The floor of the hall is plastered by a glue made of pottery and
crushed bones, giving it a hard and shiny surface like a cement
finish. The front-yard seems to be an area for assembly. Its cover was
supported by two rows of poles and is decorated with green stone
slabs on its front edge. In the main building, the hall is lined on three
sides by chambers and side rooms that may serve as residences and
offices.
The main hall faces south. Within it are found symbols of power:
a huge pottery ding, a container on tripod stand that serves as a
ritualware for worship, a large stone axe and a large elongated
pottery basin. The latter two may be connected to ritual or worship
activities as well. F901 is believed to be a palatial structure serving
as residence of the leader of a confederation of tribal groups in
the region, as well as for political and religious assembly. It may
be seen as a transitional structure between the “big house” of the
Late Neolithic village to the later Forbidden City or palatial-temple-
administrative core of China’s imperial capitals. The north-south
orientation of the Front Hall, its sequential order and arrangement
with the back chambers in the north and the Hall and open courtyard
in the front or south, may appear to set the rule for the layout of the
administrative-religious core of the settlement of the ruling elite in
later times, and is the fore-runner of one of the planning principles
of the imperial Chinese capital as enshrined in the Zhou classic: the
chapter, of “Kao Gong Ji” of Li Ji (Book of Rites).
“In the fore-ground is the Administrative Quarter; at the back
is the Imperial Chamber”
Next to F901 is another large structure of 150 m2 labelled F405 by
archaeologists, which also faces south and is rectangular in shape.
It is walled on all sides, with gates open in the middle of the north,
east and west sections of the wall. In it unearthed a large round jade
article. It appears to be an ancillary structure to F901, serving as an
altar for worshipping Heaven (Yan, 1998).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

24 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Chengtoushan: Proto-Cities of Late Neolithic

Further economic and technological change close to the end of Late
Neolithic supported social changes that led to the formation of
classes and the fading out of the matriarchal society. The economic
surplus generated provided the means for non-agricultural pursuits
which advanced handicrafts as well as heightened the accumulation
of wealth through the exploitation of labor by the elites. These
processes took place most notably in large and agriculturally more
productive regions, where the nature and structure of a few large
settlements had been affected. The main impacts take the form of
the emergence of proto-cities that functioned as fortresses of the
elites and their dependent specialist craftsmen and appendages,
including the new classes of professionals and part-time soldiers and
slaves. Most often, these settlements were newly built, but outside
the large settlements from which they originated. They were also
marked by a round-shaped defensive wall of stamped earth and an
encircling moat, clear inheritance of the defensive moat of former
moated village settlements. The technique of building the city wall,
and raised platforms for its major buildings matured in later Shang
Dynasty and has formed an urban tradition in China ever since
(Fig. 2.3). The proto-cities in Late Neolithic are invariably small in
comparison to most large contemporary moated settlements, as they
did not accommodate the whole tribe or tribal group — a marked
feature that signifies a departure from the tribal society and the start
of rural-urban disparity.
At present, only three proto-cities in Late Neolithic China have
been unearthed. They are located in the valleys of Huanghe, Yangzi
and Huai River (Fig. 2.4). Besides the wall of stamped earth, they
bear the following characteristics:

1. serve as the central settlement, i.e. administrative (or control)

center, of a large regional polity;
2. evidence the presence of a complex, strong and efficient govern-
ment through the non-productive and mass exploitation of labor
in the building of the wall and central buildings on stamped-earth
platforms;
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

From Village to Proto-Urban Settlements of Late Yangshao Period 25

Fig. 2.3. Construction of Pounded Earth Wall.

Fig. 2.4. Pre-historic Urban Sites in Yangshao and Longshan Period.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

26 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

3. demonstrate a clear social division of labor and class separation

through the central location of large structures, specialized handi-
craft quarters, and the administrative and military role of the elite
class. The latter is evidenced by their grave goods that include
ritual spears, axes, jadeware of discs (bi) and columns (cong) and
real weapons.
Chengtoushan ( ) in Hunan was discovered in 1991. Its wall was
first constructed in about 4000 BC, and is at present the oldest known
proto-city in China. It is located in a densely populated area. Within
a radius of 10 km of the site, many contemporary rural settlements
are found. The site was used as a “city” or fortress until the start of
the Longshan Period (2800 BC). The wall was built by stamped earth
and enclosed 76,000 m2 of land. Outside the wall is a moat (Fig. 2.5)
with wall gates found at the cardinal points. Cobble roads were also
found. The platforms of stamped earth at the center of the city seem to
support a few large and important structures. The houses in the rest
of the city were small. In the pottery area, remains of kilns, clay pools,

Fig. 2.5. Structure of Chengtoushan Site.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

From Village to Proto-Urban Settlements of Late Yangshao Period 27

storage ditches, work-sheds, wells and small dormitory structures

are found. Burial grounds of the elite are located in the central-north
of the city. Thus, the proto-city seems to provide the arena for the
elite from birth to afterlife.
The other two proto-cities are smaller, about 35,000 m2 in area.
Both possess a roughly round-shaped wall of stamped earth. The
wall of Xishancheng was formed by pounding with the aid of planks
on a purposely built ditch, a construction method used even in the
Shang Dynasty (Fig. 2.3). Xishancheng was built in 3300 BC and used
until 2800 BC, while Xikangliu was built in 3000 BC.
In Hongshan Culture, although no walled proto-city is found, at
Niuheliang, lavish and massive structures of temples for ancestral
worship and elite tombs are found. They are arranged in a planned,
orderly and obviously co-ordinated fashion in a region of dense
contemporary settlements. These remains are indicative of the
possible comparable level of societal development demonstrated by
the proto-cities.

Nature of the Proto-City

Chang (1985) in his discourse on the emergence of incipient cities
in China pointed out their characteristics as: stamped earth wall;
existence of a large amount of weapons; large structures that are used
as palaces, ancestral halls; elite graves with signs of concentration of
wealth and power in ritualwares; handicraft quarters; and the order
and planning of the settlement that these elements demonstrated.
The coexistence of such new settlement features with contrasting
contemporary settlements of the ordinary people of small subter-
ranean houses, lack of grave goods in small graves, and simple
stone farm tools, caused Chang to believe that proto-cities are not
the result of economic push or imperatives, but the means or tool of
the new ruling class for extracting economic surplus and sustaining
political power in the Late Neolithic society. It is therefore likely that
the differences between the proto-city and the village are yet not
qualitative, i.e. there is yet no marked rural-urban differentiation in
economic terms. Proto-cities are therefore closer to an expanded and
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch02 FA

28 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

much heavily protected “big house” that underlined the increased

economic, social and spatial distances between the elite and the
rest of the people or tribe in Late Yangshao. Of course, these Late
Neolithic proto-cities were rare and small in size. They reflect the
new social, economic and spatial distance of the newly evolved elite
class and its contemporary, yet still predominantly rural society. As
agricultural technology advanced further and long distance trade
emerged and expanded, social division deepened, and the struggle
between tribal groups for control of natural resources, such as water
for irrigation and fertile farm land, intensified, proto-cities increased
in number with the emergence of regional power groups, i.e. city
states. This happened in the Longshan Period which will be dealt
with in the next chapter.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

Chapter 3

Longshan City-States

City-State Concept
Chinese scholars are still debating whether China had entered the
stage of nationhood by the Longshan Period ( ). On the
one hand, Chang (1999) claimed that at Longshan, society was
still organized on the basis of kinship. It was then a stage of
confederations/alliances of chiefdoms, until the Xia Dynasty when
the nation state began to emerge. Liu (1998) and Qin (2001) on the
other hand believed that nation states prevailed at the time, in
the form of a Chinese style city-state. Before we proceed to examine
the progress of urbanism in China at that time, we need to briefly
define the terms “state” and “city-state”.
A true state, as defined by Service (1971) “is distinguishable
from a chiefdom in particular, and all lower levels in general, by
the presence of that special form of control, the consistent threat
of force by a body of persons legitimately construed to use it”.
Flannery (1968) further elaborates it as “a type of very strong,
usually highly centralized government with a professional ruling
class, largely divorced from the bonds of kinship… (and its) society
is highly stratified, and extremely diversified internally, with a
residential pattern based on occupational specialization rather than
blood or affinal relationship”. Besides, it is a society where the elite
or king monopolizes the use of force, practises true law and drafts
soldiers, levy taxes and exacts tributes.
A city-state is a subset of the state. Charlton and Nichols
(1997) define city-states as “small territorially based, politically

29
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

30 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

independent state systems, characterized by a capital city or town,

with an economically and socially integrated adjacent hinterland”.
A city-state is also relatively self-sufficient economically and is
perceived as being ethnically distinct from other similar city-state
systems. Thus, it is seen as a small sovereign polity with an
urban core.
Griffith and Thomas (1981) provide further quantification and
functional elaboration. They feel that a city-state is only up
to a few hundred km2 in territory with four other attributes,
viz: (1) a well defined core surrounded by walls and/or moats,
(2) economically self-sufficient based on the exploitation of the
hinterland, (3) possesses a sense of common linguistic and cul-
tural habits, and (4) is politically independent and is of de facto
sovereignty. Web (1961) based on the experience of the Greeks
in the 5th century BC adds one more important dimension: civil
rights or citizenship of its population. “For the Greeks added a new
component to the city, all but unknown to earlier cultures … they
brought forth the free citizen … he was king if not a god in his own
right; acting alone and seeking by the exercise of his intelligence to
‘hold a hand uplifted over fate’.” (188).
If the new Greek institution — free citizen, is used as one of
the criteria for defining a city-state, then many polities that satisfy
the earlier or other criteria may not be true city-states. Thus Stone
(1997) labeled the Mesopotamian urban-centered polities of 2700–
1600 BC, and similar territorial units and societies of Yoruba in
the 19th century and late Medieval Islam, as Pre-industrial city-
states. Or, they may be seen as “tribal kingdoms” (Lloyd, 1971) and
“congruent states” (Eisenstadt et al., 1988). Because of the lack of
free citizens as the predominant societal force, pre-industrial city-
states are not generally considered as a state society, as the vertical
divisions of society within them are more based on kin than class.
In such polities, there may not be an autocratic power or that the
elite or the king, is weak and insecure. Such fact is reflected in the
importance of the city council which represents all interests: traders,
craftsmen, and others, in the city. In these consensual societies, the
king’s role lies in being a unifying symbol for city, or territory-wide
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

Longshan City-States 31

interests as a check on factionalism that may destroy the city-state.

The role of the king is therefore more related to “foreign affairs’ of
trade, diplomacy and warfare.
The economic base on which consensual societies rest are pri-
marily an early stage of agriculture, relying on slash and burn
with rudimentary development in irrigation. In such an unstable
economy, control of labor is more important than the occupation
of land. The economy is also not fully self-sufficient and partly
depends on outside source of food. Hence, trade is a significant
activity of the city. Yet the predominant role of the city is to serve
as a communication platform for consensus. To some extent, the
internal structure of the Mesopotamian city reflects the pattern of
the opposite or parallel, but conflicting functions of the two main
institutions, the palace and the temple. The temple is usually located
on the periphery of the city, beside the wall, while the palace rarely
exists. If it does, it is also at the periphery but far away from the main
site of religious activities (Stone, 1997).
The Longshan Period has a much more developed agricultural
economy and autocratic society than either the pre-industrial or
Greek city-states. As sovereign states based on a city-region, the
Chinese city-states share many of the characteristics of these other
city-states but with distinct Chinese features that we shall elaborate
later. However, they may be seen as another subsect of the city-
state — Longshan city-states.

Society in Longshan Period

Longshan is a general term that covers a wide territory of China
within which a culture that originated in Shangdong province
gradually spread to or gradually adapted by other regional cultures
of the country. As such its time span varies in different parts of China.
In the lower and middle reach of Huanghe, it refers largely to 2600–
2200 BC. In Inner Mongolia and Northeast China, the term refers
to 2800–2300 BC. In the middle reach of the Yangzi, many authors
push it up to Early Gujialing and covers 3000–2500 BC, whereas in
its lower reach, it means 2900–2100 BC. Recent archaeological finds
in Sichuan puts it at 2600–2200 BC. In all these regional polities,
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

32 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the common features indicative of pan-Longshan culture have been

identified, including the predominant ceramics, stone tools and
weapons, the development of handicrafts and religious practice,
agricultural advancement and class formation, and not the least —
the emergence of city-states (Chang, 1996; Yan, 1981; Liu, 1998, 2002;
Xu, 2000; Wang, 2002; Zhao, 2000).
Archaeological evidence of agricultural advancement in Long-
shan is widespread. In the Yangzi basin, remains of large grain
stores are found in Gujialing, Shijiahe and Liangzhu sites. Large
and more efficient farm tools like the triangular or tongue-shaped
plough, both of stone and bone have been unearthed. Water buffaloes
were believed to be used for ploughing the land, and irrigation
systems and wells existed in many sites, some with evidence of
extensive paddy fields. The number of stone knives increased over
axes, many with a handle, an improved sickle for cutting the entire
plant in harvesting. Rice growing had also extended to the millet-
predominant areas of Huanghe basin. Farming was then believed to
have contributed to about 70% of the food production economy. The
density of the remains of domesticated animals like pigs, goats and
sheep had also increased.
Stone spades also appeared and increased in number, while some
stone implements had changed their role as practical tools to become
ritualwares to symbolize the power and status of elites, like the much
enlarged yue (dagger-axe, ), disc and axe that are finely polished
and engraved with decorative details. This new development in
specialized lithic crafts also led to the jade industry, marked not
just by the large number of jadewares found in big tombs, but also
in their fine polish, cutting and engraving in mythical and dragon
shapes that served the purpose of religious worship and a symbolism
for military and political power. The skill and cost of many of these
grave goods and ritualwares reflect the concentration of wealth and
the command and control of labor by a few individuals over a large
population and region.
In ceramics, Longshan is characterized by fine, thin pottery,
described by archaeologists as “egg-shell pottery” of grey or black
color. The typical shapes are the tripod food container, ding, and
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

Longshan City-States 33

the drinking vessel, tou. They are more related to ritual and worship
functions than daily use by ordinary people, underlying a division of
labor and increasing specialization of the industry. Most fine ceram-
ics are associated with large settlements and large tombs, as distinct
from products of kilns associated with small sites. In the south-west
corner of Shijiahe city, a large amount (several tens of thousands) of
red pottery cups are unearthed; while in another pottery quarter in
its northwest corner, thousands of small ceramic animal figures and
figures of a fishman holding a fish are found. They are clearly produc-
tion for religious and ordinary family consumption beyond the limit
of a city of about one to a few thousand residents. Besides indicative
of the commonplace of worship in ordinary households, it is a pointer
to new regional specialization and trade over a large territory.
Other handicrafts also flourished in Longshan. Evidence of the
rearing of silkworms and silk fabrics, and pottery spinning whorls
have been excavated. Jute weaving, lacquerwares, woodwares, and
bamboo weaved products are some of the new handicrafts. Remains
of bronzes, including its raw materials, slags, finished and partially
finished products and components are discovered in many sites in
Quzhixi, Taoxi and Pengliangtai in Zhong Yuan, Huangchengkang
in Shandong and Shijiahe in Hubei. Some of the remains were
done by bi-piece moulding, pointing to an already well-developed
technology of the industry. In addition, large amounts of finely
polished stone and bone arrow heads are found. These, together with
large amounts of unearthed axes in locations immediately inside the
city’s main wall gates, signified increased and heightened military
conflicts of the time.
Advancement in agriculture and crafts obviously increased
economic surpluses and the need for exchange. Evidence of different
wares bearing regional cultural characteristics, found in regions far
away from their origin of production testified long distance trade and
inter-regional exchange. The interaction seems especially frequent
between the polities of Liangzhu, Dawenkou and Taoxi. Family-
based production is also believed to exist in some sites, based on
excavated courtyard type houses with stores or workshops.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

34 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

The above-named developments propeled the further break-

down of the tribal society, with the formation of new classes.
This too, resulted in inter-settlement, and inter-regional strive for
hegemony unseen before. The elite class bears features further
distanced from traces of the tribe. They wielded power and wealth
through monopoly of war and religion, and the use and production
of ritualwares. Examinations on burial grounds, altar sites and the
related artifacts shed light on such a new phenomenon.
Burial analysis of Taoxi sites in the Fen River Valley in Zhong
Yuan where 5,000 Longshan graves have been identified shows
telling statistics that support a complex society with clear class
divisions. Of the roughly 1,000 graves so far excavated, less than 1%
are large tombs with burial sets of wooden coffins pained in lacquer.
In each of them, are 100 to 200 grave goods comprised of painted
pottery, wooden and jade ritualwares and ornaments, and whole
skeletons of pigs. About 10% are medium tombs. They have wooden
coffins, each with 10–20 grave goods that include pottery, wood and
jade vessels, and a few lower jaw bones of pigs. The majority, i.e.
90% of the tombs have no coffin, and no grave goods.
In lower Yangzi, some elite burial grounds of large tombs of
ruling families that possibly controlled a sizeable city-state are con-
structed as “royal mausoleums” laid out in order, and combined with
a temple for ancestral worship. For example, Fanshan, a Liangzhu
site (Fig. 3.1) is a large mausoleum complex of 2,700 m2 on a terrace
7 m high that sits on a mount. In it are seven large tombs, each has a
painted wooden coffin in a large chamber with over 100 grave goods
of jade. In the mausoleum complex of Yaoshan, a large altar/temple
sits on a small mount. The altar is dominated by three rings of
squares, each filled with soils of a different color to represent the three
universes of man, heaven and earth (or man, gods and spirits). On
the foot of the altar laid 11 big tombs. The largest tomb, M7, possesses
148 pieces of jadewares. Most of the jadewares uncovered in these
large tombs belong to the categories of cong (square tubes/cubes, ),
yue (dagger-axe), and bi (disc, ), many of which are engraved with
mythical figures that resemble later imperial Shang ritual bronzes.
They are related to military and administrative status of the owner, as
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

Longshan City-States 35

Source: Yan (1998).

Fig. 3.1. Cluster of Liangzhu Sites.

well as rituals in worshipping deities and royal ancestors (Zhejiang,

1997, 2001, 2002; Wang, 2002; Zhao, 2000).
The isolated and separate locations of these mausoleum com-
plexes suggest the dominance of an elite class and its distance
from the rest of the community. They also indicate the tremendous
concentration of wealth and power, and the monopoly of high level
religious worship and its combination with ancestral worship. Their
contrast with small tombs of the common people is obvious. In some
medium graves, real weapons in the form of arrowheads and dagger-
axes may evidence the presence of professional soldiers, while mass
graves and pits of human sacrifice testify the presence of slaves and
men died brutally in military conflicts and religious rituals.
Many Chinese scholars therefore believe that in the complex
society of Longshan, classes not only include craftsmen, professional
soldiers, peasants, administrators and slaves, kingship is also evi-
dent for the first time in prehistory China. Kingship not only have
emerged from heads of former powerful tribes principally as military
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

36 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

commanders and administrators, but they have also vested their

legitimacy on the force of religion. The coming together of these
divergent roles in the early Chinese kingship is a distinct feature
not found in pre-industrial city-states of Mesopotamia, or Greek
city-states.

Longshan Settlements and Cities

Archaeological sites of the Longshan Period are much more numer-
ous and widespread than those in Late Yangshao. Figure 3.2 maps
out those that have been known up to 1997. The concentrations in
the middle reach of Huanghe should be noted, reflecting the already
clear presence of the core of Huaxia culture at Zhong Yuan. Increased
inter-settlement and inter-regional interactions in trade and military
conflicts are forces behind that have shaped such regional political-
military polities. Each of them is demonstrated by a hierarchical

Source: Adapted from Yan (1998).

Fig. 3.2. Distribution of Archeology Sites of Longshan Period.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

Longshan City-States 37

administrative structure in the form of a settlement hierarchy and

the defense and central control and command roles of its primary
settlement, i.e. the fortified city of Longshan. Figure 2.3 of the
previous chapter details the locations of 58 Longshan cities that have
been identified. With the exception of the clusters in Lower Yangzi (F)
and Inner Mongolia (E), all are protected by a strong wall of stamped
earth, that average 5–10 m wide on its top, up to 50 m at its bottom,
6–10 m high, and often surrounded by a moat of varying depths and
widths. Local geography, particularly the terrain, may explain the
lack of a wall in Liangzhu sites and the stone terraces and absence
of the moat in Inner Mongolia.
Longshan settlements not only have become more numerous
than before, they have expanded in size, as an extra-large settlement
of over 2 million m2 has also been excavated. They tend to form
clusters. Within a cluster, member settlements appear to have
differentiated into hierarchical ranks in size and function. Liu (1998)
identified eight clusters in the Huanghe basin and generalized
3 models of Longshan settlement hierarchies (Figs. 3.3 and 3.4). Some
are predominated by a powerful central settlement, often in the form

Source: Liu (1998).

Fig. 3.3. Eight Major Settlement Clusters of Longshan Period in Lower and Middle
Reaches of Huanghe (Yellow River).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

38 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Source: Liu (1998).

Fig. 3.4. Models of Settlement patterns in Longshan Period.

of a fortified city that commands tributary roles over a large region

of the size of about 100 km2 (A in Fig. 3.4). These are likely city-
states. Some are smaller polities that maintain independent or con-
flicting/antagonistic inter-cluster relationships (B and C in Fig. 3.4).
In a study on Longshan settlements in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang
District, the core of Zhong Yuan, excavation has so far yielded 357
settlement sites that belong to the roughly 500 years of Longshan
period of the local region (2500–2000 BC), a large increase over the
159 sites discovered in Late Yangshao. Four size grades that comprise
the settlement hierarchy have been identified: Grade I, 400,000–1
million m2 in area, 1.6% of all settlements; Grade II, 150–400,000 m2 ,
2.1%; Grade III, 50–150,000 m2 , 26.7%; Grade IV less than 50,000 m2 ,
61.8%, and then, the three city sites, 0.8%. The city sites in this district
are small (<50,000 m2 ). If the cities are considered a class/rank on
their own, then, there are five levels in the settlement hierarchy.
Chengziya ( , Fig. 3.5) is one example of an organized
hierarchy of settlements in lower Huanghe region. The cluster
occupies a large river plain of about 50 km east-west and 40 km
north-south extent, roughly of 2,000 km2 . The central city, which
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

Longshan City-States 39

Source: Yan (1998).

Fig. 3.5. Chengziya Longshan Settlement Cluster.

may be the capital of a likely “Chengziya City-State”, has an area

of 200,000 m2 within the wall. The wall is about 8–10 m wide,
generally square, with a bulge that curves in the northern wall. It
is very rich in lithic assemblage, yielding an elite central core with
palatial and temple structures, and handicrafts quarters. It has also
yielded six animal shoulder blades for divination. Three of these
have clear piecing marks and burn-cracks, evidence of spaculmancy
that became popular in Late Shang. There are 6–7 medium-size
settlements of 30,000–60,000 m2 , some may be cities, and 30 small
settlements of 5,000 to 20,000 m2 . Based on these, we may infer that
the three settlement ranks of du (capital, ), yi (city, ), and ju
(village, ), typical of the settlement hierarchy of the Shang Dynasty,
had already appeared and formed the settlement hierarchy and
social hierarchy of the city-state of Longshan society.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

40 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

A similar hierarchical structure may be seen in the cluster

centered around Jingyanggang in Shandong. Jingyanggang is the
Grade I city, or du, of 350,000 m2 , the largest of all Longshan cities
discovered so far. Grade II or yi cities, are possibly centers of vassal
states or second-level administrative centers of the city-state. The
Grade I city, or du, has a clear wall, and a central core of massive
and important structures. In the case of Jingyanggang, the core is
occupied by two platforms formed by pounded earth. The large one
is about 90,000 m2 in size, probably serving as the foundation of
palaces. The small one is around 10,000 m2 , supporting a structure
on top with steps or stairs on four sides. On the second step, ditches
filled with human skeletons and 20 big pottery vessels are unearthed.
These may serve religious and ritual purposes. Archaeologists
believe that the small platform is likely to support an altar or temple.
There is thus distinctions between the Grade I city and lesser urban
settlements in the hierarchy, both in its central location and different
functional and land use contents.
In Lower Yangzi, Longshan settlements with a wall is yet
unknown. Nevertheless, the hierarchical arrangement of settlements
within a region is equally obvious. The settlement system at
Liangzhu of the Yuhang district in Jiangsu province covers an area of
about 50 km2 and it possesses four levels of settlements. The Grade I
settlement, Mojiaoshan, is located on a terrace of about 10 m high and
covers a site of 300,000 m2 , yet without a wall. Excavation has yielded
three large platforms, totaling 30,000 m2 , on a raised foundation of
4–5 m high, possibly for supporting palatial structures. Large royal
mausoleum complexes are unearthed at Fanshan and Yaoshan as
previously discussed. In addition, four large tombs have been found
at Huiguanshan. The largest, M4, possesses 48 pieces of stone yue,
in addition to jade cong and bi and jade headgears.
In Sichuan province, in the plain area around the present city of
Chengdu, six Longshan cities have been discovered recently. They
generally have roughly rectangular walls of pounded earth and
utilize the adjacent waterways as moats. There are still no detailed
archaeological reports on these finds to enable us to know more of
their structure and hierarchical arrangement.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

Longshan City-States 41

City Structure and Function

Qin (2001) states that the Longshan city serves two main purposes:
defense in times of military conflicts between rival neighboring
tribes, and the political, economic and cultural center of a newly
emerged state. The latter is being said to be evidenced by:

1. emergence of kingship indicated by the jade/stone yue, cong and

bi, and royal burial complexes;
2. large amount of weapons;
3. massive structures at the city/settlement’s center, likely to be
palaces and administrative offices;
4. a hierarchy of settlements comprising more than 3 levels;
5. social separation of people of the community into different classes.

Pingliangtai ( ) in Fig. 3.6 is located in the Zhengzhou-Luoyang

District. It provides further illustration on the look and structure of
the Longshan city and is dated 2355 BC ± 175. It is a small Longshan
city with an enclosed area within the wall of 34,000 m2 . The wall is
almost square, 5–7 m wide at the top, 13 m at the bottom, and with a
present height of 3–5 m. Three gates are found in the middle of the
north, south and east walls. The south gate is flanked by a guard
room on each side, indicating that it is the main gate, a tradition
that is followed up to the Qing Dynasty. Outside the wall lies the
moat. Pottery sewage pipes are found under the south and east gates,
and evidence of paved streets are present in parts of the city. Many
house foundations are found in the north-central and south-central
parts. Most are rectangular row houses, both at ground level and
on platforms of pounded earth. Three kilns exist on the southwest,
southeast and northwest corners. Copper slag, a burial ground, and
a temple site are evidenced at the southwest corner. Archaeologists
estimate that the city accommodated about 900 people, and its wall
alone would require 38,100 man-day to construct.
Archaeological reports of other cities such as Jingyanggang,
Taoxi, Chengziya, Wangzhenggang, Guchengzhai, and Tanhuapok
concurred with the claim that the shape of important settlements
of Longshan, in the form of the wall and the moat, had completed
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

42 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 3.6. Plan of Pingliangtai City Site.

its transformation from a circular shape typical of the matriarchal

to the rectangular or square shape of the patriarchal society. The
use of a ditch base, and wooden side-plank method of pounding
in the construction of the wall, and the wall’s emergence over the
moat as the major defense infrastructure have matured in Longshan.
Functionally, the city provided protection to the ruling elite, and the
seat and material symbols of the state or its rule, i.e. the palace,
ancestral temple and the altar. It included ancillary functions such
as special crafts that serve the administrative, military and ritual
roles of the ruling elite — the main content of urbanism or non-
agricultural activities of the time, while the city had not included the
entire tribe. In fact, some cities are small, e.g. those in the Zhengzhou-
Luoyang District. Even in large ones such as Jingyanggang, the
palatial and temple/altar quarters occupy about 1/3 of the area
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

Longshan City-States 43

within the wall, while the rest of the city may not be fully occupied.
Besides, most of these early cities did not develop on the basis of
an earlier settlement. They signify a leap in settlement development
when part of the old tribe — the elite and its appendages, moved
out from the old settlement to establish on a new site within a new
wall. In most instances, the appendages of craftsmen, soldiers and
even slaves were drawn from different settlements and tribes and
involved substantial inter-settlement migration. The old settlement
from which the elite originates had usually declined subsequently.
This is in line with the old text which claims that these settlements
served to protect the royalties.

Longshan City-Sates
It may be reasonable to infer that these early cities served as cores
of states composed of agriculturally based settlement systems. Exca-
vation so far has unearthed cities varying from 30,000–350,000 m2 in
size. Yet within a settlement system, the largest settlement may be
as big as 1 million m2 . So, the city, or the du, may not be the largest
settlement, yet it is functionally distinct from the rest. While some
serve as the du, smaller ones may be yi, all are “urban” in function
and nature, as demonstrated by the qualitative differences between
them and the rural settlements — the product of a process of rural-
urban differentiation based on technological and social changes.
These processes happened together with the fusion of military,
administrative and religious powers into the early Chinese kingship.
Religion based on the worship of heaven, earth and royal ancestors
had become the prerogative and monopoly of the ruling house, a
Chinese cultural trait inherited by all later dynasties.
The average distance between two Longshan city-states is about
50 km in Shandong, and 100 km in Zhong Yuan. Thus each Grade I
city, or du, has a hinterland with a radius of 25–50 km. In short, the
average size of such a city-state is about 100 km2 , with a population
of several tens of thousands. This is not only similar to the situation
in Mesopotamia of about the same time, the small states seem to
conform with the location and size of many of the vassal states of
the Shang Dynasty.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch03 FA

44 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

The boom of Longshan cities appeared to have happened in Mid

to Late Longshan, reflecting increasing rivalries between the agricul-
tural settlements. Yet, as most were newly created, they also did not
last long, especially when compared to some of the settlements of the
Yangshao Period that existed for over a millennium. Instability is a
major dynamic of such a time of change and expansion. The majority
of Longshan cities were found abandoned in about 2100–2000 BC.
Detailed archaeological study of a few of them offered flooding as the
main explanation, as serious floods occurred over the North China
Plain and Shandong caused mainly by heavy rains. Mengzhong,
for example, was completely destroyed by flooding at that time.
Flood damages are evidenced in Wangchenggang that destroyed
most of its East City. Old texts in China have recorded that such
incidences happened at the time of King Yao and King Shun. Both
kings employed Yu and his father to contain the floods. When Yu
succeeded in doing so, he earned the respect and support of various
peoples and tribes and became the new leader of the confederation
of city-states and ushered in the hereditary dynasty of the Xia at
around 2000 BC.
From remains of Longshan cities and other settlement sites of
the time, we reconstructed a period of the mushrooming of city-
states based predominantly on an agricultural economy much more
advanced than the economy of Yarubad or Sumerian societies.
The primacy of Chinese kingship over religion is also a critical
divergence from these other societies. However, many of the features
of Longshan city-states, particularly the role and internal structure
of the city and the settlement hierarchy, persisted into the Shang
Dynasty about half a millennium later.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Chapter 4

Urbanism in the Early Bronze

Age State of the Xia

Erlitou and the Existence of the Xia

Xia ( ) is the earliest of the three ancient dynasties (or Sandai, ).
Its kings’ list was included in Sima Qian’s Historical Records. Earlier
records of Xia have also included those in Shangshu (or Shujing,
Book of Documents, ) and Sijing (Book of Songs/ Odes, ), which
give references to its territorial extent, location of the capital, and
major events. However, before the 1940s, the existence of both the
Xia and Shang were questioned. While the discovery of oracle bone
inscriptions and their successful decipher in 1930–50 had proven
the validity of the list of Shang kings in the Historical Records, and
some details of Shang society and stately events, there is yet no
comparable evidence to support records in ancient texts about the Xia
dynasty, because except for a few individual pictograms inscribed on
pottery wine containers, no writing of any form of the Xia has been
discovered. Besides the lack of contemporary Xia writing, important
archaeological discoveries of Xia cultural sites have only begun to
emerge since the 1950s, and the cultural assemblages that they have
yielded, after four decades of digging and continued research, have
only started to be published in reports since the 1990s. As such, many
authors in the West still treat the Xia as legendary, or that Chinese
history started from the Shang.
Most of Xia archaeological finds are concentrated at the Erlitou
site ( ), location of the Xia capital Zhenxun. Hence, the Xia is
also represented by the Erlitou culture — a consensus of Chinese

45
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

46 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

archaeologists at present, while the National Project on the Dating

of the Xia and Shang Dynasties that started in 1996 put a precise date
for the Xia as 1970–1600 BC.
About 150 Erlitou sites have been discovered up to 2000. There
are 67 of them located in western and central Henan, around the
major site of Erlitou (Fig. 4.1). They mark the core of the culture, and
hence the core of the Xia Hou tribe ( ) — the tribe of Xia’s ruling
house. There are 35 sites discovered in southwestern Shanxi and east-
ern Shaanxi, centered around the regional center — Dongxiafeng.
Eastern Henan comes third, with 28 sites discovered. The density of
Erlitou sites thins out in northern Henan where 7 sites were found,
with only a few in southern Henan. However, Erlitou off-shoots
are found in southwestern Shandong, northwestern Anhui, Hubei
and northern Jiangsu. They form a large periphery that measured
roughly 1,000 km in diameter (Fig. 4.2).
The earliest Erlitou cultural finds were not in the Erlitou site
that gives it the present name. Similar artifacts were first discovered
in Wangchenggang of central Henan in 1953, an important fortified

Source: Adapted from Liu (1998) and Chang (1985).

Fig. 4.1. Core Areas of Erlitou Early Shang and Early Zhou Cultures.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State of the Xia 47

Source: Liu and Cheng (2003).

Fig. 4.2. Core District of Xia Dynasty.

city in Early Xia first constructed in Late Longshan. Its location and
environ led to the belief that it is Yu’s (the last of the legendary sage-
kings) capital — Yangcheng, as claimed by many classical texts.
Analysis of the cultural assemblages at Erlitou has revealed four
strata or four different time periods:

Erlitou I : thin, found in a few sites, retains a lot of late Longshan

traits; (1900–1800 BC)
Erlitou II : thicker, more sites and richer content of the artifacts;
(1800–1700 BC)
Erlitou III : very thick, most numerous, important artifacts, e.g. large
palaces and temples; (1700–1600 BC)
Erlitou IV : thin, drop in number; evidences of cultural decline;
(1600–1500 BC)

Henan Longshan culture is dated 2200–2000 BC, and Erlitou is its

obvious decendent. Thus, Erlitou’s discovery in 1959 has closed the
missing gap in Huaxia civilization of Zhong Yuan between Longshan
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

48 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 4.3. Distribution of Erlitou Sites: Their Geographical Setting.

and the start of the proven history of the Shang. The Xia Hou tribe,
with the surname Si, is one of the decendents of Huangdi, and lived
around Songshan in southern Henan near Wangchenggang (Fig. 4.3).
The Longshan Wangwan II culture found there is a proto-Xia culture
(2500–2000 BC), and it evolved into Erlitou through the transitional
phase of Xinxen ( ). Old records said that both Yu and his
father Gun had set up a state there, likely to be a city-state with
Wangchenggang as the fortified capital. With dedication to flood
control and service of skilled statecraft for Shun, the leader of the
confederation of chiefdoms at the time, Yu successfully became the
de facto head of the confederation and finally succeeded Shun. In the
meantime, it was said that Yu set up two military outposts: one at
Anyi of southwestern Shanxi for controling the city-state of Shun, the
other at Pengyang, in central Shanxi, for subduing the city-state of
Yao. Further indications of the establishment and early consolidation
of Xia’s rule by force are provided in many classical texts. They
have told not only of the northward migration of the Xia capital
and its core area, but also a period of a much larger polity — the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State of the Xia 49

emergence of a territorial state after the lapse of about a century from

the end of Longshan, a situation that is supported by discoveries
and excavations of numerous Erlitou sites (Chan, 2001; Zhao, 2002;
Tung, 2000).
Erlitou II and III represent the matured stage and climax of Xia
culture and its predominance over a large part of China. It waned in
phase IV, a period of Early Shang. Ceramic analysis of finds at Erlitou
sites showed the predominance of Erlitou artifacts over neighboring
Yueshi and Xiajiyuan potteries. However, the later invaded from the
south and east and ascended in Erlitou at Erlitou IV.

The Xia Opened A New Era in Chinese Civilization

Compared to the Longshan, Xia society had achieved further
advancement. Stone tools for agriculture in the Xia were finely
polished, and tools for digging and moving earth made of stone,
bones and shells appeared in large numbers, and stone knives and
sickles for harvesting had sharpened blades. The stone chopper was
also in common use. Animal husbandry had then developed into
a large scale operation and the animals included pigs, cattle and
sheep. Fishery was equally popular as evidenced by plenty of bone
and bronze hooks and pottery weights. The jade craft had made its
transition from the earlier predominantly ritual use of its products to
mainly as ornaments and small tools. The discovery of needles and
the weaving wheel in many places underlined a thriving textile craft.
Bone workshops produced a large number of tools and ornaments
such as hair pins, beads, saws, knives, pins, spades etc. and lacquer
production was extended to daily utensils such as basins, pots and
musical instruments like drums. Characteristic ceramics of the Xia
are largely gray in color with a clear inheritance from the Longshan,
both in shape and style, e.g. the tripod food and drinking vessels.
Wine vessels, like the drinking vessels of jue, jia and he, as well as the
brewing pot, zun, marked other distinct Xia ceramic features and the
emergence of a drinking culture.
The development of bronze metallurgy had attained a new
height. At the Erlitou site (Fig. 4.4), several bronze foundaries are
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

50 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 4.4. Erlitou Site of Xia Dynasty.

unearthed, the largest is 10,000 m2 in area, possibly the largest

in the entire world at the time. Associated with foundaries are
kilns making moulds for casting, with large amounts of single
and multi-piece moulds unearthed. Some are obviously for casting
very large vessels whose final products, unfortunately, have not yet
been unearthed. By their utility, the bronzes are of four groups:
containers, weapons, tools and ornaments. The containers include
jue, jia and ding, all used as ritual vessels. A large amount of
arrow heads and ge (dagger-axe, ) were found. The tools include
knives, drills, axes and fish hooks. Bronze bells and ornamental
tablets with turquoise inlay are from layers of Erlitou III and IV.
The bronzes are usually thin and their surfaces unornamented
and show mould marks, indicating an early stage of development
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State of the Xia 51

compared to Shang bronzes. Yet, the metallurgy is regarded as quite

advanced as:

1. Both the tin and lead bronze technology had matured as the
craftsman used different mixes to suit the requirements of differ-
ent vessels. Analysis of bronze samples indicates that the metal
content, on average, is 91.85% copper, 5.5% tin, less than 5% lead.
2. The use of multi-piece moulds for casting. It shows a meticulous
division of labor, standardization, uniformity and complex man-
agement in a large workshop.
3. Separation of smelting and casting, and a clear division of labor
between the central workshop in the primary urban center and
workshops in peripheral centers, as inferred from the absence
of evidence of smelting in workshops in Erlitou, Donglongshan
and Dongxiafeng, as discussed later. Besides, in the later two, no
bronze ritual vessels are believed to have been casted.

The most unique and significant development of the Xia in

bronze metallurgy lies with its state monopoly. The state controled
the production and distribution of the industry. The finished prod-
ucts are also predominantly used for military and ritual purposes,
already the two basic functions of the Chinese nation. Hence, the
bronzes are largely tools of politics, or tools for the obtaining and
sustaining of political power. Xia kings used them as investitures
for offices and the empowerment of princes and vassal states. The
recipient used them for certain types of rituals and worships dictated
by the King with respect to their rank in the administrative/political
hierarchy of the Xia nation. It served to bind the Xia and pro-Xia
polities together through the rites and benevolence emenated from
the Xia King that these vessels represented, in the Great Unity.
More precisely, the King used the ritual bronzes to monopolize
communications with heaven, the sage kings, and his ancestors, and
through them and through the related raw materials procurement,
bronze manufacture and their distribution, to spread Xia influence
and culture. In short, the bronzes supported the system of rites — the
foundation of the emerging Chinese nation based on the combination
of ancestral/patriarchal, and godly/heaven worships. As will be
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

52 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

discussed later, the territorial expansion of the Xia Hou tribe seems
to have followed the pull of sources of copper, tin and lead, the main
raw materials of the bronze industry. It is only until Eastern Zhou
that bronzewares reached the common people.
Indeed, the system of Rites (or Rites and Music) that character-
ized Sandai — the new era of hereditary monarchies, is a class society
based on new laws and regulations, and has its foundation in the Xia.
Burial analysis of Erlitou sites uncovered four mortuary ranks. On
top is the King’s tomb (5.2 × 4.3 m2 ) to the north of F2 in the Erlitou
palatial complex (shown in Fig. 4.6 in later section). It possesses a
complex set of ritual bronze vessels in addition to bronze and jade
ornaments. The M9 tomb of Erlitou exemplifies a rank-two tomb
(2.4 × 0.9 m2 ) of the nobility, with a complete ritual set in bronze
and ceramics, plus lacquerware and jade and sea-shell ornaments.
The M9 at Luoyang is a typical rank-three tomb (1.9 × 0.55 m2 ) with
only 3 pieces of ceramics. Such tombs are most numerous; they are
the tombs of the ordinary people. Rank-four are mixed burials of
unnatural deaths, usually of slaves and human sacrifices. The core
of the ritual set comprises the stable bronze items of wine and food
vessels of jue, ho, jia, gui, ding and gu, as well as the weapon, yue. In the
early phase, or in rank-two tombs, ceramics were used as replica of
expensive bronzes. A white ceramic, ge, a wine warmer, is also used
in the early phase. In the late phase, it is replaced by the bronze he.
The musical assemblage for ancestral and god worship is in the form
of stone chimes, drums, and bronze bells. These stable sets of ritual
vessels and musical instruments mark the maturing of the system of
Rites and Music. Scapulimancy, or divination by scapulae of cattle,
pig, sheep and deer, was practised to compliment the worldview
laid down by the system of rites (Chan, 2001; Song, 1991; Li, 1998;
Xu, 2004, 2004C; Liu and Chan, 2002, 2003; Zhao, 2002; Tung, 2000).
In sum, the Xia, at least as late as Erlitou III, had entered the
Bronze Age. It signified that the Huaxia culture in Zhong Yuan had
crossed a critical stage in its historical evolution. Perhaps promoted
by widespread flooding and inter city-state rivalry in Late Longshan,
the Xia Hou tribe under Yu was able to abreach the previous situation
of scattered and small regional polities, to gradually establish a new
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State of the Xia 53

type of state over a huge territory of about 300,000 km2 . In the core,
the rule was based on one family, a sort of “clan rule” in contrast to the
loose confederation of independent chiefdoms or city-states in the
Longshan, while outside the core, the King still exercised only limited
power and tolerated regional cultures and independence. Neverthe-
less, the emergence of a monocentric civilized core and the hereditary
nation state ruled by de (virtue, ), or the system of Rites and Music,
instead of the former rudimentary democracy under the Abdication
System, opened a new era of statehood and civilization in China.

Xia’s Spatial Organization and Urban System

Archaeological evidences indicate that the Erlitou culture is one of
relative uniformity over a large territory. In its core area of Henan and
Shanxi, there were 6 variants in ceramic style in the Henan Longshan
period. During the Erlitou period, they dropped to only two. In the
regions of the Dongyi Group such as in Shandong, northern Jiangsu
and eastern Henan, the Yueshi culture succeeded the Longshan,
whereas in northern Henan and southern Hebei, contemporary to
Erlitou was the Xiajiyuan culture. Both cultures show a decline from
the height of the Longshan in the number and size of settlements,
and no progress in construction and art. These two cultures were
clearly inferior and subordinate to the Erlitou.
Within the vast territory of Erlitou predominance, Lui and Chen
(2002) used archaeological analysis to support a spatial economy
built on the combination of a core-periphery relationship and the
exploitation of resources to support the expanding bronze industry.
It rested on the control of Erlitou, which had also fueled its growth
into a major urban center, likely to be the national capital — i.e.
Zhenxun of the Xia according to old texts. This core extended its
influence and control through the setting up of regional centers that
perform specific non-agriculture roles, i.e. urban functions such as
transportation, manufacturing and administrative control that were
largely related to the organization of activities for the exploitation of
copper, lead and tin in the local regions that lied within the control
of these regional centers. Following Lui and Chen (2002), we map
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

54 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

out the organization of space, and hence the settlement system of the
Erlitou (Figs. 4.2 and 4.3).

A. The Core
The core area is roughly 150 km east-west and 100 km north-south.
It lies south of Huanghe, on fertile plains drained by the four rivers
of Yi, Luo, Ying and Ru (Fig. 4.2). The plains supported a productive
agriculture and hence a dense pattern of Erlitou settlements with a
four-tier structure that possessed an extra-large central settlement —
Erlitou at the top. The later site was quite obviously the capital of a
large territorial state.
The second and third level centers were regional centers for the
procurement of food and special products for the primary center, as
well as for making farm tools needed by agricultural production
in the core area. These centers were key links to the tributary
relationship between all lesser settlements of the 3rd and 4th levels
with the primary center.
The three regional centers in the core are: firstly, Shaochai (60 ha)
to the east of Erlitou, in an area of rich agriculture, with kaolin
deposits, stone quarries and wood from the nearby hills of Songshan
(Fig. 4.2). Around it, there are a number of small to medium sized
centers. Secondly, Huizui (25 ha), a small regional center about 15 km
south of Erlitou, that specialized in the production of stone farm
implements, especially the spade. There is also a cluster of smaller
Erlitou sites around it. The third regional center is Nanzhai (25 ha)
about 25 km to the southwest of Erlitou. The function of Nanzhai
may be linked to the water transport convenience it enjoyed and
the natural resources of copper, lead and tin in the nearby mountain
region.

B. The Periphery
Over an extended territory beyond the core, there are archaeological
evidences of rapid cultural colonization and assimilation of local
cultures by Erlitou culture, most likely achieved through population
migration or expansion of the core area. Geographical, resource and
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State of the Xia 55

archaeological evidences pointed to such a process as being related to

the procurement of copper, tin, lead, salt and other resources by state
rulers and the court at Erlitou. The regional pattern of settlements
in the periphery correlates well with the transportation routes and
mineral resources of their locale; the artifacts unearthed in them also
suggested military domination and migration from the core — a clear
core-periphery relationship based on the system of Rites and Music.
Afew regional centers in the periphery have so far been identified
(Fig. 4.3):

1. In southern Shanxi
Dongxiafeng (25 ha) and Nanguan (20 ha) are the regional centers.
Below the two are a cluster of 7 third level and 15 fourth level
sites. Dongxiafeng served as a bronze casting center of weapons
and tools. There, relics of kilns and stone workshops for making
single and bi-piece moulds, and crucibles have been unearthed.
But there is no trace of ritual vessels or smelting activity. It is
likely that the copper was smelted further up the mountains and
ingots were transported downstreams to Dongxiafeng for casting.
Nanguan had also a bronze casting industry, besides being a
transport center for conveying copper ingots and salt from the
mountains to the capital city.
2. In eastern Shaanxi
A cluster of 9 sites, with Donglongshan (25 ha) as the regional
center have been excavated in an area rich in copper, lead and tin
ores. Bronze tools were made in Donglongshan.
3. In Middle Yangzi
About 12 sites are found clustered around an important transport
node between the middle reaches of Huanghe and Yangzi — Pan-
glongcheng (20 ha), the regional center. The site was insignificant
during Late Neolithic. It had grown into a regional center during
Erlitou II and III, specializing in copper smelting and pottery.
No moulds were found there, hence it served mainly as a mid-
way transport center with smelting/beneficiatory processes for
copper, tin and lead ores mined in mountains of the middle of
Yangzi.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

56 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

4. In northern Jiangsu and Hunan a number of Erlitou sites are

found extending to the south of Lake Dongting and Lake Poyang,
including Xiawanggang, Jingnansi, and Weigang, in a vast area
where copper, tin and lead ores existed.

Very obviously, the extension of the Xia into the periphery was
closely linked with ore resources and the spatial division of labor in
the bronze industry, developed mainly in Erlitou II to III, in which the
prime center acted as the command and control headquarters, and
from which expertise and related cultural traits had disseminated
through colonization and population migration.
In the immediate regions bordering on the periphery, such
as areas under the Xiaqiyuan and Yueshi cultures, some Erlitou
influence is evidenced in local cultural assemblages. Yet these
areas remained culturally distinct, and thus likely to be politically
independent.

Xia Urbanism
A. Erlitou
The site at Erlitou was discovered in 1959. It is located at the center of
the Yiluo Plain, 4 km from River Yi, 6 km from Yanshi, and 17 km from
Luoyang (Fig. 4.2). It has no city wall, but recently a wall to protect its
palatial quarter at the center has been unearthed (Fig. 4.4). Inspite of
this, Erlitou seems to have followed a clear plan in layout. More than
50 large house foundations of stamped earth platforms that range in
size of 600 m2 to 1 ha have so far been unearthed at its center that form
its central palace zone of about 7.5 ha. Several foundations have been
excavated, including the two largest that supported the structures
of F1 and F2 (Figs. 4.5 and 4.6). To the north and east of the palace
zone are areas of kilns and boneware workshops; and there is a large
bronze workshop zone in its south. It is very likely that these craft
quarters were controled by and supplemented the palatial quarter.
In geographical location and in function, the palatial complex seems
to have formed the focus of the capital, with structures that are likely
to be the two major institutions of the early state: the Audience
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State of the Xia 57

Fig. 4.5. Erlitou F1 Site.

Hall (F1) and the Ancestral Altar/Temple (F2). These institutions

have defined, to some extent, the role of the capital, and the nature
of kingship of the Xia, i.e. the unity of rituals and politics, or the
combination of ancestral and godly worship with secular power
based on the royal family.
F1 (Fig. 4.5) is labeled by archaeologists as Palace No. 1. It
is largely square and comprises a rammed earth foundation of
9,583 m2 on which a single edifice can be reconstructed. Walls
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

58 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 4.6. Plan of F2 Erlitou Site.

with roofed galleries have enclosed this structure with a large front
courtyard. The edifice is reconstructed as a wooden structure, in a
formally enclosed plan. There is a clear central axis, with a balanced
arrangement, and north-south orientation closely similar to the
principles for the construction of the capital city as laid down in
“Kao Gong Ji” ( ) of Li Ji (Book of Rites, ). The main structure
is a huge palace, eight-room wide and three-room deep. It has a large
hall and many side and back rooms like the “big house” in Dadiwan
II. Its main south gate is an elaborated structure containing eight
doors with a large facade. The front court to the south of the hall is
roughly 5,000 m2 .
F2 (Fig. 4.6) or Palace No. 2, is 150 m northeast of F1. It has a total
site area of 4,200 m2 . The main structure is supported by a rectangular
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State of the Xia 59

rammed earth foundation of 1,070 m2 . It, too, is enclosed by a wall

with roofed galleries and a large front courtyard. Its main gate is also
on the south wall. A square pit was unearthed in the north, between
the wall and the main structure, and is suggested to be the looted
tomb of a king. Close to it and against part of the northern wall is
an attached structure for ancestral worship as evidenced by animal
and human sacrificial ditches. Chinese scholars have interpreted F2
as the palace or temple for ceremonies, watched by an audience of
several thousands.
Old classical texts described the layout of the palatial quarter of
the king as a planned and ordered arrangement with the Audience
Hall in the front, and Royal Residence at the back. When the king
dies, the key structures for his afterlife are in similar layout, i.e. the
temple in the front to symbolize his life time audience hall, and
the tomb at the back his former residence. F2 therefore provided
the archaeological evidence that such a layout existed in Erlitou
time, and that the nature of the monarchy and the system of Rites
and Music that these building structures symbolized made them
precursors to those of the Shang and Zhou dynasties. Indeed, the two
palaces or structures for the king’s administration (chao, or Audience
Hall, ) and ritual duties in ancestral worship (miao, or Ancestral
Temple, ) have been located side-by-side since Erlitou. The two
were separately located only in and after the Spring and Autumn
Period, a period when the Zhou emperor lost control of his feudal
lords, and the rites were not observed by most of the feudal states.
In summarizing the major characters of China’s urbanism and
urban structure of its early dynastic capitals, Xu (1999) lay down four
major features:

1. The early capitals are political centers.

2. They are the cores of states built on the basis of a patriarchal
system with a strong clan organization.
3. The palace and temple are key artifacts of the highest royal
powers.
4. The ritual system dictates the layout and functions of the palace
and temple.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

60 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

The thick deposits of slag, remains of crucibles, clay moulds, and

remains of casting in a large area of one hectare size south of the
palace zone indicate a large bronze foundry. Such a scale and its close
proximity to the palatial quarter are worth noting. Besides, the clay
moulds found there include those used for casting tools, weapons
and ritual vessels — some for very large vessels, and they are much
more spectacular than those found in other Erlitou sites so far. The
artifacts of the workshop are dated between Phase II–IV. It agrees
reasonably with the textual claim that the 3rd King of the Xia set up
his capital at Zhenxun. It may also be inferred that the workshop is
closely tied up with the palatial zone, or the functioning of the capital
as the political and religious center of the territorial state. They also
tell of a complicated management system and division of labor of
the bronze industry in the Xia.

B. Other Cities
Wangchenggang has been mentioned earlier as the capital
(Yangcheng) of the Xia Hou tribe at Gun and Yu’s time. Archae-
ological evidence indicated its first construction in Late Longshan
around 2000 BC. As it remained a Xia settlement of small to medium
size during the Erlitou, there were doubts whether it was really Yu’s
capital city. New discoveries in the early 2000s revealed a huge city
site of over 300,000 m2 , making it the largest site in the Longshan
Period. It supports the view that at the beginning of the Xia, well
planned and constructed large cities already existed (Xu, 2006a).
Mengzhong, discovered in 1992, was another Longshan city that
persisted and was further used in the Erlitou. It was abandoned in
Erlitou IV, closely agreeing with the time when the Xia was subdued
by the Shang. Guchengzhai in southern Henan is a pre-Xia city of
Longshan Wangwan II. It has a large site of 170,000 m2 and a large
building foundation of rammed earth of 2,000 m2 at its center. On it
previously stood a palatial structure of 380 m2 . Its structure is similar
to F1 and F2 in Elitou, possibly their fore-runner. Besides, the city
agrees well with old texts about the capital of a regional power that
existed there in Longshan till early Xia, i.e. the state of Jurong. In
1997, a small city was also discovered within the Early Shang city
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

Urbanism in the Early Bronze Age State of the Xia 61

of Yanshi, which is dated Erlitou IV. The small city is walled and
laid out formally in a square shape. It may or may not be an Erlitou
settlement before.
Besides these cities which are likely walled, no wall have been
found in the regional centers or other Erlitou urban sites mentioned
in the previous section. These had led to the belief that Xia cities
are unwalled. Yet the walls of the cities just described and the
discovery of the wall of the palatial quarter at Elitou support the
view that Xia cities cannot be simply categorized as unwalled. Some
of Xia’s regional centers, e.g. Donglongshan and Dongxiafeng were
expanded and continued their role in the Shang. They were also
walled in the Shang dynasty.

Xia Dynasty — First Hereditary State of the

Slave Society
Several major changes have been achieved in the Xia as supported
by four decades of archaeological research since the discovery of the
first Xia site in 1953. The piecing together of these evidences proved
the general authenticity of old classics on the dynasty such as Sima
Qing’s “Xia History” in his Historical Records. A centralized and vast
territorial cultural system, later known as Huaxia, had become firmly
established in Zhong Yuan. Its influence had extended to Hebei and
Inner Mongolia in the north, and Henan and Jiangsu in the south.
The culture has also marked the start of the Bronze Age and the slave
society in China. The former Longshan society based on competing
independent regional polities of city-states under a loose form of
confederation, an ideal society held by Confucius as the Society of the
Great Harmony, where the head of the confederation was chosen by
merit, based on his practical contribution to interpolity events such as
flood control or agricultural innovations, in the so called Abdication
System, was replaced by inheritance within a single powerful royal
family. Yu was the first leader of the Xia Hou tribe that rose to the
height of the head of the loose confederation when Shun abdicated
in his favor. Yu was said to have abdicated to Gaotao, a leader of the
Dongyi group and then to Yi. However, both failed to win the hearts
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch04 FA

62 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

of other tribal groups. The later led by Yu’s son Qi, killed Yi. Qi was
then made the first king of the new Xia dynasty. Through Qi’s later
military conquests, the Xia dynasty was able to expand to cover the
wide territory marked by Erlitou sites.
Other marked changes from the Longshan as evidenced by
archaeological finds of Erlitou sites included:

1. A 4-tier settlement system.

2. Settlement primacy of Erlitou that dominated an extensive region;
an obvious colonization of a vast area through military control and
migration of people from Erlitou.
3. The largest site at Erlitou of 375 ha, with its estimated population
of 18,000–30,000 was unparalleled at the time.
4. Increased uniformity and standardization in culture through
mass production and the control on major craft industries over
a wide territory.
5. Bronzes became a status symbol for the first time, and bronze
production became a state monopoly — a means to monopolize
the most sacred ritual power.
6. Long distance trade had much exceeded the scale of the former
period, reaching southeast Asia and India.
7. The prime center, Erlitou, had developed into a new and highly
stratified primary urban center in terms of social stratification, and
had incorporated within it a large number of craftsmen and slaves,
and a centralized and complex government structure. These have
produced a complex internal structure of the capital city, with the
earliest palatial complex that later characterized the traditional
Chinese capital city.

Undoubtedly, the Erlitou, or the Xia, had entered the stage of

a civilized nation state, and was a territorial state with a complex
national capital. Many of the traits of urbanism that this chapter has
described are later found in the Shang Dynasty which marks the
climax of the Bronze Age.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Chapter 5

Shang Urbanism at the Climax

of Bronze Metallurgy

First Dynasty with Surviving Written History

Many scholars claim that Chinese history starts with the Shang
Dynasty ( ) (Roberts, 1999; Eberhard, 1977; Xu, 2007). More
precisely, they say that China’s proven history begins with the
discovery of the repository of the imperial oracle bone records of
King Wu Ding at the outskirt of the city of Anyang in 1928 (ditch
YH127). It contains a total of about 17,000 pieces of oracle bones of
tortoise shells and ox scapulae inscribed with texts of divination that
cover almost each day of the King’s long reign of 59 years. The total of
such bones unearthed so far reached about 160,000, and most belong
to kings of Late Shang since King Wu Ding. Those that are inscribed
told a history of Late Shang covering major stately events and
imperial concerns such as the weather, state of agriculture, war and
peace, important appointments of office, rituals and worships, etc.
On the basis of the inscriptions, a matured writing system consisting
of about 5,000 characters is proven, of which over 1,000 characters
have been decoded. As a number of the divination texts found in
King Wu Ding’s repository are written on the bones in red or black
with the brush, instead of being inscribed by knife, it is believed
that there should be more such writing done on cloth, bamboo slips,
and wood. The latter are much cheaper and more efficient means for
long records/documents, and for daily use outside the sacred sphere
of divination, as has been done in later dynasties. Though none of
these original records which may bear a better and more precise

63
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

64 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

history of the time are yet found to survive, it is reasonable to accept

the textual saying that the Shang Dynasty “has repository of official
records and books”, and that many of the old classics written after the
Zhou Dynasty on the Shang Dynasty may be based on these original
materials and are thus to be reliable. Among these later classics, the
more important ones include: Shujing (Book of Documents), “Records
of Shang” in Historical Records, Zuo Zhuan ( ), Shijing (Book of
Songs), and Shan Hai Jing (Book of Mountains and Rivers, ). They,
together with plenty of archaeological finds since the 1950s, allow
us to piece together a more precise and reliable history of Shang
urbanism than the earlier periods of prehistory China (Gu, 1992; Fu,
2002; Chen, 2001; Xu, 2007).

Shang State and Shang Civilization

The “National Project on the Dating of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou
Dynasties” provides the most reliable data on the duration and
periodization of the Shang. Accordingly, the dynasty stretches
roughly from 1600 BC to 1046 BC, and is divided into Early and
Late Shang. Early Shang consists of 17 kings and a total reign of 304
years (1600–1298 BC), while Late Shang is of 13 kings and covers
255 years (1298–1046 BC). The dividing line of the two periods is the
reign of King Pan Gen who shifted the capital from Yim to Anyang
in 1298 BC (see Fig. 5.1), 14 years after he ascended the throne, as
such he and his reign are included into Late Shang. Archaeologically,
Early Shang is represented by the Erligang and Late Shang by the
Yinxu assemblages (Zhao, 2002; Chang, 2001; Yan and Ceng, 1999;
Liu and Chen, 2002, 2003).

A. The Benevolent Despot

The concentration of power in the hands of one family, and within
it, the passing on of power from father to son or from the elder
brother to younger brother when the “heir” (eldest son) is still an
infant, a transitory stage to the hereditary patriarchal system of
succession (zong fa system, ) from the Abdication System of
pre-Xia, was consistently practised in the Shang. Of the 30 kings, 22
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 65

Fig. 5.1. Polities in the Shang Period.

were succeeded by a brother, and 8 by a son. Those kings succeeded

by their eldest sons enjoyed high status in ancestral worships and
are referred to as kings of the “direct lineage” (zhixiawang). In the
oracle bone inscriptions, the terms da zong (line of the eldest male
sibling; or direct/senior lineage, ), and xiao zong (junior line of the
other male sibling, ) have been used to denote the different rank
status of members of a household, another proof of the practice of the
patriarchal system. One of the major causes of the “Nine Generations’
Confusion” is the passing on of the throne by uncles to their own
sons instead of to the rightful nephew “heirs”. That mistake seems
to have been stamped when the last four kings were succeeded all
by the “heirs”.
Anew theory on the right to rule of the Shang royal household has
also been developed, evidenced by documents in Shujing and oracle
bone inscriptions. Particularly notable are those of the dynasty’s
prominent and ablest kings and ministers such as the dynasty
founder King Tang (or King Tian Yi), King Wu Ding, and the
dynasty’s most important and long serving premier (who served
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

66 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the first five kings) Yi Yuan. In the three proclamations: Tang Xuan
(Declaration of War on the Xia, ), Tang Shi (Oath of War on the Xia,
) and Tang Gao (Declaration of Peace, ), the founder king of the
Shang elaborated the thesis which later developed into the concept of
the Mandate of Heaven ( ), i.e. the king’s seat is not to be occupied
by a particular household, but by a person who is virtuous and
able to win the respect of all peoples. That person should also be
capable of effective rule. Besides, the responsibility and realm of the
virtuous king are not just his municipality, or state, but all that is
under “heaven” (Tianxia, ). He is destined to spread the practice
of good behavior and material benefits to all. This also requires him
to subdue and teach the unruly and uncivilized through military
expeditions.
King Wu Ding’s detailed records in the oracle bone inscriptions
show him as a good example of a virtuous king in observing such
duties:

1. Daily concern over the weather and conditions of the farming and
pastoral sectors;
2. Regular investigatory tours to the farms;
3. Perform ritual ceremonies to invoke the favor of God-on-High
(Shang-di, ) and the ancestors for blessings, good weather and
harvests;
4. Lead military expeditions to subdue the unruly, i.e. 3,000 men
each time to subdue the Gong Fang, Tu Fang and Gui Fang and
15,000 men to subdue the Jiang tribes (Fig. 5.1).

B. The New Administrative System

The Shang tribe was originated in the flood plain of the Jiang River
(ancient name Yin, hence the other name of Shang, i.e. Yin) east of the
Taiheng Mountain in the border area of Henan and Hebei. They are
the descendants of Emperor Gao, grandson of the Yellow Emperor.
The founder of the Shang tribe, Qi, served as Education Minister
in the court of Shun and was granted a municipality at Shang in
eastern Shaanxi. Since then, the tribe had moved their capital 8 times
until King Tang, the founder of the dynasty finally relocated it to
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 67

Bo (present day Zhengzhou). The Shang tribe had domesticated the

horse in northern China, and the ox in southern China during Late
Xia, and used them as draught animals and in pulling carts. With
these they developed a thriving economy and had engaged in long
distance trade that won the fame of the Shang people as good traders.
In fact the Chinese term for a merchant is the same for the Shang
people (Shang ren, ).
With the new Mandate of Heaven and better mobility, the new
dynasty inherited and developed the former Xia administrative
system. The Shang state was divided into two parts with parallel
administrative and military command systems.

1. Shang territory (Wang ji, imperial territory, ) — It consists

of the capital city region of about 1,000 km2 in the area around
Zhengzhou Shang City or Bo, and direct colonies and municipal-
ities of the imperial family, i.e. the various yi (Fig. 5.2). This may
extend over a long distance from the capital, e.g. Longpancheng
in Hubei province (likely to be Lo in Fig. 5.1). Such territories are
generally referred to as the “domestic territories” (Neifu, ).
2. Pro-Shang territories — They comprise two subcategories: vassal
states headed by an administrator/military leader in conquered
or newly developed area, and other municipalities or city-states
(yi, or fangguo) submissive to Shang suzerainty such as Shu in
Fig. 5.2. The heads of these yi or fangguo, are usually Shang
nobles, ministers, generals and heads of the pro-Shang clans. The
maximum number of such polities, according to textual and oracle
bones sources, is 1,551. These states are referred to generally as
the “outside territories” (waifu, ), and are the subjects of the
king with well defined rights and responsibilities and a system of
administration laid down by the Shang central government.

The vassal states have fixed territories and populations defined by

and invested by the Shang king according to a hierarchy of four
ranks: hou ( ), bo ( ), zi ( ) and nan ( ) (also called yen and tian).
They enjoyed the protection, possible call to service in the Shang
court, and occasional gifts from the Shang king. In return, they
were obliged to be present in the king’s audience, to pay an annual
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

68 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 5.2. The Realm of Shang Against Present Day Provinces and Major Cities.

tribute, participate in military expeditions, make available his land

to produce for the king when required, and to respond to the king’s
call for other services. In addition, any new land acquired by a vassal
state had to be reported and if requested, to be submitted to the king.
This is indeed the foundation of the feudal system of the next dynasty
of Western Zhou.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 69

A complicated and hierarchical system of officers had also been

created. The three main types of offices were: (a) civil officers that
ranked from the premier to officers of the crafts, dealing with
national to local affairs; (b) military officers that included four main
subcategories, i.e. the ma (horse) for military expeditions; ya, the
king’s security force, she (archery), and wei (defence force); (c) officers
of history and ceremonies that included historians, scribes, diviners,
priests, accountants, judges and prosecutors.
The army was made up of two forces: the tsu (defense force)
conscripted from members of the royal family and nobles, seemingly
a permanent professional, clan-based, force for the defense of the
capital and municipalities; and the three shilü (imperial army, ).
The latter is the main army for defending the borders and for military
expeditions. Each shilü is an army of about 10,000, with 3 lü as
subdivisions. Most of the soldiers of the shilü were part-time soldiers.
Some were stationed at military farms in the border zone and served
as part-time farmers. The basic fighting units were units of 10 foot
soldiers and the horse chariot. The latter is composed of 2 horses,
3 soldiers on board and 15 foot soldiers.

C. Taxation, Currency, Trade and Code of Law

Within the domestic territories, the major form of taxation for free
citizens was labor for farming the fief land of all levels, i.e. from the
king, nobles to lesser officials, and working in crafts and serving as
soldiers. In the outer territories, tax was paid in kind by heads of fiefs
or vassal states, both in the form of local farm products, mineral ores
and metals, precious items, as well as slaves. In the latter, tax may also
be paid by the currency of shells which became popular in the Shang.
Natural shells, besides pottery, bone, jade and bronze ones were
found as treasured items in burials and figured as items of gifts by the
king as recorded in the oracle bones. The unit of the shell currency
is peng (a Chinese pictogram showing two pairs of five shells tied
together by a string, ). As previously said, some Shang people
are known to be long-distant traders. The demand for supplies
for the bronze industry and various needs of the court, including
tortoise shells for divination, necessitated long distance trade from
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

70 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

as far south of Asia as India, and Southeast Asia, and as far west as
Xinjiang. Although most trade was monopolized by the government,
trade by private individuals existed. The Shang king also showed
much concern over trade and the establishment of markets within
the capital city. To maintain trade and effective communication
throughout the vast state, the Shang had also developed the earliest
system of post-stations at the nodes of overland and water routes,
called ji, precursors of the system in the Qin Dynasty.
The Duke of Zhou had highly praised the Shang practice of rule
of law in the form of the Code of Tang ( ). Although lost in its
original form, parts of the code have been quoted in Chinese classics
such as Shujing, Li Ji and Zuo Zhuan. The code is said to consist of
300 penalties for different crimes and the worst crime is acts against
filial piety, a trend in the penal system of later dynasties.

D. Economy
Shang advancements in agriculture and animal husbandry have
been recorded in historical texts and oracle bone inscriptions.
Collective farming based on “public” ownership of land by the royal
family, nobles and hereditary officials have been noted. This is also
reflected by archaeological finds of large collection of farm tools in
single spots, such as over 1,000 stone knives for harvesting in a single
ditch, and large grain stores. Records of tributes of large herds of
oxen, horses and other animals are frequently seen, e.g. l,000 oxen
by one fief in a single year, indicating the scale and development of
animal husbandry. Complicated management in the farming sector
from field preparation, ploughing, broadcasting of seeds, to field
management and harvesting over large areas and newly open-up
fields are also evident.

Development of bronze metallurgy and its spread

Based on Xia development, bronze metallurgy further developed. In
Upper Erligang ( ), bronzes are quite similar to those of the
Xia Dynasty while in Lower Erligang, new shapes such as the ding
and he appeared, and their surface are lined with fine relief of the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 71

taotie and many other patterns. The number of bronzes discovered

have also increased. The major bronzes are still ritual vessels and
weapons. In Late Shang, i.e. the period of Yinxu, the climax of
Chinese bronze metallurgy was reached. In the Yinxu site of Anyang,
in 1950–86, 820 ritual bronze vessels and 2,740 pieces of weapons
have been unearthed. The largest vessel weighs 875 kg, compared
to the largest in Upper Erligang of only about 100 kg. Most ritual
vessels are richly decorated with relief motifs which now include
a wide variety of patterns, such as animal, reptile, insect and bird
figures, in addition to the dominant taotei pattern. These vessels are
also often inscribed with one to several dozen written Chinese words.
The largest number is 30 characters. They denote the insignia or name
of the tribe/family/name of the owner, or the event, if the vessel is
used as investiture of office, or the granting of a fief. New forms of
stand, such as bird or animal shaped stands had also become popular.
The other important development is the spread of metallurgy,
and the casting of ritual vessels outside the capital city region
in peripheral areas. This is a significant indication of increasing
independence of some former pro-Shang polities since the beginning
of Late Shang (Yinxu period). This is evident by bronzes that bear
the general Shang core characteristics discovered in Erligang in such
areas, but later bronzes found in such locations show increasing
local characteristics. Archaeological evidences in Sanxingdui of
Chengdu, Wucheng of Jiangxi, are indicative of local developments
of metallurgy and the casting of ritual vessels in such locales that
signify a high degree of political independence. The spread of the
industry is also evident in eastern Liaoning, western Shaanxi, Kansu,
Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Further achievement of Shang metallurgy may
be illustrated by its success in casting with gold and iron. At present,
4 items of wrought iron, beaten into sharp blades that adjoint bronze
tangs by casting-on, testify the knowledge of the metal (of meteoritic
origin) and an attempt to use it as early as 14th century BC in China.
The spread of ritual bronzes may first be interpreted as coloniza-
tion of the periphery by the central state, particularly in Early Shang,
following the pattern of the Xia. Yet, since Yinxu, the increasingly
independent peripheral areas had taken advantage of these former
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

72 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

transfers of technology through colonization and people migration

to develop a more locally rooted industry. They contributed to the
final breakdown of central control of the Shang and ushering in of a
new dynasty — the Zhou.

Shang Territory and Its Urban System

Textual reference on the extent of Late Shang shows that its eastern
limit reaches the East China Sea, and it approaches the deserts
of Qinghai in the west, while borders on the Beijing area in the
north and Indo-China in the south. Archaeological evidences so
far supported the territory of Early Shang as almost congruent
with the extent of Erlitou sites during Lower Erligang, and its
expansion to include Shandong, northern Jiangxi, northern Hunan,
southern Inner Mongolia, central Shaanxi and southern Hebei in
Upper Erligang (Fig. 5.2) (Chang, 2001; Lu, 1999; Chen, 2001; Liu
and Chen, 2002, 2003; Xu, 2000).
Erligang ( ) is dated as a period of about 1600–1300 BC. The
dividing line between Lower and Upper Erligang was roughly the
start of the long reign of King Tamu in 1490 BC. The next king, King
Zhong Ding opened a period of decline in which internal succession
strife and external military threats had troubled nine successive
kings. This period of 119 years is known as the “Nine Generations’
Confusion”. It is marked by the abandonment of Yanshi (Xi Bo, ).
Zhengzhou (Bo, ) also declined significantly, though the 3 bronze
hoards and sacrificial remains in the palatial quarters indicate its
continued use as the Shang capital until Yinxu I ( ) (Chang,
2001). By then, the Shang territory is believed to have shrunk to
its smallest. This is a time when many regional centers had also
declined, and textual references to the temporary and short-lived
capitals of Ao, Xiang, Yim and Xing appeared. With the exception of
Ao, no archaeological evidence is found for these capitals (Fig. 5.1).
Chen (2001) believes that these are secondary capitals serving as
military headquarters in the most troubled parts of the nation.
The revival of the Shang state started with King Pan Gen’s
northward shift of the capital to the original Shang tribal base around
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 73

present day Anyang in northern Henan, and the setting up of the new
capital there, also known as Bo, which archaeologists nickname as
Yinxu (Fig. 5.1). At the time of the long reign of the capable King
Wu Ding, about the middle of Late Shang (1250–1192 BC), the Shang
territory is marked by the valleys of the Yangzi and River Huai,
the Loop of Huanghe in the north, and reaching the Han Basin in the
west. This is the climax of the Shang in terms of territorial expansion.

A. Urban System in Erligang

Following the logic of Xia state development, Early Shang inherited
and strengthened a territorial control system based on a well
organized 4-tier urban system. The core of the system is the same
area, i.e. Zhong Yuan, which is where the Shang and Xia Hou
tribes had intermixed for centuries. The high level of agricultural
productivity of the plains of mid-Huanghe and its various tributaries
formed a solid foundation for the state which took the material form
of two huge primary urban centers — Zhengzhou (Bo) and Yanshi (Xi
Bo or West Bo) (Figs. 5.3 and 5.4). There are three other walled cities
that served as important second level regional centers at important
transport nodes for the transshipment of key resources from a large
periphery to the headquarters of the state, i.e. raw materials for the
bronze industry, salt and tributes of local products and precious
materials from vassal states in the periphery. These centers had
grown in size compared to what they were in the Xia and many
took on a new wall as well. Regional centers of a third level that
were not walled, are found as far south as Jiangxi, e.g. Wucheng,
and as east as the coast of Shandong, e.g. Lijin. They also reach as
north as Zhukaigou in the Ordos Plateau of Inner Mongolia and Taixi
in southern Hebei, and as west as Chenggu in the upper valley of
the Han River (Figs. 5.3 and 5.4).
Figure 5.3 which is based on Liu and Chen (2003) demonstrates
these larger urban centers as well as the fourth level settlements
which are not detailed here. The pattern of settlements is obviously
related to the river plains, major water routes as well as key salt and
mineral resources critical to the Shang state. Figure 5.4 demonstrates
the organization and role of the 4-tier system and the interactions
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

74 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 5.3. Locations of Erligang Settlements and Metal Resource in Shang Dynasty.

between lower and the primary centers, and between the Shang and
non-Shang polities. The following is a brief outline of the key features
of Shang’s large urban settlements:
Zhengzhou: Called Bo during Shang time, it was the national
capital and the primary center of Early Shang during the Erligang
phase that lasted at least 10 kings for 185 years. The 11th King, Zhong
Ding moved the capital to Ao for a brief period. However, it is
believed that it was still the capital during the Nine Generations’
Confusion, though in a state of decline in this latter phase of
121 years.
It is a heavily walled city with possibly 11 gates, located on the
flood plain where the Huai River joins the Huanghe. The total site
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 75

Source: Adapted from Liu and Cheng (2003).

Fig. 5.4. Tributary Model of the Political Economic System in the Erligang Period.

of the great city of an estimated 100,000 people — the largest in the

world at the time, covered 2,500 ha. The site was first discovered in
the 1950s. There were only several small settlements in the Erlitou
period. Prior to Erligang, a small walled center appeared forming
the basis of the Inner City (300 ha). The large city with the partially
walled Outer City (2,500 ha) was developed at Zhenzhou II of Lower
Erligang (Fig. 5.5), probably during the later part of the reign of
King Tang.
The palace and temple quarter is located in the northeastern part
of the Inner City where a few dozen rammed earth foundations for
large structures of 100–2,000 m2 are present (Fig. 5.5). There are also
large erected rocks and many sacrificial pits that point to religious or
worshipping functions. The quarter measures 60,000 m2 in total size,
about 6 times the size of the palace quarter in Erlitou of the former Xia
dynasty. The industrial quarters are all located in the Outer City. The
large bronze foundry (10 ha) south of the Inner City was developed
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

76 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 5.5. Plan of the Zhengzhou Site.

earlier than the northern foundry (2.5 ha). Both ceased operation at
the end of Upper Erligang. They casted tools, weapons and ritual
vessels. There are three hoards of ritual bronzes buried in ditches
outside the Inner City wall, possibly by one of the last kings in the
turbulent years of the Nine Generations’ Confusion and before the
city was abandoned. The ditches and the hoards that they contained
dated from the end of Upper Erligang to Yinxu I. A large ceramic area
of 12 ha is also found located to the west in the Outer City. It has 14
kilns, 17 workshops and 75 work pits, showing a highly specialized
large scale production of ceramics. The bone factory is to the north,
outside the northern wall of the Inner City.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 77

While the southern part of the Inner City seems to be quite

empty, the rest of the Outer City is full of residents and cemetery
areas, besides the craft quarters. Significant amount of stone, shell
and pottery tools, e.g. sickles and knives for agriculture, are also
unearthed in different parts of the Outer City, indicative of a sizeable
population engaged in farming, a contrast to the few Erligang
remains found outside the city. We therefore sense a new urbanism
being evident in Zhengzhou (Bo) in the form of a large range of
non-elite population engaged in a wide range of occupations in
both industry and agriculture. Besides, this population seemed to
be protected by a wall in the south (while in the north the river
provides a natural barrier).
Zhengzhou (Bo) reached its peak of development in Upper
Erligang I and declined in Upper Erligang II, as the craft quarters
ceased operation and the palaces were unoccupied. However, as
previously said, there are evidence of its continuation as a national
capital until Yinxu I when it fell into total collapse.
Yanshi (West Bo): The city was built earlier than Bo of Zhengzhou
in Erlitou VI, in the heart of the Xia Hou tribe, being just 6 km away
from the large Xia capital. Since then it expanded and co-existed with
Zhengzhou, only 75 km to its west, throughout Erligang. In historic
text it is referred to as Western Bo (Xi Bo), serving the purpose of
a military strong hold in the early days of the Shang Dynasty for
subduing and keeping a watch on the Xia Hou tribe.
In Erlitou VI, the city was a small walled settlement, almost a
fort, and was composed of a palatial structure, bronze workshop
and pre-Shang lithic assemblage within a walled area of just about
4 ha. It soon expanded into the Small City (80 ha, see Fig. 5.6).
Within it there was a square walled enclosure with rows of structures
that archaeologists recognize as a protected storage facility. During
Lower Erligang, the city expanded. The Big City, as is labeled in
Fig. 5.5, covered 200 ha and had five gates. The palaces and storage
facilities were expanded and rebuilt, and a second storage facility,
also in the form of a walled enclosure, was added outside the wall of
the Small City. At this stage, the city seemed to have acquired new
functions as well. Besides the military role, it was a large urban center
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

78 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 5.6. Plan of the Yanshi Site.

of an estimated 60,000 residents who were engaged in transportation,

storage, and manufacturing jobs that produced bronze, pottery and
bone wares in addition to the logistics role of channeling resources
and products from the Yiluo region and the peripheral regions of
Shanxi, southern Henan, and Hubei to the capital city (Fig. 5.3).
Like Zhengzhou (Bo), the population of Yanshi (West Bo) is
highly stratified, the palace quarter was obviously for the elites,
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 79

being cordoned off from the rest of the Small City by a 2 m wall,
and in possession of a number of wells and an elaborate drainage
system of 800 m long (Fig. 5.6). The quarter was dominated by
palatial structures on rammed earth foundations, i.e. F1–F6. F2 was
the largest of such structures in Early Erligang. It has a width of 90 m.
Palatial structures are also recently found in the north of the Big City
and southeast corner of the Small City. The elites they accommodated
were likely to serve the administrative and managing roles of the new
urbanism represented by the productive and logistics facilities dis-
covered by archaeologists. However, no evidence of ritual bronzes
are found, underlying the fact that Yanshi (West Bo) was not the
national capital that monopolized such activity. The city attained
peak development in Upper Erligang and thence it declined into an
ordinary settlement and was abandoned in Late Upper Erligang.
Regional centers within 300 km of Zhengzhou.
Within the direct hinterland of the national capital are a num-
ber of regional urban centers such as Fucheng, Dongxiafeng, and
Yuanqu.
(1) Fucheng: It is a small walled settlement (8 ha) on the slope of
the Taiheng Mountain by the side of River Qin. It was developed in
Lower Erligang and abandoned in Upper Erligang. There are several
palatial structures in the northeastern section, likely to be the site for
the elites that administered the exploitation and transportation of
materials in the resource-rich mountain region for the core (Figs. 5.3
and 5.4).
(2) Dongxiafeng: It continued its role in the Xia and was
expanded, walled and moated in Lower Erligang. The procurement
of copper, and casting of weapons and tools had been maintained.
In addition, 40–50 circular rammed-earth foundations have been
unearthed. They supported wooden structures that fashioned like
later day salt storages. They indicate the city’s logistics role for
conveying Hedong salt to the capital city region (Figs. 4.2 and 5.3).
In Upper Erligang, cheaper salt from Bohai and the exhaustion of
ores in the Zhong Tie Mountain seem to explain its decline in Upper
Erligang.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

80 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

(3) Yuanqu: It was called Nanguan in the Xia (Figs. 4.2 and 5.3).
In Lower Erligang, it expanded to a medium sized center with a
wall (13 ha). In the center is the palatial-administrative center of
2,000 m2 , laid out in 6 foundations of rammed earth. The southern
part contains ceramic and bronze crafts. Two elite tombs with jade
and ritual bronzes and human sacrifices underlie the direct control
of the Shang of this copper processing and transportation center. It
may also have a military role, being at a strategic site north of the
Huanghe. Its abandonment in Upper Erligang may also be due to
the exhaustion of nearby ore resources.
Regional centers in the Periphery. Outside the national capital
region, a sub-system based on regional centers can be found in the
periphery of Shang’s reign (Figs. 5.3 and 5.4):
(1) Donglongshan: This Xia settlement continued and expanded
(30 ha) in Lower Erligang as a copper transshipment center.
(2) Laoniupo: It is a small (5 ha) transport node for the nearby
mineral resources as it is located at the confluence of the rivers of Ba
and Sha, and is only 14 km from Huaizhenfang, a copper smelting
center. Their material assemblages are similar to those at Zhengzhou
(Bo).
(3) Daxingzhuang: A medium size regional center (30 ha) that
represents the first Erligang intrusion into Shandong province.
Bronzes imported from Zhengzhou (Bo) have been discovered. The
city served as the coordinating and transportation node of the region,
particularly for the salt industry around Bohai coast at Lijin that
supplied the Shang capital (Figs. 5.2 and 5.3).
(4) Panlongcheng: In Lower Erligang, the city continued its role
as a copper smelting and transportation node of 20 ha. In Upper
Erligang it expanded into a major settlement of 100 ha with a wall
and was formally laid out. The palace complex in the center, is of
about 6,000 m2 , with an elaborated pottery drainage system (Fig. 5.7).
The palace’s architecture and grandiose are of the style, and only less
than those of either Zhengzhou (Bo) or Yanshi (West Bo). It seems
to be the capital of an important vassal state of a member of the
Shang royal family, likely to be Lo in Fig. 5.1. There are 36 large
tombs discovered in the city’s neighborhood, all containing ritual
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 81

Fig. 5.7. Palace of Longpan City.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

82 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

bronze vessels. Four of them have bronze crucibles as part of the

grave goods, showing that these elites were likely to be charged
with the administration of bronze smelting and its transshipment
to Bo and West Bo and possibly being a military governor as well.
Remains of bronze smelting like crucibles and slags are found in
several locations outside the wall. Obviously, Panlongcheng acted
as the control center for the many mining sites in the middle and
lower reaches of the Yangzi during the Erligang period. The site was
abandoned at the end of Upper Erligang as did Yanshi.
Yinxu: It is the Shang capital since King Pan Gen founded it
at about 1300 BC, until the downfall of the dynasty in 1046 BC. It
therefore has the long service of 244 years as a national capital. The
archaeological assemblage is divided into 4 phases. In the first phase
(Yinxu I — 1370–1239 BC), the city was small. It expanded to 12 km2
in the second phase — the phase that starts at King Wu Ding (1255–
1195 BC). In its last phase it reached its height of 30 km2 . It is estimated
that its population immediately after King Wu Ding in Yinxu II was
about 140,000, and reached about 230,000 in the reign of the last two
kings.
Yinxu is close to present day Anyang, and is the center of the
home base of the Shang tribe in northern Henan, in the river plain of
Jiang. As such, Yinxu was never walled, being protected by fiefs of
the Shang royal family and pro-Shang states that surrounded it. At
its center is a huge palatial quarter of 270,000 m2 (Fig. 5.8). So far 53
rammed earth foundations have been unearthed. They are arranged
in three groups. The first group contains 15 structures, likely to be
residential palaces of the king and the royal family, related storages
and servants’ dormitories. The second group is located further south,
and is composed of 21 structures with numerous sacrificial pits, likely
to be the ancestral temple area. Further to its south is another group
of 17 structures, possibly an altar area.
A royal mausoleum is discovered in the city’s northeast. It
contains 8 large tombs and 5 smaller ones believed to be tombs of
the kings and members of the royal family since the capital shifted
to Yinxu, with the exception of the last king. In the quarter, there are
over 1,400 worship pits with many human sacrifices.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 83

Fig. 5.8. Archaeological Sites in Yinxu of Shang in Present Day Anyang.

Outside the palatial quarter and found in all directions are

craft quarters for bronze, bone, ceramic and jade manufacture,
intermingled with residences. Burial grounds are also found in the
outskirts of the city, and are seemingly clustered according to clan.
Each cluster consists of large tombs of the nobility and small ones of
the commoners at discrete intra-cluster locations. In the three major
clusters, over 3,000 tombs have been discovered so far.
Yinxu is a gold mine in Chinese archaeology. Besides the city
itself as an artifact, and the oracle bones previously mentioned, in
1930–1986, over 4,000 bronzes had been unearthed. They represent
the climax of Chinese bronze metallurgy in form, decore, style and
usuage.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

84 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Xiaoshangqiao: It is a large settlement of 144 ha, 20 km to the

north of Zhengzhou by the south bank of the Huanghe. Discovered
in 1990, it was constructed and used in late Upper Erligang at the
time when Zhengzhou experienced obvious decline and Yanshi was
abandoned. Thus it was believed to be the capital of Ao set up by
King Zhong Ding (Fig. 5.1). It is not yet certain how long it has
been used as the capital. But the thin archaeological assemblage tells
only a brief duration. The palatial quarter at the center occupies
about 15 ha. It has 4 rammed earth foundations that support the
palaces and temples. Around them are human sacrifices and worship
ditches. The largest ditch contains skeletons of 30 cattles. A bronze
foundry was unearthed with clay moulds and bronze products. Both
ritual vessels, ornaments and tools were casted. The presence of
ritual vessel casting indicates its national capital status. The world’s
earliest bronze part in house construction is also found at the site.
There are also large ceramic, bone, stone and jade workshops. Brush
writing on pottery and inscriptions on oracle bones are found as
well. They point clearly to the site being the national capital of the
Shang dynasty, though possibly for a brief period.

B. Capitals of Pro-Shang and Non-Shang States

Little is yet known of urban development outside the domain
of the Shang Dynasty. However, recent discoveries in Wucheng,
Sanxingdui and Qingjian shed new light on the issue (Fig. 5.1).
Wucheng: It is a sizeable walled city of 61 ha, 300 km south
of Panlongcheng in Jiangxi province by the Jan River. It has well
constructed roads and a ritual quarter at the center that is composed
of a large structure and a platform made of white clay. The city
contains a large pottery quarter and a bronze quarter. Groups of
special kilns, i.e. dragon kiln or Longyao for high quality ceramics
are found whose produce were traded throughout the Shang. Ritual
bronzes, as well as tools, weapons and ornaments were casted as
well. Besides, a large tomb with 480 bronze grave goods have been
unearthed and dated to Late Shang. From these evidences and the
shape and style of the bronzes, Wucheng looks like the capital
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 85

of a polity that was first Pro-Shang and later became reasonably

independent from the Shang.
Sanxingdui: Located in present day Chengdu of Sichuan
province, the city was built in Early Shang and likely to be the capital
of a non-Shang vassal state — Shu (Fig. 5.1). The two walls discovered
measured 1,600–2,100 m E-W, and 1,400 m N-S. A lot of gold and
bronze hoards are discovered containing spectacular items with local
character as well as some of clearly Shang style. It is believed to be
founded by remnants of the Xia tribe after the dynasty’s rule was
wiped out by the Shang. It became an increasingly independent
polity isolated from the increasing Shang influence elsewhere in
China that lasted until the Zhou Dynasty.
Qingjian: The site is small (10,000 m2 ) and is located in eastern
Shaanxi. It is rectangular in shape and enclosed by a wall. There are
palaces, temples, stores and residential quarters of the urban elites.
Besides, a bronze blade with a snake-shaped handle was discovered.
It is believed to be the capital of one of the major non-Shang polity,
i.e. the Gui Fang.

Conclusion: Foundation of Feudal China with

Characteristic Features of Chinese Urbanism
The Shang continued the major systems of statehood in the granting
of fiefs out of conquered territory and newly opened land and the
conferring of ranks and titles to members of the royal family, nobles,
generals of military distinction and friendly and cooperative clans.
Shang records also tell a more definite central government and
vassal state relationship in the form of rights and responsibilities.
The patriarchal system of succession was also put into practice
and further improved. This was done side by side with the new
philosophy that legitimized the right to rule through the new concept
of Mandate of Heaven, which the king demonstrated through the
observation of rituals and his daily acts as a working king in the
care and concern of his people and their welfare through divination,
visits and tours, and sometimes through military expeditions. In
formalizing these relationships that bound the vast territory together,
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

86 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

ritual bronzes served as investiture of offices and certificates of

granting of fiefs and titles. They too provided an important personal
bondage between the king or the central state with the vassal states
and key officials which were to be renewed when either of the parties
was deceased. The spread of these bronzes and the bronze industry
provide an important archaeological indication of the spread of
Shang culture and the effective limit of the Shang territory.
The Shang society demonstrated a higher degree of complexity
than that of the Xia. Collective farming was practised under an offi-
cial or by a group of families on land that was owned by hereditary
offices, and fiefs of nobles and vassal states. The free citizen had no
privately owned land. He paid the rent of his plot by providing labor
for farming the owner’s other lands as well as for meeting his calls for
service. These are clear precursors of the farming and tax systems of
Western Zhou. The large primary centers of Zhengzhou (Bo), Yanshi
(West Bo) and Yinxu are representative of the complexity of social
and economic organization that had evolved. Records of the types
of offices, the large scale and numbers of different craft industries
in the Outer City, and the vast number of palatial structures in
the Inner City, underlined the large variety of non-agricultural
occupations that existed in these cities of 60,000 to 230,000 residents.
To support the grandiose of the court and the large population of
the primary centers, resources from distant lands had to be exploited
and transshipped through a logistics web meticulously managed via
a settlement network. In this chapter, our evidences show a network
of regional centers of small to medium size urban settlements which
bent on these non-agricultural functions as their key role. Below
them are fourth level mining centers or agricultural settlements that
are mainly production centers.
The size, scale and complexity of Shang urbanism have therefore
reached a high level. It is a true empire and a dynastic institution over
a vast territory which Eberhard (1977) labels as feudalism. Some PRC
scholars however, following the Marx view of history, take Shang
society as a slave society and treat most of the military and civil
officers as slaves. Though most crafts and offices were hereditary,
and free citizens did not own land and were subject to called labor of
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch05 FA

Shang Urbanism at the Climax of Bronze Metallurgy 87

all sorts, they generally enjoyed personal freedom. Genuine slave did
exist, composed of people of non-Shang tribes captured in battles,
or citizens who were banished to such a status because of the crimes
they had committed. In general, most scholars agreed that in Shang,
slaves formed a very small minority of the population and were
never significant in its economy or society.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

Chapter 6

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial

Cities: Zhou Dynasty and the Warring States

Historical Watershed
The Lord of Zhou, a feudatory of the Shang, claimed himself King
Wu, and defeated the last emperor of the Shang Dynasty, King Xin
in 1046 BC. The latter committed suicide while King Wu opened the
new dynasty of Zhou ( ). As a long dynasty, the Zhou consisted of
firstly Western Zhou (1046–771 BC), when the empire was capitaled
at Gao (Fig. 6.1). Western Zhou was regarded by Confucius as China’s
“golden age”, a model time in terms of morality and effective rule
for later dynasties. Since King Wu, 11 kings had succeeded, covering
a period of 257 years. The power of the Zhou had thence declined.
Under military pressure of the western non-Zhou polities of Rong
and Jiang, the dynasty moved its capital to Luoyang in the east.
Hence, a period of much weakened dynastic rule, Eastern Zhou
(710–403 BC) started. Being called the Spring and Autumn Period
( ), it had 18 kings with a total reign of 367 years. In Eastern
Zhou, the territory directly ruled by the Zhou king decreased from
about 10,000 km2 to only about 600 km2 in late Eastern Zhou. As such,
Zhou’s former faithful feudatories only paid symbolic allegiance
to the king, a respect that was lost in 403 BC when Eastern Zhou
formally ended and the Warring States Period (403–221 BC, )
started, in which the largest states, i.e. the seven powers, looked
upon Zhou as a minor state. The Zhou state was finally obliterated
by the state of Qin in 249 BC.
The evolving feudal system of the previous dynasties of the Xia
and Shang was brought to its historical height in Western Zhou.
88
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 89

Fig. 6.1. Polities in Western Zhou.

It became more comprehensive, codified, and was idealized in later

Confucian classics. Cities, the nodes and basis for the feudal system,
had also matured in nature and form to accord with its principles
and practices. The weakening and thence the gradual demise of the
Zhou in Eastern Zhou and the Warring States have, however, brought
forth new forces in society and shaped new roles and land uses in
the Chinese city. Most notable are the new dynamics of commerce
and industrial activities. Thus since the middle of Eastern Zhou, the
Chinese city had experienced a watershed change.

Zhou State and Its Ideology

The Zhou claimed ancestry to a grandchild of the Yellow Emperor —
King Gao, and that the founding father of the tribe had served as
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

90 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

agricultural minister of the sage-king, Yao. The tribe’s headmen were

said to have remained in this hereditary post during the Xia. Other
sources, however, generally believed that the tribe was a branch of
the Rong, and had migrated within the Ordos Plateau in the western
part of the Shang, as Mencius had said: “King Wen was a western
barbarian”. It was only until the father of King Wen, that the tribe
had settled down in the western part of Guan Zhong Plain ( )
2
around present day Xian, a fertile river basin of around 5,000 km .
At first it acted as a buffer between the Shang and the Rong, and Di,
and was a faithful vassal of the Shang dynasty. Later, it allied with
these foes and the states of Shu and Ba in a union of nine tribes that
finally subdued the Shang.
Besides the excellent geographical and weather conditions of
the plain, Zhou’s rise to power in a brief duration of less than
three generations was mainly explained by its adoption of the
Shang ideology and system of administration. The Duke of Zhou,
in assisting his elder brother King Wu, and then his nephew, King
Cheng, brought the Shang culture and governing system to a climax.
It is believed that both Shijing and Li Ji, two Confucian classics, are
either authored directly by him, or compiled under his instructions.
In brief, Western Zhou followed and improved Shang practices that
were later upheld as the dynasty’s major achievements:

A. Feudal System ( )
Western Zhou inherited the practice of granting fiefs to vassals as a
means to exercise effective rule over the defeated Shang people and
their former allies. By doing so, the conquering state put itself over
an already stratified society by adding more complexity through the
introduction of a new nobility and forced migration of the Shang
people. The Zhou kings from King Wu to the third king, King Kang,
had wiped out 99 former pro-Shang states, and subdued another 652
states. Out of these, they established a total of 71 new states, 15 of
which were fiefs of the kings’ brothers, 40 were led by members of
the Zhou clan, and the balance were fiefs of submissive Shang clans,
Zhou allies and heirs of the earlier sage kings. Many of these vassal
states centered around the conqueror’s garrisons which formed new
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 91

cities, often walled and pre-planned, with the majority of commoner

residents being former Shang nobles and their appendages. The
Zhou vassals and their retinue and garrisons formed the upper class
or nobility of these cities or yi capitals, i.e. the “one hundred names”
(in present day Chinese language, it means people, or citizens). The
rest of the urban population composed mainly of the Shang people
who had lost their land and noble status, but were allowed to do
business or carry on with their handicraft activities.
The granting of fiefs was a formal and established rite. It was
confirmed by gifts of symbolic meaning, often in the form of ritual
bronze vessels inscribed with details of the investiture. The vassals
were given graded titles of rank (five ranks: duke, marquis, earl,
viscount, baron, , , , , ) that correspond to the size of the
fiefs and the population that migrated (usually Shang people) with
them to the fiefs. It also indicated the return promise on the part
of the vassal of military support and material tribute to the king.
In turn, the vassal also granted fiefs to his ministers and officials
(only the lower three ranks). The “natives” of the locale were mainly
agriculturalists, both themselves and the land they farmed were now
subjects of the new lord.
The feudal system also specified clear relations and thence duties
and responsibilities of the parties in a contractual relationship. It is
thus an important part of the rites. The strength of the ties and duties
demanded by the king of the feudal lords depend very much on
closeness in terms of blood relationship of the lord as well as distance
of the fief from the state capital. The types of rites and worships to
be performed and the duty of regular tribute are key indicators of
the strength of the bond with the king and the lord in the system.

B. Zhong Fa System ( ) and the New State Religion that

Combined Heaven Worship and Ancestral Worship
Agnatic succession of patrilinear primogeniture matured in Western
Zhou. The eldest son of the main wife became the legal heir and
represented the family in ancestral worship. Children of the second
or lesser wife were of lower status. The family formed the basic cell
of society and the state was its extension, while the king, being the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

92 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Son-of-Heaven, is the patriarch of all. He is the source of all people

and all the land. Thus the family system and its ancestral worship
was combined with the cult of Heaven. This new philosophy of
administration, couched in the ethics of social harmony and balance
in man-land relationship was formalized in what is later known
as Confucianism. The various deities of nature of the Shang were
then simplified into one super-god, Heaven (or Shang-di in Shang),
whose universal law or dao ( , the Way), was the moral behavior
as laid down by the rites as codified in the Confucian classic Liji or
Book of Rites. The king set an example for all people by observing
the rites. As the deceased kings became di or deities themselves
and would return to Heaven, ancestral worship thus joined with the
Heaven cult and formed an important part of the rites. Put simply, the
ethical government of Western Zhou was, in practice, a benevolent
government based on the observation of rituals. All other members of
society were rank-ordered after him and were assigned clear duties
and privileges in the “five relations” (as a junior member in relation
to their parents and elders, and as a senior in relation to their younger
sibling, students, and others) — basic values that guided the behavior
of each individual and stressed on harmony and the elimination of
fiction among individuals based on strong duties of reverence and
service of juniors to their seniors, as well as duties of benevolence
and concern of seniors towards juniors.

C. Well-Field System and Town and Country Divide

Western Zhou adopted the Shang method of land tax based on labor,
i.e. the well-field system ( ). The service of vassals, ministers
and generals were not paid in cash, but by the grant of fiefs by
the king or the relevant lords concerned. Thus both administrative
and military services and the fiefs were tied in the system of
feudalism and patrilinear primogeniture. However, the city which
formed the nodes of feudalism and the platform for the new cult of
Heaven and ancestral worship was, in essence, solidly dependent
on the rural economy. Business and crafts were officially controled
and might have some economic significance in the limited urban
economy. Such professions were nevertheless despised as they
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 93

were often professions of the defeated people. There was therefore

not a qualitative difference between urban and rural in terms of
culture and behavior. However, within Chinese feudalism, there
is a distinction between guo-ren (towns people, ) and ye-ren
(rustic, or rural folks, ). Guo-ren comprised of the nobility who
lived in cities or designated settlements. They enjoyed the right of
education, service for the state, military training from the age of 20–
50, and conscription into the army. Most of them, however, were
full-time peasants and some were craftsmen. The ye-ren were local
people of conquered Shang or pro-Shang territories, or natives of the
newly opened territory in the south and north-east. They lived in
the countryside outside designated settlements. These people were
peasants that mostly participated in the well-field system. Besides
the tax in labor in farming the lord’s land, and to provide other
services, they were not allowed to get education or become soldiers.
The granting of fiefs and enforcement of rituals not only helped
the spread of the culture of Zhong Yuan to the periphery, it had also
promoted urbanism over a wider territory in China. The transfer
of cultured people (Shang people) to newly acquired territories in
Western Zhou not only started a new wave of city building that
followed the basic principles laid down by the feudal system and
the cult of Heaven and ancestral worship, it had also spread the
notion of rank order, the importance of the “five-relations” ( ),
and the symbolism of the city in the link between man and nature.
The territory directly administered by the king, i.e., the Royal
Territory, comprised of the two yi around the national capital of Gao,
and the secondary capital in the east — Chengzhou (Luoyang). The
capital city region around Gao, or Zhongzhou, had a territory of
about 5,000 km2 . The yi around the secondary capital, Chengzhou,
measured roughly 600 km2 . Between them was a narrow corridor.
Thus, the Royal Territory in total measured around 10,000 km2
(Figs. 6.1 and 6.2). Archaeological finds have so far uncovered 56
Western Zhou cities, but have not yet been able to reveal the full
picture of either of these capitals, nor details of a typical Zhou city.
However, a chapter in Li Ji, i.e. “Kao Gong Ji” which is believed to
be written in Eastern Zhou to document the design of the royal city
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

94 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 6.2. The Realm of Zhou Against Present Day Provinces and Major Cities.

of Chengzhou, had been used as the urban planning standards in

later generations. A number of the key features of Chengzhou as
revealed by archaeological digs conform closely with “Kao Gong
Ji”. The other archaeological findings that may illuminate the nature
and design of Chinese cities of Western Zhou is the capital Qufu of
Lu, the vassal state of the son of the Duke of Zhou. Here, we shall
first layout the general principles of city planning in Western Zhou
as codified in Li Ji.

“KAO GONG JI” and Chinese City Planning

A. Principles, Procedures and the Ideal Layout
The earliest Zhou city building record was in the Book of Songs (Book
of Odes): the grandfather of King Wen, Tan Fu, founded a city at
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 95

the foot of Mt. Qi at about 1352 BC. The founding noble was in full
official dress. First he inspected the countryside to select a proper
site. Shadows were studied to determine the cardinal points of the
compass. He examined the declivities in sun and shade. Account was
taken of the direction of the running water. Finally the tortoise shell
was consulted to determine whether the chosen site met with the
will of Heaven. If it did, the decision was confirmed and sacrifices
were made to Heaven and the God of Soils of the new city. Other
records in the Historical Records also confirmed this sequence of
events in the founding of cities in early Western Zhou. From these
early descriptions, Wright (1977) has drawn four elements in city
building in Western Zhou, i.e.:

1. The city was pre-planned and the plan was reduced to a written
form.
2. The proposed city was staked out on its site according to the plan.
3. When this had been completed, there were two sets of animal
sacrifices. One set was to Heaven and the Zhou primordial
ancestors — took place at an altar outside the limit of the planned
city, whereas the other set — fertility sacrifices — took place at an
earth-mound that had been raised within.
4. The labor force was charged in advance with specific parts of the
work.

It can also be observed from these records further key physical

features of the plan and construction of Zhou cities:

1. The city was placed in precise alignment with the four directions.
2. The city walls were built in the form of a square or rectangle.
South is the favored orientation of important temples, halls and
all other important buildings, the main gate and even of the entire
city. There is also an emphasis on the north-south axis.
3. Cities are located on level land near water.
4. Pounded earth platforms were used as foundations of politically
or religiously important buildings.
5. The city plan is articulated into functional zones: a central
area, usually walled, that contained the palaces and important
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

96 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

buildings used by the aristocracy; surrounding the central area

is a second walled area that included industrial and artisanal
quarters, residences of the people, some farmland, commercial
streets and markets; outside there is often a moat.
6. In constructing the city, the time sequence for the building of major
buildings are: palaces, temples and altars, storehouses, residences.
Points 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 are of ritual and symbolic significance. They
have evolved from the early Chinese world view embedded in
the “big house” of Jiangzhai I and the earliest palatial structure of
Dadiwan II (See Chapter 2).
The ideal city form of Western Zhou has been further elaborated
by passages that appeared in Li Ji, in which three passages are
particularly relevant:
It is the sovereign alone who establishes the capital, gives the
palace a central position and proper orientation to the four
directions. He gives the capital its form and the countryside
proper divisions. He creates the offices and apportions their
functions in order to form a center and a moral yardstick to
which his people may look upon. (Zhou Li, “Tian Gong”, Lin
(ed.), 1972, 1).

Here, where Heaven and Earth are in perfect accord, where

the four seasons come together, where the winds and rains
gather, where the forces of yin and yang are harmonized, one
builds a royal capital. (Ibid., “Kao Gong Ji”)

The capital city shall be a walled square. Each wall measures

nine-li and has three gates. There are nine north-south and
nine east-west arterial roads, each of which shall have a width
for accommodating nine chariot-ways. On the left-hand side
outside of the palace shall be the Ancestral Hall, while on the
right-hand side shall be the Altar of Soils. In front of the palace
shall be the Audience Halls. The market is to be located at the
back of the city, and measured one hundred paces on each
side. The corner towers of the palace shall be five-zhang high,
that of the imperial city seven and the outer wall nine. The
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 97

major roads are to be nine chariot-ways wide, minor roads

seven and those outside the capital only five. The capitals of
the princes shall have city wall towers up to the height of
the imperial city of the sovereign, whereas those of the lords
may not be five-zhang high. Similarly, the main roads of the
prince’s capital shall be the same width as the minor roads of
the emperor’s capital and those of the lords of a width equal
to roads outside the emperor’s capital (Ibid., “Kao Gong Ji”)

This ideal city plan is graphically presented in Figs. 6.3 and 6.4.
Although Li Ji expressedly refers to the sovereign’s capital, there is
also clearly, as shown in the third passage, extension of the same

Source: Ho (1985).

Fig. 6.3. The Ideal Layout of the Palace and Imperial City.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

98 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

principles and rules to capitals of the princes and lords, with a

gradual reduction in the scale of the walls, gates and the width of the
roads. We can further extend these principles and rules similarly to
lesser-grade cities in the administrative hierarchy. Thus the ideal city
plan governs, in principle, the layout of all later cities in traditional
China.
In the first passage, we may also infer that the sole purpose
for constructing the capital was to provide the sovereign with a
place in which he could organize his administration and implement
his rule according to the basic Chinese worldview and zhong fa
system which incorporated the concepts of centrality, orderliness
and paternal relationship between the ruler and his subjects. The
second passage elaborates on the centrality and paternal elements of
the capital by the requirement that it should be where, symbolically,
Heaven and Earth are in perfect accord. Such values in humanity has
later been expounded in one of the Four Books of Confucianism: The
Doctrine of the Mean ( ), i.e. to be balanced, effective and fair. In
practice, this means a central location vis-á-vis an agrarian economy,
as well as in the detailed layout of the capital, i.e. the location of the
palace, gates and various important ceremonial buildings in proper

Fig. 6.4. (a) 3-Dimension View of Chengzhou of Zhou Dynasty. (b) Plan of
Chengzhou of Zhou Dynasty.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 99

Source: Yung Lo Da Din (1425).

Fig. 6.4. (Continued)

symbolic positions. Taken together, therefore, Li Ji defines the city as

an administrative-religious city, whereby the market is small and
relegated to the most inauspicious location. Craft industries and
residences of commoners, and later a large standing army, are largely
outside this imperial city, in the outer city which up to the start of
Western Zhou, was not walled, and had not been included into the
“city” referred to by Li Ji.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

100 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

We may summarize the key elements of the ideal Chinese city as

reflecting the traditional world view developed in the three ancient
dynasties and culminated in Western Zhou as:

1. Siting — central position relative to its subjects and natural

environs.
2. Orientation — faces south (particularly the main gate) as the south
represents the direction of potency as well as being the choice of
the early sage kings, and purports a smooth flow of benevolent
blessing from Heaven.
3. General layout — square and orderly, representing the need
to conform with the orderliness of nature to avoid haphazard
mishaps.
4. The palace or administrative quarter (in case of a lesser city) is
located at the center where the administrative head resides to
symbolize centralization of power as well as the mandate from
Heaven.
5. The ceremonial buildings of the Ancestral Hall and the Altar of
Grains and Soils reflect the lineage of the sovereign to the sage
kings and his close relation to potency of the earth, important
underlining dimensions of the combined cult of Heaven and
ancestral worships. Regular rituals in these places substantiate
his claim to legitimacy as well as continued blessing from both
gods and spirits, as well as setting an example for his subjects for
observing the rituals and the “five relations”.
6. The wall — symbolizes the sovereign’s reign on earth.
7. Siting of the market in the most inauspicious location to the north
of the city represents the low status of trade and the merchant
class in an agrarian economy.
8. The size and scale gradation of the hierarchy of cities reflects the
rank-ordering of society emanated from Confucian rituals and the
zhong fa system as well as the practical delegation of power from
the national capital to regions in the country.

Such rules had been generally observed in cities of Western Zhou.

However, as has been previously mentioned, following the trend
of the Shang, the Outer City had grown in importance and had
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 101

been walled as well in Western Zhou, as will be illustrated by the

example of Wangcheng — the secondary imperial capital that shall
follow. Besides this departure, the rules of Li Ji had been followed in
the planning of the imperial city and other cities in general in later
dynasties.

Zhongzhou ( )
Sometimes called Jiyi (municipality of Ji), it was the early Zhou
capital built by King Wen. The central city of Jiyi is the walled city
of Zhongzhou. It measured 49 km2 in area. Archeological discovery
indicated the presence of the two key institutions in its palace city, i.e.
(1) Ming Tong or Audience Hall and Residential Chamber, and (2) the
Ancestral Temple. These two occupy a ground site of 1,469 m2 , and
follow the rule of “hall in the front and chamber at the back” (Fig. 6.5).
Zhongzhou served as the site of the Ancestral Temple throughout the
Zhou Dynasty, while regular audiences and state courts were held
in the Audience Hall until the end of Western Zhou.

Chengzhou ( ) — the Imperial City

The secondary capital, the “grand yi of Chengzhou”, is a municipal-
ity formed by the core city and its large surrounding countryside
(yi). The city (total area 15 km2 ) called Chengzhou, is a twin city
composed of Wangcheng (Imperial City) and Chengzhou (Outer
City, to differentiate from the overall name of the whole city). It was
first constructed by the Duke of Zhou in early Western Zhou, but the
present remaining wall dates only to early Eastern Zhou. It had been
used as the capital of Eastern Zhou for about 500 years (770–256 BC).
The Imperial City follows strictly the conventions of city planning
as laid down in “Kao Gong Ji” (Fig. 6.4), i.e. it is roughly square,
with a wall of 2,890 × 3,200 m, and a total enclosed area of about
9 km2 . In its southwest is an area of rammed earth platforms. On
them a north and a south clusters of structures have been identified,
likely to be the royal palaces and associated temples and altars. The
Other City (Chengzhou) lies to the west of the Imperial City. In its
south is a large area of warehouses (74 storage structures) covering
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

102 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 6.5. Royal Palatial Quarter of Zhongzhou: Reconstructed View and Plan.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 103

an extensive 120,000 m2 site. In the center are remains of iron works,

while other craft industries including bronze foundries, bone, jade
and ceramic workshops are found in the north of the Outer City. The
Outer City, or Chengzhou, accommodated the largest military force
of Western Zhou — the “eight armies”, and a large number of the
Shang people.
Chengzhou was said to be at the center of the Zhou Empire at
the time, and was deliberately set up there for convenient control of
the Zhou territory, for keeping a watchful eye on the Shang people,
and for serving as a nodal point for receiving tributes from the vassal
states. It had also opened a new page in formalizing the west-east
alignment of a dual city, i.e. Imperial City and the Outer City, a
practice that was followed in coming centuries until the end of the
Warring States.

Feudalism Replaced by New Centralism — The Iron Age

The power of the Zhou declined sharply after the relocation of
the capital from Gao to Luoyang (Chengzhou), as its old home
Zhongzhou being lost to Quan Rong and then later engulfed by
the Qin. The large number of feudatories of 1,773 states of Western
Zhou were gradually reduced in number through wars or peaceful
amalgamation to about 170 in early Eastern Zhou, and then to 14 at
the beginning of the Warring States. As many states had perished,
many former nobles, ministers, and lesser officials lose their fiefs,
leading to a change in the land owning system and new social
mobility. The well-field system that lasted for about 200 years in
Zhong Yuan was then gradually replaced by increasing private land
ownership, a land tax in kind or cash, and the development of a land
market. The eastern and western states soon followed, and the well-
field system was completely gone about two centuries later. New
policies that aimed to attract agricultural settlers to newly conquered
territories or new land in the south and southwest, i.e. in Shu and
Chu, also helped to liberalize land ownership and the adoption of a
new land tax system. They were added to by new breakthroughs in
iron metallurgy that yielded cheap farm tools, particularly the iron
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

104 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

ploughshare and harvesting sickle, the wide application of drought-

animals in ploughing, as well as the construction of large scale
irrigation projects. By 400 BC, increase in agricultural production
supported a large population (20 million) as well as a large surplus
that went into trade to support a large urban population. The latter
is estimated to be around 35% of the total population.
Emerging in increasing number since 7th century BC was also
a new class of people, the shi, “scholars” or gentlemen, former
members of the nobility who served as ministers, priests or scribes
that now became migratory politicians, academicians, private tutors,
professionals, or even fortune-tellers. In their midst, the merchant
and craft classes had also grown in significance. Bronze making
and later iron casting remained official crafts. However, at a later
date, private ownership of other crafts, even of mining of ore and
iron foundry had been allowed and promoted to meet increase
in demand. Trade thrived earliest in Chengzhou and the vassal
states in the east such as Qi, due to the long tradition of the
Shang people to engage in trade and their concentration in cities
there. With the increase of economic surplus, an improved road
network, and the increasing significance attached to taxing trade
as a major revenue, many states encouraged commerce and set up
trade regulations and markets in major cities. The latter culminated
in the emergence of many major cities that were located at cross-
roads as important trading and industrial centers, such as Linzi of the
state of Qi, Ren of Chu, Ji of Zhao, Daliang of Han and Qianyang of
Qin (Fig. 6.6).
Frequent wars and the application of new technology in fighting
meant also a new army. The coming of the cross-bow, iron sword
and armor also expanded the scale of war. In Eastern Zhou there
was a record that 600,000 soldiers were involved in one single battle.
Aristocratic monopoly of war had also been replaced by a new
authoritarian leadership and a new standing army based on peasant
conscription. In the Warring States period, the standing army of the
seven powers were really sizeable and they contributed their part in
an enlarged outer city, and the coming of a large number of military
strongeholds (Table 6.1).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 105

Fig. 6.6. Major States’ Cities and Transport Routes in the Warring States.

Table 6.1. Population and Size of the Army of the Warring States.

State Chu Wei Qin Zhao Qi Han Yen Total

No. of soldiers 100 70 45 70 30 30 30 405

Population 500 350 225 350 150 150 150 2000

* All numerics are in 10,000.

As early as in Eastern Zhou, the new class composition of the

“one hundred names” of “scholars” (shi), peasants, craftsmen and
merchants had been recognized and became the basis for new urban
land use planning and government administration. As each of the
major powers expanded their influence and territory on the basis of
a strong army and statecraft, a new centralism gradually replaced
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

106 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

feudalism. Salaried bureaucrats replaced hereditary ministers and

officials living on fiefs, and newly conquered or acquired territories
were put under direct control of the state and then deputized to
salaried local officials. The state of Qi had an early start in which the
state territory outside the capital city region (guo, ), i.e. the earlier
yi ( ) was administered by a new hierarchy of territorial units of ye
(also called in Chinese) (units of 50 households), ju ( ) (10 yi), xiang
( ) (10 ju), and xian ( ) (3 xiang). The last is equivalent to the present
xian or county which then had a population of roughly 45,000.
Thus the society after Eastern Zhou had completely changed.
It opened a new period and affected tremendously the nature and
structure of the Chinese city.

New Urbanism in Eastern Zhou and Warring States

The breaking down of feudalism and effective overlordship of the
Zhou king meant a new freedom for contending lords and states
to pursuit their ambitions based on strength of the economy and
the army, rather than treasuring stability and harmony by observing
rituals and the accompanying rank order. New schools of thoughts
blossomed in what is later described as the “One Hundred Flowers’
Boom”. By the middle of Eastern Zhou, all capitals of major states
covered an area in excess of 10 km2 , i.e. larger in territorial size than
Wangcheng, the imperial capital of Eastern Zhou. By the Warring
States Period, the seven powers all had expanded their capital city
to 20–30 km2 , an obvious violation of the rules set down by “Kao
Gong Ji”.
This is also a period of city construction and widespread urban-
ism. According to Zhuang and Zhang’s (2002) analysis based on
historical records, there were a total of 600 cities within the 35 larger
states in Eastern Zhou. Therefore, the total number of cities at the
time should exceed 1,000. In Eastern Zhou, 85 newly constructed
cities were reported, while the number was 47 in the Warring States.
A survey in Henan indicated that there were about 30 cities in early
Western Zhou, but in the Warring States, they numbered 130. So far,
archaeological digs have uncovered 56 cities of Western Zhou, 192
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 107

cities of Eastern Zhou and 387 cities of the Warring States. Based on
historical records and archaeological finds, we may generalize the
common features of cities in the period as:

1. The size of major cities had breached the ritual limit of 10 km2 ;
2. Administrative cities had appeared as seats of new local adminis-
trative units, forming a 4-tier hierarchy of guo (capital), prefecture,
county and xiang (township);
3. Military strongholds emerged along lines of defensive walls on
the border of major states (these walls were later joined together
to form the Great Wall);
4. Major cities had grown into new industrial and commercial
centers. There were over 20 such cities in the Warring States
Period;
5. Many cities had a walled “outer city”, i.e. the “guo” city (
or ). The first mention of “guo” or the outer city is found
in Zuo Zhuan in 648 BC, about the middle of Eastern Zhou.
Besides, many cities of the time had constructed multiple markets
which became nuclei for urban industries and occupation-based
residential quarters. These were largely found in the outer city
which was usually walled;
6. It saw the emergence of a “genuine” urban society in the outer city,
with diversity in non-agricultural activities, including popular
education, culture and entertainment. There was also a developed
neighborhood structure and an urban residents management
based on household registration. Based on these, a new concept
regarding the role of the city had also appeared, i.e. the role of the
city was “to contain people”.
7. In general, the city was oriented towards the south-easterly
direction as east was then regarded as the superior cardinal point
under the zhong fa system, while the south represents Heaven and
imperial power. Thus it represents the decline of imperial power
and the consistent importance of the family as the core of the state
in military control, and even of society.
8. During the Shang and Western Zhou, the palace and temple/altar
were located together or close to each other within the palace
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

108 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

city. In Eastern Zhou and the Warring State periods, these were
separately located within the city.

In the evolution of the Chinese city, Eastern Zhou and the

Warring States therefore represent a new phase whereby the military
and commercial functions had been stressed. Thus in major cities
of these periods, the large number of citizens and commercial and
industrial activities outside the “formal” city were also protected by
a new wall, leading to the formation of the “outer city” or “guo”.
The old classic which says “construct the city to protect the lord,
complete the ‘guo’ to maintain the citizens” most likely refers to this
new development.
Linji, the capital of Qi was the largest city in the Warring
States Period. The capital of Lu, Qufu, is known to be the city that
conformed most with the specifications of “Kao Gong Ji”. We shall
use these two cities to illustrate the city structure as well as the new
urbanism that had emerged in Eastern Zhou and the Warring States.

A. Linzi
It was the largest city in the Warring States with a population of
70,000 households, or the equivalent of 350,000 persons. This capital
of Qi on the Shandong Peninsula had a roughly rectangular shape
and covered about 20 km2 . The city survived the entire Eastern Zhou
and Warring States (860–221 BC), i.e., it had been the capital of
Qi for about 600 years, and functioned continuously as the largest
commercial-industrial city in the whole of China of the time.
Linzi was a twin city, as the Palace City (small city) was located
outside but adjacent to the Outer City (guo, large city) (Fig. 6.7).
Initially, the Palace City was located within the large city which
was constructed in Western Zhou. The new Palace City existed
since the Warring States, likely to be relocated there due to the
desire for defense and to maintain separation between the new state
bureaucracy with the growing urban populace. This small Palace
City was about 3 km2 , surrounded by a wall and a moat. It had five
gates on the wall, and the palaces were on the northern part of the city.
The large city survived until the Han Dynasty. It had eight gates and
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 109

Fig. 6.7. Linji of the State of Qi.

four parallel east-west, and north-south main roads that intersect at

right angles. The former palace quarter was likely to be north of the
central intersections.
The Outer City is full of remains of craft industries such as iron
and bronze foundries in the north-east, and iron foundries in the
west. A huge market was located in its west, north of the small
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

110 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

city. They testify the importance of Linzi as the largest commercial

and industrial center of the Warring States. Within the small city,
in its south, are remains of bronze and iron industries and a mint
(Qi is the first state to use coined money in China), likely to
be government craft quarters. Besides, there are assemblages of
residences throughout the Outer City, indicating a very densely
built-up urban area.
Despite its overall irregularity, the location of the market and
layout of the old and new palace quarters and their orientations still
show some degree of adherence to the principles of “Kao Gong Ji”.

B. Qufu
Qufu was the fief of the son of the Duke of Zhou, hence it followed
the more conservative design of “Kao Gong Ji”. It had been used
continuously as the capital of the state of Lu for 700 years. There
were so far no evidence of a wall during Western Zhou. The wall
discovered included the wall for the big city constructed in early
Eastern Zhou and the wall of the Han Dynasty (Fig. 6.8). As it
appeared, in Eastern Zhou, the city was roughly rectangular and
covered about 10 km2 , with eleven gates (two in the southern wall)
so far discovered. It was likely to have a third gate in the south wall
to make up a total of twelve gates to conform with “Kao Gong Ji”.
There are three main east-west roads to connect the east and
west sections of the wall. In the middle and slightly to the north
is the palatial quarter of 2 km east-west and 1 km north-south in
measurement. This is possibly the Palace City in Eastern Zhou.
However, so far there is no trace of a wall around it. Within the Palace
City is an area of 0.25 km2 encircled by a wall, estimated to be the
Temple or Ancestral Hall. North of the palace city is a large residential
area. The market is possibly located there as well. Other residential
areas are found in the eastern and north-western part of the Outer
City. Evidences of ten craft areas are found in the northern and north-
western parts of the Outer City as well as a large iron casting area
found just outside the east wall of the Palace City (Fig. 6.8). There is
also a large burial ground in the north-west of the Outer City that
dates to Western and Eastern Zhou.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

From Feudalism to Commercial–Industrial Cities 111

Fig. 6.8. Plan of the Capital of State of Lu: Qufu in Shangdong Province.

In general, Qufu followed reasonably close to the rules of “Kao

Gong Ji”, with the Palace City at the center, an obvious north-south
alignment of the major buildings following the central axis of the
city, the Audience Hall (palatial quarter in general) in the front, and
the market at its back. There is also evidence of the separation of the
Temple/Altar from the royal residential chambers.

Conclusion: Formalized Chinese City Form

The Zhou may not be regarded as one historical period, as the reign of
King Ping ushered in major new dynamics that led to revolutionary
changes in society and urbanization that made Eastern Zhou and the
Warring States distinct from Western Zhou.
Its earlier part, Western Zhou, represents the culmination of a
trend of development generally dubbed as feudalism that imbued
the Chinese city as a unique predominant administrative function
and a rigid formal layout according to the rites that reflected the cult
of Heaven and ancestral worship.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch06 FA

112 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

The new dynamics deriving from technological and societal

changes due to the coming of iron and steel, a new bureaucracy based
on the “scholar” class, and an autocratic and professional army since
Eastern Zhou, had unleashed former constraints on the industrial
and commercial roles of the Chinese city. Thus new social classes
had formed and cities multiplied, expanded and spread in space
in the latter periods of Eastern Zhou and the Warring States. They
spread urbanism to a much wider territory than the Xia and Shang
dynasties, which also resulted in a drastic drop in urban primacy.
Gradually, through efforts of statecraft and military conquests
of the Qin, a new centralism was in the making. From fiefs and
vassal states, the small polities in the periphery of the predominant
Huaxia culture in China gradually turned into prefectures, counties
and other lower administrative units of a bureaucratic hierarchy of a
highly centralized dynastic empire. However, the layout of the city,
its quasi-religious and administrative functions, and its central role
in serving the surrounding countryside had not been lost amidst the
new economicism of industries and commerce. This was evident in
the cities of the Warring States as well as proven to persist in cities
of later dynasties.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

Chapter 7

The Administrative City of Qin and Han

New Imperial Dynasty and The Notion of “CHINA”

The king of the State of Qin ( ) ended 500 years of fighting among the
various states since Eastern Zhou by crashing the last major state in
221 BC. Although the new dynasty of Qin only lasted 15 years (221–
207 BC), the First Emperor of Qin ( ), a new title the victorious
Qin king claimed, opened a new era in Chinese and world history
as China turned to become a new nation built on a “new race”. The
latter is defined by a reasonably clearly demarcated geographical
territory by the Great Wall, the coastline and the mountains in the
south and southwest, and, a culture based on Confucianism. Han, the
dynasty that succeeded the Qin, inherited and strengthened the new
nation and the notion of the “new race” in its long and successful rule
of 426 years (206 BC–220 AD). Hence, to this date, the “new race”
continues to be known by the name of Han. Today Han Chinese
are still defined by most people as an ethnic group native to China.
It is the largest ethnic group in the world, constituting 92% of the
population of the People’s Republic of China or 19% of the entire
global population. The Han Chinese are seen as a subset of the
Chinese nation (Zhonghua Minzu, ). Indeed, the Han Chinese
were in history (from Qin and Han to the Qing) the Zhonghua Minzu
itself.
Until the Qin, the previous ruling dynasties of China followed
a system of benevolent feudalism and had not exercised a strong
control over constituent vassal states and other non-dynastic polities.
They co-existed largely in the tradition of former tribal federations.

113
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

114 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

In times of trouble or celebration, their leaders would rally to the call

of the king of Zhou. These included some of the non-Zhou polities
whom Chinese history later labeled as “barbarians” or “minorities”.
In fact, the ancestry of both the Zhou and Qin belong to the subsets
such as the Yong and Di. They were people of the steppes. After
400 years of effort, the Qin tribe had become agrarian. It claimed
the Mandate of Heaven and conquered Zhong Yuan — the core of
civilization of the Sandai (the three dynasties of Xia, Shang, and
Zhou). They had even effectively extended its territory to include
the Red Basin and southern and southwestern China. This new span
of territory generally conforms with the realm of traditional China
in the two thousand years that followed (Fig. 7.1).
Within this new national space, the First Emperor set up a
new administrative system to centralize power. In place of feudal
vassals and fiefs, he created a new non-hereditary bureaucracy,
and a district administrative structure of appointed and salaried
officials. The new administrative hierarchy is made up of four tiers,
i.e. the central government, commanderies (jun, provincial level, ),
counties (xian, ) and districts (xiang, ). This formed the backbone
of the national urban hierarchy — being the seat of government was
the predominant function of most urban settlements of traditional
China.
Centralization had been the core policy of the new Qin Dynasty
as a means to integrate the diverse and newly conquered states into
the new nationhood. The First Emperor standardized the writing
script, axle length of the carriage, weight and measurement units,
and the coinage. Besides, eight national trunk roads were built to
link up the major parts of the new nation, and canals were dug to
connect the east and west, as well as Zhong Yuan with southwestern
China. The largest construction project of all is the 2,250 km-long
Great Wall, on the basis of earlier walls of individual states such
as those of the Yen, Qin and Qi. The Great Wall had henceforth
provided an effective protection to the new nation as well as a new
physical divide between the steppe and the sown. Psychologically,
too, it had led to the evolution of a notion of a people, i.e. those
living within the Great Wall were mainly agriculturalists and with
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 115

Fig. 7.1. Extent and Prefectural Headquarters of Qin Dynasty.

cultural inheritancy of the Sandai. These people started to view those

living north of the Great Wall as distinctively different, and soon
regarded them as “barbarians”. For the first time in Chinese history
there is a well-defined “Chinese” space and a “Chinese people”.
Such notions were spread and reinforced by “Chinese” conquers
and spreading Chinese suzerainty under the Han and Tang dynasties
over the border areas and tribes. Within the newly defined “Chinese”
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

116 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

space, Chinese urbanism and urbanity took on a definitive meaning

and it has lasted till the present.

New Administrative and Economic Setting

Whenever the Qin subdued a state, it turned its territory into admin-
istrative units of commanderies (jun, provincial level) under military
governors. The seat of the commandery was usually the largest city
in the local region. The Qin had a total of 48 commanderies and
800–900 counties, forming a three-tier city system, with the national
capital, 48 commandery seats and roughly 800 county seats.
The Han Dynasty ( ) was divided into Former or West Han
(206 BC–25 AD, 13 emperors) and Later or East Han (25 AD–220
AD, 12 emperors). The founder, Gaozu (202–194 BC) initially learned
from the negative experience of the short-lived Qin, and bestowed
fiefs to important generals and members of the royal household,
with the desire to buttress his control over the empire while followed
concurrently the system of commanderies and counties of the Qin in
a “double track” approach. Out of the 54 commanderies created in
early Han, 39 were fiefs of vassal states or marquis (fengguo) and only
15, a minority, were directly administered by the central government.
Soon the powers of the vassal states threatened stability of the
dynasty. The Han Emperor thus had to attempt in stages to curb their
power. By the fifth emperor, Wudi (140–80 BC), the “double track”
existed only in name; in practice, it was a bureaucratic administrative
system of commanderies and counties ruled by officials appointed
by the central government. Since 138 BC, the system was extended
to newly acquired territories in the northern and western border
regions under Wudi’s territorial aggrandizement schemes. By 106
BC, West Han bolsted over 100 commanderies, and had extended
Han control and civilization to a vast territory (Fig. 7.2).
Emerging victoriously from protracted military campaigns, the
First Emperor of Qin was obviously obsessed with the monopoly
of power in one person and paid little heed to conventional values.
However, the founder of the Han, Liu Bang, came from a humble
peasant family of the Yangzi valley. He saw the need to subscribe to
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 117

Fig. 7.2. Territory and Neighbors of West Han.

Confucian canons that stress on outstanding virtues of a worthwhile

ruler as the basis for the Mandate of Heaven. This was strengthened
by Wudi. With the help of his Chancellor, Dong Zhongshu, Wudi
revived Confucianism to the height of a state religion, and built up
an administrative system on a new scholar-official class — the shi
(±) by rediscovering, editing and popularizing ancient texts, opened
schools — including the imperial university and provincial schools,
and selected officials through examinations and by “recommenda-
tions” according to the criteria of “abundant talents”, i.e. people well
versed in and practiced Confucian canons. These people, the shi, had
a strong sense of duty and desire to have orderliness due to their
training. Thus they were well suited to government services.
Dong Zhongshu also tempered the emperor’s highly centralized
power by his theory on the 3-fold obligations of the ruler:
1. serve Heaven by appropriate sacrifices and moral example;
2. serve Earth by performing rituals of ploughing and silk-worn
rearing; and
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

118 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

3. serve Man by establishing schools and enlightening people by

education.

The philosophy of the new imperial rule, plus the demand for
an efficient bureaucracy led to the emergency of the shi, which
had gradually evolved since Eastern Zhou, and the revival of
conventional values in the form of traditional rituals and canons
contained in Confucian classics, i.e. the Four Books and Five Classics.1
The new administrative city is the physical space or platform for
carrying out or enforcing these elements of the new imperial reign.
The return to peace and good government based on fugal policies
of the emperors of Wei, Wen and Jing had led to economic recovery
and development over a span of half a century. It was followed by the
capable rule of another 54 years of Emperor Wudi. The Han Dynasty
therefore prospered. Canal construction of the Qin also showed its
positive impact. New technology in agriculture in the Han further
enhanced production: inter-tillage was practised in the Loess Plateau
region to increase yield; crop rotation of cereals with beans was
widely practised in the Huanghe valley; strip ditches were used to
reclaim wastelands; slopes were used for bamboos and fruit trees;
water mills were invented and used for irrigation and processing
of farm produce; iron implements were widely applied in farming,
etc. Low taxation on agriculture and on trade had also encouraged
production of surpluses and commercial farming. In addition, the
government opened up forests, rivers and hills to the public so
that they could exploit such resources for profit. It also popularized
ploughing by oxen and spread the use of drought resistant rice to
North China by about the first century AD. As a consequence, the
population rose from 14 million in the early years of West Han (206
BC) to 40 million at the time of Wudi (at 120 BC). By the end of
West Han, it stood at a height of 59.5 million. The fighting and
deterioration caused by the usurper Wangmang (10 AD–25 AD) led
to a rapid decline of population. It registered only 21.7 million at 57

1 The Four Books are: The Great Learning (Daxue), Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong), The Analects
of Confucius (Lunyu), and Mencius (Mengzi); the Five Classics are: Book of Songs/Ode (Shijing),
Book of Documents (Shujing), Book of Change (Yijing), Book of Rites or Notes on Ceremony (Li Ji).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 119

Table 7.1. Population of the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Dynasty Year Household (mil.) Population (mil.)

Qin 207 BC 20.0∗

West Han 206 BC 14.0∗
162 BC 31.2∗
120 BC 40.2∗
65 BC 35.8∗
2 AD 59.5
East Han 57 AD 4.30 21.7
105 AD 9.24 54.4
157 AD 10.68 58.1
∗ Estimates.
Source: Zhao and Xe (1988).

AD when East Han was set up. The return to peace and the impacts
of technology were felt in the ensuing years, and population growth
resumed. It climbed back to 58.1 million by 157 AD (Table 7.1).
Although West Han generally followed the anti-commerce policy
of the Qin, placed merchants in the lowest social class and restricted
trading to officially designated “markets”, in the first half century or
so of its reign, the state had been accommodative to commercial activ-
ities and merchants in line with the attitude of a fugal government.
However, since Wudi (about 120 BC), the state enforced much more
rigid control over trade and industry. The institute of the “market”
was only allowed in cities that ranked as county-seat or above. It
was a walled quarter in the city with only one gate on each side. In
the center of the market was the tower of the controling office which
started the day’s business and terminated it by means of beating
drums at noon and dusk. It also managed the use of space, regulated
the price, and checked the quality of items traded in the market. All
traders had to be registered and duly taxed. The tax formed income
of the emperor, dukes and marquis, and was not part of the general
revenue of the central government until East Han. Hence, urban
trade had no impact on the coffer of the imperial bureaucracy. Wudi
also made it a rule that officials of the fifth rank and above were
not allowed to enter the market. Many of these rules were followed
in later dynasties until the Song. Thus, the institution of the urban
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

120 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

market developed in West Han became one of the distinctive urban

features of the traditional Chinese city.
Wudi, in his attempt to find additional resources to finance his
military expeditions against the three major minority peoples in the
northern and western borders, i.e. Xiongnu, Donghu, and Yuezhi
(Fig. 7.2), put under state monopoly the most lucrative industries
such as the mining of salt, iron and copper, and the making of
iron and steel, silk-weaving and porcelains. Throughout the country,
48 foundry officers and 37 salt officers were stationed at the most
important production centers. Usually, each of them controled all
related state enterprises in the locale. Each of these state enterprises
employed 100–1,000 workers; the largest ones employed more than
100,000. Many of such clusters of production centers became sites
of rapid urban growth (Fig. 7.3). In addition, though salt and iron
production were official monopolies, their trade and distribution
were entrusted to merchants. It allowed a nation-wide flow of these
commodities in addition to the large volume of grains and other
agricultural produce from the Wei Valley, and later in East Han
from the Yangzi Valley, to flow into Zhong Yuan, utilizing the canals
and national trunk roads. Thus in spite of a general anti-merchant
attitude in a government and society of Confucian values, trade
thrived in the Han. Expansion of the empire under Wudi, and the
policies of “appeasement” towards neighboring states were also
based on tributes and gifts. The latter often meant large volumes
of silk and porcelain, part of which the receiving states used to trade
with more distant lands of the Middle East and the Roman Empire.
Hence there developed city-states based on trade along the “Silk
Road” leading from the Han capital Changan to the Pamir.

Urbanization and the City in the Han

The First Emperor of Qin launched his program of “crashing the
famous cities” as one of his schemes to unify the new country under
his dictatorial rule in place of the contending states. Hence, cities
were designated and functioned following the central government’s
administrative design of rank orderliness in the form of seats of
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 121

Fig. 7.3. Economic Centers in West Han.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

122 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

commanderies and counties. This practice was followed closely

by the Han. Thus, the establishment of an efficient bureaucracy
by the imperial dynasty, adoption of Confucianism (Qin’s anti-
Confucianism lasted only 15 years) as the state religion and code
of behavior of the government and people, formed the basic
dynamics of urbanization. Cities became a nation-wide network of
government-seats for the organization of the agricultural economy,
collection of state revenue, dispense of civil and imperial orders
and proclamations, and of education, judicial, and welfare and relief
services for four centuries of the Han — the basic tenet of Chinese
urbanity. Following the imperial desire, cities also advanced into
southern and southeastern China, and pushed beyond the Great
Wall in the northern and western borders. In short an urbanization
experience, or an urbanism with Chinese characteristics that had
gradually evolved through the long gestation of the Xia, Shang and
Zhou dynasties, had matured and had spatially spread to most parts
of traditional China in the Han.
With the Great Wall, the eastern coastline and the demarcation
in the south and southwest by the Himalayas and its extensions, a
unique area in geographical space, concurrent with the new notion
of a people of a unified and higher culture based on Confucianism,
i.e. a new people, the Han, had taken shape. The new identity
had been buttressed in comparisons with the non-Han peoples, or
“barbarians”, outside the “Middle Kingdom” as the term “China”
in Chinese characters denotes. Within such a cultural, psychological
and spatial frame, Chinese urbanity had been forged over a vast
national space and had since continued its unique evolutionary path
distinct from other civilizations of the world.
In short, we may briefly summarize such unique Chinese urban-
ity as follows:
1. City development is basically administrative-led;
2. The city hierarchy corresponds with the administrative hierarchy
in size and rank order according to administrative functions and
centrality;
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 123

3. The primary role of the city is to serve its hinterland, i.e. an

agricultural region, for the stability and upkeep of the empire.
Hence there is an intimate rural-urban relationship, instead of the
two being opposing polities;
4. Commercial activities form an important, yet of secondary impor-
tance, part of the city function, and is highly regulated by the
government;
5. Land uses and the structure of the city reflect the rank ordering
of urban functions and Confucian values regarding the ordering
of space and orientations.

The first nation-wide administrative-led city system was estab-

lished by the First Emperor of Qin. Based on the 36 commanderies
and about 800 counties, he created a network of about 800 cities.
Later, new commanderies were set up along the northern border
leading to the creation of 44 new cities there. In the south, southeast
and southwest similar development took place (Fig. 7.1). The number
of commanderies increased to 48 and the county-level cities gone
up to about 900. With Wudi’s success in territorial expansion, in
the later part of West Han, in 2 AD, the number of commanderies
reached 103 and the number of counties 1,484 (Table 7.2). The link
between administration and city growth was also formalized by
Wudi who decreed that both commandery and county seats were
to be designated cities and provided with a market. He had thus
laid down the clear guideline for China’s administrative-led city
system that had survived until the last imperial dynasty of the Qing
in 1911.
Wangmang’s short-lived Xin Dynasty led to a period of wars
and economic disasters that coincided with destructions brought by
draught, flooding, and the Huanghe breaking its main course and
entering the sea in a new exit several hundred kilometers away from
its old mouth. The population at the beginning of East Han dropped
by about 70% and the number of cities dropped by half. These figures
improved only half a century later when in 140 AD, the number of
cities rose to 1,180, which is still much smaller than that of late West
Han (Table 7.2).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

124 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Table 7.2. Urbanization in the Han Dynasty.

Urbanization
Reference Commanderies/ Counties Per Capita Site/
Year Prefectures (jun) (xian) Built-up Area Level (%) Urban
(km2 ) Population
(mil.)

West Han 103 1,484 70 27.7 16.48

(2 AD)
East Han 105 1,075 70 27.7 14.02
(140 AD)

Source: Adapted from Zhou (2001).

The pattern of cities of the Han thus had followed closely the
political and macro spatial developments of the empire. In West Han,
three levels of cities were identified:

1. National capital — Changan, 36 km2 in size, with a population

within the wall of around 1/2 million;
2. Commandery-seat — with an average wall of 3,000–5,000 m, an
average area within the wall of 3.5 km2 , and a population of 50,000;
3. County-seat — with an average wall of 1,000–3,000 m, an area
within it of 0.7 km2 , and a population of 10,000.

There may be a lesser category of military strongholds at the

border in the north. Each had a wall of less than 1,000 m and a military
and civilian population from a few hundred to several thousands.
In addition, cities spread over space into the western, southern,
and southwestern borders, particularly the rise of cities based on
international trade along the Silk Road, e.g. the 4 commandery-seats
of Hexi and the 12 international cities in the Western Region (Fig. 7.2).
Changan was the national primate city, but there was also the rise of
commercial cities within the rank of commandery-seats. Commercial
city of national eminance include Luoyang, Handan, Linzi, Wan, and
Chengdu (The Big Five), and regional commercial hubs are Yan, Wen,
Zhi, Jiangling, Shouchun, Hefei, Wu, and Panyu (Fig. 7.3). The latter
reflect the formation of the 8 economic regions in West Han.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 125

West Han was ended by the usurper Wangmang. It brought

destruction and decline to Changan and the whole capital city region,
the most urbanized region of the country where about 40 cities
formerly existed in an area of about 300 km east-west and 100–200 km
north-south. Guanwudi, the first emperor of East Han moved the
capital to Luoyang. It had hence remained such for roughly 200
years of East Han. In early East Han, the population of Zhong Yuan
dropped by more than half, amidst a massive southward migration
to lower and middle Yangzi. In short, South China gained 9 million
people. The urbanization pattern had thus changed in favor of
southern China. The sharpest contrast is found in the 8 northern
commanderies. In West Han (2 AD), they had 115 cities with a
population of 1.61 million; in East Han (140 AD), the number of
cities dropped to 71, with a total population of only 0.52 million,
or 1/3 of the previous figure. The number of cities in southern
China as a proportion of the total of the country had increased
from 23.5% to 29.3% between these two time cross-sections. The
various technological improvements previously mentioned had led
to a prosperous economy there. Ocean shipping and trade also
prospered, with trade links to Southeast Asia, India and the Middle
East established by Indian and Persian traders. A number of cities
along the lower course of Yangzi and the southeast coast benefited
from this and became cities of international trade such as Huiqi,
Danyang, Yuechang, Jingshang, Xuwen, Guangzhou and Hebu.

City Structure
The First Emperor of Qin favored the Legalist School and despised
Confucians. His confidence on his military strength and prowess
was such that his capital was not walled. In fact, his palaces was
strewn over vast areas on the two sides of the Wei River (Fig. 7.4).
His disdain and revenge for the resistance to his army by most of
the states, his despotic desire to boost his capital as the greatest
city, and his philosophy of great unity of the new regime led to a
policy of destruction for major metropolises of former contending
states. In the earlier years of the Han, rebuilding cities was equally
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

126 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 7.4. Location of Changan of Han Dynasty Compared to Changan of Tang

Dynasty.

not a priority of the state. Liu Bang, the founder emperor, made do
with the existing Palace of Changle of the Qin in his new capital
Changan. Later, the Wei Yan Palace was constructed. But then the
West Han capital still had yet no wall. It was only until 15 years later,
in Weidi’s reign, that the construction of a wall for Changan started.
The fugal attitude of the early emperors of the dynasty, including
those of Wendi and Jingdi, had an important impact on most cities as
well. City size in West Han had generally shrunk compared to what
they were in the Warring States. With the exception of the national
capital, Changan, which had an area within the wall of 36 km2 , most
major cities of the Warring States had shrunk in size and importance
in line with the rank-order of the new administrative structure of
commanderies (including guo) and counties (including hou, yi).
Besides a general decline in city size, the majority of cities,
including the capital Changan and the later capital at Luoyang, had
only one wall. In these Han cities, the former inner and outer city
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 127

had been combined into one. Put it in another way, the city simply
meant the “inner city”, and the wall was more a structure for internal
security than as a means to defend the whole city. As such, most Han
cities had high densities and were cramped, whereas in the Warring
States many cities had large empty space within the wall. Only in
a few exceptions that the two-wall structure of the Warring States
continued to exist. In the national capital, there started the separation
of the palace from the ritual institutions, i.e. the Ancestral Temple and
the Altar of Soils and Grains. These general features and functions of
the capitals of Changan, Luoyang, and the important metropolises
of Linji, Ren, Chengdu, and Handan are illustrated in the following.

A. Changan
Archaeological digs to unearth Changan of the Han Dynasty started
in 1956. By now most of the written record on its layout and land use
can be confirmed. The city is about 10 km from present day Xian, and
2 km south of the Wei River (Fig. 7.4). It guards the important access
to the vast areas east of the Hangu Pass. It was used as West Han’s
capital since 206 BC based on a Qin palace, and new construction
only started in 190 BC and took about 20 years to complete.
The city is roughly square with 3 gates on each side of the
wall (Fig. 7.5). All the main roads lead to the gates. The palaces
and their main gates are oriented towards the south, with the two
markets located close to the north wall, at the back of the main
palatial quarter. These are in line with Confucian city planning. Of
the total area of 36 km2 within the wall, about 2/3 was occupied by
palaces. Wei Yan Palace which occupied the highest ground of the
city, housed the Audience Hall that stood on a 15 m platform on an
already high ground. Thus although not the geographical center of
the city, it was its effective focus. The city also housed the arsenal,
and offices of both the central and capital city region governments.
In the north of the city are residences of officials, dukes and marquis
and representatives of foreign states. Close to the western market are
large official monopolies, like a 1 km2 site for the mint, and quarters
for textiles and porcelain crafts. The two markets together occupied
2.66 km2 .
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

128 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 7.5. Landuse and Plan of Changan in Han Dynasty.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 129

Initially, the Ancestral Temple and the Altar of Soils and Grains
were located within the city wall. They were put up at a much larger
and grandier scale together with other ritual buildings outside the
south wall by Wangmang (Fig. 7.5). In 2 AD the population within
the wall was about 246,000. It reached its peak in the time of Wudi
(about 120 BC) of about 500,000. Besides, the city had large suburbs
for housing rich families resettled from the rest of the country,
a practice for curbing rising local regionalism. In Wudi’s time,
Moulin, a suburban county, was said to have housed 280,000 such
people.
Changan was the first example of the capital city of imperial
China that was almost constructed on a greenfield site following a
pre-drawn plan. Though obvious limitation of the local geography
had forced some modifications, the key principles of “Kao Gong Ji”
have been generally followed.

B. Luoyang
Located on the same site of present day Zhengzhou and 15 km east
of Luoyang of Eastern Zhou, the city measured 9 Han li north-south
and 6 Han li east-west, following the concept of “9–6” in Yijing (Book
of Change) which means supremacy and utmost respect. Within the
wall, the city area covered 9.5 km2 . It has 12 gates on its walls, 3
each in its east and west walls, 2 in the north and 4 in the south
wall, a modification following the Daoist principles of avoiding the
evil ethers from the north and to maximize potency of the south
(Figs. 7.6 and 7.7). The layout of the streets and major functional
zones are regulated rigidly by the central avenue which forms the
central axes of the whole city, a new development in city layout more
in close accord with Confucian principles of formality, balance, and
rank orderliness.
The palatial quarter took almost 1/3 of the city in area. Of the 3
markets, only one is found within the wall in the northern part of
the city, another obvious anti-trade example in city planning. Again,
it is believed that Luoyang was in fact the “inner city”, as most
commoners lived outside the wall. At the beginning of West Han,
the city had only about 5,200 households. About 200 years later, by
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

130 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 7.6. Plan of Luoyang in East Han.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 131

Fig. 7.7. Plan of Louyang in East Han Shown in Old Chinese Classics.

late West Han, the number of households increased to 52,000. It then

ranked second among the dynasty’s five metropolises.

C. Linzi
Linzi retained its dual-city structure of the Warring States period. The
small city served as the Palace City of the duke. The “big city” is the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

132 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Outer City where handicrafts, trade and commerce and commoners’

residence were found. The city had shrunk from its former size, yet it
still had an area of 15 km2 and a large population of about 500,000 in
early West Han, then larger than Changan, the capital city. The city
functioned mainly as an important trading and industrial center. It
had in early West Han 6 iron works, 2 copper works, 2 mints, 4 bone
workshops and other government monopolies such as silk weaving.
In fact, it was the largest iron smelting center of West Han.

D. Ren
It was the central city of a prosperous iron ore center in the
commandery of Nanyang, located at the converging site of the four
major rivers of Yangzi, Huanghe, Han, and Huai. The Nanyang
region had a continuous growth in population, i.e. 1.94 million in
West Han, and 2.43 million in East Han and thus its seat, Ren, was the
largest city then south of the Huanghe. The city was moated and was
within a 6,000 m wall mainly to accommodate the residence of the
iron officer. In 1959 a large craft area was unearthed which included 4
furnaces. Besides, copper smelting sites, and a large pottery making
area with 4 kilns of West Han have also been found there.

E. Chengdu
It consisted of the old and new city. The latter accommodated about
50,000 Qin people resettled there by the Han government in the early
years of the new dynasty. The small old city was the county seat
and main residential and commercial center. The new city, or large
city, served as the residence of Shu Hou (Marquis of Shu) and as
a commandery-seat. The city had experienced major growth after
Wudi’s western expeditions. It handled trade between Changan and
the minority peoples in the south-west. Besides, it had important
government monopolies in textiles, gold and silver crafts.

F. Handan
The city of Handan was completely burnt down during its defense
against the Qin, an example of the new dynasty’s policy of subduing
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch07 FA

The Administrative City of Qin and Han 133

important metropolises of the Warring States. The “northern city”

or the outer city survived in West Han as the capital of the fief of
the Marqis of Zhao. It benefited from its cross-road location in trade
and handicrafts and ranked as one of the five national commercial
metropolises up to Wangmang’s time. However, the Marqis of Zhao
participated in a rebellion against Wudi. The city was soon razed to
the ground, thence there was little record on the city and it was not
much mentioned after the middle of East Han.

Conclusion
The Qin and the Han had established the first two imperial dynasties
that lasted more than 400 years and built a lasting new political
structure and a new bureaucracy. By the end of East Han, Confu-
cianism had more than 4 century’s revival. As a value system that
preached the Mandate of Heaven, and the virtue of stability and
orderliness, its followers met with the desire of the new imperial
dynasty whereby legitimacy to rule could no longer be tied to
descendency and blood; and stability no longer vested in a network
of fiefs based largely on inheritance and military success. An efficient
and impartial bureaucracy based on merits in moral behavior and
examination success seemed to have answered the key question of
stability in a new nation of a vast territorial expanse, and one which
was based on agriculture. The shi, or scholar-official class formed the
backbone of this bureaucracy. The city which was the central place
where their services were most efficiently dished out to the peasantry
hence formed the workstation of the new bureaucracy.
Thus since the Han, urbanization and city growth in China had
become very much a function of imperial rule through the shi con-
troled bureaucracy. The hierarchy of cities, the predominant city
function and spatial disposition of land uses within it had henceforth
conformed more and more with Confucian principles, unique char-
acteristics of the city in traditional China.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Chapter 8

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model

From Fragmentation to Great Unity

Succession problems combined with intrigues at court had led to
deterioration of the Han’s dynastic rule. Droughts and floods raged
and wrecked much of the agricultural basis of the country’s economy.
Peasant rebellions flared up. Among them the Yellow Turbans and
Five Pecks of Grain had caused widespread devastation and finally
led to dismemberment of the empire by generals and local lords
such as Cao Cao. The fall of the Han opened a period of three
separate states in 220–280 AD (Fig. 8.1). A brief span of a reunited
China emerged in 265–316 AD in the form of a new dynasty — Jin,
or West Jin (Table 8.1), which was soon over-run by “barbarians”,
particularly the Xiongnu, Di, and Tujue (Turks) who had crossed
the Great Wall and settled into North China for some time, and
many of them had become sinicized. They took opportunities of a
weakened and divided China to set up proto-Han polities in North
China. The sinicized Xiongnu set up the North Han dynasty after
ransacking Luoyang. Altogether, in North China, 16 small states,
mostly of national minorities, or “barbarian” rulers, emerged in 304–
384 AD. The Jin Dynasty continued as East Jin in South China (south
of the Huai River) until 420 AD.
The core of Confucian culture had therefore shifted to South
China under a succession of weak dynasties of East Jin, Song, Qi,
Liang, and Chen (310–481 AD). In the meantime, the small states
in North China were gradually engulfed by a powerful state, the
Bei Wei. The rulers of Bei Wei had their ancestry traced back to a

134
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 135

Fig. 8.1. The Break-Up of China in the Three Kingdoms Period (about 262 AD).

Table 8.1. Population and Dynastic Changes in 220–907 AD.

Dynasty/Period Duration (AD) Population Mil. (Year for Population)

Three Kingdoms 220–280 14.1 (221)

West Jin 280–316 20.9 (280)
N. China: 16 States 304–384
S. China: East Jin 316–420
N. China: Bei Wei 386–534 32.4 (476)
S. China: 4 dynasties 420–581 4.7 (464)
Sui 581–618 46.0 (609)
Tang 618–907 20.6 (640)
45.9 (713)
60.0 (752)
38.4 (813)
39.0 (860)
39.0 (907)

Source: Zhao and Xie (1988).

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

136 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

branch of the Dong Hu, i.e. the Xianbei. They came from a tribe,
the Toba, which had been much sinicized. Bei Wei’s long and strong
rule led to the re-emergence of an aristocratic society, especially so
as it practised a policy of ranking important families into 9 grades
and the appointment to office based on such grades. The effective
and successful rule of Bei Wei lied with its adoption of Chinese
values and practices, i.e. the replacement of tribal practices by the
development of a Confucian bureaucracy and an aristocratic state
modeled on the Han. One example is the planning of its capital,
Pengcheng, following the rules of “Kao Gong Ji”. In the second half of
the dynasty, the ruling house even moved to Luoyang, and used it as
the new capital. In short, the Great Wall had not separated the “Han”
from the “non-Han”, the process of cultural and racial integration
continued, and the border between the steppe and the sown was a
fuzzy line. More and more “minority” peoples were sinicized and
followed the model of development of Confucianism. The spatial
expansion of the core culture of the Han and its state-model soon
came to a height under a re-unified China in the Tang Dynasty.
In South China, transformations had taken place in Daoism,
Buddhism and Confucianism. Daoism had become a religion with an
organized church. Some southern royalties, particularly the rulers of
the Liang Dynasty had adopted Buddhism as the state religion. In its
capital, Jiankang (present day Nanjing) there were 480 temples and
about 100,000 monks and nuns. In North China, Bei Wei also used
Buddhism to balance the over-dependence on Confucianism in a
“Han” society. Its attempts to bolster Buddhism can still be testified
by the numerous cave temples at Yuankang and Longmen.
In the period of political fragmentation, the size of population of
China was at its low ebb compared to the height of about 60 million
in late West Han. The lowest figure was registered in 221 AD, when
it was only 14.1 million. Stability of rule under Bei Wei in North
China resulted in a steady growth to 32.4 million in 476 AD. While
in South China, the reported figure of 4.7 million for 464 AD is small.
It probably had not taken into consideration the 2 million in the State
of Shu in Sichuan (Table 8.1, Fig. 8.1).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 137

Yang Jian, a North Zhou general with Xianbei blood and

whose wife was of Xiongnu origin, ursurped the throne. He finally
conquered the whole of North China and subdued the southern
dynasty of Chen and the State of Shu. The new dynasty of a reunited
China he founded in 581 AD was called Sui. In the short span
of 581–618 AD, the two workaholic emperors of the Sui not only
achieved the feat of uniting and expanding the country as they
conquered central Vietnam, the Ryukyu, the East Turkestan colonies,
Turfan and Kogurgo, they had also completed huge construction
projects. Among them are two major canals: Guangtong Canal, a
300 km canal linking Daxing (Changan) with Tongguan, completed
in 584 AD, and the Grand Canal linking Hangzhou, Luoyang
and Zhoujun (Beijing) that has a length of 2,800 km, completed
in 605 AD (Fig. 8.2). Construction of the canals had engaged a
large workforce of 3.6 million, about 1/10 of the total population
of the country. These mega constructions had shortened the Sui
Dynasty by a number of years, but benefited posterity unto later
generations. The Tang is the dynasty that immediately benefited
from them. Besides these, the Sui had developed a new bureaucracy
with more centralized power in the emperor and such features
were followed by the Tang, i.e. a system of recruiting officers by
examinations, the rule of avoidance (an officer would not be placed
to administer his home town), and a practice of rotation of posting,
to reduce the possibility of an administrator to develop his personal
power base.
Li Yuan (565–635 AD), who came from a northern aristocratic
family with some Xianbei blood ursurped the Sui and founded the
new dynasty of Tang ( , 618–907 AD). The united and expanded
China under the Tang brought forth a golden age of development
of the country under the predominant culture of Confucianism.
In many respects, the Sui had started the process, and the Tang
followed and deepened it. For example, the Tang had built additional
granaries and schools, created a new law code, refined the new
bureaucracy and government structure. Yet the Tang was also an
open society. It promoted the development of Buddhism and Daoism
besides adopting Confucianism as foundation of the state. Indeed,
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

138 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 8.2. The Grand Canal of Sui and Tang Dynasty.

Tang emperors had lavished funds repeatedly to support Buddhism

such as the officially sponsored trips by high priests to obtain
Buddhist scripts from the Indian subcontinent (Figs. 8.3 and 8.4).
Statistics in 854 AD indicated that there were 4,600 Buddhist temples,
40,000 shrines and over 260,000 monks and nuns in the country.
Above all, Tang modified and extended the rites formulated in
Sandai, i.e. the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. Aseries of ritual codes
were announced in early and mid Tang, requiring the Emperor and
all in his reign, including commoners, to practise the rites, a major
change from the former practice that rites were not the concern of
commoners. Thus the dynasty effectively combined the practice of
Rites and Music.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 139

Fig. 8.3. Territory of Tang Dynasty in Taizong’s Reign.

The principes of man-heaven relationship and the “five relation-

ships” ( ) in Confucianism were used to extort the legitimacy of
the dynasty and to serve as the glue to bind the border vassal states
with the empire. The state also proclaimed an official interpretation
of the Five Classics ( ) of Confucianism as the new foundation
for the civil examination. It had thus also helped to popularize
Confucianism among the populace. The Tang is also said to be a
period of transition from a medieval world to the “modern times” in
East Asia, and formed its political and cultural center, as neighboring
states, e.g. Nan Zhao, Tibet, Uighur, Silla, Japan and Vietnam had
adopted many aspects of the Chinese world, such as the Chinese
writing, Confucianism, and government structure. Through the Silk
Road, the Tang and its Confucian culture were also admired in more
distant lands of the Mediterranean. The population at the peak of the
Tang (752 AD) climbed back to 60 million (Table 8.1), an indication
not only of the Great Unity achieved by a re-united China, but also
of the attainment of the zenith of a Confucian model of aristocratic
government.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

140 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 8.4. Principal Pilgrimages of Chinese Buddhist Monks to India.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 141

Tang Government System and Society

The Tang’s long line of rulers had wisely adopted Confucianism as
the official religion. Taizong (the 2nd Emperor of Tang) once said:
“The foundation of the State is its people”, and “the core of the
reign is the welfare of the common folk”. The dynasty also actively
encouraged scholastic training. Of course these were done with the
purposes of claiming legitimacy to rule and to develop a large body
of state officials required for loyal performance of administrative
functions. It helped the ruling house to avoid over-dependence on
the military and the hereditary power of aristocratic families.
In 630 AD Taizong decreed that temples of Confucius were to
be erected throughout the country and regular sacrifices were to be
offered to Confucius by government officials. Ten years later Taizong
himself offered sacrifices to the sage. In 647 AD, he ordered that
tablets commemorating the 22 most famous men in the Confucian
hierarchy were to be worshipped in Confucian temples, a practice
that remains until the present. Besides the worship of Confucius,
the worship of ancestors, Heaven and Earth were made the most
important duties of the emperor and his officials. Such emphasis
on public rituals performed by the emperor and his officials for the
good of all, had in effect extended the family of the ruling house to
form a “political family” of ministers and high officials, united by
the traditional values of man-land relationship, ancestral worship
and the Confucian values of a rank ordered society through the
rituals in the Great Unity. The city was the platform for such rituals
to be enacted and seen by the public. Thus, such considerations
underlined the city function and its principle land uses and planning
rules.
The bureaucracy of the Han and Sui was further refined and
improved. The central bureaucracy was composed by the Secretariat,
Chancellery and Department of State Affairs with 6 ministries under
them. In parallel were the Censorate and Supreme Court that served
as counter weights and law enforcers. In district administration,
two tiers, the zhou/fu ( , province), and the xian (county) were
followed, with parallel lower rank officials.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

142 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

A key role of the emperor and the state was to spread Confucian
values and practice through examples and education. A system
of state schools and local colleges was established following the
practice of the Han. The Imperial University at the capital had an
enrolment of 8,000 students while students in provincial colleges
numbered more than 60,000. Besides, privately run colleges and
school were also encouraged. From these, candidates were recom-
mended for regular and non-regular civil examinations. Although
the majority of officials still came from the big aristocratic families,
most chief ministers and ministers were graduates of the civil
examinations. In summary, this is what Chinese historians dubbed as
“civil rule” ( ). These scholar-officials (a new development of
the shi) formed a literati that dominated high offices and reduced the
importance of the nobility and aristocratic families in government.
Indeed, the Tang is the earliest state that developed a system of
administraion by civil servants.
The above had been the main content of the political model
of the Tang. In effect, it is the second revival of Confucianism
and the traditional Chinese values and practices that Confucian
teaching represents. The model was admired and made acceptable
by neighboring polities due to the prosperity and military strength of
the Tang. The greatness of the golden age of the Tang lies also with its
openness and ready embrace of cultural influences from the outside,
particularly from India and the West. Buddhism flourished in the
Tang. As said before, famous monks were encouraged and supported
to travel to India to learn from the great temples there and sought
Buddhist scripts for translating into Chinese. Eight Buddhist sects
had therefore emerged in the Tang. The four most important ones, i.e.
the Tiantai, Huayan, Qingdu and Chan have survived and have large
followers today. The Daoist religion had also the support of the state
as Guozu declared it a state religion like Confucianism. Nostorian, a
branch of Christianity, Manichaeism and Muslim religion were also
tolerated and their churches were found in the capital and other
major trading cities.
Since the ruling house itself had both Xianbei and Mongolian
blood, “non-Han” officials in military and civil services formed
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 143

features of cultural and racial tolerance of the Tang. This practice was
not just confined to the expanded border region in appointments of
military governors, but also in the court. Thus, the Tang is doubly
cosmopolitan: open to cultural influences from outside and itself a
model for other societies in East Asia.
In early Tang, the largest power in Asia was the Turks who
ruled over the Uighurs and Xianbei, among other “minority” peoples
(Figs. 8.3 and 8.4). By 582 AD, Tang forces had subdued the Turks and
broke them up into Eastern and Western Turks and finally defeated
Western Turks in 657 AD. The Tang also had successes in the Korean
peninsula, Tibet and the western frontier, and most polities there sent
tributes to Changan and accepted Tang’s suzerainty. Thus, the Tang
had extended direct control to the Pamirs and had built up direct
relations with states in the Middle East and India (Fig. 8.4). Early
Tang’s military system was a militia system, the fubing ( ). Right
age peasants (21–60 years old) had to serve as part-time soldiers.
They were selected once every three years. This was later replaced
by a system of professional soldiers after Xuanzong, as a result of
prolonged and ambitious military expansion policies. The frontier
was hence divided into 9 sectors, each headed by a military governor
who led a band of professional soldiers supported by military
colonies. Yet the most decisive factor in the Tang’s military offensive
lied with a strong calvery and the love of good horses by most of its
early emperors. A large number of state stud-farms were set up in
the northern and northwest border regions. In the mid 7th century,
these farms had more than 700,000 horses. They included Arabian,
Tibetan, Kokand, Samarkard, Kish and Transoxianian breeds. The
loss of Tang’s offensive was partly due to attacks on these farms by
Tibetans and Turks who drove away many of the horses that led to
a decline in horse breeding.
In agriculture, the development in South China, e.g. the introduc-
tion of two crops in a year, the early ripening rice, and the widespread
practice of transplanting of seedlings, had led to increased productiv-
ity, reaching a peak of 400 catties/mu (1 catty = 1.33 lbs; 1 mu = 0.1647
ac.). In North China, in the plains of the Huanghe, grain productivity
increased by 1/4. Yet it was still just 103 catties/mu. As the country’s
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

144 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Table 8.2. Spatial Distribution of Tang Population (in millions).

Year North Border Regions (NE + NW) South

640 7.0 3.5 9.2

752 30.5 3.8 22.9
812 12.3 4.2 19.4

Source: See Table 8.1.

administrative and military centers lied in the north and a large

portion of the population also concentrated there, there was a need
for massive south-north shipment of grains (Table 8.2).
The two major canals provided the means for the flow of grains
from the Yangzi basin to North China (Fig. 8.2). The record of 735
AD shows that in a period of three years, 7 million tonnes of grains
had flowed through the canals from South to North China. The busy
traffic in the canals also facilitated trade in handicrafts and other
goods, including imports from foreign countries. Besides, the Tang
had improved the expressways of former dynasties into a system
of 50,000 km of postal roads that focused on the capital Changan
(Fig. 8.5). Along a postal road, at a distance of 30 km, was a station
with a customs office that checked passengers and cargoes, and
collected tariffs. There were a total of 1,643 stations; and passports
were issued to travelers by both the central and local authorities.
After the rebellion of An Lushan (755–763), when land routes to the
Middle East and India were blocked, maritime trading centers and
offices were set up in South China to continue foreign trade.
The disturbances in the mid 8th century marked a turning point
in Chinese history as it further pushed agricultural expansion in
South China, following another wave of North-South migration
and the weakening of aristocratic families in the northwest. While
trade and cultural developments in the south prospered to a new
height, the revenue of the dynasty in middle Tang (780–850 AD)
was largely based on South China. A number of state monopolies
were put in place there in 759–793 AD, of which the salt monopoly
provided half of the state revenue and tea monopoly, about another
10%. The large volumes of cargo flow and business transactions
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 145

Fig. 8.5. Postal Roads in Tang Dynasty.

had also led to the use of bills of exchange in 806–820 AD, and the
coming of negotiable certificates of deposits, the early banknotes, by
the end of the 9th century. In major commercial metropolises, e.g.
Guangling (Yangzhou), trade and other commercial activities had
also overspilled the confines of official markets since mid Tang.

Urbanization and City Growth in the Tang

As noted before, political turmoils in North China and agricultural
development in the south favored the spread of population in South
China. Cities being administrative seats and central places to support
the rural economy and its population had therefore increased their
presence in that part of China as well. This increase was also evident
in the expanded border regions in the west, north, and northeast
of the country with the appointment of military governors and the
extension of local administrative seats for the specially created fu or
zhou (commanderies). This may be gleaned by comparing Fig. 8.3
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

146 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Table 8.3. City Distribution in Broad Regions.

Dynasty Year Huang-Huai Changjiang-Zhujiang NW Total

Basin Basin

No. % No. % No. % No. %

East Han 140 AD 700 59.3 383 32.4 98 8.3 1181 100
Mid Tang 740 AD 615 37.5 964 58.8 60 3.7 1639 110

with Fig. 7.2. The latter shows the situation in West Han. Table 8.3
also compares the distribution of cities in broad geographical regions
between East Han and mid Tang:
The total number of cities in mid Tang increased by about 500,
largely concentrated in South China in the Yangzi and Zhujiang
basins, particularly in the Censorate Region of Jinnan Dao, i.e.
present day Guangdong province, or the Zhujiang basin, where, by
740 AD, were 314 cities, as many as half of the cities in North China.
We may summarize the new pattern of urbanization in the Tang as
follow.

A. New Metropolises in South China

These include the three major metropolises of Jiankang, Jiangling and
Chengdu, and the five port cities of Jingkou (Zhenjiang), Guangling
(Yangzhou), Zhouchun (Zhangyang) and Panyu (Guangzhou). By
mid Tang, revenue from Chengdu and Guangling, which include
taxes from salt, tea and other monopolies, accounted for 90% of the
total state revenue.

B. Canal Cities
After the re-unification of China in the Sui, the political and military
centers shifted back to northern China. Together with them, much
of the population growth of the nation in the Sui and early Tang
also took place in North China. The building of canals, the Grand
Canal in particular, had solved the problem of the mismatch of
population and grain production between the north and the south.
They became a critical growth line for trade and economic growth
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 147

of China until as late as the Qing dynasty. As such, along the

Grand Canal many cities prospered. In mid Tang, these included
the four metropolises: Chuzhou (Huaian), Guangling, Suzhou, and
Hangzhou, seven important trading cities, and 28 county-seats
(Fig. 8.2).

C. Cities along the Yangzi

Convenient water transport and water for irrigation accounted for
the growth of other important cities along the course of the Yangzi,
particularly where the river meets with the Grand Canal. There were
10 such major cities and 20 county-seats. The more important ones
are Jiangling, Chengdu, Nanjing, Guangling and Yunzhou.

D. Seaport Cities in the Southeast

The rise of seaports in the southeast was evident since the Six
Dynasties due to increasing trade with Southeast Asia. In mid Tang,
the blockade on land routes by Tibetans and Mongols encouraged
the growth of such cities as the new maritime Silk Road to link
China with India and the Middle East. The main seaport cities
included Guangzhou, Chaozhou, Chuanzhou, Fuzhou, Wenzhou
and Mingzhou (Ningbo). Among them, Guangzhou was the most
important. An Arabian account claimed that the city had an alien
community of Arabs, Jews, Christians and Mazdeans of at least
120,000 in 879 AD.
Along the northern coast, north of the Yangzi mouth, were also
important port cities of Yangzhou, Mizhou, Dengzhou, Luozhou and
Pengzhou.

E. Administrative and Military Cities

As previously said, most cities were officially designated adminis-
trative centers, serving as seats for various levels of the imperial
government. In the border region, 11 “zhen” had been designated
as administrative and military headquarters of the border regions.
The provincial level administrative units in the Tang are the fu and
zhou which are equivalent to jun of the Han. These first tier cities had
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

148 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

increased in number, particularly south of the Huai River (Fig. 8.3).

In the border regions where minority races inhabited, lesser centers
had been upgraded to special fu and zhou. Hence they were more
numerous. In 740 AD, fu and zhou numbered 317, but there were 856
special fu and zhou.
In addition, about mid Tang, some permanent “grass markets”
selling farm, forestry and animal husbandry products located at
cross-roads or suburban locations that had attained a reasonable size
were granted xian or county-city status. They were then provided
with appropriate offices for managing trading and related activities
that had developed around the center. This was China’s first instance
of city formation initiated by spontaneous commercial activities at
convenient traffic locations. Trade and commerce as a new dynamic
in city growth had also led to their spread to urban areas beyond
the rigidly regulated urban markets, or that these activities raged
on the two sides of main streets, navigable canals or river courses.
Such developments were evident in Yangzhou in late Tang and will
be further discussed in the next section.

City Structure
The second revival of Confucianism in the Tang and the strength-
ening of the shi class due to the critical role of the civil examination
system in the appointment of key officials had significant impact on
the form and signature features of the city. The following are features
common to Tang cities, many of which had been evident in the Han,
but intensified and reconfirmed in the Tang:
1. the use of urban space demonstrates the planning principles of
order, uniformity and rank;
2. presence of the central axis in the form of the main street that cuts
through the whole city underlying the formality and centrality
principles;
3. palaces are put together into one quarter, forming the central core
which is distinctly separated from the rest of the city. This forms
for the first time a separate palace city (forbidden city) marking
the supremacy of imperial rule;
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 149

4. in response to the new location of the palace city which is in the

northern part of the city, the market (or markets) is located in the
southern part among residential wards. This produced a reversed
pattern to the “Kao Gong Ji” rule of “Audience Hall in the south,
and market in the north”;
5. the location of the two important ritual institutions of the Altar
and the Temple followed closely Confucian classics. They too
were located in the Imperial City to make the rituals more a public
display.

As a result of these new features, the citizens ended up more

distant from the palace quarter. They were also highly regulated by
the ward system following Han tradition. Only residences of high
ranking officials (grade three and higher) may abreach the fang (Tang
name for a residential ward) wall and had his house-door opened in
the fang wall.
Commercial activities were equally highly regulated in the Tang
as in the Han cities. Only zhou and county-seats with a population of
over 3,000 households might have a market. However, in the Tang,
more rigorous growth of trade and handicrafts had led to clustering
of similar products/trade within the market, and the conversion of
neighboring fang into such uses. The spatial clustering had also led to
the emergence of guilds. In the Tang, there were 220 such bearing the
local name of hong. Each had a headman responsible for inspecting
product quality and enforcing trading contracts. He also worked
under the municipal commercial authority in classifying goods by
quality, and in the fixing of prices. Night markets also started to
appear in late Tang in a few major cities.
Reflecting the new dynamics of openness to foreign cultures
and improved trade with outside countries, some Tang cities had
markets predominated by foreign traders. Religious buildings, both
of Daoism, Buddhism and Western religions were common features
in such cities as Changan, Panyu and Guangling.
In lesser cities, many of the above features had been modified. Yet
they similarly reflected the Confucian principles. In most of them the
core was formed by the administrative quarter, together with schools
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

150 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

and examination halls. All these land use elements had a southward
orientation. A north-south central axis extended from this core, with
the civil (Wen) temple and military (Wu) temple on either side of the
axis.
The internal structure and key features of Changan, Luoyang,
Guangling and Panyu are illustrated in the next section.

Structure of Key Cities

A. Changan
Changan served as the national capital of a re-united China from the
Sui (582 AD) to the fall of the Tang in 907 AD, i.e. it had lasted 322
years. Its decline was not abrupt. The Tibetans first sacked it in 763
AD. Later it was seriously damaged by the rebels of Huangchao in
883 AD. Finally Zhu Wen forced its residents to relocate to Luoyang
after further war damages in 904 AD. Since then, Changan has never
regained its position as China’s national capital.
It is a pre-planned city (Figs. 8.6 and 8.7) and is the first capital
that combined the imperial residential palaces, the Audience Hall
and central government offices together into the Palace City. At first
the Audience Hall was within the Taiji Palace. Since 634 AD, it was
moved to the newly built Da Ming Palace. The latter stood on the
highest strategic ground that overlooked the whole city and it had
slightly changed the original square shape of the city. Without these
later added palaces outside the north wall, Changan has almost a
perfect square shape.
Changan also formalized the systems of the “Three chao” (
three types of court), i.e. the Inner Court in which the emperor
administered day to day businesses in his residence behind the
Audience Hall; the Middle Court that dealt with important state
affairs by the full court in the Audience Hall; and the Outer Court
that took place in the square outside the main palace gate (Cheng Tian
Gate) for large scale state celebration or rallies e.g. New Year’s Day
Celebration or rally for major victory in battle (Fig. 8.8). Such a plan
followed the old principle of “Administrative function in the front
and residence at the back”. The same principle was extended south
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 151

Fig. 8.6. Changan during Sui and Tang Dynasties.

into the Imperial City where the central ministries lied on the two
sides of the Imperial Way south of Cheng Tian Gate until the Purple
Bird Gate. The two ritual institutions of the Temple and the Altar lied
on its right and left hand side in a formal layout (Figs. 8.6 and 8.8).
The street plan is also formal and hierarchical. The Imperial Way
that forms the north-south central axis of the whole city is widest,
i.e. 150 m. The lesser roads, which run N-S, and E-W cut each other
at right angles, form a chess-board pattern and each with a width
varying from 40 to 70 m according to their importance in the network.
The Outer City encircles the Palace and Imperial City on three
sides. This is different from the Han capital which only walled
the palaces, administrative quarter, or the Inner City, leaving most
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

152 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 8.7. Bird’s Eye-View and Plan of Changan of Tang Dynasty.

citizens outside its wall. The Outer City has 12 gates, 3 on each side of
the wall, with no gate in the central part of the northern wall to avoid
the north wind or evil ethers according to Daoist belief. It contains
109 residential wards (fang) that are rigidly layout in walled square
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 153

Fig. 8.8. Palace and Imperial City of Changan of Tang Dynasty (from Chinese
Classics).

or rectangular quarters following the Han rule. The West and East
markets are located in the Outer City as well. The West Market was
the place where foreign traders from India and Persia congregated.
Hence, there were famous restaurants and entertainment centers
filled with foreign female entertainers.
The formality and rank orderliness of Changan is more obvious
than Changan of the Han. It is also the first capital of a unified
China that perfects the 3-tier city structure, besides differing from
Han Changan by the large number of temples of different reli-
gions (Fig. 8.6). There were 106 Buddhist, 36 Daoist, 2 Persian,
and 4 Manichean, Nestorian and Zoroastrian temples. Besides, it
was reported that in 640 AD its foreign population reached over
100,000, which included 8,000 foreign students, 8,000 Koreans,
and many Syrians, Arabs, Persians, Tartars, Tibetans, Japanese and
Tonkinese.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

154 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Within this largest walled city of the world at the time (87 km2 )
were about 1 million people. Outside the wall, another 1 million was
estimated to have resided in its suburbs. It was remarked as then the
largest planned city ever built and the largest city encompassed by
walls. And, what is more important, Changan is a marked contrast
to Medieval Europe where the city became a refuge and center of
freedom. In China, city life in the Tang remained highly regimented
despite its glamorous, cosmopolitan character, and the bustle of its
trade and businesses. Unlike the experience in the West, in China,
one sought freedom in remote mountains and hills rather than within
a bustling city (Schisohaven, 1991).

B. Luoyang
Luoyang was made the capital of Bei Wei in 495 AD. Although
the ruling house was a branch of the Xianbei, a Toba tribe, Bei
Wei Luoyang marked a new stage of city planning based on
Confucian principles. The emperor of Bei Wei commissioned a Han
architect, Lee Zong to plan the city. He reinforced the centralism and
supremacy of the emperor by combining the palaces and the court
into the core of the city, i.e. a central Palace City located in the north-
central part of the city, facing south. From its main south gate runs a
north-south axis of the whole city — the Bronze Camel Avenue. The
headquarters of central administration and military command are
sited on the two sides of the avenue. So is the Temple and Altar on
its right and left. The city has a chessboard street pattern, with main
streets leading to the 13 main gates of the Outer Wall. Thus, it is the
first capital with three concentric walls and serves as precedent to
the Sui and Tang capitals (Fig. 8.9).
There are four markets in Luoyang, three in the Outer City and
one in the Imperial City. The latter is in the northern part in line
with conventional rule; while a market for foreign trade, the Situng
Market is located in the southern extension of the south wall where
the foreign community resided (Fig. 8.9). The formality and rank
orderliness of Bei Wei’s Luoyang reflects its closer adherence to
Confucian convention than the Han capital.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 155

Fig. 8.9. Plan of Luoyang in Bei Wei.

Besides, the city had 1,367 Buddhist temples and a population of

half a million. Thus, it was an important religious and commercial
center that lasted till 534 AD.
In the Tang dynasty, Luoyang served as the eastern capital,
and, for a brief period the capital of the short-lived Zhou dynasty
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

156 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

under Empress Wu. It was then a large city of 47 km2 , an important

military stronghold for guarding the capital city region as well as a
granary and transshipment point for grains and other trade items
utilizing the Huanghe and the canal systems that linked Changan
with southeast China.

C. Guangling (Yangzhou)
Guangling was the name of present day Yangzhou. It was
the Guangling county in the Qin. In the Han, it was the fief of a
marqis — Guangling Gao. In the Sui and Tang, with the completion
of the new canal system, it became the meeting point between the
canals, the Yangzi and the sea. In early Tang, its population increased
by five-fold due to this new transport hub function. The government
grain traffic in 762–779 AD alone amounted to an annual volume of
1.1 million stones (1 stone = 120 catties, or 160 lbs.). It also served as
the nation’s salt distribution center, being in the neighborhood of the
four major salt producing centers of the lower Huai and lower Yangzi
rivers. Tea, sugar, fruit and marine products are other items traded.
Foreign trade was also rift, particularly after mid Tang, when the Silk
Road was blocked. The opening of a new land route between the
Yangzi and Guangzhou and Guangling’s location at 200 km from
the coast further made it a hub of foreign trade. The flow of large
volume of goods supported it as an important manufacturing center
as well. Craft industries such as furniture, jewellery, paper, sugar,
mirror, leather and ship-building occupied a large proportion of the
Inner and Outer Cities. Official crafts were located in the southwest
of the Inner City, while the entire western segment of the Outer City
was used by different workshops (Fig. 8.10).
Commercial activities were so vigorous, that by mid Tang, the
residential ward system and the confines of the urban markets had
been breached. The walls of the wards were taken down. Tall build-
ings were erected, with shops directly fronting the streets. Both man-
ufacturing and shopping activities lined the major streets for over a
distance of 10 km (Fig. 8.10). Night markets also emerged. Indeed,
Guangling was the largest and most cosmopolitan commercial city
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 157

Fig. 8.10. Landuse of Guangling (Yangzhou) in Tang Dynasty.

since early Tang. The community of “Han” and foreign traders

numbered in excess of 100,000.

D. Panyu (Guangzhou)
Panyu was the largest port with the longest history in southeast
China. In the Tang, foreign trade was so rift that the annual number of
ocean-ships berthing at the port amounted to 4,000 and the dynasty
set up its first maritime office in the city. Since mid Tang, the new
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

158 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

route that linked it up with Guangling further encouraged the call of

foreign ships at this great port, and supported its large cosmopolitan
mercantile community.

Conclusion
The re-unified China under the Tang reestablished and reconfirmed
the cultural continuity of Confucianism by means of imperial
sponsorship as well as the strengthening of the bureaucracy based
on the shi. The dynasty also demonstrated a willingness and ability
to absorb and modify foreign cultural elements such as Buddhism.
Military prowess had been the minor dynamics compared to the
revival of Confucianism and its further development. The reestab-
lishment of the examination system for entrance into the civil service
on a regular basis, and the expansion of Confucian rituals to the
status of state religion, plus the invention of block printing helped
the spread of literacy and literary achievements. Of the latter, Tang
poetry ( ) forms the hallmark of the dynasty. Many neighboring
states in Central and East Asia admired and adopted the heightened
Chinese culture, and accepted Chinese suzerainty. Tang China was
indeed a golden age in traditional China.
The city reflected these major dynamics of Tang society. It
advanced into a new stage in planning and layout by adhering more
to the Confucian principles of formality and rank orderliness than
the Han. Yet it also displayed new elements of the cosmopolitan
spirit and embraced alien values and believes. The design of cities,
the role of the urban hierarchy in conformity with the administrative
hierarchy, together with the system of Tang bureaucracy, had been
major blueprints imported by countries such as Korea and Japan
and affected their later cultural development, city planning, and
government structures.
Within China itself, two more important developments need to
be pointed out:
1. There had been increasing geographical integration of China, as
the hardware of postal roads, the canal system, and an efficient
bureaucracy had strengthened the growth of the Chinese core.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch08 FA

Tang: Golden Age of the Confucian Model 159

2. Within this core, the inability to use the roads to Central Asia
since mid Tang had ended the formation of large sinicized empires
at the border that separated the steppe and the sown. This had
led to agricultural, commercial and urban expansion in lower
Yangzi and the shift of political gravity of the dynasty to East and
Southeast China. From mid Tang onwards, China had increased
its attention towards the oceans and had encouraged the growth
of seaports and maritime trade.
The fall of the Tang was said to have brought to an end the story
of a great city — Changan, and a great dynasty, and closed a period
of Chinese martial vigor and self-assertion vis-à-vis its nomadic and
semi-nomadic neighbors (Schisohaven, 1991). The intellectual and
cultural achievements in this second revival of Confucianism has
provided, however, the foundation for a new stage of advancement
by the literati as well as new processes in Chinese urbanity in the
coming major dynasty of the “Han” people — the Song.
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Chapter 9

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity

Introduction: New Heights in Chinese Civilization

It is said that civilization of China in the 11th and 12th century, at
the prime time of the Song Dynasty ( ), had outdistanced that
of the world (Goodrich, 1962). Although covering about half of the
territory of the Tang, North Song was definitely the richest, most
civilized and most urbanized country of the world (Fig. 9.1). It
was a time of the Chinese Renaissance when a “new world” had
emerged:

“Political habits, society, the relations between classes, the

armies, the relations between town and country and eco-
nomic patterns are quite different from what they had been in
the aristocratic, still half-medieval Tang Empire. Anew world
had been borne whose basic characteristics are already those
of the China of modern times.” (Gernet, 1986, 300)

This “new world” was based on the third revival of Confu-

cianism, i.e. the advent of “practical rationalism” ( ) and with
it a new class of literati or shi, now dubbed as the “gentry”, the
new rich families that lived in urban areas who were intellectual,
contemplative, learned and sought self-improvement through moral
behavior and service of the state. With it was the development of a
mercantile state and a new pattern of urbanization that marked a
new phase in Chinese urbanization and city development.

160
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 161

Fig. 9.1. Polities in China During North Song (AD 1111).

Characteristics of Song Society

A. Decline of Military Powess
The Tang Dynasty was weakened by the An Lushan Rebellion (755–
66 AD). Although there had been about a century’s peace since
the central administration had declined, military governors became
virtual warlords. In 874 AD rebels of Wang Xinzhi and Wang Chao
finally brought to the fore the break-up of the Tang empire, when one
of the military governors, Zhu Wan, seized Luoyang and declared
himself emperor of a new dynasty — Later Liang. Within North
China, military governors, who were mostly ‘minority peoples’
allied with the major non-Han polity — Liao set up by the Qidan
of Manchuria, succeeded one another in a short period of 54 years as
the Five Dynasties ( ). Southern China was then also fragmented
into ten small regional states, the Ten Kingdoms ( ).
Basically, these war lords and their independent states originated
from the military governors of late Tang. North China was their
intensive battleground. There, many cities were destroyed and large
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

162 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

number of people were forced to migrate to South China, laying

waste much of the cultivable land in the North. In South China,
though equally fragmented, peace generally prevailed as there was
the absence of a distinctly more powerful and ambitious state that
waged war over other states. In consequence, the economy in South
China revived and developed. Data in the early years of North
Song indicate that there were about 1 million households in North
China, but in the South, there were 2.5 million. Social stability and
economic growth in the southern states had led to revival of the
rites, establishment of efficient administration through a system of
civil servants, and the promotion and propagation of education,
art and culture. As such, in the later half of the 10th century, the
southern states of Shu and South Tang became China’s two cultural
centers. The invention of wood-block printing, making tea, and the
popularization of tea drinking and the Ci ( , lyrics or poetry, later
became Song Ci ) in the Ten Kingdoms, laid the foundation of a
new phase of civilization in the Song Dynasty.
In North China, General Guo Wei founded Later Zhou (951–60
AD), the last of the Five Dynasties. Guo Wei was succeeded by his
adopted son who started an ambitious plan to unify the whole of
China. However, he died in his military expedition in North China.
Mutinous troops of Later Zhou soon forced General Zhao Kangyin
to “don the yellow gown” ( ), to found the new dynasty
of the Song. Zhao carried on Later Zhou’s military campaign with
great success. He used persuasion and conquest to subdue the weak
regional polities of South China and the State of Shu. By 976 AD,
the year when he died, he reunited China Proper except the “16
Prefectures” ( ) in present day Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin
which were then ruled by the Qidan, the two states in Zhejiang
and Shanxi, and the southwest polity of Nanzhao. In 979 AD, his
son, Taizong (976–97 AD) invaded the “16 Prefectures”, but was
defeated. Hence, the Song was confined to China Proper without
these strategic prefectures and the protection of the Great Wall and
the hills of Hebei, and was thus open to frequent military threats of
the Liao, and its succeeding Jin and Yuan dynasties. Without these
and northwestern China (under Xi Xia), Song’s military strength
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 163

Table 9.1. Polities in China During Song Dynasty.

Dynasty Ruling Group Rough Location Duration

Song (North) Han China Proper 960–1126

(South) South of Huai River 1127–1299
Liao Qidan China north of Taiheng and 907–1125
the Ordos
Xi Xia Tangut Gansu, Ningxia 1032–1227
Jin Jurchen Replaced Western Liao and 1115–1234
reaching the Huai River

was thus further crippled by the lack of stud-farms for horses

(Fig. 9.1).
In the Song, the political map of China is therefore quite
complicated. Its 319 years’ reign is divided into two, the North (166
years with 8 emperors) and South (152 years with 9 emperors) Song.
Concurrent with the Song were three polities that covered varying
time periods and each ruled a substantial part of North China and
the “Han” people (Table 9.1).
The Liao Dynasty (907–1125 AD) was the largest and possibly
strongest nation in East Asia militarily. It ruled a large part of
northern Asia, including part of North China, and acted like an
overlord to the Five Dynasties (Fig. 9.1). Its large cavalry of 300,000
men made it impossible for the Song rulers to reclaim the strategic
“16 Prefectures”. North Song accepted the humiliating conditions
of annual tributes to the Liao for maintaining peace. Meanwhile,
in Gansu, the Tangut, a tribe originated from the Qiang, developed
into a tributary state of the Song in about 1200 AD. It soon became
a rival of North Song. Both these minorities are highly sinicized and
included within their territory a large number of “Han” agricultur-
alists. They too followed a “dualistic” policy, i.e. using tribal rule
for their own people while following the Tang model in dealing
with “Han” subjects. Their central governments and planning of
their capitals followed closely Confucian principles. They may thus
be regarded as part of China. Within Manchuria, the Jurchen (later
known as the Manchu) also rose to power in late 11th century and
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

164 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

set up the Dynasty of Jin (1115–1234 AD). It finally defeated Liao,

whose remaining force fled to central Asia to set up West Liao (1131–
1213 AD). In 1126 AD, the Jin defeated North Song and ransacked its
capital. Part of the Song Court re-established the dynasty in Southern
China as South Song (1127–1279 AD). In 1124 AD, a peace treaty was
concluded with the Jin. It established the border between the two
polities along the Huai River (Fig. 9.1).
Thus, South Song is less than 2/3 of North Song, roughly about
1/3 of the Ming and 1/5 of the Qing.
The Jin ruled nearly all of China north of the Huai River which
included an estimated 40 million of “Han” people, while South Song
had a population of about 45 million at 1131 AD (Table 9.2).
The Song therefore lacked the military strength and unified
territory of either the Han or the Tang dynasty. It was halted in
its territorial ambitions in the northwest and west by the Tibetans
and the Tangut of the Xi Xia; north by the Qidan of the Liao and
then Jurchen of the Jin, south by the Dali (Fig. 9.1). Two other
factors further contributed to Song’s defensive military policy: (1)
The decline of central government power and the unabated power
of regional military governors developed since late Tang, and (2) the
founder of the dynasty, Taizu, was “donned the yellow gown” by

Table 9.2. Population of the Song Dynasty.

Dynasty/Period Year (AD) Population (mil.)

Later Zhou 959 16.7

Song (North) 970 21.1
1003 28.1
1020 39.9
1060 45.4
1110 85.6
(South) 1131 44.4
1180 48.5
1234 51.3
1274 42.2
1275 29.5
Fall of Song 1279 NA
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 165

mutinous soldiers, hence Song emperors adopted an over-cautious

policy towards the army. Thus despite the rapid increase in the size of
the standing army from 370,000 in the early years of the dynasty to 1.4
million at the time of Shenzong (about 1110 AD), there had been few
offensives launched and even fewer victories, except Yue Fei’s ( )
northern expedition in the early years of South Song. Throughout
the Song, the policy had been the containment of the surrounding
polities, maintenance of the status quo and no territorial expansion.
The large professional standing army consumed about 70% of the
national revenue of North Song and over 60% in South Song. Yet
its fighting strength was compromised by a deliberate policy that
despised military service by putting the army under the command of
civilian officials, and frequent rotation of command responsibilities.

B. Ascendance of Civilian Officials and Revival

of Confucianism
North Song adopted the general policy of “promoting culture and
education, and to restrain militarism”. It stressed on the intelligencia
and scholarly achievements, in reverse to the priority on military
strength and martial art of late Tang and the Five Dynasties. It
started a civil service system based on the selection of officials
through public examinations on Confucian classics and statecrafts.
Of the 724 highest rank officials of North and South Song, 659
were selected through public examinations. The examination system
reached its greatest perfection in traditional China in terms of fair-
ness, objectivity, and practicality through the inclusion of practical
subjects on top of the sole emphasis on classics and poetry of former
dynasties. There was also a substantial increase in salaries of the
officials. Each district administrative unit, including the central and
local governments, had to recommend candidates. Through these
new rules, excessive power of the military and predominance of
big families in the civil service of the pre-Song period had been
much reduced. Roberts (1999) noted that in 1148–1256 AD, 60% of
the jinshi ( , graduates of the highest level examination) came
from families with no history of civil service appointment in three
generations. Excellence in examinations therefore had become the
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

166 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

major avenue for government appointments and it had enlarged the

field of recruitment to all people, except merchants and artisans.
The power of civil servants was further enhanced as the emperor
chose to play a secondary role in major state policies, giving the
lime light to ministers. In the state machinery, the Secretariat and the
Chancellery were responsible for formulating economic and finan-
cial policies. The control of the armies was under the Shu-mi-yuan.
The emperor only vetted their proposed policies before implemen-
tation by the Department of State. Of course, the Censorate operated
as in former dynasties and reported to the emperor directly. The
new governing class hence paved the way for the third revival of
Confucianism, while the military profession lost prestige.
The restatements of Confucianism by Sima Guang and Zhu Xi
represented a new philosophical emphasis on the ideal of universal
reasoning and its transformation into a modern system of ideas — the
so-called practical rationalism or Neo-Confucianism. It had not only
provided a new intellectual reinterpretation of Confucian classics
as the basis for civil examinations, more importantly, it promoted
curiosity in every realm of knowledge, including art, technology,
natural science, mathematics, society, institutions, politics and even
town planning. The movement was spread widely by the increasing
number of well-to-do gentry families, increase in printed books by
means of wood blocks and metal plates, more leisure, an expanded
public school system well supported by state funds, as well as flour-
ishing private education institutes (there were at least 124 private
academies). In short, it was a Renaissance — a new and complete
surge of intellectual life. As a consequence, Song China attained
new heights in economics, art and science developments. Song
porcelain, landscape painting, textiles, cartography, shipbuilding,
furniture and internal design, are notable landmarks in Chinese
civilization.
Added to this are expanding new sectors in Song society, a new
“middle class” of shopkeepers and craftsmen, plus the lesser class
of casual laborers, servants and shop assistance who are largely
urban-based. These sectors of people have tastes and requirements
different from the upper classes — the literate Chinese (shi or
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 167

literati), nobility and high officials. The new classes of lower social
rank supported the growth of popular literature and performing
art in the form of story-tellers, jesters, and the growth of urban
entertaining centers — the wazi ( ), in the new urban society which
will be further elaborated.

C. The Mercantile State

Through a series of capable and mission-fired reformers such as Fan
Zhongyen (989–1052 AD) and Wang Anshi (1021–1086 AD), agricul-
tural production increased. The acreage was doubled compared to
the Tang Dynasty through reclamation in Lower Yangzi and terracing
in the hills of South China. Tea was also grown in the whole of South
China and cotton was introduced into Guangdong and Fujian. The
former agricultural tax based on acreage and payment in kind and
compulsory labor was replaced by a simple tax in cash based on
yield. By the extension of the monetary economy into the farm sector,
commercialization of agriculture and an expansion of trade in farm
products were promoted.
In non-farm sectors, the Song also substituted control of prices
and markets and the requisitioning of craftsmen, by a flexible system
of commercial tax on shops and products. The state also turned
itself into a merchant and manufacturer by the development of state
monopolies whose proceeds were used to maintain the army. The
state, for the first time in China, also actively fostered maritime
trade. Besides sending trade missions to Southeast and South Asia,
offices of Merchant Ships were set up as maritime police and customs
offices in Quizhou, Qingdao, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Quanzhou and
Guangzhou. More than 50 countries maintained steady trading
relations with China. Imports and exports were charged a tariff
of 10–40%. The annual revenue from maritime customs duties had
grown from half a million strings (a string is a 1,000 copper coins
unit) at the beginning of the dynasty to 65 million strings in 1189
AD. The activities at these great ports were of a scale larger than
those found in Europe (Cotterell and Morgan, 1975).
In North Song, the wealth of the nation, measured in state rev-
enue, was derived equally between commercial taxes plus proceeds
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

168 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

from monopolies, and agricultural taxes. In South Song, the former

had already exceeded revenue from the rural sector. Besides, the new
economy may be called a “money economy” as it demanded a large
amount of cash. Hence new forms of money, besides the strings of
bronze coins, was needed to facilitate its functioning and the large
volume of trade it had generated. Under North Song, at 1073 AD, 6
million strings (of 1,000 coins) was casted, while the total volume in
circulation was 200 million (Gernet, 1985). In addition, unminted
silver was used. Even so, “hard currency” supply was greatly
outstripped by demand. As such, some provincial governments had
to issue “flying money” (certificates of deposits) from 11th century
onwards to facilitate inter-regional trade, while private banknotes
were issued by merchants. The first cheque appeared in Chengdu in
1024 AD. Paper money also had its debute in the 12th century and by
mid South Song, there was a total issue of 400 million strings, double
the coin issue of North Song. The new money economy had not only
promoted trade, it had also led to the rise of a financial sector. Its
impact was international as Song coins were widely used as legal
tender in many Asian countries such as Korea and Japan.
Figure 9.2 reflects the spread of the mercantile economy by means
of the hierarchy of cities in terms of the amount of commercial tax
they collected and the main locations of monopolies and commercial
farming (the latter indicated only by tea growing) in North Song. It
demonstrates to some extent the growth of cities, hence commerce,
in South China, including Sichuan. This is, however, not the entire
picture, because in the 11th century, private trade was larger than
trade in goods subjected to tax.

Urbanization Dynamics in the Song

The increase in acreage plus new technology and tax reforms in agri-
culture had brought major productivity increase in wet rice culture
and the expansion in commercial farming. These had also created
a free market in land, leading to the development of large manors.
In the 11th century, in North Song, 14% of the population owned
77.5% of the farmed acreage (Roberts, 1999). Thus many people were
pushed off the land, paving the way for the growth of non-farm
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 169

Source: Adopted from Balezs (1969).

Fig. 9.2. Song China: Political and Commercial Situation.

sectors and urbanization. Meanwhile, a major change in the traded

items had also taken place, i.e. necessity or consumption items now
predominated over luxury goods, hence trade became less depen-
dent on the Court and administration. The completion of an inte-
grated internal waterways system of 50,000 km, improvement of ship
design and navigation means, i.e. the introduction of the stern-port
rudder, compass and new sails, had led to a revolution in ocean ship-
ping and facilitated domestic (coastal) and international trade. The
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

170 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

use of money and availability of credit equally smoothened trade and

enhanced its volume. These factors, together with changes in society
as previously mentioned, were behind a new urban revolution. In
sum, in the Song, the two dimensions of technology and culture had
exhibited a level of development comparable to the beginning of
capitalism in some European states at about the 18th century.
Thus, despite the growth of population, i.e. from 21 million in
970 AD to 85.6 million in 1110 AD (Table 9.2), more people had
been released from the soil. The annual harvest of grains reached
300 million stones (1 stone = 160 pounds), or about 3 stones per
capita. On the Grand Canal alone, the annual shipment of grains
reached 7 million stones. The relative peace of South China due to
the weak states during the period of Ten Kingdoms had already
fostered inter-regional trade and regional economic specialization
there. These trends were strengthened in the Song. For example,
Hebei was famous for its iron and steel; the area around Taihu, for its
rice; Fujian for its tea and sugar-cane; Sichuan and Zhejiang for paper,
Chengdu and Hangzhou for printing and books; Hubei, Hunan and
Zhejiang for lacquerwares, while Kaifeng, and later Zhejiang, for the
famous kilns for porcelain (Fig. 9.2). While domestic trade focussed
more on necessity goods, foreign imports was mainly of luxury
goods such as incense, rare stones, ivory, coral, rhinoceros horns,
ebony and sandalwood.
With the growth of the urban economy, the Song witnessed
changes in urban dynamics, in the nature of the city and its landuse
pattern. The administrative city of the Han and Tang had to a large
extent transformed into a new city of commercial and entertainment
activities. Within them emerged a new urbanite or citizen-class based
on the new mercantile and manufacturing dynamics.
Indeed, commercial centers arose in large number for the first
time in China’s history, a trend that had its origin in late Tang.
These are sub-county townships based on spontaneous growth of
their economic roles. They are the zhens and townships. The former
were based on earlier or defunct military commanderies of the Tang,
but most were new growth of small unwalled cities due to the
development of crafts and trade at traffic crossroads. Once they had
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 171

grown beyond a certain size, these small settlements of an urban

nature were designated formally as a new urban administrative unit.
In 1080 AD, there were 1,810 such zhens and townships within the
1,135 counties; of which 23.5% had a tax station (Ma, 1971). These
new settlements tended to cluster around major trade centers, e.g.
there were 31 in Kaifeng fu (fu = prefecture), 22 in Henan fu, 20 in
Daming fu and 19 in Chengdu fu. Lower level settlements, the “grass
markets” and market towns, were rural in nature. They traded in
local rural products at regular time intervals. The government also
collected trade tax from these settlements, some of which may grow
into townships as well.
Thriving domestic trade and commodity production, particulary
of luxury items like porcelain, silk, and also of tea, led to exports
of domestic goods in exchange for imported luxury items from
foreign lands. The favorable policy of the Song and developments in
shipping technology resulted in bustling seaports as a new element
in the urbanization process and in urban hierarchy formation. In the
Tang, there was only one seaport, Guangzhou, with a maritime office.
In North Song, there were six such seaports, and three more were
added in South Song, i.e. Xiuzhou, Wenzhou and Jiangyin. Most of
these are in South China close to the hinterlands where domestic
products for export were generated (Fig. 9.2).
Thus, spatially, heavily populated and bustling cities multiplied
along the Yangzi and the coast. Busy frontier trading towns also
emerged at locations where border trade was sanctioned by the
governments on the two sides of the border, e.g. Tianshui, close to
Tibet and the Xi Xia (Fig. 9.2). In North Song, the number of cities
with more than 100,000 people numbered over 40 whereas it was
only about 10 in the Tang. Indeed, Song cities were larger than cities
in Medieval Europe. It had, for instance, five of the world’s ten largest
cities. The rising importance and increase in number of cities in South
China have been noted and partially illustrated in Fig. 9.2. This may
be further supported by the rise in the number of cities of the two
levels of district administrative units in four present day southern
provinces and the relative decline in Henan of North China, between
the Tang and the Song (Table 9.3).
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

172 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Table 9.3. Number of Administrative Division of Selected

Regions in Tang and Song Dynasty.

Fu/zhou (no.) Xian (no.)

4 southern provinces
Tang 35 170 )
) rise
Song 48 243 )
Henan
Tang 18 132 )
) decline
Song 17 99 )

North China suffered a further decline in population and urban-

ization due to a major southward shift of the course of Huanghe at
the end of North Song and repeated wars between the Song and the
northern states of the Liao and the Jin.

A New Urban Society

Difficulty of rural life and the big currents of commerce and
thriving manufacture moulded a mobile society in which rural-
urban migration had been rift. Civil servants of the Song, too, were
obliged to frequent moves and travel under the rotating system
of appointments. Cheap and convenient means of transport, the
increasing number and diversity of small urban centers, and the
attraction of cities as centers of wealth and entertainment are other
dynamics shaping the new urbanity. The new urban bourgeoisie,
comprising a diversified class of big and small merchants that were
more numerous, was often more influential and wealthier than
the literati. They no longer based their business on supplying the
imperial family and nobles. They met demands of large domestic
and foreign markets as well as a luxury market created by their own
increasing number. They built mansions with ornated gardens, and
stuffed them with refined furniture and art. They enjoyed lavish
clothes and gourmet cooking. These constituted a new element
in Chinese urbanity — comfortable living within the urban areas.
Paralleled to this were flourishing urban entertainment consisting of
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 173

popular and professional performers, chess masters, fortune-tellers,

acrobats, story-tellers, puppeteers, and not the least, restaurants, tea
and wine houses, and brothels.
The burst of urban entertainment was also the result of a new
municipal management philosophy. The highly regimented ward or
fang system in the form of night curfew was gone officially in 1063 AD
in the North Song capital Kaifeng. It gave great freedom of movement
to all, a major dynamic in the transformation of the Chinese city
and its urbanism. Streets were alive with people and entertainment
into the night. In Chinese urban history, Kaifeng provides the first
example of a popular agglomeration of land uses in which commer-
cial and amusement functions were predominant. By the middle of
North Song, the closed fang system had disappeared completely in
Song cities. Thus, in major cities, new entertainment centers, or wazi,
had evolved around covered or sheltered performing stages known
as goulan. In Kaifeng, there were about 50 goulan in its largest wazi.
Four of the goulan can accommodate an audience of several thousand
persons. Centered around the goulan were stalls, street operas and
other street performances, restaurants, tea and wine houses and even
brothels. Kaifeng had six wazi (Fig. 9.3). Its largest, the Zhouxi wazi
extended for a length of 1 km. In the capital of South Song, Linan,
there were as many as 12 wazi (Fig. 9.5). Some of the wazi operated
24 hours a day. The large number of such entertainment centers
marked a very different urban life for the large urban mass unseen
in the predominant administrative city of previous dynasties. Put in
another way, we may say that the Song had espoused a new urban
civilization in China.
This new urbanity derived from trade and manufacture had
overshadowed former urbanism that was based mainly on the
dynamics of administration. The lower classes constituted the larger
proportion of urban populace of Song cities. This new phenomenon
was also significant for inducing new changes in the nature, organi-
zation and land use structure of the Song city. It logically meant a
new kind of rural-urban relation as well. Whereas the administrative
city of the Han and the Tang acted principally as the central place
or service center for its surrounding rural/agricultural hinterland,
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

174 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 9.3. Major Markets’ Shopping Streets and Entertainment Centers of Kaifeng
in Late North Song.
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 175

in the mercantile state of the Song, the urban agglomeration was

less dependent on the agricultural hinterland, and relatively more
isolated from the countryside, and differed sharply from the rural
area in the mode of life and many other human dimensions.
Hence its populace were exposed to more risk and uncertainty as
an individual. Greater mutual help was therefore sought through
associations of men of the same origin (home town) or same trade,
leading to the mushrooming of guilds, trade and clan associations.
At the same time, there was more religious tolerance as well.
We may summarize the major changes in Song urbanity as
follows:

1. dissolution of residential wards and their replacement by open

streets;
2. rigid regulation of movement and activity of urban residents
gave way to increasing citizen freedom;
3. confined urban markets that opened for a half day disappeared
and shopping streets emerged with some shops opened 24 hours
a day;
4. both residential and commercial land uses took on a linear
pattern, i.e. clustered along main streets, canals and river courses;
5. a new “urban household” emerged, with rights and responsibil-
ities different from the rural population; the concept of urbanites
first appeared;
6. city life had changed, with rich cultural and amusement activities
offered mainly by private enterprises or individuals;
7. the setting up of a fire fighting system as fire hazards became
serious in the compact, high density and bustling city;
8. first attention to city “greening” as tree planting along main
streets became one of the planning standards;
9. the appearance and application of fire-arms changed the design
of the city wall; walls were more made of stone or lined with
bricks, with buttresses, archery towers and deep moats;

In spite of the above changes, the palace city remained as the focus
of Kaifeng and Linan, and the administrative quarter served as the
center of lesser cities.
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

176 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

The new urbanism and city structure of the Song are being
illustrated by Kaifeng, Linan, Pengjiang and Mingzhou.

City Examples
A. Kaifeng
The city was known as Bianzhou in the Tang and its first wall
was constructed in 781 AD. Located at the transshipment point
between the Grand Canal and Huanghe (Fig. 9.2), it was strategic
in maintaining the flow of grains from South China to support the
Tang capital Changan. Hence, it was made a zhou, with 100,000
soldiers stationed. Since 918 AD, it served as a capital city in the
Five Dynasties. In Later Zhou, it was further expanded with a large
second wall that enclosed a new area three times the size of the inner
or old city. From 960 AD to 1126 AD, it was the capital of North Song.
Located on a flood plain with little relief for defence, Kaifeng
needed to be bounded by strong walls. It thus had three high walls
each with a deep moat (Figs. 9.3 and 9.4), reflecting its defenseless
geography, the new military technology as well as frequent threats
of war from the north.
The city is roughly square. Its total area within the outer wall
is about 32 km2 . Its 3-layered arrangement with the palace city
at the center, set the rule for later national capitals. The Palace
City (0.26 km2 ), also called the Grand Interior, combined the palace
quarter and the administrative center of the central government into
one unit, and laid out in the Confucian convention of “Audience
Hall in the front and Royal Residence at the back”. The symbolism
of the capital as the seat of imperial centralization, i.e. Mandate of
Heaven, and the orderliness of the rites, have thus remained and
strengthened.
The Inner City (4.5 km2 ) was Bianzhou of the Tang. Within it,
administrative and military offices spread to many locations, though
there is a concentration on the two sides of the Imperial Way —
central axis of the whole city. The ritual institutions, the Altar and
Temple are located at the bottom right and left-hand side of the
Inner City following “Kao Gong Ji” (Fig. 9.3). However, the Inner
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 177

City is also full of commercial and entertainment establishments

located in clusters of like trade and activities, including the gold
and silver exchange, cloth and garment street, pearl street and three
large brothels. At Zhouqiao (see note in Fig. 9.3), named after a bridge
over the Bian River, there was the city’s largest night market.
Four tributaries of the Huanghe flowed through the city (Fig. 9.3).
The busiest, the Bian River carried 90% of the water-borne cargo of
the city, made up mainly of grains and salt to supply the large army
and Court. The annual throughput of grains amounted to 3–7 million
stones. Along the Bian River and the main street that ran parallel to
it were the busiest warehousing and commercial areas of the whole
city. Qing Ming Shang He Tu ( ) is a true representation
of this part of the street scene of the time. It shows the height of
the buildings and high density of commercial and entertainment
land uses as well as the large pedestrian crowds and street side
activities (Figs. 9.4a–d). There were two formal markets in the Inner
City in the Tang dynasty. They disappeared after mid North Song.
Markets were located all over the city, often inter-mingled with
residences and adopted a linear form along roads and rivers. The
Song government also spread out relevant tax offices in different
areas (see note 6 of Fig. 9.3). Commercial tax collected in Kaifeng
led the country. There were two main items of tax: tariff on goods
imported into the city and warehousing tax. In 1015 AD, the total of
such taxes were 400,000 strings. In 1085 AD, they went up to 550,000
strings. These figures have not included government monopolies.
The latter reported employing 8,000–9,000 craftsmen producing
luxury items for the imperial and noble families, while another 37,000
craftsmen worked in workshops to produce weaponery for the army.
Private crafts were highly specialized and located mainly in the
Outer City.
The road system was centered at the Palace City. The Imperial
Way to its south was the widest, i.e. 300 m. Most roads were
15-20 m, much narrower than streets of Changan of the Tang.
Entertainment centers, i.e. wazi ( ), were found well-spread in
the Inner and Outer City. Shops and restaurants were everywhere,
though more concentrated along the Bian River and the main
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

178 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 9.4. Detail of Qingming Shanghe Tu. (a) Example of a 3-Storey Restaurant
(b) Shops and Stall on Bridge (c) A Drugstore and (d) Artisans Working in a Street.
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 179

Fig. 9.4. (Continued)

January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

180 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

shopping streets shown in Fig. 9.3. Kaifeng was also a cultural and
educational center. The Imperial University had an enrolment of
3,800 students in 1102–1106 AD. There were lesser grade schools
that covered disciplines other than Confucian classics, e.g. martial
art, medicine, law and mathematics. It was also cosmopolitan in
religious belief with more than 913 temples and other religious
buildings, and a population of Buddhist and Daoist monks and nuns
of 25,000.
With the demise of the ward system, open streets replaced ward
walls. House doors and shops opened directly onto streets. There
were more multi-storeyed structures as well. Hence, a system of fire
watch and fire fighting had been organized as early as Later Zhou.
The whole city was divided into 14 fire zones in the Inner City and 8
in the Outer City, with fire stations set up at 450 m interval from each
other. Each was equipped with equipment and officers to keep a close
watch from watch-towers. A total of 3,400 soldiers were deployed
full-time for fire fighting.
In place of the ward system, the Palace and Inner City were
divided into 10 urban districts, the xiang ( ), with 121 sub-districts or
fang. The Outer City had 4 districts and 15 fang. In 1021 AD, there were
35,550 households in the Palace City, 62,200 in the Inner City and
about 100,000 in the Outer City. These, plus about 400,000 soldiers
and officials, bolsted a total population of over 1 million — the largest
in the world at the time.
As previously mentioned, Kaifeng followed a greening policy
from Later Zhou. Its canals and main streets were lined with
willows and flowering plants. Near the Palace City was also a large
imperial park — Gen Yue, 600 x 500 m in size, with rocky hills con-
structed by large boulders taken from various places in South China
(Fig. 9.3).

B. Linan (Present Day Hangzhou)

The city was the seat of Hangzhou in the Sui Dynasty. In the Ten
Kingdoms, it served as capital of the state of Wu. In North Song, it
was South China’s largest silk industry center, brewery center and
printing center. A maritime customs office was set up in 989 AD.
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 181

From 1129 AD, it was made the capital of South Song and renamed
Linan, meaning temporary peace, until the fall of the dynasty.
The city differs from all Chinese national capitals in (1) having an
irregular, elongated kidney shape, instead of either roughly square
or rectangular, and (2) the whole city is oriented northwards, i.e.
the main palace gate, audience hall and ritual buildings face north
(Fig. 9.5). As with its new name, this peculiar plan underlies South
Song Court’s wishful thinking for a return to Kaifeng and to recover
the lost territory in North China.
Compared to Kaifeng, it is a much smaller city (10 km2 ) and is
just a two-tier city, i.e. there is only the Palace City and the Outer
City. The Palace City was located at the southern tip on higher relief
and oriented towards the north. The Outer City was strongly walled
with many defensive structures (Figs. 9.5 and 9.6). The city was very
cramped, as within it lived 700,000–800,000 people. Outside it, the
suburbs (10 km2 ) were also very densely populated. Including the
suburbs, the city had a population of about 1.5 million.
Like Kaifeng, craft and commercial activities, in particular pro-
cessing activities, spread to almost every part of the city, forming
clusters around bridges, along canals and main roads. Those that
required large bulk, like vegetable, fish and rice markets were located
outside the wall near city gates. There was increasingly high density
use of space by multi-storeyed dwellings that face directly onto
streets rather than courtyards. It was also bustled with street art
performers and 12 entertainment centers inside and outside the wall
(Fig. 9.4).

C. Pengjiang (Present Day Suzhou)

Pengjiang was the only metropolis in South China from the Warring
States to West Han. In the Tang, it was still the largest trading
center in South China, much more prosperous than Hangzhou. In
the 10th year of the reign of Heinin of North Song, commercial
tax collected in the city reached 77,000 strings. In 1113 AD, the city
was renamed Pengjiang fu. When the Jin army swept southwards in
China, Pengjiang was largely laid ruin. It took almost half a century
for it to redevelop into its previous significance.
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

182 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 9.5. Administrative and Commercial Landuse of Linan (Hangzhou) in South

Song.
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 183

Fig. 9.6. Details of Linan, the Captial of South Song as Presented in Chinese
Classics.

As China’s economic center shifted south in South Song,

Pengjiang and the new capital Linan formed the two major
metropolises and cultural centers of the country. Jiangnan (South
of Yangzi) was the major rice-bowl of China, and Pengjiang served
as the main distribution hub, leading to its thriving commerce. The
fu government carved the city’s layout in a stone tablet in 1229 AD
(Fig. 9.7). It is China’s earliest surviving city plan. The city was largely
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

184 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 9.7. Redrawn of Plan of Pengjiang of South Song from an Engraved Stone.
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 185

rectangular and oriented in a N-S direction, with a total area of about

10 km2 . The seat of the fu government was located in the “inner
city”, housing the fu’s administrative functionaries in its southern
part. Its northern part was mainly residential. The city was divided
into numerous fang which had no separation wall and were indeed
minor urban subdivisions. Shops lined the sides of open streets, with
the largest commercial area in the northwest of the city. As the city
was located on the floodplain of Lower Yangzi, canals traversed the
city and were linked up by a maze of 398 bridges. In fact, water
traffic was the predominant form of intra-city transport, hence the
city was nicknamed “Venice of the Orient”. Fig. 9.7 also shows the
important Confucian institutions in the city, e.g. the examination
hall, Confucian Temple and other educational setup.

D. Minzhou (Present Day Ningbo)

Minzhou is one of the great seaports of the Song. It was opened to
maritime trade since the Tang. Lying at the confluence of three rivers,
it was well situated for tapping its rich hinterland of a silk weaving,
tea growing, porcelain making and iron smelting country. In North
Song, Mingzhou was a busy international port with permanent trade
commissions from Persia and Korea, imperial offices of customs and
navigation and a thriving shipbuilding industry (Fig. 9.8). At its peak
in North Song, the city annually built about 600 large ships that were
procured by the state, or about 40% of the government requirement,
ranking as China’s largest ship-building center. It also supplied silk
to Korea and Southeast Asia.

E. Cities in the Xi Xia, Liao and Jin

Most of the bordering states of the Song in the north had adopted
the Tang system of central government and district administration,
at least in that part of the state inhabited mainly by the “Han”
people. For example, the Jin state was divided into 179 zhou and
862 xian. Thus it had 1,350 zhou and xian level cities that served as
administrative seats. The examination system was also adopted for
appointments of “Han” and Qidan people to civil service. The Jin
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

186 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 9.8. Minzhou Port (Ningbo) of North Song.

followed the Tang and Han ways in order to legitimize their rule.
They also finally moved the capital to Zhongdu (present day Beijing)
and used it thereafter for 60 years as the state capital. Zhongdu was
planned following closely the rules of “Kao Gong Ji” and had an area
of 22 km2 , with a 3-tier city structure following Kaifeng. However, it
did not have the bustling commercial and amusement activities of the
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

Song Renaissance and the New Urbanity 187

Song capital. Thus, it had a lot of empty space within the outer wall.
The Jin capital was mainly an administrative and military center,
with a population of around 200,000. The same applies to the capital
of the Xi Xia (Qingxiang fu) and its southern capital — Nanjing.

Conclusion
Although the Song emerged out of a century-long military war-
lordism since late Tang as a much weaker and smaller empire com-
pared to the Tang and Han dynasties, it had undergone two profound
processes that distinct it as a great dynasty. One is dubbed as a
“medieval economic revolution” by Roberts (1999), which produced
a mercantile state very close to the early capitalism of 18th century
Europe. The other is a Chinese Renaissance that had led to a “new
world” of enlightened and liberal intellectual life in China (Gernet,
1985). Though still important in their administrative functions, Song
cities had been carried by these two currents which had shattered
the regimentation and physical confinement of the two basic urban
institutions or urban fabrics of the traditional Chinese city — the
residential wards and official markets. New citizen freedom allowed
manufacturing, trade, commerce and entertainment activities to
breach the confines in “time” and “space” within the Song city. The
scale of commercial land use that sprawled along the main streets in
either Kaifeng or Linan, and the huge and numerous wazi found in
these cities, signified not just the coming of new land use dynamics,
but also a new urbanity and a new urbanite. The notion of what is
“urban” had henceforth a new meaning and a new content. China
had registered for the first time some degree of separation of urban
from rural.
Therefore, from the Song Dynasty onwards, the urban economy
and urban populace as generally understood since the 19th century
in the West have become integral parts of the Chinese urbanization
process and formed one of the key dynamics in the Chinese city
structure. Amid these new surges, Confucianism in Song had been
modified. As “practical rationalism”, it had not been a hindrance to
further surge of industrial and commercial activities in the city, nor
January 13, 2010 17:15 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch09 FA

188 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the development of science. In the reverse, we have witnessed the

embrace of Confucianism and the traditional administration of the
Song to these new usages. One indicator to this is that the dynasty
had led the world in science and technology in yielding the three
major inventions in ancient history, i.e. gun powder, the magnetic
compass and wood-block printing. Obviously, in the Song there had
been the rise of a new urban culture and a new urban populace,
though its value system remained Confucian.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Chapter 10

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and

Resurgence after the Yuan Dynasty

Urban Downturn in the Yuan

The Mongols was one of the tribes that originated from the Dong Hu
in Manchuria. They shared a common language with the Xianbei and
Qidan, and first appeared in Chinese text as Xiwei in the 6th century,
occupying a small territory north of the Qidan. The Turks called them
“Tartar”, a name that remained in some Western literature. They
were relatively obscure during the Northern and Southern Dynasties
and the Tang Dynasty. Their world fame owed much to their leader
Temujin who united various small Mongol tribes in 1206 AD and
claimed himself Genghis Khan — the Great Khan. In 1210–1240 AD,
his son, Ogodei, overran the states of Xi Xia, Jin, Korea, and the
whole of Central Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe till the Adriatic
Coast. Ogodei was succeeded by his brother Mongke who ordered
his nephew Khubilai to continue the attack on South Song and the
state of Nanzhao. Khubilai was elected Khaghan in 1260 AD. Under
him the last hold of South Song was wiped out in 1279 AD.
As early as Mongke’s reign, Khubilai was entrusted the admin-
istration of North China. In 1260 AD he adopted a Chinese reign
title, i.e. Yuan ( ), in his claim on the Mandate of Heaven and
inheritance of the dynastic rule of China. Besides, he used many
Chinese advisers and took great interest in Chinese culture. The
most prominent Chinese officials he used are Guo Zhouqing and
Liu Bingzhong. They helped him to lay out a Chinese-styled capital
at Kaifeng (Shangdu) and advised him that he could win China “on

189
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

190 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 10.1. The Mongol Empires, 1294.

horse-back” but could not like-wise effectively rule it. In 1264 AD, he
transferred his capital to a newly constructed city — Dadu (present
day Beijing). By 1270 AD, the huge Mongol empire that stretched
from Korea to the Danube was splited into four Khanates: the
Chinese (Yuan), Turkistan, Russian and Persian (Fig. 10.1). Thence
the Yuan became a separate Chinese state distinct from the other
Khanates. Formally the Yuan Dynasty dates from 1276 AD to 1369
AD. It lasted 89 years, with seven emperors, though North China
was under the Mongol Dynasty as early as 1230 AD.
The Mongols were feared killers of the steppes who pledged to
wipe out any city that resisted their conquest. Their initial practice
in North China was also one of plunder and destruction. There
was even a proposal to turn North China into a huge pasture.
Their behavior was however tempered by a sinicized Qidan, Yelu
Chucai, who succeeded in persuading the Mongols to accept some
form of Confucian rule there. Khubilai was even more practical
in accepting advice from the Confucians, such as adopting many
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 191

Chinese dynastic practices, supporting agriculture in North China

and claiming legitimacy of a Chinese dynasty as the holder of the
Mandate of Heaven.
Previously, upon Yelu’s advice, Ogodei had re-established the
Imperial College. Later, Khubilai set up the second imperial college.
A temple to Confucius was constructed in Dadu (Beijing) in 1306
AD (Fig. 10.2). The civil examination was revived in 1315–1335
AD, and again in 1342 AD. Khubilai’s pro-agricultural policies and
the fact that most South Song cities offered little resistance to the
Mongols, left South China generally undisturbed. It remained the
most prosperous economic region of China in the Yuan, where
ceramics and silk production continued to flourish. Khubilai also
rehabilitated and extended the Grand Canal to Dadu by building
the 250 km-long Hui Tong He, and 164 km long Tong Wei He. As
a consequence, the population which had dropped from about
100 million in the old territories of the Jin and South Song, to 55.2
million in the early years of the Yuan, picked up again. The highest
record was 87.5 million (Table 10.1), of which 91% was found south
of the Huai River; while there were only 4 million in North China
and 1.4 million in Sichuan.
The “Mongol peace” that had resulted from the large empire
and an efficient system of imperial highways, with over 1,500 postal
stations connected China to Persia and Russia, allowed trade and
direct contact between China and the West. Important inventions
of China crucial to new developments in Europe in the 14th and
15th centuries had been transferred to the West. These included the
magnetic compass, stern-port rudder, windmill, mechanical clock,
blast furnace, gunpowder, block printing and the segmental arch
bridge. China had also received new crops (sorghum, carrot, grape
wine, cotton) and new techniques (distillation, refining of sugar,
making of thin glass) from the West.
However, urbanization was in general at a low ebb under Yuan
rule, much below the level achieved in the Song. One of the major
reason was war damages. When the Yuan subdued the Jin Dynasty,
the population of North China declined by 60–70%. As a measure to
control the urban population, the Yuan set up a metropolitan office
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

192 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 10.2. Layout of Dadu of Yuan Dynasty 1341–1368 AD.

in the more prosperous perfectural (fu) seats. In North China there

were only 24, while in South China 77 prefectures had such offices,
Zhejiang alone had 30, reflecting the devastation of North China and
a north-south population shift. Not only that the city number had
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 193

Table 10.1. Population in the Yuan and the Ming.

Dynasty Year (AD) Prefecture (No.) County (No.) Population (mil.)

Yuan 1279–1368
1279 392 1127 55.3
1330 61.8
1351 87.5
Ming 1368–1644
1368 399 1144 63.8 (57.4)∗
1381 67.8 (59.9)
1398 71.8 (63.4)
1491 92.0 (81.0)
1552 96.2 (84.6)
1600 98.3 (86.2)
1626 100.0 (87.3)

*Figure in bracket exclude those outside the population registrar.

Source: Zhao and Xie (1988).

decreased, city-size was also much smaller in general. The estimated

population size for the five grades of cities are:

1. National capital, Dadu, about 500,000;

2. Important metropolises: Hangzhou and Pengjiang (Suzhou),
200,000–300,000;
3. Important trade centers: e.g. Huzhou, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and
Langqing, 50,000–150,000;
4. 4th grade cities: e.g. Jiaqing, Songjiang, Jiangyin, 10,000–50,000;
5. County seat in South China and prefecture-seat in North China,
5,000–10,000.

Although the Yuan retained superficial features of the Song

government such as court ceremonies and Confucian rituals, the
dynasty was basically non-Chinese and used mainly non-Chinese in
the civil and military services. The Chinese, particularly “Southern
Chinese”, were placed in the lowest two of the four categories of the
Yuan population:
First rank: Mongols ( ). They were people of the “ruling
house”, “blood of the dynasty”;
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

194 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Second rank: “Semu” ( ), people other than the “Han”,

mainly Arabs and Eurasians;
Third rank: “Hans” ( ), including Hans, Qidan, and Jurgens,
i.e. residents of the former Jin Dynasty in China north of the Huai
River, Koreans and the “barbarians” of Yunnan and Sichuan
Fourth rank: “Nan people” ( ) (Southerners, also called bar-
barians) were newly conquered people of South Song.
The above division of peoples under the Yuan was obviously
based on considerations of regional location, political inclination and
the degree of allegiance towards the new dynasty, rather on a rigid
racial line. Thus various minority peoples in the Jin Dynasty, Korea,
Yunnan and Sichuan were blended into one category — Hans, while
citizens of South Song were treated as “barbarians” — the lowest
class, for their long-held resistance to Mongol rule. “Han” people in
the Yuan referred therefore not to a “race”.
A racial policy was applied which prohibited Mongols from
marrying the Chinese (the “Han” and “Nan” peoples) and discour-
aged them to associate with the Chinese. Besides, the Chinese were
prohibited from engaging in trade. The more lucrative industries
and trading activities became government monopolies, including
tea, liqor, vinegar, gold and silver. The only exception is ceramic
production. Large scale ceramic production by private workshops
scattered throughout the country. In Jingdezhen alone there were
about 3,000 kilns. Ceramics, too, formed the largest export commod-
ity. These anti “Han” and anti-trade policies hindered the growth of
cities and urbanization.
Dadu, the capital of the Yuan, underlied Khubilai’s intention of
sinicization. Planned by Lui Bingzhong and an Arabian, the city was
constructed in 1267–1271 AD following the principles prescribed by
“Kao Gong Ji”, i.e.

1. Temple on the left and Altar on the right;

2. Audience Hall in the front and Residential Chamber at the back;
3. a 3-layer city with the Palace City at the center,
4. southward orientation,
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 195

5. major buildings and institutions are aligned with a central axis,

and
6. the wall is square and has three gates on each side (Fig. 10.2).

Besides the Confucian principles, Daoist ideas had also been

adhered to, e.g. the elimination of the central gate in the north wall
to avoid the ill ethers. At the same time, the spirit of multi-racialism
dominated the internal decoration of the main palaces and halls, as
well as the deliberate dedication of the main palaces to the Mongols
and Uighurs. Different from conventional Chinese national capitals,
the administrative and military offices of Dadu were more scattered
and markets were fewer and more concentrated. In Dadu, trade was
mostly handled by about 2000 semu (alient) merchants. The city was
also full of temples, mostly Tibetan lama temples. Within its large
area of 49 km2 , it held a peak population of 500,000, including the
Court and the army. As such, most of the northern part of the Outer
City was empty (Fig. 10.2). It is thus the national capital of a united
China with the smallest population in China’s long dynastic history
since the Han.

Military and Economic Revival Under the Ming

Khubilai died in 1294 AD. He was succeeded by Chengzong. In
the 39 years that followed, the dynasty was wrecked 6 times by
succession crisis as the Yuan (Mongol aristocracy) had no clear
succession rules. Besides, each new emperor had to follow an ancient
custom of presenting gifts to members of the ruling house, leading to
serious financial problems. The unequal treatment of the four classes
of people had led to political instability. There were repeated large
scale natural calamities. For example, in 1344 AD, the Huanghe burst
its banks several times. Peasant uprising of the White Lotus and
the Red Turbans led to the break-up of the Yuan into a number of
smaller polities. One of them, under Zhu Yuanzhang, united those
in South China. He then launched a northern expedition to route out
the Mongols in Dadu, which he succeeded in 1368 AD. In that year
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

196 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

he set up a new dynasty — Ming ( ), and established a new capital

at Yingtian (present day Nanjing).
The Ming lasted from 1368 AD to 1644 AD, a period of 276 years
with 16 rulers. It was said to be a period of reconstruction, stability
and general prosperity. It demonstrated the continued vitality of the
Chinese tradition of Confucianism after the lapse in the Yuan, such
that the Qing Dynasty that followed owed much of its success to the
firm social and institutional foundations of Ming built upon a new
Confucianism (Schirokauer, 1991).
Gernet (1985) divides Ming history into three periods. The reign
of 56 years (1368–1424 AD) of Hongwu and Yongle was a period of
expansion or military resurgence and economic reconstruction. The
rebellions of the Red Turbans since 1355 AD marked the failure of
the Yuan in maintaining China’s rural economy and population, in
spite of its superficial respect to Confucianism. Frequent major floods
of the Huanghe in 1327–1344 AD (result of lack of maintenance and
attention to water works), inflation of the paper currency, disorder in
the administration, rapacity of the Mongol and Muslim officials, and
bad climates were seen as evidence of the withdrawal of the Mandate
of Heaven from the Yuan. It provided opportunities to one of the Red
Turban leaders — Zhu Yuanzhang, to found the new Ming dynasty at
Nanjing in 1368 AD. Soon, the Ming army recaptured Dadu, and then
the whole of China proper. It further annexed Yunnan, Manchuria
and Annan, crossed the Gobi, and sacked Karakorum. In short, the
Ming succeeded in establishing Chinese authority from Hami to the
Sungaria River by 1406 AD. Its frontier had extended much further
than that of the Yuan, as it had included Vietnam (Fig. 10.3). Besides,
the new dynasty had sent seven large maritime expeditions, the
largest was composed of 317 ships and 27,870 men, to Southeast Asia,
India, the Middle East and East Africa, and to the Cape of Good Hope.
It had given back China the power and prestige abroad that were lost
after Mid Tang five to six centuries ago, as well as demonstrated the
overland and maritime sides of the capability of the Chinese world.
At the same time, early Ming was also a period of material
reconstruction that had restored China’s material prosperity to
the heights of the Song. There was a record of 40,987 projects
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 197

Fig. 10.3. Extent of Ming Dynasty about Mid 15th Century.

undertaken by the government, including irrigation, terracing and

land reclamation in China’s south and southwest extremities and
coastal lowlands; the planting of over 1,000 million trees; put up or
relined with bricks 564 city walls; the reconstruction and extension
of the Great Wall to Xinjiang from 1403 AD; and repairing, deepening
and adding a system of locks to the Grand Canal such that it could be
used throughout the year for big boats. The population of the Ming
had therefore increased and the economy revived, paving the way
for peace, stability and prosperity of mid Ming (Table 10.1).
In 1425–1590 AD, the Ming adopted a withdrawal and defensive
foreign and military policy after a critical defeat by the Mongols in the
“Temu Incident” of 1449 AD. This was coincided with its retirement
from the maritime side. In the north, the Mongols and Oirats, and
along the coast, Portuguese and Spanish, and increasingly, Japanese
pirates (wokou) had posed threats to peace and security. Prohibition
of coastal trade started from mid Ming and lasted until the end of
the dynasty. In the north, the extension and strengthening of the
Great Wall continued for over 200 years since 1403 AD. To reinforce
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

198 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the Great War, nine border garrison towns were systematically

constructed, adding to the Ming a new dynamic in city building
and a new city type. Although most of the mid to late Ming rulers
were incapable, autocratic, allowing eunuchs to vie power, mid Ming
was a period described as China’s “Second Renaissance” after the
Song, in which marked economic, social and intellectual develop-
ments had occurred. Particularly note-worthy were the successful
reforms of Zhang Juzheng in 1575–1582 AD in education, civil
examination, taxation and the civil service, which put the state into
a sound financial position as well as leading to the prosperity of the
people.
Confucianism, the official faith, was promoted as early as the
reign of Hongwu. The first emperor of the dynasty not only had a
keen personal interest in Confucian classics, norms and sacrifices,
he also tried hard to attract Confucians to his court. Yongle con-
structed the Hall for joint sacrifices of Heaven and Earth in 1420
AD and made Zhu Xi’s interpretations of the Confucian classics
standards for the civil examinations. The highest level (national) of
such examinations were held 89 times in the Ming and produced
280 doctoral candidates — the main avenue for top civil and
military appointments. In addition, the Imperial College registered
an annual student enrolment ranging from several thousands to
tens of thousands. The peak record was 50,000 in one year. Direct
appointment to official posts of graduates from the College without
going through examinations formed another important avenue for
entering government service. Schools were publicly funded and
ran at all levels of the administrative hierarchy. This brought up
the literacy rate among the humble and less sophisticated. The
availability of cheap printed books, encyclopedias, and colored
prints had encouraged development in art and science in general.
Notable literary production are the famous fictions of San Guo Yan
Yi (Three Kingdoms, ), Xi Yiu Ji (Monkey King, ), Shui
Hu Zhuan (Water Margins, ) and Jin Ping Mei (The Golden
Lotus, ), and the coming of popular theatre such as Kun Qu
(Kun Opera, ) that centered near Suzhou in the 15th century.
Among the important collected works are Yongle Da Dian (Yongle
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 199

Encyclopedia) which has 11,095 volumes and 22,977 chapters, Materia

Medica (Medical Encyclopedia ) by Li Shizhen in 1578 AD that
contains 1,892 animal and mineral drugs and 8,160 prescriptions.
Interesting and important elements of the latter include instructions
on smallpox innoculation, treatment of syplilis, the use of kaolin,
stramonium, chaulmoogra oil, ephedrine and iodine. It is said to be
one of the factors that had boosted the population of China in later
centuries.
Yet Ming politics was one of complete centralism in the emperor.
To strengthen this, the Ming emperors created a Privy Council
from 1426 AD onwards to replace the regular organ of government.
Shenzhong (1572–1620 AD) even declined from formal audience of
the court for 40 years. As a consequence, power became vested
in eunuchs. Thus, imperial civil servants felt insecure, and many
became corrupt or disaffected to the central government. This had
led to the revival of intellectual thought and a new vistas in Neo-
Confucianism, first pioneered by Wang Shouren (1472–1529 AD).
Wang rested his argument on the thesis that everyone is endowed
with goodness and the innate capacity to know good, and preached
self-perfection in extending such a capacity to the utmost. External
doctrinal authority, including Confucian classics and words of the
sages have only secondary or auxiliary function, and that truth is in
and of the mind of a learned individual.
The last 50 years of the Ming (1590–1644 AD) showed the excesses
both of incapable rulers and their dis-interest in government, as
well as corruption and mal-administration by eunuchs. However,
the stability of Ming society under the influence of the gentry had
been such that the Ming might still be maintained if not because of:
(1) the world recession which affected the export of tea and porcelain
and the import of silver from Manila, and (2) the mistake to launch
and continue the expensive military campaign in Korea.

Urbanization in the Ming

The hand of government in urbanization in China was equally
evident in the Ming as in former dynasties as there was a strong
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

200 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Table 10.2. Number of Administrative

Divisions in Ming and Song.

Ming Song

Fu 140 30
Zhou 190 254
Xian 1138 1234
Total 1476 1518

parallel between the administrative and urban hierarchies. Including

the two capitals of Beijing and Nanjing, there were four levels of
administration. The three lower levels, in descending order, are in
Table 10.2.
The fu and zhou may be regarded as one level, i.e. the prefecture,
as the fu could be seen as a border prefecture with military strategic
significance. On top of the fu and zhou is the “Circuit”, responsible
for the supervision of the fu and zhou administration. The official seat
of these various levels of government, to some extent, marked the
significance of the settlement concerned. The continued prosperity
of South China may be marked by the imbalance in the distribution
of these prefecture-level administrative units in the north and the
south. The former had 138 and the later 849 units. This was also aided
by the colonization of the southwestern part of China, in present day
Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou which became part of China proper
in the Ming.
The first census of the dynasty was taken in 1370 AD which
provided a reliable basis for later estimations. The overall increase
of population in the Ming is obvious, especially in the first century
of the dynasty (Table 10.1). The population increased from 63.8
million to about 100 million in 1368–1552 AD. In the same period,
even the population in north China had experienced an annual
increase of 3.4%. Population increase was, however, checked by
devastating floods, pestilences, epidemics and female infanticide in
1430–1450 AD.
The Ming had registered little major technological advancements
in agriculture. However, the increase in acreage due to efforts in
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 201

early Ming as earlier mentioned and more intensive farming by

deep-ploughing and widespread application of early ripening rice,
had increased the overall yield. As rice constituted 70% of the
dynasty’s total grain output, it boosted the ability of the rural
economy in feeding the increased population. New crops from the
New World, i.e. maize, sweet potatoes and peanuts were introduced
in mid to late Ming as further support, though most of their impact on
boosting population growth could only be seen in the next dynasty.
The most notable development in the rural sector, however,
was the widespread of the cash crop of cotton. Under government
sponsorship, cotton was made an item in the crop rotation. In the
Yangzi Delta, it had even replaced rice as the predominant farm
product, where it took up 70% of the total acreage, leading to the need
for regional transfer of rice into the Delta. It had thence introduced
a new element in the rural economy — cottage industry based
on cotton spinning and weaving, as well as large scale trade and
manufacture of cotton goods in China’s urban hierarchy.
In general, the Ming is an agriculture-based economy and
government revenue was basically one of land tax plus income from
the salt monopoly. It was therefore important for the government
to carry out a general land survey and population census and to
apply restrictive measures on population migration. Official hurdle
to urbanization was thus obvious in early Ming. The population was
then classified into three types by birth, and had to inherit the status
and profession of their parents: ordinary people, mostly peasants
(min-hu, ), soldiers (jun-hu, ) and craftsmen (jiang-hu, ).
They were restricted to their village or hometown, as moving beyond
a distance of 100 li (50 km) required official sanction in the form of a
visa (lupei). In early Ming, the secondary sector was predominated
by state monopolies, an inheritance of the Yuan. It was recorded that
there were 300,000 master craftsmen, and 1.5 million assistants in the
state jiang-hu register. In early mid Ming or about the turn of the 15th
century, the population classification and household-control systems
began to tumble as desertion and illicit purchase of land by the rich,
the replacement/substitute of tax in kind and labor by payment in
silver, and the development of trade and private handicrafts that had
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

202 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

changed the status of many of the people. As a consequence, many

became landless and unemployed. They had to search for new means
of living in towns and cities or as tenant farmers.
The rehabilitation and extension of the Grand Canal was another
factor of city growth since the reign of Yongle. Canal transport had
since replaced sea transport for ferrying the annual grain supply of
4 million stones (1 stone = 160 lbs) for the upkeep of the capital —
Beijing, and the large garrison in Northeast China south of the Great
Wall. The Grand Canal ran for a distance of 1,500 km from Hangzhou
to Beijing (Fig. 10.2). About 10,000 boats were commissioned for this
special shipment, with 120,000 soldiers engaged. Since 1522 AD, each
grain boat was allowed to bring 16 stones of other cargo tax-free,
making the Canal the most important trade route of the country.
The decline of official monopolies in handicrafts and the replace-
ment of covie by tax in cash led to expansion of private industries,
especially cotton culture and cotton manufacture. The volume of
trade had thus expanded. It enhanced the growth of new industrial
and commercial cities in what is known as the “Second Commercial
Revolution in China”, which is characterized by: (1) an increase in
inter-regional trade in staples, (2) an increase in the growing of cash
crops, (3) the use of money, (4) an intensive division of labor in
major industries, e.g. in the making of ceramics in Jingdezhen, the
production of a bowl/vase involved 72 processes, (5) an increase
in the export of manufactures, e.g. ceramics, which amounted to
44.3 million pieces annually, and (6) an increasingly numerous in
number and significance of commercial and industry intermediaries
i.e. the growth of trade and manufacturing agents. However, late
Ming was not able to advance further into a capitalist economy due
to its gradual improvement in production techniques, the presence of
an excellent commercial network and a large supply of cheap labor.
These prevented the appearance of production bottlenecks which
might shift a craft into factory production.
Despite this, 33 major industrial-commercial cities had appeared
since the early 15th century and by the end of mid Ming, their number
had increased to 52. Besides, four industrial regions had emerged,
i.e. the Songjiang cotton textiles region; Suzhou — Hangzhou silk
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 203

weaving region; Wuhu textiles dyeing region, and Xuansan paper

region. Regional specialization had induced the expansion of trade,
often happened in administrative seats close to local resources or
at convenient transport nodes. These centers include four distinct
groups: the textiles cities, e.g. Nanjing, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Luan and
Chengdu; cities of the grain trade, e.g. Kaifeng, Jinan, Changzhou,
Jingzhou, Wuchang, and Nanchang; canal cities, e.g. Yangzhou,
Huaian, Jining, Dongchang, Linqing and Dezhou; and coastal port
cities, e.g. Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Guangzhou and Ningbo.
Besides these major trade and industrial centers, a lower, sec-
ondary tier of commercial-industrial townships had also mush-
roomed since mid Ming. There were a total of 166 cities and 205
zhens mainly located in South China. The cities were relatively small,
being settlements of 100–300 households, whereas the zhens were of
over 1,000 households, some even had more than 10,000 households,
e.g. Jingdezhen. Each such settlement usually specialized in one
industry/handicraft that ranged from silk, cotton, rice trade (includ-
ing milling), porcelain, salt making, iron or other metal refining,
paper making and publishing, wood/bamboo furniture/articles
making, and transport servicing. Along the border zones, particu-
larly in North China, a system of military settlements had been set
up, represented by the nine garrison towns along the Great Wall, and
the border horse-tea trade centers, e.g. Tianshiu (Fig. 10.3).
Compared to the Yuan, cities in the Ming had grown in size
as well as in number. At least five Ming cities had attained the
size of one million population, i.e. the two capitals of Nanjing and
Beijing and the largest trading metropolises and industrial centers of
Suzhou, Hangzhou and Kaifeng. Metropolises that had a population
of 300,000–500,000 were even more numerous.

Ming City Examples

A. Nanjing
The site of Nanjing was the capital of the State of Wu in the period
of the Three Kingdoms (220–581 AD). Emperor Hongwu entrusted
his chief adviser and fung-shui master Liu Ji in site selection and
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

204 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 10.4. Nanjing in Ming Dynasty.

the planning of the city which was composed of four tiers or four
walls: the Palace City, Imperial City, Inner City and Outer City. The
total area of the former three covered 43 km2 . If the Outer City was
included, the city area was 90 km2 . Both the Palace and Imperial City
could still be identified at the present (Fig. 10.4). They were roughly
square and formally laid out according to “Kao Gong Ji”. However,
the wall of the Inner City can only be partially identified and lies
west of the Imperial City. The Outer City was irregular in shape,
determined mainly by defensible heights in the form of a number of
hills and the course of the Qin Huai River on the outskirts of the Inner
City. The two ritual institutions, the Altar for Mountains and Rivers
and the Altar for Agriculture, lied outside the wall of the Outer City
(Figs. 10.4 and 10.5).
The bustling commercial and industrial activities of Nanjing
followed the trend of the Song, and was marked by busy trade
and commercial activities along the banks of the Qin Huai River
that flowed through the city, as well as the large site of the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 205

Fig. 10.5. Plan of Nanjing of Ming Dynasty Redrawn from Chinese Classics.

shipyard — Longchuan Shipyard which built the “treasure ships”

Zhenghe used in his seven maritime voyages (Fig. 10.4). The
shipyard was one of the largest three in the Ming. It had an annual
capacity for building 200 large ships.
Nanjing had a population of 280,000 in early Ming. At 1367 AD,
including the royal family and the army, it had 780,000. By mid Ming,
it had a population of 1.2 million — the largest city in China and
the world at the time. Like all major cities in the Ming, Nanjing
was planned into various land use zones with socio-economic
segregation in residential uses. Within its industrial quarters were
103 trades, and the number of state craftsmen amounted to 45,000.
Major trades include shipbuilding, textiles, paper and printing.
The commercial zones lied mainly along the Qin Huai River in
the southern part of the Outer City, where 13 major markets and
numerous entertainment centers and restaurants were found. Some
even overspilled to outside of the wall (Fig. 10.4).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

206 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

B. Beijing
The third Emperor Yongle moved the national capital from Nanjing
to Beijing in the middle of his reign. Construction of the new capital
started in 1403 AD. It took about 20 years and over 300,000 workers
to construct. Prior to that, the Grand Canal was opened in 1398 AD
as a major conduit to supply the capital’s construction and the grain
needs of its future population.
Beijing was constructed on the old site of Dadu of the Yuan,
making use of parts of its eastern and western outer walls, while the
southern outer wall was moved further south for about 2 km, and
the northern wall was new (Fig. 10.6). It followed the established
principles of centralism by locating the Palace (Forbidden) City at
the center, maintaining a southward orientation for the main gates,
and the rules of “Audience Hall in the front and Residence at the
back” and “Temple on the left, and Altar on the right”. The element
of centrality was further strengthened by a 7.5-km long central axis
that ran from the Bell and Drum Towers in the northern part of the
Outer City to Yongding Gate in the south wall of the Outer City.
In 1553 AD, a fourth wall, the New City, was added in order to
enclose the built-up areas of commerce, trade, and civilian residence
as well as the Altar of Heaven and Altar of Mountains and Rivers
that existed outside the outer wall. Altogether, Beijing had a total
area of 62 km2 within the walls of the New City and the Outer City
(Fig. 10.6).
In 1403–1404 AD, Yongle resettled 20,000 rich households, and
over 45,000 craftsmen from Nanjing into the city. In mid and late
Ming, the population of the city reached about one million.
As has been illustrated in Fig. 10.6, the layout of the city is very
formal. As the Forbidden City was the office and residence of the
emperor, its layout was symbolic of the abode of the Son-of-Heaven
where the positive and negative ethers of Yin and Yang interact.
It was protected by the Coal Hill from bad ethers from the north.
The curving water course of the Jin River in its south helped to
retain the positive or good ethers generated by the interaction of Yin
and Yang at the potent city center. The Imperial City served largely
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 207

Fig. 10.6. Layout of Beijing in Ming Dynasty 1573–1644 AD.

as headquarters of the central administration and accommodated

the main institutions for royal rituals. The Outer City served other
administrative purposes of the state, military, and metropolitan
governments. It also accommodated a number of markets that served
the Palace, Imperial, and Inner City. These three layers of the city
were arranged in a series of concentric squares in descending rank
order. The formality of Beijing marked the matured stage in the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

208 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

planning of China’s national capital that has started its evolution

in the Xia and codified in the “Kao Gong Ji”.
The odd shape of the city, when the New City was taken as part of
it, was mainly caused by the urgency and lack of funds to complete a
full fourth wall in face of impending Mongol invasion. The original
plan was to encircle the entire Outer City by the fourth wall which
would be extended northward in later times. This, however, was
proved unnecessary as there were many empty space in the New
City even in the later Qing Dynasty.

C. Linqing
Linqing is an example of a Ming canal city. Its wall, made of bricks
and measured nine li, was completed in 1449 AD. About a quarter of
its area was devoted to grain stores that could accommodate several
million stones. Beside the brick wall was a stone wall of about 20
li, the major area for industries and trades. The city had a very well
developed area of state kilns for making bricks and tiles that lined
30 km of the Canal. There were a total of 384 kilns producing for
imperial needs in the capital. It was decreed that every state grain
boat had to carry to the capital 40 pieces of bricks or tiles. In the
industrial quarter were 70-odd furriers, 73 cotton weaving, 32 silk
weaving workshops — all working to supply the Court. In late Ming,
the city had about 30,000 households and a large transient population
that boosted it as a medium-sized city of several hundred thousands.

D. Datong
It is one of the first group of fortified frontier cities, the garrison
towns for frontier defense commanderies in early Ming. The site
had served as one of the five capitals of the Liao, and a secondary
capital of the Jin before the Ming Dynasty. On the old site, General
Xu Da constructed a garrison city in 1372 AD.
The city was square, with a strong defensive wall coated with
brick layers and equipped with embrasured watch towers and a deep
moat. The wall was 6.5 km long. The palace of Prince Dai, Emperor
Hongwu’s 13th son, was located in the upper-center of the city. The
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 209

Fig. 10.7. Datong in Ming Dynasty.

two main streets cut at the city center, leading to the main gates of the
wall located at the cardinal points. Facing the palace was the office
and residence of the commander of the garrison. There were seats of
the prefecture and county officers as well as large government stores
for military supplies (Fig. 10.7). At its peak (1403–1424 AD), the city
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

210 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

had an army of 135,000 men, 1/12 of the total military strength of

the whole nation, and 51,000 horses and mules.
In 1450–1457 AD, a small fortified north city was added for
garrison soldiers. In 1457–1464 AD, the small east and south cities
were added to facilitate trade as the city was opened for border trade
in horse and tea since 1438 AD.

Conclusion: Autocratic Centralism Base on a Rural

Economy
Ming Dynasty’s show of territorial and military ambition in the
early years had been spectacular and successful. To some extent,
it had revived the pride and prowess of the Han and the Tang. This
expansionist period was however short-lived as later emperors of
the dynasty turned inwards — the maintenance of the Grand Canal
and other river and irrigation projects and a defensive frontier policy
in the form of reinforcing the Great Wall and avoidance of contact
and restrictions of trade with foreign countries. Though population
increase had been registered, it was a slow increase over the entire
dynastic period of 276 years, and it only achieved the level of peak
population of about 100 million, the total of the South Song and
Jin. This fact of almost no increase in a long period of 500 years
may be explained by a number of factors. The capacity of the rural
economy at the level of technology at the time had reached its
saturation. Besides, the crops and new medical and health advances
since late mid Ming had not yet become widespread and effective in
affecting the demographic process. In spite of these, since mid Ming,
urbanization had picked up again as the household classification
system had broken down and the new tax system had relaxed the
tie between the types of households to the land, to fixed professions,
and to their native locales. Though there is not yet any acceptable
estimates on the rate of urbanization in the Ming, Ming cities had
grown in size compared to the Song. The Ming too should have
achieved a higher level of urbanization.
The long term peace and spread of commercial farming, espe-
cially of cotton, were other dynamics for the increased volume
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch10 FA

Ming Dynasty: Urban Reconstruction and Resurgence After the Yuan Dynasty 211

of trade and private enterprises in manufacturing. All these had

boosted urban growth and the formation of new commercial and
industrial cities. Nevertheless, the major centers of trade and manu-
facture were usually seats of local or district administration, or even
seats of border military commanderies as well. This combined with
the political reality of the Ming — autocratic centralism, had brought
the principles of centralism, formality and the fulfillment of dynastic
roles in China’s tradition of Confucian city planning to a new height,
as demonstrated in the examples of the four cities.
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Chapter 11

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian

Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism

Qing Dynasty: Watershed in Chinese History

The Qing ( ) reigned from 1646 AD to 1911 AD, with a total of
ten emperors (Table 11.1). It is one of the long ruling dynasties in
Chinese history. The ruling house, the Manchus are decendents of
the Jurchens in Manchuria. It is a highly sinicized tribe little known
until Nurhaci united his people, organized them into companies of
300 men — the banners, and invented the Manchu characters. In 1616
AD Nurhaci declared himself Khan of the Jurchen and founded the
Late Jin state. He was succeeded by his son Abalai (r. 1627–1643 AD),
known as Wang Taiji or Taizong in 1636 AD. The latter changed the
dynastic title to the Qing. Both father and son had a great respect
for Confucian culture, and used Chinese advisers and generals in
the conquests in Manchuria. Indeed, the change of dynastic title was
caused by the traditional belief of Chinese quasi-science — the Five
Elements. The character “ming” of the Ming Dynasty symbolizes
fire, while the character of “Jin” symbolizes gold, and gold would
readily melt in fire. The new dynastic name of “Qing” symbolizes
water, an element that puts out fire. It is also a fact that the Manchuria
that they succeeded in taking over from the Ming had more “Han”
Chinese than Jurchens. They and the early Qing rulers relied very
much on Chinese bondservants (pao-i, ), who were Chinese from
Hebei and Shandong taken as slaves and servants of the Manchus
for generations. The bondservants were later confided with internal
administration of the Manchu Court, controled big government

212
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 213

Table 11.1. Periodization and Population of the Qing Dynasty.

Period Reign Year Population

(AD) (mils)

← Period I → Shunzhi 3 1646 88

18 1661 91
Peace and Prosperity Kangxi 1 1662 91
61 1712 124
Yongzheng 1 1723 124
12 1734 131
Qianlong 6 1741 159
40 1775 263
60 1795 302
← Period II → Decline Jiaxing 1 1796 298
25 1820 380
Daoguang 1 1821 381
20 1840 418
Semi-colonial Xianfeng 2 1852 440
11 1861 412
Tongzhi 13 1874 360
Guangsui 24 1898 396
Suntong 3 1911 409

monopolies and served as general advisers and special agents of

the Qing emperor.
The last Ming emperor hanged himself in 1644 AD as rebels
broke into Beijing. At that time, the Qing had 278 Manchu, 120
Mongol and 165 Chinese (bondservants) companies. They also had
modern fire arms furnished by the Chinese. However, what swung
the tide was the deflection of general Wu Sangui who was guarding
the strategic mountain pass that led into the Beijing Plain. Like
many other Ming generals and metropolitan administrators in North
China, Wu preferred the Qing to the rebels who adopted a policy of
“slash and kill” in dealing with former Ming officials and generals.
This was bolstered by immediate and reassuring pro-“Han” policies
of the Qing with the slogan: “Manchus and Hans are of one family;
the country should be united”. Shunzi (r. 1643–1660 AD) immedi-
ately organized a grand mourning service and funeral for the late
Ming emperor, promised tax concessions to peasants, declared no
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

214 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

distinction between Manchus and “Han” Chinese, invited all Ming

officials to continue their service alongside Manchu appointees,
and started an immediate revival of the civil examination system.
Moreover, the Manchus legitimized their military conquest as a
revenge for the late Ming emperor over the unruly rebels, and
claimed rightful inheritancy of the Mandate of Heaven. Kangxi
further proclaimed the three major matters of state on his succession,
i.e. suppression of the Three Feudatories, irrigation and flood control
projects, and the maintenance of the grain shipment between North
and South China. These early Qing rulers also showed respect to
Confucians and followed the claim on the Mandate of Heaven in
behaving according to the rites and general pro-agriculture policies
of Confucian teaching.
It is true that North China was won by the Manchus almost
without a fight. Though there had been notable resistance in the
South, the decendents and loyalists of the Ming were subdued by
1661 AD. What threatened the Qing were rebellions of the Three
Feudatories in 1674–1681 AD which covered almost all southern
China, including areas of rich salt, copper and gold mines, as well as
the last Ming loyalists, Zheng Chenggong and his son’s occupation
in Fujian and then in Taiwan in 1650–1683 AD. Zheng’s activities
seriously slowed down China’s coastal trading and maritime activ-
ities, and contributed directly to the policy of sealing off China’s
coast in 1644–1683 AD and a restrictive trade policy in the form
of the Canton System in 1757–1840 AD. The revolts of the Three
Feudatories, however, were weakened by internal strives and the
lack of popular support, as the feudatories were seen as traitors to
both the Ming and Qing ruling houses.
The significance of the Qing in China’s urban history lies with the
fact that the early Qing emperors had brought neo-Confucianism to
a new height and reinforced its key elements of orthodoxy, i.e. reign
of moral order, indoctrination, submission and autocracy (Gernet,
1985). Included in the list should also be the element of centralization
of power in the emperor, his chief missions in pacifying the peasantry
through projects to increase the farm acreage, water conservancy and
flood control, and attendance to critical rituals to induce the blessing
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 215

of Heaven and the imperial ancestors, i.e. all dynastic responsibilities

that had been established since the Tang Dynasty. In such matters, the
Qing had followed meticulously practices of former dynasties. One
example is the preservation of Beijing almost intact as the national
capital, as Qing emperors slept in the same chamber and used the
same audience hall as Ming emperors.
In consequence, the change of dynasty had brought little change
in terms of major military upheavals and socio-economic policies.
In the long reign of the Qing, there had been 135 years of peace and
economic prosperity from the 2nd to the 4th emperors (Table 11.1).
With a pro-agriculture policy, a despotic, though efficient, vigorous
and honest government, the new crops introduced, and the medical
and health advancement since late Ming, there had been raised
life expectancy and standard of living of the ordinary people and
unprecedented upsurge in agriculture, manufacture and commerce.
China was then ranked the top nation of the world in terms
of production, wealth and international trade. It also attained
the largest geographical territory in history, i.e. 11.5 million km2

Fig. 11.1. Extent of Qing Dynasty in Early 17th Century.

January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

216 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

(Fig. 11.1, compared to 9.74 million km2 of today) and a population

of 300 million (1/3 of the world, and the size of the European
population). It may be said that China had the best achievable in
terms of optimal population under pre-industrial technology. It may
also be said that Neo-Confucianism as a ruling philosophy and
value-system had hit its peak. Catterell and Morgan (1975) believed
that the Qing Dynasty, by sticking to the ideal Confucian rule, had
also exaggerated the “turning inward” policy of late Ming into an
absurd belief in isolation.
While the “enlightened” Neo-Confucian despots of 18th century
China had achieved internal peace and prosperity and heightened
orthodoxy and isolation, the Western world was undergoing major
transformations in the form of the Industrial Revolution and the
French Revolution. When Europe emerged out of these major social
processes in the early 19th century, they had acquired a new body
of technology, wealth, appetites and problems. On the military
side, seapower became supreme. When these new attributes of the
European nations were set against the pre-industrial context of China
and its inability at sea, they meant a new fate and historical path for
the Qing. The Opium War of 1840 AD marked the realization of
this new challenge in the form of a new disgrace for China. Thence
the force from outside entered the historical process of China, and
forced it to accept a semi-colonial arrangement. Urbanization as a
social process had for the first time in the country’s long history,
straddled into a new dualism, with the setting up of the Treaty Ports
as well as other open areas subjected to Western influences.
The Qing is therefore a critical period in China’s urbanization
process, within which Neo-Confucianism had hit its peak while in
its second half, Western influence had entered China in a scale and
with an impact hitherto unseen.

Qing Urbanization, Period I: Traditional Urbanism

A. Dynamics
1. Administration and frontier defense
As previously said, except for one or two modifications, e.g. forced
submission of “Han” Chinese in hair style and dress style, and the
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 217

new central government institution of the Assembly of Princes and

High Officials, the Qing took over the Ming system almost intact.
It had done even better than previous dynasties along the ideals
of Confucian rule, with a keen interest in sparing the peasantry of
undue tax burdens; put a brake on corruption by raising official
salaries and sponsored literary projects, such as compiling the His-
tory of the Ming, cataloguing painting and calligraphy of previous
dynasties, completing the Library of Four Treasures, publishing a
phrase dictionary, a dictionary of Chinese characters, and various
encyclopedia. Within the first half century of Qing rule, the hearts of
the literati and the peasantry had been won over. Peace and security
of the land prevailed, which had ensured continued productivity.
The geographical spread of new and adaptable crops filled up any
marginal land while the acreage continued to increase in 1653–1794
AD from 7.5 million to the ultimate 9 million acres.
Besides, in the reign of Kangxi to Qianlong, not only had
Manchuria been incorporated into the country, Xinjiang, Outer Mon-
golia and Tibet had also been put under effective control (Fig. 11.1).
Except for Tibet and Outer Mongolia which followed a local system
of administration, the other new territories were ruled by the same
system as China proper. The various levels of administrative seats in
the new lands represented therefore a process of urban incorporation
into the urban system of the country. Each of these settlements
carried out the prime urban role as an administrative seat with the
major functions of the promotion of agriculture, relief work in times
of natural disaster, acting as a central place for education for its
hinterland, and whenever strategically demanded, serving also as
a garrison station. In the homebase of the Manchus, 59 new county
seats had been added. In Northwest China, in Xinjiang, 30 new
county-seats, and Southwest China, 40 new county seats had been
added (Fig. 11.2). They represented a spatial extension of the urban
system as the empire had extended.

2. Development of inter-regional trade

Following the Ming trend, cotton culture and cotton industries,
and tea growing boomed. The net result was that 20–30% of the
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

218 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 11.2. Major City Types in Qing China.

agricultural production had entered into long distance trade, and

some were even exported to Europe. On average, over 10 million
stones of soya beans was exported from Manchuria by sea to
Shanghai. Zhejiang imported about 10 million stones of rice from
Hunan and Sichuan by river. Jiangsu and Zhejiang together received
5 million stones of rice from Anhui and Jiangxi. There were also
a large flow of grains and soya beans from both Northeast and
South China into the capital city region. The total of these flows
amounted to 36 million stones annually — 3 times the bulk registered
in the Ming. Of the total, 30 million stones were traded, or equal
to 21.6% of the total grains that entered the market. The Suzhou-
Songjiang area alone had also generated 30 million pieces of cotton
textiles annually for the rest of the country, of which 15 million
pieces went to the Northeast and Beijing, 10 million to Guangdong,
of which 1 million pieces were for export. The estimated total
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 219

long distance trade in cotton textiles was 45 million pieces, or

15% of the total national production in an average year. The large
volume of trade was facilitated by a sophisticated banking system
based on Shanxi exchange banks and the empire-wide network of
merchant groups. These activities and institutions were important
in promoting growth of cities and served as a non-administrative
and non-defense dynamic in Chinese urbanization that had become
obvious since the Song. Such merchant and craft guilds also formed
significant urban institutions of major cities, and the extravagancy
of rich merchants and bankers had contributed much to the glamor
of urban life in these cities.
In spatial pattern, the development of trade and commerce
followed much the spatial pattern of urbanization of the Ming
(Fig. 11.2), i.e.:

1. The Four Metropolises — which included the national capital

Beijing, the important trading hub and light industrial center of
the country — Suzhou, the Yangzi river trade hub of Hankou,
and a newly emerged southern center of iron industry and
ceramics — Foshan, that took advantage of local resources as well
as Guangzhou as the primary exporting port of the country.
2. The eight largest industrial/trading centers. These include the
four metropolises, plus Nanjing and Hangzhou, two of the three
centers of silk monopolies and large regional trading hubs that
had already been firmly established since the Song, Guangzhou,
for its important foreign trade activities, and Yangzhou, as the
major canal hub since the Tang and the Song.
3. Canal port-cities. Shown in Fig. 11.2 are other port cities along the
Grand Canal which carried 21.6% of the massive grain flow of the
country and about half of the silk flow originated in the Suzhou,
Hangzhou and Yangzhou areas.
4. Other industrial cities. These included Jingdezhen, Yiqing, and
Changhua of the porcelain industry.

Another element of the urbanization process was increasing

globalization in the form of foreign trade. When trade reopened
in 1683 AD in the four designated ports (Guangzhou, Chuanzhou,
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

220 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Ningbo, Shanghai), and then in 1757–1842 AD in the single port of

Guangzhou under the Canton System, trade with Europe surged.
As the largest textile producer of the world, Chinese silk, raw or as
pieces of manufacture, and cotton pieces were exported in bulk to
European countries, so were the traditional ceramics. Tea that the
Europeans developed as a habit of drinking since the 16th century
had also become a paramount export item in the mid 17th and 18th
century. Tea exports went up from 2.6 million English pounds (by
value) in 1683 AD to 23.3 million by 1762 AD. Therefore, in the 18th
century and up to the early 19th century, China was a de facto global
production platform. The employment and economic gains that this
entailed far exceeded the maritime customs tax it had generated, i.e.
500,000–1,800,000 taels (Table 11.2). Such a huge demand on Chinese
exports had led to an annual inflow of 10 million taels of silver from
Europe to balance the unequal trade between China and the West.
One such pointer is: of the 400 million silver dollars exported by
South America in 1571–1821 AD, at least 50% had gone into China to
finance European imports. The impact of China’s global production
role on its urbanization up to the middle of the 19th century was,
however, not very obvious, except in the four port cities, especially
in Guangzhou, which had been the port that was continuously open
in the entire period.

Table 11.2. State Revenue of the Qing (million taels).

Year Land and Salt Tax Commercial Othersc Total

Capitation Tax Tax

1653 21.3 (87%) 2.1 (9%) 0.1 (4%) 0 23.5

1685 27.3 2.8 0.1 0 30.2
1725 30.1 4.4 1.4 0 35.9
1766 29.9 (73%) 5.7 (14%) 5.4 (13%) 0 41.0
1850sa 30 5–6 4 1 40.5
1890–1995a 32 13 38 (23)b 5 89
1900–1910a 33 13 53 (39)b 4 103

a: Estimated annual figures.

b: Maritime tax (on external trade).
Source: Gernet (1985).
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 221

B. Neo-Confucian Urbanism
As China started to open its door to the West since mid 19th
century, more and more Western scholars took an interest in the
country, including issues like urbanization and urbanism. One of
their comments on these aspects is that “In China, true cities never
came into being, since the urban community that was their necessary
pre-requisites never existed” (Row, 1984, 4). Two broad explanations
have been offered: (1) Politically, the city in China was under direct
central administration which gave it no chance for urban autonomy,
as their primary function was that of “princely residence” or the
product of rational administration. (2) The value system of the
urban elite that gave attachment to the idyllic natural village and
emphasized collective action was inhibitive to the development of a
true urban community. These observations point to the plain fact that
Neo-Confucian urbanism was distinctly different from urbanism of
the West as defined by Web.
Indeed, Chinese urbanism, up to Period I of the Qing showed
distinct characteristics that may be summarized as follows:

1. Role of the city:

a. mainly administrative — as a central place serving an agricul-
tural hinterland;
b. defense as a secondary purpose — as a garrison town for
defending a frontier or helping to extend the empire.
2. Main features of the city:
a. seat of district government, i.e. its core being the different levels
of Yamen (government office);
b. institutions such as public schools, the examination hall,
and the Confucian temple (wen temple) for serving the civil
examination system and promoting Confucian values;
c. racial segregation, physically demonstrated as the bannerman
force and their dependents lived apart from the rest of the
urban population in discrete areas within fortified walls. This
was an element found in strategic cities including the national
capital — Beijing, Xian and Guangzhou, which underlied
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

222 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the racial element of the dynasty and the insecure feeling

of the Manchus, as the Manchu and “Han” population ratio
was 1:100.

Qing Urbanism, Period II: Semi-Colonialism

A. Global Dependence
There are a number of reasons that accounted for the decline of the
Qing and its increasing subjection to foreign powers since 1840 AD,
and its final downfall in 1911.
The increasing autocratic policy of Qianlong since 1775 AD and
his trust and delegation of power to Heshen (1750–1799 AD) marked
a turn in the efficiency of Qing rule. The lavish spending of Qianlong
in building the Grand Summer Palace and his expensive six tours
to South China, plus the long and expensive military campaigns in
Xinjiang and Tibet had depleted much the national reserve which
amounted to 70 million taels at 1786 AD. Heshen’s network of
corrupted officials and their organized national extraction had put
another heavy burden on the rural population. After Heshen’s death
in 1799 AD, the authority revealed that he had left a total asset of
about 100 million taels. Failure of the corrupt officials to attend to
water works and maintenance of flood control projects was part
of the reasons for the seven major floods in 1798–1820 AD which
led to much misery among the peasantry. Peasant revolts therefore
had flared. The largest scale was the White Lotus Rebellion of 1796–
1803 AD.
Added to the above problems of the normal “dynastic cycle” was
the “turning inward policy” of isolationalism, reinforced in the later
years of Qianlong when all former open ports except Guangzhou
(Canton) were closed. Such a policy is absurd, as foreign trade,
even under the rigid restrictive policies, had been to China’s benefit
until the 1820s. The restrictive practice only bolstered illegal trade,
particularly in opium, a new product that the British had found and
gradually developed since the late 18th century in order to tip the
China trade imbalance. China’s import of opium jumped from 200
chests in 1729 AD to 16,257 chests (each contained 120 lbs of opium)
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 223

Table 11.3. Foreign Commodity Trade of China, 1828–1904.

1828 1867 1884 1904

Exports: £ (Million)
24 19 19 36
%
Raw silk 11 30 27 26
Silk goods 6 4 7 5
Tea 47 64 42 12
Other agr. prod. 0 0 6
Cotton textiles 4 1 1 10
Others 28 (20) 1 23 41
Total 100 100 100 100
Imports: £ (Million)
25 22 21 51
%
Opium 46 50 35 10
Textiles 14 25 37 51
Rice & sugar 0 3 1 7
Cigarette & tobacco 0 0 0 1
Kerosene & gasoline 0 0 0 8
Raw cotton 22 X X X
Silver & bill of exchange 6 X X X
Metals 4 X X X
Others 8 22 27 23
Total 100 100 100 100

X: Breakdown unavailable or included in “others”.

Source: Meyer (2000).

in 1829 AD, leading to a heavy outflow of silver (Table 11.3). This

soon became a major cause of concern for the Qing in terms of
state finance as well as peasant discontent, as the drain of silver
had led to the devaluation of Chinese copper coins, i.e. from an
exchange rate of 1 tael of silver to 1,000 coins in 1820 AD to
2,200 coins in 1845 AD. Yet when directly confronted with Western
powers, the maritime incapability of the Qing resulted in humiliating
military defeats that deepened the subjection process. Henceforth,
European maritime supremacy opened the flood-gate for new
external forces in the China arena, turning it very quickly into a
semi-colonial state.
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

224 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 11.3. Major Ports and Chief Commercially Productive Areas in East Asia
1600–1940.

Since the 17th century, Western powers, mainly Britain, Spain

and the Dutch had extended their influence and control in Asia
through a series of conquest and colonialization (Fig. 11.3). One of
these is the establishment of Treaty Ports. Regarding the nature of
these ports, Murphey (1969) said:

“All colonial and semi-colonial ports in Asia were beach-

heads of an exogenous system planted by Western-
ers, … (They) had semi-monopoly of extra-local trade, of
machine manufacture, banking and insurance, capital mar-
kets, long distance transport, beginning of technical and
universal education, national press, intellectual ferment,
sterring or open manifestation of Asian nationalism …
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 225

The cosmopolitan or hybrid nature of these cities called

attention to the new role they played as meeting grounds
for long-delayed confrontation between Asia and the West
through the medium of maritime trade and as new foci for
the development of national unity …
Only in two great continental empires, India and China, was
the capital retained in the traditional inland seat, but in both
cases the largest cities and primary centers of modernization
remained the original colonial or semi-colonial ports —
Calcutta, Bombay and Shanghai.”

In China, different from other colonial and semi-colonial Asian

countries of the 19th and early 20th century, the subjection process
that first worked through the illegal trade of opium between late 18th
and early 19th century had later been defined by the Convention
of Nanjing of 1842 AD, and then the Treaty of Bogue in 1856 AD.
However, the process had allowed China to retain its sovereignty
over the vast country side and the rural sector. Yet the Treaty
of Shimonoski of 1895 represented a later and deepened stage of
subjection. Schirokauer (1991) has set out the pattern and nature of
the subjection process of the Treaty Systems in China as:

1. forcing open ports in China — a total of 43 before the Treaty of

Shimonoski, plus 29 free ports opened by the Qing voluntarily;
another 26 after the Treaty;
2. extraction of large sums of indemnity;
3. control and freeze Chinese tariff to an average of 5% and put it
under foreign management;
4. extra-territoriality to foreign powers in 26 foreign settlements in
major cities;
5. most-favored nation status to all foreign powers;
6. maintenance of churches and hospitals in Treaty Ports and right
to propagate foreign religion;
7. legalization of opium trade.

In a period of 60 years of 1841–1900 AD, China had been

forced to concede a total of 743 million taels of war indemnities,
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

226 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

or the equivalent of about 20 years’ state revenue at 1840 AD, or

about 8 years’ state revenue using the value at 1900. The legalized
opium trade and the low tariff on foreign goods had produced a
new pattern of international trade in China’s disfavor, leading to a
massive outflow of silver from the country and further aggravated
the discontent of the peasantry (Table 11.3). In order to balance the
state revenue, the Qing imposed a local transit tax in 1853 AD, the li-
jin ( ), on domestic trade, which brought further repercussions on
traditional crafts and the agricultural sector (Table 11.2), and priced
some local products, e.g. cotton textiles and tung oil for lighting,
out of the coastal markets, due to low costs of imported products
that were exempted from such a tax. The external pressure had
nevertheless grown sharper, when Japan finally crushed the Qing
navy and army, and that the ensuing Treaty of Shimonoski, 1895
AD, represented a complete takeover of China by outsiders when
they finally snatched rights to mine, manufacture, build and operate
transport, and trade in interior provinces.
The peasant revolts that started in the reign of Jiaxing lasted
about half a century, and was continued in a larger scale when
the Taiping Rebellion raged in 1851–1864 AD. The latter alone had
caused the lost of 20 million lives. Continual peasant and minority
uprisings of the Miao, Hui and Nien in 1851–1878 AD further wreck
the foundation of the neo-Confucian dynasty.

B. Cities Under Foreign Influence

We may categorize cities under foreign influence of Period II of the
Qing (Fig. 11.4) into a few types:

1. Direct control — This group comprises the four ceased territories

such as Hong Kong, and cities in the Northeast after 1895 that were
directly controled by foreign powers; the six leased territories,
such as Lushun, Dalian and Qingdao; the seven railway cities
controled by foreign railway companies along the coast, and the
three occupied territories by France and Germany.
2. Treaty Ports with foreign settlements — This is a group of 12 port
cities with 26 foreign settlements. The largest foreign settlement
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 227

Fig. 11.4. Foreign Encroachment on China 1900.

January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

228 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

was found in Shanghai (46 km2 ), followed by Tianjin (15 km2 ), and
Hankou (2 km2 ).
3. Other Treaty Ports that numbered 70, located along China’s
coastline and major rivers.

There is a difference of view on the impact of the Treaty Ports

on China. Many believed that they had contributed economically
and politically to China’s modernization (e.g. Bergere, 1981; Henriot,
1993), while others felt that they had little impact as they were unable
to reach out to China’s vast countryside and the rural economy.
On the opposite, some argued that they were partly responsible for
the resurgence of the “turning inward” policy after 1949, such as
Murphey:

“The Treaty Ports represented a new and exclusively urban

phenomenon following the Western model, whereas the rest
of China remained not only predominantly rural but charac-
terized by cities of a fundamentally different sort, bearing a
close symbiotic relationship with their rural hinterlands. The
sharpness of the legal lines around the Treaty Ports was paral-
leled in almost other respects … none of the Treaty Ports ever
had any administrative and political role outside their own
concession areas … This further distinguished them from the
colonial ports in the rest of Asia as well as from traditional
Chinese cities. It helps to explain their separateness from the
Chinese city system as a whole and accounts in part for the
failure of ‘the model to spread’ (Murphey, 1969, 57).”

The failure of the Treaty Ports may lie with the vastness of
the country, the general subsistence nature of its rural economy,
the effectiveness and efficiency of the traditional economy and
Chinese entrepreneurship, as most goods were still produced,
traded, and transported in traditional ways. Murphey (1969) claimed
that the demonstration effect that Treaty Ports represented was
more negative than positive, which explains the ultimate bitter
and total rejection of the Treaty Ports experience by later Chinese
governments. However, it is undeniable that these cities were a new
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 229

system of settlements superimposed onto the Chinese traditional

urban hierarchy. They had created a new dualism in China’s urban
scene and in its urbanization process. The Treaty Ports are thus a
dynamic of a maritime and hostile origin that had affected the nature
of the city and the spatial priority of China’s urbanization process,
especially in the era of the People’s Republic after 1949.

C. Other Modern Cities and the Spatial Pattern

of Urbanization
In a self-strengthening attempt, the Qing mounted projects of
modernization in 1865–1895 AD, especially in the construction of
railways, setting up heavy industries that produced modern arms
and machines, and the start of mining projects. Private enterprises
in these activities had also been encouraged. A number of modern
industrial cities had emerged, such as Wuxi, Nantong, Shenyang,
Jinan, Changsha and Zhengzhou, and new mining towns included
Tongshan, Lincheng, Yangchuan, Jincheng, Penxiang and Penxi,
while Xizhou, Shijiazhuang and Harbin had gained development
as major railway cities.
Taken into consideration the new exogenous forces and new
drive of modernisation, the regional pattern of urbanization in 1843–
1893 AD as discussed by Skinner has to be seriously reconsidered
(Table 11.4). Skinner’s analysis has only included about 40% of
China’s territory and is based mainly on administrative seats of the
county-level and above. Since the Ming, the growth of functionally
specialized townships or zhen around major cities had been vigorous.
For example, we have mentioned Jingdezhen as a major industrial
settlement. There were also plenty of townships in the Yangzi
Delta area specialized in the dyeing of silk and cotton fabric, the
processing of agricultural products, or serving as major commodity
markets that had developed out of crossroad locations, rather
than based on the administrative role. Their exclusion may partly
explain the low level of urbanization in Skinner’s table for the
period, i.e. only 5.1–6.0% for the whole nation, which is likely to
be an under-estimation. Nevertheless, the table has brought out
the effect of peasant revolts, particularly the Taiping Rebellion,
 January 23, 2010
230
Table 11.4. Regional Population and Urbanization 1843–1893.

11:47
Macro Area 1843 1893 Change: 1843–1893
Region∗ (1000 km2 )

Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Pop. in No. of Urban % Pop. in No. of Urban % Total Urban Pop.
Mil. Urban Pop. in Urban Mil. Urban Pop. in Urban Pop.
Centersa Centersa Mil.

spi-b879
N China 747 112 416 4.7 4.2 122 488 5.8 4.8 + +
NW China 771 29 119 1.4 4.9 24 114 1.3 5.4 − −
Upper Yangtzi 424 47 170 2.0 4.1 53 202 2.5 4.7 + +
Mid Yangtzi 700 84 303 3.8 4.5 75 293 3.9 5.2 − +
Lower Yangtzi 193 67 330 4.9 7.4 45 270 4.8 10.6 − −
SE Coast 227 27 125 1.5 5.8 29 138 1.7 6.4 + +

9in x 6in
Lingnan 430 29 138 2.0 7.0 33 193 2.9 8.7 + +
Yun-gui 470 11 52 0.4 4.0 16 81 0.7 4.5 + +
Total 3956b 406 1653 20.7 5.1 397 1779 23.5 6.0 − +
∗ : It excludes Manchuria, Tibet, Qinghai and Xinjiang.
a: Include mostly county-seats or higher level designated cities.
b: This should be compared with China’s total area of 9.74 mil km2 .

b879-ch11
Source: Skinner (1977).

FA
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 231

on the drop of population in the Lower and Middle Yangzi Delta

regions.
Overall, by about 1900 AD, the pattern of urbanization followed
closely the pattern as shown in Fig. 11.2. Yet superimposed onto that
should be the system of Treaty Ports and modern cities, some of them
have been shown in Fig. 11.4, while others have been mentioned in
the section.

City Examples
In this section, some cities have been selected to illustrate the typical
urban features of the Qing in its two periods.

A. Guangzhou
Guangzhou was founded in the Qin Dynasty. Later it became the
capital (Yenhou) of a separatist local general (Fig. 11.5). The city in
Qing was comprised of the old city whose wall was built in 1380 AD.
As an open port since the Ming, the city overspilled first in the
south to the bank of the Pearl River, and then extended into the
eastern and western suburbs. As an important administrative hub
in Lingnan and a strategic military port, Guangzhou housed the
governor-general for the two provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi,
the provincial seat, and two county-seats (Panyu and Nanhai) (see
Figs. 11.6 and 11.7). Thus, its administrative role was paramount.
Besides, it contained a large garrison of 47,000 bannermen in a
separated and gated Tartar Quarter in the western half of the old city.
The city served also as residence of the landed gentry for
Lingnan who formed a community of local political elites and
holders of examination degrees, as well as philanthropists. Thus,
the educational and welfare institutions were mostly clustered in
the eastern part of the old city where the gentry and administrators
were also located.
There was a large foreign trade community in Guangzhou, as
it was China’s only open port under the Canton System. There, the
13 factories (often more, up to 50) of recognized foreign trading corps
and registered Chinese trade groups (known as co-hong, ) traded
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

232 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 11.5. Changing Boundary of Guangzhou.

for 9 months in a year. The site of the 13 factories lied to the southeast
of the new city and was completely burnt in 1859 AD (See Fig. 11.7).
The Chinese merchants, together with the guilds (hui-guan) and the
Chamber of Commerce were located closeby in the southern part of
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 233

Fig. 11.6. 3-Dimension Plan of Gangzhou in Qing Dynasty Redrawn from Old
Classics.

the western suburb. As such, this suburb was full of large mansions of
rich merchants. Foreign traders were requested to move to Macau to
spend the winter there after the trading season was over. They were
allowed, with special official approval, to tour other parts of the city
three times in a month. They could not, however, bring their family
or arms into Guangzhou. Foreign trade was also highly restrictive.
For example, trade in grains, gold, silver, copper, iron and lead was
not allowed. The total export of tea was also limited to 500,000
picules a year, and silk to less than 5,000 catties per ship. In terms of
value and bulk, the domestic trade in Shanghai had exceeded that
of Guangzhou even before the Opium War (1840 AD).
It is estimated that the total population of the city was 875,000 at
1840 AD.
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

234 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 11.7. Guangzhou (Canton) 1895–1911.

B. Xian
Xian was much damaged at the end of the Tang Dynasty. It was
rebuilt on the old palace city site and served as the “new city” until
the Song Dynasty. In early Ming, one of Hongwu’s son was made
marquis of Xian. He expanded the new city by 1/4 and used it as his
capital, which had an area of about 12 km2 , with the Bell Tower as
the geographic center and the intersection of the two N-S and E-W
main roads. The new Palace City occupied the northeastern part of
the entire city.
During the Qing, the Palace City was turned into a fortified
garrison quarter — the Manchu City (Fig. 11.8), which took about
1/3 of the total city area. The palace was taken down and its site
was used as a drilling ground of the bannermen. The quarter had
5,000 cavalry, and 20,000 dependents. The military role of the city
was further buttressed by fortifications at the four wall gates. The
southern and western sides of the city housed the “Han” quarters
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 235

Fig. 11.8. Landuse and Layout of Xian in Qing Dynasty.

with seats of district administration, the Examination Hall, and more

military facilities.
Xian demonstrated a typical Qing city structure with official
“Chinese ghetto” formation based on the racial line. The segregation
of races illustrated the oppressive role of the city. The Manchu
Quarter also made intra-urban transport inconvenient and frustrated
local business and community development.

C. Hankou
Hankou of the city cluster of Wuhan that comprised Wuhan,
Wuchang and Hanyang (Fig. 11.9) illustrated two processes of trans-
formation of the traditional Chinese city in the 19th century. First,
there was the increasing importance of the commercial community,
i.e. the trade and industrial guilds that were either based on clan or
hometown for their membership. For example, the Shanxi-Shaanxi
guild hall was based on two large provinces whose members were
mostly merchants of the exchange banking business (b. in Fig. 11.9).
The Guangdong guildhall was probably of Guangdong traders.
Second, there was the emergence of the exogenous force of foreign
diplomacy and external trade. Artifacts that reflected this second
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

236 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 11.9. The Wuhan Cities 1865–1890.

process were the institutions located in the northeastern corner of

Hankou, i.e. the three consulates, and the foreign settlement of
2 km2 marked out in bold line in Fig. 11.9. It was one of the larger
foreign settlements in the country. Under the impact of global forces,
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 237

the city developed into one of the three modern industrial centers
and an important banking and financing center of China. In 1937
it accommodated 9 of the 84 foreign banks that operated in the
country.
Of course, Hankou also had offices of local administration and
official agents related to trade and commerce. The more important
seats of government are, however, located in Hanyang and Wuchang,
members of the city cluster where foreign influences were less
direct.
The Hankou case, as analyzed in detail by Row (1984), has
indicated increasing merchant independence, the emergence of
urban classes and a city-based “Hankou men” identity. The growth
of the guilds and the wealth of some of their merchants had also led
to social mobilization and politicization, as more and more of them
had assumed government and semi-government responsibilities.
This was seen as a shift from the traditional Chinese urban dynamic
towards increasing industrial and commercialism in urban growth
as experienced in Western countries.

D. Shanghai
The development of Shanghai was benefited by economic growth
of the Yangzi Delta since North Song. In South Song, Shanghai was
made a zhen (1267 AD). In the Yuan (1277 AD), it was put under
Huating fu and functioned as one of the open ports. Since North
Song it had retained the status of an open port and engaged in
both domestic and foreign trade, taking advantage of its geographic
location as the meeting point of the Yangzi and the Chinese Pacific
coastline. It suffered a lapse since Mid Ming. In 1684 AD the Qing
reopened Shanghai as one of the open ports for foreign trade with a
customs office stationed there, the Jianghai Guan. Hence, both local
and foreign trade boomed. Though it was closed to foreign trade
again in 1757 AD, domestic trade remained vigorous. By 1840 AD,
Shanghai boasted a population of 200,000, much of it had spilted over
the wall of the old zhen (Fig. 11.8). As Lindsay remarked, “Shanghai
was already one of the leading ports of the world, with a volume of
shipping equal to or greater than London” in the 1830s.
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

238 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 11.10. Foreign Concessions’ Settlements in Shanghai in Late 19th Century.

As one of the first batch of five Treaty Ports, Shanghai’s first

foreign settlement emerged in 1845 AD. They increased in number
following the signing of later treaties, to a total size of 46 km2 ,
the largest in all Treaty Ports (Fig. 11.10). Within the settlements,
new systems of law and administration, urban infrastructure, urban
planning, and architecture style that followed different foreign
models had been applied, particularly those of Britain, France,
Germany, Russia and Japan. Thus not only differences existed
between the settlements and the old Chinese city in urban fabric and
administration, obvious incongruence occurred between the foreign
settlements as well.
When Shanghai started to function as a Treaty Port in 1843 AD,
trade surged. By 1857 AD, the foreign powers had also obtained
navigation right on the Yangtzi, which enabled Shanghai to overtake
Guangzhou as China’s leading port of foreign trade. By 1894, its
foreign trade rose to 57.5% of the national total. It remained at
55.5% in 1936. Foreign trade also promoted the shipping indus-
try, warehousing, modern finance, and commercial and industrial
development. In 1935, Shanghai had 28 foreign banks, 11 investment
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 239

trusts. The total capital of these institutes accounted for 47.9% of

the relevant national total. The city also developed China’s first
stock exchange in 1891. It thus had become China’s largest financial
center. In 1933, its modern industries included textiles, printing,
medicines, cigarettes, food and beverages and utilities like electricity,
water and gas. It accounted for about 1/3 of the nation in modern
industries in terms of capital invested, employment, and output
value. Its population increased to 545,000 in 1852 AD, and it became
a city of one million people by 1880 AD. The new growth in
population was also partly due to political turmoils and insecurity
in the Yangzi Delta, a result of riots in the second half of the 19th
century, particularly the Taiping Rebellion. Due to its thriving trade
and emerging modern industries and financial activities under new
global dynamics, Chinese merchants also quickly adopted Western
business practices and participated in these developments in the
city. Even the Qing government, in its modernization drive of 1865–
1895 AD, had placed important investment projects and new state-
owned finance and service institutions in Shanghai, e.g. the Jiangnan
Shipyard and the China Merchant Steam Navigation Company.
As the largest foreign enclave, the foreign settlements had their
own urban planning and management councils following Western
practices. They were a “Western” city focused on the Central Busi-
ness District with clear bid-rent principles and colonial racial seg-
gregation principles at work (Fig. 11.11).

Conclusion
Until the early 19th century, urbanization in China had been a social
process generally undertaken within an isolated, self-contained and
agricultural economy of a state of vast territorial extent. Urban set-
tlements within this “traditional China”, as historians later refer to,
served mainly as a system of central places. With ideal governance,
when irrigation and flood control projects were well-maintained,
and isolated climatic mishaps leading to local loss in agriculture
duly relieved by agents of the state located in nearby central places,
the Chinese territory would remain peaceful and stable. Thus, the
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

240 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 11.11. City of Shanghai in the 1930s (Showing the River and Street Pattern in
Chinese).
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

Qing Urbanization: From Neo-Confucian Orthodoxy to Semi-Colonialism 241

urban hierarchy and administrative hierarchy formed one system

for maintaining the balance between man and land. In a nutshell,
under Neo-Confucianism, the city was the agent and representative
of the central government and was responsible for putting into
implementation the dynastic services at the local level which include
education, culture, law and order, etc. In practice, some of such
functions took the forms of the rituals, civil examinations and
public schools, and the responsibilities of the various yamen, e.g.
tax collection officers, offices of monopolies, flood control agents,
etc. In short, these had been the predominant roles of the traditional
Chinese city, and the summation of dynastic duties codified through
thousands of years of experience in man-land relations within the
Chinese agricultural state. Yet the man-land balance was very much
at risk by late Qing. The farm acreage (including double-cropping
count) rose from 500 million mu in early Qing to about 900 million mu
(1 ac = 6.07 mu) by about the end of the reign of Qianlong, while the
population rose from 80 million to a hefty 300 million, thus reaching
the maximum man:land ratio given the agricultural technology of
the time. However the population continue to increase to about 400
million in the reign of Daoguang, leading to an excess population
of 100 million compared to the capacity of productive land. This
imbalance in man:land relation posed a serious challenge on the
wisedom of Confucian conventions.
The roles of handicrafts, trade and commerce, as well as of border
defense were practicalities given rise by logical and supplementary
needs of the agricultural state, whose significance had sometimes
been exaggerated in some dynasties. However, they are auxiliary
functions when the entire urban system of China is taken into
consideration. It is easy to point out that all dynastic capitals were not
dependent on their immediate hinterland or supported themselves
by trade or handicrafts. So were many of the regional metropolises
which were largely administrative centers.
We have seen the changes and modifications brought to the main
body of ideas of Confucianism throughout the dynasties since the
Han. A new term, i.e. Neo-Confucianism, had been used since the
Tang. In spite of such, the nature and pattern of urbanization in
January 23, 2010 11:47 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch11 FA

242 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

traditional China had remained almost the same from the Han to
mid Qing while the layout and the look of the Chinese city had
equally been consistent with such an orthodoxy.
The intrusion of Western powers in the post-Industrial Revolu-
tion era had a major impact on China’s urbanization process. Such
an intrusion is of a completely different nature when compared to
the process of racial integration along the margins of China proper.
The latter, being caused by initiatives of the steppe people attracted
to China proper due to the latter’s downswing in the dynastic cycle,
had as a rule finally become completely sinicized and engulfed by the
predominant value system of Neo-Confucianism, which represents
the best approach to a balanced and sustainable man-land relation
in traditional China. What the rest of the Qing experience tells us is:
by mid 19th century, China was on the verge of a critical change. It
was at the watershed between traditional China and the modern age,
between the pre-industrial and post-industrial age, and between the
choice of Neo-Confucianism and a reformed way of managing man-
land relationship with regard to new technology and other factors
in the modern era.
Many argued that China should have entered the industrial
age by late South Song or the Ming much earlier than what had
happened in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Part of the
reasons for China’s failure to have done so lies with the efficiency
and hence the inertia of Neo-Confucianism. The inertia may have
also been further extended by Manchu rule which was inclined
towards pacifying the literati and in adopting a safe and less risky
approach in administering the country and managing its economy.
Qing orthodoxy had been expressed in its explicit curb on new
ideas and new enterprises, as well as the deliberate choice of self-
isolation since the later years of Qianlong. In any case, changes had
finally come by force, through the Treaty System and Treaty Ports
since 1842 AD. As a new dynamic, exogenous forces had continued
their influence in post-Qing urbanization. Besides the conventional
wisdom of Confucianism , it was another factor in the ordering of
man-land relation even in the People’s Republic after 1949 AD.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

Chapter 12

People’s Republic:
The Unsettled Socialist Approach

Search for Solution to China’s Problem

“In 1850–1950∗ , China had experienced terrible insecurity in her
history, of foreign bombardment, of invasions and civil war” (Gernet,
1985). All these made the loss of the Mandate of Heaven of the
Qing too obvious. However, compared with the experience in the
past, the scramble for control of the country by Western powers was
more complicated than normal dynastic changes. External pressures
from foreign countries and internal power fragmentation due to
the ascendancy of military leaders after the Taiping Rebellion had
combined to weaken China’s central aristocratic authority. Empress
Dowager or Cixi’s (1861–1908) domination thwarted the last imperial
self-rescue in the Hundred Days’ Reform of 1898, and culminated in
the humiliating defeat by Western powers in the Boxers’ Movement
in 1901. These events quickened the pace of the republican revolution
of 1901–1912 led by Sun Yatsen. Yuan Shikai who succeeded Li
Hongzhang in 1901 as the military strongman of the country, easily
usurped the fruit of popular uprisings by regional military governors
in 1911 and became the first President of the Republic of China
which replaced the Qing. China was then deeply indebted, with
a national debt that stood at 200 million silver dollars. Yuan and
the pre-matured republican revolution had to compromise with
foreign powers, particularly Japan, whose Twenty-One Demands of

∗ From this chapter onwards, the AD denotation for the years will be omitted.

243
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

244 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

1915 dragged China into a deeper dependent situation and internal

instability.
Before his downfall, Yuan installed a number of military gover-
nors in the provinces and paved the way to a period of Warlords
in 1916–1928, in which the central government in Beijing had little
control over the rest of the country. With the support of large
financial aid and military tutorship from the new Soviet state, Sun
Yatsen reformed his Kuomingtang Party (KMT) in Guangzhou in
1924. He also adopted the communist organization model, a new
strategy of close alliance with Russia, a clear pro-prolectariate and
agrarian policy by declaring that “the Three Peoples’ Doctrine is
Communism”, and established a new army fashioned after the Red
Army. After his death, Chang Kaishek, having launched a successful
northern expedition led by veterans of the Red Army, became the
military strongman. In 1927, Chang captured Nanjing and Shanghai
and effectively put South China under control. The KMT rule in
South China lasted until 1937. Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP), its former ally, broke away and formed a separate small
state based on the Soviet model in the border regions of Jiangxi and
Fujian. Unsuccessful in maintaining its bases there after repeated
KMT attacks, the Communists, led by Mao Zedong, took a strategic
Long March to break away from the KMT’s military encirclement.
Starting from 1931, the Japanese took all of Manchuria and
helped to form a puppet state, the Manchukok, there, with the late
Qing emperor as the head of state. Finally in 1937, the Japanese
army captured Beijing, and started an open war with China. North
China and the Middle and Lower Yangzi soon fell to the Japanese. In
1939–1944, the KMT government retreated into Sichuan and set up a
temporary capital at Chongqing. In the summer of 1945, about a week
after two American atomic bombs hit and destroyed two Japanese
cities, Japan surrendered. However, the KMT failed to compromise
with Stalin over the way that Manchuria was to be treated after
its take-over by the Red Army in the wake of Japan’s surrender.
Moreover, in late 1946, Chang invited the USA to interfere, which
alerted the Russians that Chang might usher in US influence in NE
China. This provided the CCP an opportunity to win over Russia’s
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 245

military and political support in its quest for control of the country. By
1947, civil war started between the Communists and KMT. Chang’s
force met repeated defeats as many of his generals deflected to
the CCP which had the support of the people. Chang was driven
out of the Mainland and Mao declared in Beijing the founding of
the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on 1 October, 1949. Chang’s
regime, the Republic of China, hence has been recognized by only a
few nations and its administration is confined to Taiwan. Therefore,
this chapter deals only with developments in the Mainland.
In the 100 years of 1850–1950, various new political forces in
China were at their formative stage, taking different political and
ideological models from the West. The so-called central government
at Beijing was too weak and was subject to too much pressure
and influence of foreign powers that it was incapable to clamp
on these developments. One indication was the increasing size
of the national debt and Beijing government’s reliance on income
from custom duties managed by foreign powers. Even by 1922,
China’s national debt stood at a height of 800 million US silver
dollars. Another important feature of the country at the time was
the disarray of the literati, or shi. The imperial examination system
was abolished in 1905. Hence, the shi had lost its privileged avenue
for advancement to authority and influence. Since 1900, modern
schools were opened in many cities. Foreign books on science,
politics, philosophy, history, etc were translated and published in
Chinese. Between 1872–1890, many batches of students had been
sent to Europe and North America to learn new knowledge of the
West, particularly on engineering, strategy and sciences. Thus, for
the first time in Chinese history, Confucian classics had lost their
attraction as a source of power and a solution to China’s problems.
The intelligent young Chinese, such as Sun Yatsen and Mao Zedong
had turned to look outside of China for answers to China’s ailments.
The PRC’s urban experience presented in this chapter have
indeed been shaped by the two major inheritance of 1850–1950,
i.e. (1) China turning its back to the coast, that represented humil-
iation and exploitation by outside powers, and (2) an attempt to
restrengthen China following a new and imported Western ideology
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

246 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

instead of going back to Confucianism. For the latter, Mao’s choice

is “socialism”.

Unique Ideological Basis of PRC Urbanization

(1949–1981)
The few studies on PRC urbanization before its Opening and Reform
policies of the late 1970s have unanimously regarded it as belonging
to an individual category, being neither “Socialist” (that is, similar
to Eastern Europe) nor “developing” (Third World), nor “Western”.
They emphasized the low level of urbanization and a believed “anti-
urban” bias in China’s ruling philosophy. The PRC was said to have
restrained the growth of cities, especially large ones, and simulta-
neously launched a successful rural development programme to
contain the rural population. These thesises included Ma (1796)
and Tawney’s (1996) belief that the PRC practised a general policy
of anti-urbanism or de-urbanization. However, there are opposing
views, such as Kirby’s (1993) thesis that the PRC practised a strategy-
oriented urbanization that favored industrialization and used cities
as basing points for the development of modern manufacturing.
Similar to this is Chan’s (1993) thesis of urban-bias in deliberately
putting up an invisible but effective divide between town and
country such that the PRC government could milk the rural sector for
maximizing accumulation in order to promote fast industrialization
while minimizing spending on urban infrastructure and welfare.
To understand PRC’s mind-set at this historical juncture, we
have to briefly outline the ideology of the new Chinese government.
Often dubbed as Maoism (after CCP Chairman Mao Zedong), the
PRC ideology is a new and basically imported approach to China’s
domestic problems, a product of its centuries-long disenchantment
with Neo-Confucianism. Put simply, Mao had combined the critical
values of Marx, Angles, and Stalin with Chinese realities in devising
the nation’s urbanization strategy:

Marx and Angels — cities are evil; industrial locations should

be close to resources to avoid pollution, to integrate with the
rural sector, and avoid big city problems;
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 247

Stalin — modern cities provide the efficient basis for socialist

enterprises; development of sizeable new cities and an
accelerated urbanization are to be promoted for socialist
construction; yet cities are to follow the principles of equity,
efficiency, and public domination in their enterprises and
services.

Bater (1980), based on Soviet and East European experiences,

believed that the major role of the socialist city is to promote
industrial growth. It is supplemented by two auxiliary principles:
minimum urban facilities (or consumptive activities); and, the city
as an agent of socialist propaganda. Drawing heavily on Soviet
experience and China’s humiliating situation in 1850–1950 in forging
the PRC approach, Mao added on top of Bater’s critical principles
the considerations: (1) national security, (2) China being a devel-
oping country, and (3) his political extremism in favor of a fast-
track advancement of China into communism. In summary, Mao’s
urbanization strategy is rested on the economic and political roles
of the city. He had categorically said that “New China’s cities must
serve socialist industrialization”, and that “only when production in
the cities is restored and developed, and when consumer-cities are
transformed into producer-cities, may people’s political power be
consolidated”.
More precisely, Mao’s strategy embraces the following key
features:

1. Eradication of the spatial “ills” of the past, i.e. the undue concen-
tration of modern sectors in coastal Treaty Ports is to be modified
(Fig. 12.1) by a better spread of industrial cities in rational
locations close to resources in interior provinces (Fig. 12.2), which
would also cut down the national security risk;
2. Turning cities from predominantly “consumptive” or exploitative
to “productive” entities, i.e. cities are to be centers of industries,
or basic economic functions;
3. Cities should help to eradicate the three main contradictions, i.e.
the contradictions between town and country; manual and mental
labor; and agriculture and industry;
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

248 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 12.1. Industrial Distribution in China Before 1949.

4. Culturally and politically, cities should be places of socialism and

nationalism.

Within the city, besides the paramount rule of equity in urban

housing, transport and services through the planning of self-
contained neighborhoods, other socialist features could be observed:
a fixed work-residence locational relation, the predominant public
ownership in production and services, the city’s center, instead of
being the conventional CBD of the West or yamen of traditional China,
had acquired a “Stalinesque” type of central square for public rallies
and demonstrations in order to bolster socialism and the ruling CCP.

Urbanization Process, 1949–1981

In 1955, the Chinese parliament (National People’s Congress) passed
a decision on the definitions of cities (shi) and townships (zhen) as
basic administrative units, and the administrative process by which
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 249

Fig. 12.2. Major Mineral Resources in China.

they should be set up. It set forth a clear administrative relationship

between incorporated urban places and the central government, on
which basis central planning was to be launched in space. Thus,
for the first time in Chinese history, the city was seen as a distinct
and separable spatial unit, with its own economic and political
role alienated from the surrounding rural territory, a concept that
was imported from the West. Together with this are a number of
State Council decisions that served to implement the national urban
strategy, one of which is the 1958 urbanization policy whose main
contents include:
1. to promote the growth and new construction of medium size cities
(i.e. those with a population of 200,000–499,000);
2. to constrain large cities (population < 500,000), and to plan and
develop new satellites to disperse industry and population of
the extra-large cities (population over 1 million) to smaller urban
centers;
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

250 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

3. to control the growth of the overall urban population by reducing

rural-urban migration, lowering population birth rate and by
organizing large scale urban-rural migrations.
The actual practice in 1949–1981 have indicated that the PRC
was not experienced nor confident enough in maintaining consistent
policies to meet the mixed goals of economic development, or in
balancing spatial growth and the socialist political aims, as may be
illustrated by the brief urbanization history of this period.
In 1949, according to the earlier Municipal Ordinance of 1930,
there were 136 cities. By 1957, the number had risen to 179, of which
71 were newly created or constructed, mostly in interior provinces
and were related to energy and industrial projects based on local
resources such as Baotou, Lanzhou and Datong (Fig. 12.3). A number
of former cities had also been delisted, of which 23 were located in
the eastern coastal region. These developments underlied a spatial
spread of cities from the coast into the interior with industrialization

Fig. 12.3. Major Industrial Centers Constructed in the 1950s.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 251

as the major dynamic. Within these years, the level of urbanization

of the nation increased from 10.6% to 15.4%.
In the three years of the Great Leap Forward (GLF, 1958–1960),
in an effort to quicken China’s pace of industrialization, excessive
growth of cities had resulted. Pushed by blown-up official plans
and exaggerated implementation results, 44 new cities were added
and the total urban population soared by 31.4%, leading to a
historical height in urbanization level of 19.7% in 1960 (Table 12.1).
However, the GLF soon failed, as former reported successes busted,
and the whole economy suffered as precious resources and labor
were spent on produce of poor quality or simply wasted. China
also suffered from a series of national disasters of droughts and
flooding in 1959–1962. Within 1962–1965, the CCP had to redress
the national problem of insufficient food by administrative orders,
which included the forced return of about 40 million, or one quarter

Table 12.1. Population and Level of Urbanization

in the PRC (1949–2004).

Year Population (mil.) Urbanization Level (%)

1949 541.7 10.6

1952 574.8 12.5
1955 614.7 13.5
1958 659.9 16.3
1961 658.6 19.3
1964 705.0 18.4
1967 763.7 17.7
1970 832.9 17.4
1973 892.1 17.2
1976 937.2 17.4
1979 975.4 19.0
1981 1000.7 20.1
1986 1075.1 24.5
1991 1158.2 26.4
1996 1224.4 29.4
2001 1295.3 36.7
2004 1299.9 40.5

Source: China Mayers’ Association (2003), http: www.

chinatoday.com.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

252 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

of the urban population, to their home villages. The definition of

cities was also tightened up, as all cities with less than 100,000 people
were delisted. Using a comparable definition of urban population
for 1960, a Chinese variety of de-urbanization happened, i.e. the
urbanization level at 1965 had dropped to 14% (China used a new
definition of urban population for 1958–1985 that produced the
figures for Table 12.1 which yield a figure of 18% for 1965) and
the number of cities declined by 33. Despite this, within the period,
the nation’s three major and five medium-sized iron and steel plants
were completed and this bolstered urban growth in cities where they
were located, e.g. Anshan, Wuhan, Baotou, Taiyuan, Maanshan, and
Chongqing. At the same time, a number of cities benefited from
the development of new machinery industries which continued
non-stop during those years, such as Xian, Harbin, Luoyang and
Shenyang (Fig. 12.3). As a consequence, the general spatial pattern
of industrial specialization of coastal cities on light industries, while
heavy industries were found mainly in cities in the interior, had
emerged.
1966–1976 is the decade of the Cultural Revolution, a period
when national security and politics were emphasized. Major state
investments were put into interior and non-urban locations in the so-
called Third Front areas ( ), i.e. “in hills, of dispersed mode
and within caves”. Accompanying this spatial strategy, under the
radical strategy of “purifying the values of urbanites” and to let
them learn the “virtues of rural folks”, large scale and officially
sponsored urban-rural migration of educated youth (Shang Shan Xia
Xiang, ) and government officers (rustification or Xia Fang,
) took place, which involved an estimated total of 30–35 million
urban residents. The average annual urban population increase of
1.3% of the period was thus actually lower than the average annual
natural increase rate of 1.75% of the total population. To some extent,
it is a period of de-urbanization, though there were 22 new cities
added to bolster local industrial development, mostly in interior
provinces, such as the iron and steel cities of Jiuguan, Panzhihua,
and the auto-making city of Shiyan, metallurgical industry cities of
Xining, Hanzhong and Guiyang (Fig. 12.4).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 253

Fig. 12.4. Major Industrial Centers Constructed in the 1960s.

In October 1976 the Jiang Qing “counter-revolutionary” clique

that was responsible for the Cultural Revolution was smashed. Deng
Xiaoping, previously Secretary of the CCP, was gradually installed.
In 1978, Deng instituted a major change in policy, the Opening and
Reform policy, which ended China’s self-imposed isolation and the
Maoist version of socialism emphasizing on class struggle since 1949,
and to replace them by a new direction of economism in embracing
global dynamics and market forces. China has thence started onto a
new form of development, officially dubbed as the “socialist market
economy”.

Maoist Urbanization and City Structure

Since the new PRC government followed an ideology distinctly
different from Confucianism of traditional China, and faced with the
mammoth task of postwar reconstruction, economic modernization,
as well as a hostile international environment, it had adopted, in
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

254 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

1949–1970, a new strand of development generally labeled as Maoist

approach. Arising from this was a new Chinese socialist city and
urbanism. We shall deliberate on these under three subheads.

A. Massive Organized Migrations

In the early years of the PRC, the urban economy, urban infrastruc-
ture, and services were rapidly nationalized. Though 1949–1957 was
characterized by rapid urbanization of over 7% annually to support
post-war reconstruction and development of new industries, the
urban population was put under strict control after 1958, when the
hukou system (household registration) was enforced, and a quota sys-
tem applied nationwide for food and other basic daily consumables.
Hence, urbanization under Maoism was largely officially controled.
In the period it featured mainly in the form of two streams of migra-
tion: (a) urban to urban migration to support new industrial and
mining cities in the interior, and (b) organized urban-rural migration
to redress mistakes in central planning and imbalances between
the agricultural and industrial sectors, as well as for the political
purpose of the reduction of the “three contradictions”. The large
inter-regional flows of population are unique (Table 12.2). These
flows had led to a better spread of China’s major cities (Fig. 12.5)
and contributed to a reduction in imbalance between coastal and

Table 12.2. Reported and Estimated Population Movements, 1953–1975.

Period Nature Number Involved Source

(millions)

1953–1957 Rural-urban influx 8.0 Chang (1968)

1957–1958 “Xia Fang” (rustication 2.6 R.W. Lee III (1966)
of cadres)
1958–1964 Workers returning to 20.0
villages
“Shang Shan Xia Xiang” 20.0
1968 “Shang Shan Xia Xiang” 15.25 Current Scene (1969)
1969–1975 “Shang Shan Xia Xiang” 12.0 Peking Review (1976)
1957–1975 Total urban-rural 54.6
movement

Source: Sit (1985).

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 255

Fig. 12.5. Distribution of Cities in China with Population of Over One Million
1953–1981.

western regions in population and development, as the migrations

were mainly of educated people and of state investment going
westward (Figs. 12.5 and 12.6). As the CCP also stressed the role
of cities as central places, many of the industrial projects had gone
into regional administrative seats, particularly provincial capitals.
As seen in Fig. 12.7, many of these had grown into millionaire cities
in 1953–1981.
Organized migration had induced a strange population structure
in selected cities, particularly newly set up or expanded industrial
cities in interior provinces that received major industrial projects
under the First FYP, Second FYP and the period of Third Front con-
struction. The population of these cities showed common features
of rapid growth propeled by migration, abnormal age structure
and sex imbalance. The newly constructed oil city of Maoming
in Guangdong experienced an average annual population increase
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

256 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 12.6. Status of the 34 Cities in China with Population of Over One Million
in 1981.

of 79.6% in 1958–1960 and 99.7% of the increase being due to in-

migration. Zhuzhou in Henan had similar experience in 1953–1960
as one of the cities for major expansion under the First FYP. It then
registered an annual population growth rate of 37.1%, 95% due to
in-migration. Figure 12.8 shows the population structure of four
cities. Except for Jiangmen, an old city, the other three which were
newly established industrial cities demonstrated absurd population
pyramids. In such cities, the proportion of working age people was
very large. As the policy then disallowed in-migrant workers to bring
their families, the proportions of old age people and children were
exceptionally low. Such policy had also led to an extreme imbalance
in sex, i.e. the predominance of males over females to an average
ratio of 6:4. In extreme cases it might be 7:3. The sex imbalance
was especially accute in the working age group (Table 12.3 and
Fig. 12.9). The oil city of Maoming started construction in 1958.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 257

Fig. 12.7. Estimated Major Interprovincial Migration Flows 1966–1997.

Fig. 12.8. Population Pyramid and Age Structure of Selected New Cities (in %).

After a long period of development, by 1979, it still showed obvious

sex imbalance. Shiyan, an auto-making city that also possessed
local administrative functions, had a more balanced sex ratio. The
centrally planned role for the city had induced in it varying sex
imbalances. In the heavy industry city of Dukou, females accounted
 January 13, 2010
258

16:4
Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development
Table 12.3. Proportion of Male and Female in the Population of Selected Cities.

spi-b879
Category City Nature Year Total Population Labor Age Group Elderly Group

Male Female Male Female Male Female

New Cities Huaihua Pivot of railway district Late 1977 66.5 33.4 73 27 30.5 61.4
Maoming Petrochemical works Early 1979 66.6 33.3 72.7 27.6 41.3 58.7
Shiyan Vehicle mounting district Late 1978 58.0 41.9 62.5 37.5 30.6 69.4

9in x 6in
Old Cities Jiangmen Light engineering industry 1973 51.6 48.3 54.7 45.2 32.6 67.3

b879-ch12
FA
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 259

Fig. 12.9. Sex Ratio of Different Age Groups in Selected New Cities (Year of Data
in Bracket).

for just 12.2% of the total employed, while the textile city of Jiayin was
then a typical “city of women”. In general most new cities were cities
for heavy industries. Among their male employees, as much as 40–
60% had difficulty in getting married. Thus the policy of “production
first, livelihood second” had an adverse impact on the community
of new cities and formed a major defect of the Maoist socialist city
and its urbanism.

B. Functional Transformation of the City

That city growth in the PRC had been industrialization-driven
was obvious. The city also served mainly as a national or district
level development center. While the urban economy had been
nationalized since 1953, investments and development hence had
been effected through a hierarchical central planning system. This
had strengthened the administrative hierarchy and the importance
of the administrative status of individual urban places. In general,
heavy industries were developed in provincial capitals; district
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

260 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

capitals (sub-provincial or prefectural) were planned to develop

comprehensive urban functions and services, while xian capitals
(county-seats) were to develop the “five small industries” to pro-
vide needed farm tools, fertilizers, and inputs for irrigation and
flood control projects of surrounding rural areas. This had partly
contributed to the growth of a number of provincial capitals into
cities of over one million population as previously pointed out. The
emphasis on energy and raw material industries was also basic to
the self-reliant principle in China’s industrialization drive. Hence 94
new industrial cities had been created in 1949–1981, of which 44 were
coal and electricity cities, 24 iron and steel and iron ore mining cities,
12 oil mine and oil-refining cities, 8 lumbering cities and 4 HEP cities.
The urban economy and urban employment of the 15 largest
cities of 1981 indicated the transformation from “consumptive” to
“productive” functions of PRC cities (Sit, 1985). These cities had
5% of China’s population, but contributed 36.3% of the country’s
total gross industrial output value, and about 1/3 of the national
revenue. The dominance of these cities in the national economy may
be further reflected by the largest three, i.e. Beijing, Shanghai and
Tianjin, which together accounted for 16.6% of the nation’s gross
industrial and agricultural output, and 21% of its gross industrial
output. The contribution made by them to major industrial products
had been equally notable (Table 12.4).
The population of a city may be divided into two categories:
the economically active, and the dependent. The former include
those in the working age groups. In China, these are men of 16–
60, and women of 16–55. The dependent population are the young
and old population. The economically active population is further
subdivided according to the nature of their employment into the
“basic” and “non-basic” population. “Basic” refers to employment in
“productive” functions, i.e. industrial activities, while “non-basic”
meant “consumptive” activities like commerce, retailing, personal
services, etc. In the “socialist” transformation of the city, the CCP
aimed at raising the proportion of urban employment in “basic”
functions. In urban construction, these concepts were translated into
the “bone” and “flesh” relationship. “Bone” refers to productive
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 261

Table 12.4. Dominance of the Three Super-Cities in Major

Industrial Products, 1981 (% of National Total).

Shanghai Beijing Tianjin Subtotal

Electricity 6.62 3.21 2.36 12.19

Steel 14.22 5.35 3.52 23.09
Caustic soda 12.17 4.06 9.98 26.21
Rubber wheels 16.48 3.55 4.73 24.76
Plastics 21.19 32.42 6.44 60.05
Ethylene 27.60 49.40 0.20 77.20
Machine tools 16.70 6.80 1.90 25.40
Steel boats 22.50 n/a n/a —
Television sets 22.30 7.97 6.80 37.07
Cameras 43.18 n/a n/a —
Artificial fibre 29.77 5.12 2.66 37.55
Yarn (cotton) 12.56 2.15 3.38 18.09
Cotton cloth 11.70 2.03 2.94 16.67
Bicycles 23.40 0.90 18.91 43.21
Sewing machines 23.22 5.29 5.42 33.93
Watches 32.38 5.17 8.73 46.28

Source: Sit (1985).

functions like investments in industries while “flesh” refers to

investments in “consumptive” activities. Under Maoism, the basic
principle in urban development was “production first, livelihood
second”, i.e. to emphasize on the “basic” population while suppress
the size of dependent population. The principle was applied to cities
of all sizes, leading to one of the major structural changes in Chinese
cities at the time. In China’s largest 15 cities, “basic” employment
accounted for 52.8% of total employment. Service sectors, like whole-
saling, retailing, restaurants and hotels, and personal services were
regarded as typical capitalist consumptive activities, and accounted
for only 7.9% of total employment in these 15 cities.
Such an imbalance between “basic” and “non-basic” employ-
ment can also be gauged by the value of fixed capital investments
in the 15 cities. The investment ratios between productive projects,
housing and other non-productive projects in 1981 were 100:70:43.
Investment in housing was lowest in Shanghai (16.1% of total) and
second lowest in Guangzhou (27.2%). Inadequate housing was thus
 January 13, 2010
262
Table 12.5. Key Economic and Social Data for the Three EMRs, 1999.

16:4
EMR Area Population GDP Industrial Output Utilized FDI Export
(sq. km) (10,000) (
100 mil.) (
100 mil.) (US$100 mil.) (US$100 mil.)

Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Beijing: Core 1112 947 540 1394 7.2 3.6
Inner Ring 11066 684 930 1736 29.8 113.4

spi-b879
Outer Ring 19038 860 2632 2227 4.0 40.0
Subtotal 31216 2512 4102 (31.8%) 5357 41.0 157.0
Shanghai: Core 812 738 1153 1755 15.0 100.0
Inner Ring 11811 914 4006 4786 36.9 144.5
Outer Ring 28983 2280 3395 8844 12.1 81.5
Subtotal 41586 4032 8554 (31.6%) 15385 64.0 326.0
Hong Kong: Core 1100 684 8091 2510 252.0 1000.0+
Inner Ring 9478 903 4038 3018 60.0 360.0

9in x 6in
Outer Ring 32244 1402 2400 8436 61.0 314.0
Subtotal 42822 2989 14529 (95.6%) 13964 373.0 1674.0
Three EMRs as %
of national total 1.24* 7.53* 30.7* 26.7* 73.0* 73.1*
∗ : Include Hong Kong and Macau.
+ : Include 1/2 of Hong Kong’s re-exports, i.e. US$75.8 billion.
Bracketed figures are ratios of export value to GDP.

b879-ch12
Source: Computed from various official statistical/economic yearbooks of 2000.

FA
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 263

Fig. 12.10. Employment Structure in Selected New Cities (in % employed).

commonplace in PRC cities. They also registered a very low per

capita gross residential floor area. For the 15 cities it ranged between
3 to 4 m2 . Inadequate public transport was another consequence
of inadequate attention to the consumption needs of the urban
population. The number of buses per 10,000 people ranged from
2.32–6.51, much lower than major cities in Asian Pacific which ranged
between 10–26, and partly explains the dependence on the bicycle
as a commuting mode in socialist urban China.
However, in education and health services, the 15 cities regis-
tered an average of 7.5% employed in the sectors, which was more
favorable than major Asian Pacific cities, reflecting that Chinese cities
served as central places for a large hinterland in these services. This
may be seen as a key function of the traditional Chinese city that
had been reinforced under central planning of the Chinese socialist
system.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

264 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

C. The City-Region
Since 1958, the city-region was created as an administrative means
to bridge town and country, to achieve local self-sufficiency in food
and vegetable supply as well as a means to help to reduce the “three
contradictions” of major urban places in the PRC. By extending
the administrative boundaries of most large cities of over 1 million
population to include a number of rural xian, the big cities were put
into a better position to secure grain, non-staple food, and water
supply than negotiating for planned allocation from various central
ministries. Besides, they needed space for dispersing industries from
overcrowded inner city areas, and needed to secure a market for
some urban produce such as machinery and chemical fertizers, and
even a means for the good utilization of urban “night-soil”. Of the
15 largest cities, only one, Harbin, was without a rural xian under its
administration.
Spatially, the city region was organized in the form of a series
of concentric zones with a cluster of settlements of varying sizes
and administrative allegiance (Fig. 12.11). The municipality, i.e.

Fig. 12.11. Spatial Organization of the Chinese City.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 265

the central city, consisted of a city core surrounded by a number

of residential-industrial neighborhoods, organized on the basis of
self-sufficiency with their own service centers and workshops. The
suburban districts attached to the municipality were more rural
than urban in character with its main function in the production
of vegetables and other non-staple foods, e.g. milk, egg and poultry.
In the suburbs were also a number of industrial towns. The rural xian
formed the outer ring known as the outer suburbs, which was almost
entirely rural in character, as the level of urbanization there was very
low, e.g. in Nanjing, 6.5% (Fig. 12.12). The townships there served as
a third level of urban settlements in the city-region. The outer ring
produced the bulk of the city-region’s food and grains, and formed

Fig. 12.12. Types of Settlement in Nanjing City Region.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

266 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the destination for the periodic rustification of urban cadres of the

central city. The layout of the city-region has been illustrated by the
examples of Nanjing (Fig. 12.12) and Beijing (Fig. 12.13).
The city-region therefore provided a model for better organizing
the “city” and its immediate rural hinterland into a functioning,
working and living unity, while eliminating the barriers between
city and country.

D. Socialist Elements in the Planning of the Internal

Structure of the City
Post 1949 city development, besides following closely the CCP’s
basic principles, was also influenced directly by Russian planners
who were sent to China in 1954 to help develop the Chinese socialist
planning system and standards. The Chinese socialist characteristics
of urban planning and urban internal structure may be gleaned
from the planning concepts and standards adopted for Beijing in
its various draft plans in the 1950s which had been followed in the
development of the city up to the early 1980s (Sit, 1995), i.e.:

1. A basic and non-basic population of 1 to 1.

2. Areal standards for different land uses
• industries — 7 ha per 1,000 workers;
• residential use — 100 m2 per person;
• services — 4 ha per 1,000 employees;
• higher education — 10 ha per 1,000 students + 150 m2 per
staff;
• whole city — 147 m2 per person.

Urban development was much restricted to the “planned urban

areas”. In 1986, these areas, forming 4.5% of the municipality area,
contained 82% of its total population, all the central and municipal
government offices, 90% of the research and higher education
institutions and 80% of industrial enterprises. In short, the built-up
part of this area, generally known as the “central mass” (Fig. 12.13),
comprised largely of the old city and urban extensions in the 8
suburban areas.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 267

Fig. 12.13. Political Division and Urban Units of Beijing.

Beijing had therefore a compact city core. Expansion of the

central mass took place in the form of “dispersed constellations”,
as new urban developments had to engulf part of the adjacent green
belts. Since the 1958 Plan, 10 dispersed constellations had been
planned, each developed around a number of small existing centers,
forming a more or less self-sufficient unit with its own work units
and complementary community and urban facilities. Besides, each
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

268 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

“constellation” was separated from one another and the old city by
green buffers of vegetable fields. Such a pattern of growth is dubbed
peripheral accretion. It is meant to avoid problems of congestion, to
maintain a good urban environment, while sticking to the principle
of equity in urban employment and services.
Another intra-urban growth mode was the “mother-children”
pattern of satellite towns development to steer growth of industrial
uses away from the inner city following the Soviet concept. Since
1958, 24 such satellites had been constructed in the outer suburb
of Beijing to house decentralized industrial plants from the central
mass. In 1979, these satellites accommodated about 920,000 persons.
Beijing’s large rural adjunct comprised a number of rural coun-
ties that account for 95% of the total area of the city-region. Yet it had
only 950,000 urban population in 1986 (mainly within the industrial
satellites), with close to 3.5 million farm population and a level of
urbanization of about 20%. It served as the city-region’s food basket
to enable it to be self-sufficient in food supply, in addition to the
supply of the city’s water needs.
Within the central mass, or core city, residential quarters were
organized along the Soviet model of neighborhood units: small
districts, residential districts, and districts. These residential clusters
were arranged in a nested hierarchy. Each had a serving area of a
certain size with a fixed range of education, healthcare, entertain-
ment and shopping facilities. The housing standard was set at 9 m2
per person which was not achieved within the 1970s. The other
important city land use element was the city center’s open square.
It signified the socialist nature of the city and of the country, as well
as for glorifying the CCP. In such a respect, Beijing has retained
the role of the traditional Chinese capital as the administrative
headquarter of the dynasty based on the principles of “man-land”
relation and functions of the rites, though in the new capital, the
conventions of Confucianism have been replaced by “dictatorship
of the masses” and “serving the people”. In essence, the claim to
have the Mandate of Heaven through city planning and architectural
design has remained the same in the traditional and socialist
capital.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 269

Transition to Market Economy (1981–date)

Deng declared a major change of ideology and path of development
in 1978 in the Opening and Reform policies. In the literature on
political economy, changes from former socialist economies in Russia
and East European countries since 1970s have been widely discussed,
and are labeled as “transitional economies” ( ), meaning that
these countries have abandoned central planning and opted for the
market system. In general, these countries have adapted the strategy
of rapid change, the so called “big bang” approach by: (1) replacing
the dictatorship of the Communist Party by parliamentary democ-
racy, (2) replacing central planning by the market, and (3) a swift
program of privatization of state enterprises. However, most of
these countries had not been successful in their transition in the
1990s, because the “big bang” approach had led to both economic
and political chaos, serious unemployment, decline of the GDP, and
even little foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow. China’s transition
has started earlier than most former East European countries, and
followed a different strategy — “gradualism”. The chief content of
the Chinese approach is to maintain the existing power structure —
persistence of the dictatorship of the CCP. Nevertheless, devolution
of local political and economic decisions to relevant local institutions
and officials have gone apace, concurrent with great efforts in setting
up market mechanisms and wooing of FDI. In the Chinese case,
though central planning had declined, state enterprises remained
one of the pillars of the national economy (Andrusz et al., 1996;
Logan, 2002, Feng et al., 2008; Wu, 2003, Gu et al., 2005). As planning
gradually retreated from the spheres of production and distribution,
the government has also relaxed its grip on urban services, including
transportation, utilities, education and even healthcare. New laws
and institutions have been set up to provide conditions for market
forces to operate. Foreign capital, including FDI, has been attracted
into China with great success. Since 1993, it has been the largest
recipient of FDI among developing countries, with an accumulated
stock of US$562 billion. Foreign trade liberalization and the opening
of all forms of foreign participation have been pursued. By 2004,
China’s external trade amounted to US$1,155 billion, and it ranked
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

270 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Fig. 12.14. Degree of Marketization and Stages of China’s Transition.

3rd in the list of exporting countries in the world. In short, in a period

of about 25 years, the Chinese economy has not only been marketized
to a reasonable extent (Fig. 12.14), the country has also been able to
enhance globalization forces to become a global factory with a long
growth record of an annual GDP growth of more than 10%. Indeed,
in 1978–2000, its GDP had been quadrupled. By 2005, China was
already a market economy and ranked the second largest economy
in the world by GDP at purchasing power parity.
This turn of events means a major revision of Mao’s development
model only after a short spell of application of about 30 years. The
new model obviously remains one of the small steps China has taken
since 1850 when the utility of Neo-Confucianism in leading China
forward was questioned. However, the new Chinese “transition”,
i.e. transiting from a former socialist economy to a market economy,
has been different from that of the former East European countries.
There have been no collapse of the autocratic rule of the CCP, nor
rampant inflation and a high rate of unemployment, nor a steep drop
of the GDP. The PRC has shown unique transition features of:

1. “Power persistence”, i.e. the market reform was led by the old
regime rather than a new government or government coalition.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 271

2. Stability of political control of the Communist Party rather

than a hectic and bumpy movement into Western parliamentary
democracy.
3. Global impact — successful exploitation of FDI, the global market
and foreign technology.
4. Rapid rise in the level and extent of the built environment,
transforming Chinese cities physically, architecturally and func-
tionally.
5. The lagging level of urbanization when the transition started has
given a large potential for the process to expand.
6. Pro-active local governments resulted from the devolution of
decision making from Beijing, has led to innovation and local
incentives which have enhanced and spread growth and devel-
opment in local regions.
Within the 25 years of transition, an obvious contrast has already
emerged in the PRC urbanization scene as compared to Mao’s period
(Table 12.6). Three major new dynamics have been driving the new
urbanization:
1. Labor intensive export-oriented industrialization. The open door
policy which has led to exogenous forces of FDI, out-processing
and foreign market access in economic growth that are partic-
ularly beneficial to cities in the Eastern Coastal Region as they
are the first to enjoy the policies of opening, such as the 4
Special Economic Zones, 14 Coastal Open Cities, and the Open
Economic Regions of the Pearl River Delta and Yangzi River Delta.

Table 12.6. Main Urbanization Features of the two PRC Periods Compared.

Main Feature Mao’s Period (1949–1981) Transition (1981–2000)

Urbanization level Low (>20%) Medium 36%

Urbanization rate Low (>2%) High 5%
Migration Restricted (organized) Free (economic)
Regional policy Inland-bias Coastal-bias
Development mode Resource-bias FDI-bias
Government role Central planning Socialist market
Urban living standard Low Medium
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

272 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

As the annual inflow of FDI amounted to a vast sum of over

US$50 billion (US$60 billion in 2004), and out-processing exports
accounted for 55.3% of China’s large volume of exports (2004),
the boost provided by external stimuli to urban growth and city
transformation have been great.
2. Reform policies in agriculture and the countryside. The collec-
tive system of the Communes was replaced by a system of
agricultural production based on decision by peasants which
bolsted agricultural productivity while at the same time led to
the emergence of 300 million surplus rural labor. Accompanying
these new systems are rural policies that encourage rural labor
to engage in private or collective small scale manufacturing,
trading, and construction work within local townships. These
new ventures have absorbed more than 150 million of the surplus
labor and induced the growth of townships and small cities in
what has been called “bottom-up” urbanization in China’s vast
countryside. Concurrent with these, urban reforms in household
registration, the abolition of the rationing of food and basic
consumer products, and the opening of the labor market have
attracted another 120–130 million temporary workers that moved
in between villages and cities. Many of them are attracted to
large coastal cities or open cities in southern China to work
as manual labor in the construction and service sectors and
in export-processing industries, yielding a new type of urban-
ization in China — “exo-urbanization” ( , Sit and
Yang, 1996).
3. The administrative push. In line with an attempt to devolve power
to the local level, the designation of cities has experienced major
changes. The minimum population standard of 100,000 for a
settlement to be qualified as a city has been relaxed, and new
criteria based on local GDP, industrial output and export values,
and open city status, have been put in place. In 1980–1990, 400
new cities and 16,000 new townships (zhen) have been added
into China’s list of urban settlements, the largest addition ever
experienced in China’s long history. While urbanization surged
forward, the number of counties declined from 2,132 in 1982 to
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 273

1,902 in 1990, as some of them had been completely converted

into municipal status.
Thus a new dualism has appeared in the new period. While there
has been “bottom-up” urbanization of widespread mushrooming of
small cities and townships all over the country, in lowlands of the
coastal Eastern Region, mega-urban clusters emerged, particularly
in the Pearl River Delta, Yangzi River Delta and Beijing-Tianjin-
Tangshan of the Bohai Rim area. Each urban cluster is efficiently
linked by road and rail transport to form an integrated urban eco-
nomic region that has developed a high degree of globalization in its
urban economy. By 1999, the three largest clusters had predominated
China in industrial production, FDI, and external trade (Fig. 12.15
and Table 12.7).
By 2000, the city in China had put on new features that defied its
old socialist or traditional Chinese characteristics. Though it is yet
too early to generalize a model for the transitional city of the PRC,

Fig. 12.15. The Three Extended Metropolitan Regions (EMRs) of China.

January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

274 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the following have emerged as common features of Chinese cities in

the transition:

1. Housing reform based on marketization has accelerated land

conversion, and the central area has been particularly reshaped
into a new skyline by such a redevelopment process.
2. Revenue from real estate development has increased the enthusi-
asm of urban governments to promote land development, leading
to a dispersal of growth; the former compact city being gradually
replaced by a polycentric city.
3. Real estate development based on market forces has produced
differences in residential space; the tight relationship between the
workplace and residence location under central planning has been
broken.
4. Re-emergence of the CBD to replace or exist alongside the old
administrative core and the appearance of high-tech development
zones in suburban areas in response to new growth dynamics of
market-led manufacturing and office activities.
5. Rise of service sectors such as restaurants, retailing and personal
services (like hair stylists, bars, nightclubs, other entertainment
businesses). These services include formal enterprises as well as
proliferation of informal stalls and street vendors, leading to an
explosion of new urbanism compared to the Maoist Chinese city.

Shenzhen: The Transition Case

In China, Shenzhen is the earliest city that implemented the Opening
and Reform policies, and is also the largest and first Special Economic
Zone. It has been China’s laboratory and sample of its “transition”.
Shenzhen was a county before it was upgraded to a municipality
in 1979. It comprised a territory of 2,020 km2 , with a population
of 358,000 in 1979. In 1980 a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) was set
up in its southern part, covering 327 km2 as a boost to its opening
to global forces and for spearheading economic and administrative
reforms. The eastern part of the municipality outside the SEZ then
comprised largely of a rural country — Boan which later became an
urban district as well.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 275

When the municipality was created, it registered a GDP of

196 million Yuan. After that, FDI as a proportion of total capital
investment in the new municipality stood always at around 15%.
The foreign-related capital investment was much higher when the
contribution of local capital and bank loans to match such foreign-
invested and foreign-related projects and enterprises were consid-
ered. The proportion of FDI started to decline somewhat in the mid
2000s, marking the maturing of the transition. FDI in general showed
a strong bias towards labor-intensive light industries that produced
garment, footwear, toys and household electrical appliances both
for export and domestic consumption. Export-oriented industrial
growth had promoted overall economic growth of the city. In 1985,
the city’s GDP was 3.9 billion Yuan. In 1995, it was 84.3 billion Yuan,
while it became 495.1 billion in 2005. Thus GDP growth reached 30–
60% annually in 1985–1995, and averaged around 18% in the later
period of 1996–2005 (Fig. 12.16). While the economy was growing

Fig. 12.16. Shenzhen’s GDP and Its Composition (in 100 mil Yuan).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

276 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

rapidly, its population registered unique and spectacular growth

as well, i.e. hectic growth spearheaded by in-migrants attracted by
its labor-intensive export industries, hence Shenzhen’s nicknames:
“migrant city”, and “over-night city”. In 1980, only 3.6% of its total
population were temporary in-migrants. In 1986, the proportion
increased to 45% and its absolute number was 400,000, almost equal
to the size of its permanent residents and was larger than its total
population at 1979. In 2000, the temporary population reached 82.2%
of the total population. By 2005, the number of temporary population
was a hefty 6.47 million (about the total population of Hong Kong, its
neighbor), though as a proportion of the total population it dropped
slightly to 78%.
Shenzhen’s spatial structure is equally representative of the
changes in China’s transitional cities in the past 25 years. In its
Lowu District, a capitalist style CBD emerged, with large retail stores,
offices, finance and banking, and major hotels as its major functions.
As Lowu suffered from serious lack of space to accommodate the
fast growing CBD functions, a new CBD was planned and started
to develop in the late 1980s. The municipality thus has acquired a
“dual-center” (Fig. 12.17). As a response to export industrialization,
various industrial estates, bonded areas and high-tech industrial
parks formed important land use features of the city. Urban housing
and services are also largely privatized and commercialized, which
have been organized into secondary centers in the city. Within the
city, population, economic activities and housing have formed a
complicated pattern, with obvious socio-economic segregation and
spatial separation (Xie, 2008).

Conclusion
In the two periods, i.e. 1949–1981, and 1981–2005, the PRC has
adopted very different models of development. Yet they share a
common and consistent undertone: the rejection of the traditional
Neo-Confucian approach. The Maoist approach was one of a close-
door and self-reliant application of a modified “Western model”
of socialist modernization, with an overboard emphasis on the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

People’s Republic: The Unsettled Socialist Approach 277

Fig. 12.17. Land Use Structure of a Transitional City: Shenzhen (2005).

industrial role of the city and the high-hand of central planning. The
post-reform decades have seen a wider choice of Western practices
and values, culminating in the general description of exploiting
the market and “globalization” forces. These diverse paths have
certainly intended to answer the same question: how should China
develop in the contemporary age? As a tested and long serving
value system, it is yet too early to say that Neo-Confucianism is
of little relevance in such a quest. The last half century of practices in
economic development and urbanization of the PRC have illustrated
the mistakes and inconsistencies of their policies, and the lack of a
viable wholistic framework. Many of these ailments are still facing
the country today. At present, the country is said to be at a stage
of “transition”. The key is transition to what? Neo-Confucianism
has proved itself a practical model for self-reliant and sustainable
development in rural and traditional China for thousands of years.
It is also the rationale for the continued existence of the Chinese
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch12 FA

278 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

civilization. Should there be ingredients in Neo-Confucianism that

could serve as principles for development in modern China? Since
1850 the Chinese have been engaged too much in searching from
outside China for a solution, such that they have left unattended
what they already have, which may be of equal if not more relevance
for guiding the country’s future development.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Chapter 13

Message from Chinese Urbanism

City and Civilization

The previous 12 chapters have traced the evolution of the Chinese
city, taking it as the container as well as a critical factor in the
development of civilization in the country. As early agricultural
culture emerged in Neolithic times, permanent human settlements
gradually appeared. Both formed basis for the start of regional
cultures that characterized China of the time. In the Longshan city-
state period, China entered the legendary epoch of the sage kings
of Yao and Shun. By 2000 BC, in the rivervine of the mid Huanghe
reach — Zhong Yuan, the regional culture there advanced into the
Huaxia civilization leading to the early dynasties of Sandai (i.e.
Xia, Shang and Zhou). These were much more powerful empires of
centralized rule than the former loose confederation of tribal states. It
is a period of Chinese “feudalism”. “Di”, the emperor, appeared and
was later transformed into the Son-of-Heaven in the Zhou Dynasty.
Yet the territory directly administered by the Son-of-Heaven was
still small compared to the expanse of China today. Most of the
“rest of China” were ruled by feudal lords. It was until the Qin
Dynasty that China became a genuine empire of centralized control,
as former feudal states were replaced by provinces (fu) and counties
(xian) with administrators assigned by the emperor. Thus from Qin
Dynasty until the present, with few exceptional periods such as the
North South Dynasties, China has been a huge territorial state under
centralized rule.

279
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

280 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Over the immense space of China, the multi-culture complex that

started in Mid Neolithic had evolved, about 3,000 years ago, into a
unique civilization based on the culture developed in Zhong Yuan.
In this development process, the city had always been the container
where most of the civilization traits could be found. We may view
civilization at three levels, all are found highly concentrated in the
city, such that urbanism and urban culture may, to a large degree,
be equated with civilization. The highest level civilization traits, i.e.
values and ideology are obviously urban-based. They are embodied
in the urban ruling class, the bureaucracy and scholar-gentry or the
shi. These elites possess, create and promote the application and
propagation of these values, knowledge and established practices.
The second level of civilization comprises elements such as systems
and codes of control and conduct which are equally concentrated
in the city, using it as the central place for the application and/or
services to the whole population. These embrace administration,
taxation, education and covie. The lowest level are material wares
and artifacts, such as means of transport, consumer goods, building
structures and art forms. The city is also where one finds the highest
density of these elements.
In the long stream of Chinese history, the evolution of the
three levels of civilization showed an obvious urban-bias, though
they were by no means restricted spatially to the city. The main
value system and behavioral practices of Chinese civilization, i.e.
the Confucian concepts of man-heaven unity, heaven and ancestral
worship, and Rites and Music transcend urban and rural. They are
equally practised and held as guarding principles by rural folks.
Moreover, the city as a major container of civilization in China,
served primarily its rural hinterland. In such sense, the Chinese civ-
ilization is nationwide in its coverage; cities are but its nodal points
or central places. Thus, when we talked about Chinese urbanism or
Chinese civilization we mean the whole Chinese civilization.
In contemporary urban geography of the West, the city is seen
to possess three main characteristics (which are also used to define
the city), i.e. (1) its residents are mainly in non-agricultural employ-
ments, (2) it is a place of high population density and concentration
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 281

of people, and (3) its high density buildings and their architecture
form a cityscape distinctly different from the physical look of rural
settlements. Behind such a “city” concept is the assumption of the
duality of “urban” and “rural” originated from the ancient Greek
idea of the polis or city-state. The polis thrived in Greek at around 5
century BC. It refered to a “self-governing community”. The polis was
a distinct polity with a number of connotations: (1) self-rule; (2) its
residents and members participated in communal life, including
politics, economics, culture, moral, religion, sports and art, etc. such
that the city represented a type of living with a high degree of public
participation; and (3) women and slaves were excluded from the
community. The polis or city then was thus a community of a portion
of its residents, and in such sense, urbanism and urban culture
were logically dissimilar to the situation of the surrounding rural
settlements. Aristotle thus had said conclusively that: “The polis is
the only framework within which man can fully realize his spiritual,
moral and intellectual capacities.” The city was therefore higher and
more important than the countryside. Based on such view, in Latin,
the two words: city and civilization, share the same root — “cit”. It is
therefore generally assumed in the West that civilization only exists
in cities under certain conditions. Cities that possess these conditions
are thus “true” cities; those that do not, including many in Asia (and
China), are not “true” cities.
Such a perspective clearly does not recognize the city as a
container of civilization; rather, it treats the city as civilization itself.

The True City: A Western Bias

Among Western bias on the nature of the city, Zijderveld (1998) is
most blatant. He said, “urbanity, I shall argue, is a typically Western
species of the genus economic and civic culture … comparable to
and closely related with the Protestant ethic. In fact both urbanity
and the Protestant ethic stood at the craddle of Western capitalism
and beyond that of Western modernity … Urbanity is in origin and
nature a Western phenomenon.” He contended that the great cities of
ancient India and China, even of Babylona, lacked a district economic
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

282 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

and civic culture which could have forged their inhabitants into
specific social bonds, thereby moulding them into true citizens. It was
common trading and artisan ventures of the 10th and 11th century
in Europe that laid the foundation of such an urban culture. “Not
the ties of family and religion, nor the possession and long-time
habitation of a piece of land, nor the belonging by birth, caste or race,
but the very rational economic interests in autonomy vis-a-vis the
ruling feudal forces drove these city dwellers together.” He further
proposed a simple definition of the city as:
City = oikos + market
In Greek, oikos means “house”. It represents the place of authority
and public participation in politics, religion, art and social affairs.
Putting oikos and market together reemphasized the values and
system of commercialism. On top of these, is the relevant super-
structure of Protestant ethic as indicated by the following definition
of urbanity by Zijderveld:

Urbanity=trade capitalism (Puritanity)

City Hall, Guildhall, University

(Values, norms, meaning)

Urban culture

Capitalist economic system + civic culture

The above concept of urbanity is based narrowly on some of

the experience of the West, especially the dynamics of Western
capitalism since the 18th century. It has led to the rejection by
some Western scholars as true cities or modern cities many cities
developed in post World War Two years in the developing countries.
Some of these are given new labels, such as “pre-industrial cities”,
“parasitic cities”, “non-generative cities” etc. Post WWII urbaniza-
tion in many developing countries is also hence labeled as a new
subset of urbanization, like “pseudo-urbanization” and “subsistant
urbanization”, distinct from the urbanization of the West, and is
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 283

regarded as something negative and needs to be stopped or avoided

through government efforts and policies. Of course, among these
“untrue” cities, there exists no urbanity or genuine urbanism.

City as Product of Civilization Rather Than Product

of A Certain Civilization
Many past studies have already revealed that there is a close
relationship between city and civilization, and that the emergence of
the city, i.e. the change from rural settlement into urban settlement,
is a complicated process that involves structural changes in the
economy and society. At the end of that process, a primitive culture
reaches a much higher level and becomes a civilization. Childe
(1950) in his famous paper: “The Urban Revolution”, argues that
the emergence of the city is of equal significance to the Neolithic
Revolution in the evolution of mankind. It is the process that
he called “urban revolution” that had yielded the conditions for
the birth of the city. Based on archaeological evidence, he has
identified 10 conditions or criteria that distinguish early cities from
villages, i.e.
1. large size, with 7,000–20,000 population;
2. new composition and function of the population, i.e. predomi-
nance of non-agriculturalists;
3. presence of imaginary deity or kingship for concentrating tiny
agricultural surpluses from the hinterland;
4. monumental buildings to symbolize concentration of social
surplus through the means of a god and his vice-agent — the
city king;
5. a ruling class of priests, civil and military leaders, scribes,
exempted from manual tasks and are dependent on the temple
or court; while the lower class enjoyed security and peace and
relieved from intellectual tasks of rituals;
6. existence of a system of recording;
7. invention of writing/scripts;
8. coming of specialists and new direction of artistic expression;
who are full-timers, e.g. sculptors, painters, seal-engravers, etc;
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

284 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

9. evidence of trade for importation of raw materials for industries

and luxuries;
10. existence of a city community based on politics and economics
but not on kinship.

Of the above, Childe thought that invention of writing is the most

important. It is because of this, many Western scholars believe the
city only emerged in China since the middle of the Shang Dynasty
(see Fig. 1.1), i.e. when evidence of writing in the form of scripts on
oracle bones can be identified. Childe’s archaeological efforts and
interests focued mainly on the Middle East and also touched sites
in North and South America and some Pacific islands. However, he
has never mentioned the case of China.
Braidwood (1986) believed that the impetus to the growth
of cities, i.e. production of surplus food by means of technical
advancement and irrigation agriculture, emerged about 4000 BC
in Mesopotamia, and Ubaid arose as a city as a result of such a
process. He further explained that the construction and maintenance
of irrigation systems engendered “inequalities” in the access to pro-
ductive land, inducing a stratified society. In the early Sumerian cities
in Mesopotamia such as Ubaid, Warka (Erech/Uruk) and Umma,
archeological finds such as the ziggurats, inscriptions on mud pillars,
tombs of kings and royalties and their hoard of gold and silverwares,
including gold crowns, swords, musical instruments, and human
and horse sacrifices, are evidence of the existence of kingship and
social stratification that are hallmarks of urban civilization.
Yet there are differences in opinion among Western scholars
on the emergence of the city in two core issues: (1) whether
civilization preceded the city, and (2) if technological advancement
and development of trade are direct causes of economic structural
change leading to social division of labor among the population,
then whether the dynamic behind the emergence of the city be
industrialization and the growth of trade, or the merchant being the
key figure in city formation?
Those who believe civilization may not precede the appearance
of the city feel that the city may already exist before all the ten criteria
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 285

of Childe are present. They include Gist and Fava (1986) and Karl
Marx. We shall turn to them later.
However, the American urban historian, Mumford (1961)
asserted that the king or kingship is the critical factor that wrought
the transformation of loose village economies into highly organized
urban economies in history. According to his analysis, at around
3000 BC, a phase of concentrated technical innovations were evident
in the Nile Valley and Mesopotamia. These include the culture of
grain crops, invention of the plough, pottery wheel, sail, bronze
metallurgy, spinning machine, and the arrival of arithmetics, cos-
mology and writing. They enabled people of these two regions to
enter the age of civilization. The city was then the central place or
theatre for the process of accumulation of economic surplus that
civilization depended on, and kingship was the critical factor for
such an accumulation process:

“The King occupies a central position. He is the pole of

the urban magnet, drawing all new developments towards
the center of the urban civilization, placing them under the
control of the temple and the court.”

The evolution of the Chinese city through time seems to agree

well with Mumford’s contention. Technological inputs and their
management for the generation of agricultural surplus of the time
in China were concentrated in the city. For such reason, the city
was the center of civilization. Obviously, the city looked different
from the village: the city economy was non-agricultural; in physical
look, it had imposing palaces and temples; in employment, function
and social groups, it had the king and officials at the higher
level, with merchants, craftsmen and urban underclass at the lower
level, forming a district “urban civilization”. Nevertheless, these
elements or features of civilization within the city may be seen as
their concentration in space in the city, rather than indicators of
a civilization separated from the hinterland or rest of the country
where the city was located. To use Munford’s words: the city is
the heart of civilization. Then, the king or kingship represented the
highest level of civilization: its values and ideology, either through
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

286 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the claim that kingship was bestowed by gods or he had the Mandate
of Heaven, the populace, including officials, soldiers, other urban
residents and peasants supported and accepted the arrangements the
king made on the use and management of the agricultural surplus.
Civilization then may be a short form for kingship, and there seems
to be no difference between the West and East in this in ancient times.
Thus, the Sumerian civilization of Mesopotamia and civilization of
China in the Longshan city-states, in the Xia and Shang Dynasties do
look very similar, as both hinged on the kingship that promoted and
caused the production, accumulation and concentration of economic
surpluses, which included the manufacture of new products, art,
and new and alien products brought in through exchanges or trade
with distant lands. It was kingship, then, rather than merchants,
that had promoted the emergence of the city and its growth and
development. Mumford pointed out further that the industrial and
commercial developments that have close relations with urban
growth in the 19th and 20th centuries, was then a supplementary
feature in the city. One reason given is that the first appearance
of traders or merchants may be much later than the early cities,
because in Sumer language the word “merchant” did not exist until at
about 2000 BC.
The British historian Toynbee (1967) once said that the history of
the city is an integral part of the history of human affairs. To Southall
(1990), urban life and events are conditioned and determined by
processes and forces generated in the political economy and culture
far transcending any urban or even time limits. The unity of the city
and civilization thus lies on the wholeness of human experience,
bounded at the beginning by the temporal immensities of the pre-
urban era and at the end by the still immensities of the post-
urban age. He lamented that cities have never been seriously and
comprehensively looked at as a whole, so that the nature of their
unity has never been fully explored or perceived. Therefore to
understand the city we should include: (1) how the social relations
of the city differ in time and space from its contemporaries in other
locations, and (2) how such differences are reflected in the changing
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 287

organization of the city, and the consequent changes in production

and social relationship in the rest of the country.

Marx’s Four Categories of Cities

In the previous discussion we have argued that the city cannot be
separated from the region and society it is located, nor should village
and city, or rural and urban be treated as discrete or even opposing
entities. Looking from the perspective of civilization, rural and urban
are a continumn within one system, though at a lower cultural level,
the two may be seen as different, though not necessarily different in
nature. However, in different regions of different civilizations, and
at different stages of a civilization’s evolution, different types of city
may emerge. If we hold a city at certain time and space as “true city”
and treat others as “untrue” cities, it may be counter-productive for
understanding the city.
Following the above logic, Marx (1840) suggested four contrast-
ing dialectical relations between town and country (or city and
village) and noted a series of transformations in the city and in its
relation with the country to correspond with the transformation of
a society from one mode of production to another. Based on this, he
generated four modes or types of cities:

1. Asiatic mode: Unity of town and country

The main characteristic of such a city is that there was no political,
religious, institutional or administrative differentiation between
town and country. It was found in embryonic city-states which
were small. Each state was dominated physically and symbiotically
by the central city through rituals rather than political measures.
The temple controled a large labor force and significant portion
of the productive land in the country. Ordinary folks were left
encapsulated in their traditional kin-based communities, through
which tax-rent was collected. The city-state gave powerful symbolic
expression to supernatural beings and values, relating closely to
their ritual leaders. The city, or urban concentration, served as
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

288 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

the effective deployment hub of religious-political symbolism and

the management and control center that facilitated the production,
display and trading of luxury objects and the consumption of the
agricultural surplus.

2. Ancient mode: Ruralization of the city

This category of cities include ancient Greek cities and Roman cities.
Alexander the Great’s conquest had spread this mode into parts of
Southwest Asia. The ancient Greek city was run by owners of rural
land who were the resident citizens, and enjoyed unprecedented
freedom of thought and action. Yet this miraculous jump in the
direction of rights of man (not woman) was based on a majority
of slave workers both within the city and in the country.

3. Feudal mode: Antagonism between town and country

The distinctive feature of this mode is that the city became dual
societies expressing antagonism between town and country. The
Medieval city of Western Europe belongs to such mode. The con-
ditions for the emergence of such type of city was the disintegration
of imperial political economy in the Dark Ages before the onset
of Rennaissance. At that time, multiple, invasive political and
dispersed economies emerged and they tried to occupy key locations
in space, i.e. important transportation nodes along trade routes.
The new social forces included kings and nobles, the church, and
an increasingly wealthy and influential class of merchants and
craftsmen. Their common purpose was antagonism between town
and country. The city served as heavily defensed space, militarily and
institutionally, in order to protect the wealth and activities of the new
social classes, leading to the dichotomy of town and country. The
kings and nobles were in political control of the productive land and
lived in castles, whereas merchants and craftsmen lived in emergent
urban communities, managing the production of goods and wealth.
They struggled for complete control of the city with the nobility and
the church, leading to the tripartite space arrangement in the core of
Medieval cities, i.e. the cathedral, palace, and guildhall that formed
its central pieces of architecture with the market in the middle,
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 289

a situation called by Mumford as “tripartite power-sharing”. The

urban proletariat supported the efforts of merchants and craftsmen.

4. Capitalist mode: Urbanization of the country

Since the establishment of global trading in the 19th century,
especially the establishment of colonies by Western powers in the
New World, Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia, many countries
in Europe developed an appetite for large import of raw materials
and energy, while at the same time turning themselves into major
exporting giants of industrial products. This rapid economic expan-
sion also enabled them to develop financial capital as a means of
global control. Accumulated capital and technological innovations,
especially the surge of power-driven machinery, had led to a capital-
ist mode of production, resulting both in a buoyant rural economy
and explosive expansion of manufacturing. In Western Europe and
to some extent North America, capitalist mode of production had led
to a new city form with the Central Business District (CBD) as the core
and a new land use alignment and suburban development to reflect
the new economic order and new technology. The latter also included
new intra-urban modes of the railway and automobile. In colonies,
colonial cities shared common features reflecting the domination
of foreign control and their subordination in a dependent political
economy.

In the four modes, merchants were an essential component, and

of all the social classes they were the most intrinsically urban. In
the Asiatic mode, merchants were agents of temples and the throne.
In the ancient mode, though overseas trade was the very source of
the greatness of some cities, trading was despised and forbidden to
citizens and nobles. Indeed, merchants and nobles had been treated
as incompatible in most cultures. In the feudal mode, merchants
attained a high social status and influence for the first time, profiting
from the inherently antagonistic and contradictory nature of the
feudal system. The merchant city of the feudal mode was to Weber
the full and only realization of the city. In the capitalist mode,
merchants were midwives to the capitalist mode of production. They
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

290 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

were then magnified and transformed into the new ruling class of
industrialists and financiers, the major force behind the new urban
economy and culture, as well as its new spatial structure of the
modern metropolis in industrialized countries.
Marx’s Asiaitic mode refers to the small city-states in
Mesopotamia during the times of the Sumerians. The ancient civ-
ilization and its cities there had been the earliest of their kind. There,
kingship and religion formed a unity and was the main dynamic for
the city and civilization. Pre-history China had a similar experience.
However, the Sumerian civilization vanished when it clashed with
other civilizations at around 1000 BC. It was succeeded by the
ancient mode of the Greek civilization which later spread to many
parts of ancient Europe. The feudal mode and capitalist mode are
obviously later stages in the evolution of European civilization after
the ancient mode. From the macro level perspective of civilization,
these three modes are similar in origin and nature, i.e. based on the
same foundation in terms of values and ideology. Some scholars
underlied this as individualism based on Protestant ethic. Changes
and differences, however, may be discerned when they are compared
at the second and third levels of civilization to reflect the stages in
the development of institutions and artefacts.
By comparison, China had always been in the Asiatic mode
before the PRC (1949). But in China, kingship and temple (or religion)
had been very early on fused within the ideology of Confucianism.
Throughout the dynasties, Confucianism had evolved and modified,
yet its basic values and concepts, such as Man-Land Unity, Ancestral
and Heaven Worship, Mandate of Heaven, and People’s Basic Inter-
est had persisted from the Sandai (three early dynasties) unchanged.
Again, at the second and third levels of civilization, notable changes
in institution and technology (artefacts) could be observed. Thus the
Chinese city had maintained its nature and function for over 4,000
years, though there had been obvious modification in the dynasties,
such as the ward system. The latter, started in the Zhou, developed
to maturity in the Han and Tang, but became obsolete in the Song
when it was replaced by open streets and mixed residential and
commercial uses.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 291

Thus in researching on the city, there is a need to explore

the possibility of a general theory on the city, with two major
considerations:

1. The city cannot be alienated from its surrounding rural hinterland,

and that urban civilization is only a part of the civilization of
the region. From the point of view of value system, economics,
politics and culture, town and country are not two extremes of a
dichotomy.
2. At the macro level of civilization, there may exist two types of
cities: Chinese city and “Western” city, and in different historical
periods, there had been more obvious changes in the “Western”
city than the Chinese city.

In this volume, we have attempted a systematic study of the

Chinese city. This is yet inadequate for arriving at a general theory
of the city. More efforts are required, especially in more detailed
comparative study of the “Western” city. In the rest of this concluding
chapter, we shall summarize the evolution of the Chinese city
through time as is shown in Table 13.1. We shall then point out the
salient features of the Chinese city in its major historic stages, and
then draw the overall conclusion on the topic of the Chinese city.

China’s Traditional Urban Civilization

At about 5000 BC, China had developed a fairly advanced agri-
culture, leading to the emergence of large village settlements in
the middle reach of Huanghe in the form of the Yangshao culture
and in the middle and lower reach of Yangzi in the form of the
Liangchu culture. The moated village of Jiangzhai I in Table 13.1
and Chapter 2 testified the existing high level of social organization
in late matriarchal society. The settlement, that was discussed in the
chapter, was home to five blood-related tribes in a tribal community
for shared agriculture. Jiangzhai I is significant in that it already had,
in embryonic form, the economic, social, political and religious char-
acteristics of traditional China based on an agricultural economy,
particularly obvious being that all such are reflected in the location,
 January 13, 2010
Table 13.1. Outline of the Evolution of the Traditional Chinese City.

292
Era/ Representative Area Population Wall Structure Central Zone Industrial-Business Remarks
Dynasty Village/City District

5000–4000 BC Jiangzhai I 5 ha 450–600 Moated village. Big house (120 m2 ). Pottery workshop Composed with 5

16:4
outside moat. tribes, each in
separate quarter.
4000–3500 BC Chengtoushan 7.6 ha — Circular Huge-size structure Pottery workshops Earliest Chinese city

Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

rammed earth on rammed earth and domitories. site.
wall, with platform.
moat.

spi-b879
3500–2800 BC Dadiwan II 105 km2 — Huge-size Big house: 290 m2 ; — Huge stone axe and
village at Assembly Hall battle-ax found in
hillside, no +130 m2 ; plaza Assembly Hall;
wall. “Audience Hall in tribal
front, Residence confederation.
Chamber
behind”; palatial
architectures on
rammed earth

9in x 6in
platform.
2800–2100 BC Chengziya 0.2 km2 1–2,000 Square, city wall 50 huge-size Handicraftsman City-states era,
Longshan tall, 8–10 m structure on district in confederation of
high, with rammed earth outskirt. states. Chengziya,
moat. platform; F1, capital of
Audience hall, city-state of
9,583 m2 ; F2, 2,000 km2 ; with
Temple 4,200 m2 40 cities and

b879-ch13
lower level
settlements.
200,000 people in
the city-state.
(Continued)

FA
 January 13, 2010
Table 13.1. (Continued)

Era/ Representative Area Population Wall Structure Central Zone Industrial-Business Remarks
Dynasty Village/City District

1970–1600 BC Erlitou 3.75 km2 18–30,000 No city wall. Imperial Palace Huge-size bronze Start of imperial

16:4
Xia (Zhenxin) 300 ha, built at casting empire and
center of North workshops. feudalism; Rites
part, and Music in
palace-temple bronzes; design of
complex at the F1 and F2 follow
South 60,000 m2 , Audience Hall in

Message from Chinese Urbanism

spi-b879
numerous front, Residence
huge-size behind rule.
architecture built
upon the rammed
earth.
1600–1046 BC Hao 25 km2 100,000 Square, had 12 Imperial Palace 2 bronze workshops Outer city full of
Shang (Zhengzhou) gates. built at the center, of 10 ha, one in citizens, the peak
layout follow the inner-city, 2.5 ha; of bronze age,

9in x 6in
“Kao Gong Ji”. 12 ha, pottery unearthed
workshops in matured
outer-city; other Oracle-bone
workshops. inscriptions.
1046–221 BC Wangcheng 9 km2 — Square, 12 gates, Imperial Palace — System of “Rites
Zhou, (Luoyang) formed 3 km2 with 5 and Music” and
Warring dual-city with doors. “Mandate of
States Chengzhou. Heaven”
established; peak

b879-ch13
of Feudalism;
start of Confucian
thought;

293
(Continued)

FA
 January 13, 2010
294
Table 13.1. (Continued)

Era/ Representative Area Population Wall Structure Central Zone Industrial-Business Remarks
Dynasty Village/City District

16:4
Chengzhou was
built to the east of
Imperial City to

Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

become a dual
city. Chengzhou,
15 km2 , with a

spi-b879
garrison in
Chengzhou, to
watch over
descendants of
Shang dynasty;
market was set
up there.
Linzi 20 km2 350,000 Square, — Bronze and iron Garrison;

9in x 6in
dual-city. workshops in workshops, many
Palace city. civil residences, a
market; 8 gates;
city bigger than
capital of Zhou,
reflected
disintegration of
Rites and Music,
and importance

b879-ch13
of commerce and
military.
(Continued)

FA
 January 13, 2010
Table 13.1. (Continued)

Era/ Representative Area Population Wall Structure Central Zone Industrial-Business Remarks
Dynasty Village/City District

206 BC–220 Changan 36 km2 240–280,000 Nearly square, — Market 2.66 km2 ; Start of empire
Han being a 2-tier 1 km2 mint. centralized with

16:4
city, 12 gates. the system of
prefectures and
counties of
appointed
officials; first
imperial capital

Message from Chinese Urbanism

spi-b879
that followed
“Kao Gong Ji”, no
outer city; over
half city
population in
suburbs.
618–907 Changan 87 km2 1,000,000 3-tier city; 12 Imperial Palace Outer city, 2 market A chessboard
Tang gates. equipped with and 109 fangs. streets, in

9in x 6in
sanzhao, the main outer-city
door of palace residences layout
gates was the axis in fangs; brand
line of the whole new capital of Sui
city (Imperial strictly followed
Way 150 m wide). “Kao Gong Ji”.
960–1126 Kaifeng 32 km2 1,000,000 3-tier city; 12 Imperial palace Numerous shops, Palace and imperial
North gates. 0.26 km2 , workshops, city followed
Song Imperial quarter entertainments in “Kao Gong Ji”.

b879-ch13
4.5 km2 . outer-city, 35,000 Closed fang
craftsmen in system replaced
government by open streets;
monopolies. vibrant industry,

295
(Continued)

FA
 January 13, 2010
296
Table 13.1. (Continued)

16:4
Era/ Representative Area Population Wall Structure Central Zone Industrial-Business Remarks
Dynasty Village/City District

Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

commerce,
services along
main streets and

spi-b879
river/canal
banks, first
national capital
that emphasized
commerce and
trade.
1368–1850 Beijing 62 km2 1,000,000 (In 4-tier city; 9 Imperial palace Outer city, palace
Ming, 1842, gates in inter 0.72 km2 city and imperial

9in x 6in
Qing (Mid) Manchus city; an outer city, strictly
and “Han” city in the followed “Kao
had south. Gong Ji”; racial
500,000 separation for the
each. 70% Han and Manchu
of population.
population
lived in
outer-city).

b879-ch13
FA
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 297

roles and structure of the central “big house”. Located at the center of
the settlement, the front half of the ‘big house’ was the meeting hall,
its back half served as residence of the tribal leader. Such a spatial
pattern of core land uses of the settlement forms the forerunner of
the “Audience Hall at the Front, and Residence at the Back” layout
convention of the “Forbidden City” in later Chinese capital cities. In
front of the “big house” was an open space/court for ritual services,
large assembles and mass celebrations, also sharing the orientation
and function of the “outer court” of later times. A pole for recording
of major events was erected outside the “big house”, with a scribe
responsible for craving out records on it — the origin of later key
officer of the state, the prime minister. Businesses transacted in the
“big house” were mainly concerned with agriculture, and order
and security of the whole tribal community. The courtyard outside,
which also facilitated observation of the sky and for communication
with Heaven through various forms of rituals, for fortune-telling,
as well as for paying sacrifices to ancestors, served as the platform
for linking the community with nature and the past world. Such
roles in relating to Heaven and the Ancestors, and analyzing and
interpreting messages from them were the role of the priest (wu).
These and the technical administrative and management roles of the
agricultural economy and the community had been vested with the
tribal leader. In this way, the “big house” was not only the physi-
cal/geographical center of the settlement, it was the metaphysical
center for the economy, politics and society. Put more succinctly, it
was the concentrated node of the social values and institutions of
the agricultural society of China or Chinese civilization at the time.
In later stages in history when states emerged, the “big house”
became capitals of city-states (see Chengziya in Table 13.1). With the
progress in irrigated agriculture and accompanying and increasing
struggle among tribes for control of irrigation projects and the related
productive land, a process of social polarization leading to class
formation started. The masters of city-state might not be tied in blood
with peasants under his rule, unlike former tribal head in moated
villages. The expanded “big house”, i.e. the proto-city had a tall
pounded-earth wall for defense against rival city-states (Chapter 3).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

298 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

In its core, the palace and temples (Front Hall and Back Residence),
and standardized ritual structures were all built on raised pounded-
earth platforms. Such new features signified the higher social status
of the ruler as well as his closeness with Heaven and the past world.
Recent archeological discoveries proved that in China many city-
states existed in Longshan Period. Chengziya city-state is one of
them. It extended over a territory of 2,000 km2 with a population
of about 200,000. To manage the agricultural economy efficiently
over such a large space, about 40 settlements were set up in a
hierarchical 3-tier system, i.e. the capital (du), city (yi) and village (ju).
The capital city, Chengziya, possessed what we understand as urban
functions and cityscape and followed closely the role and nature of
the “big house”. Individual urban settlements that existed prior to
Longshan Period, e.g. Chengtoushan and Dadiwan II in Table 13.1,
and discussed in Chapter 2 have also been unearthed. Yet the number
of these earlier proto-cities unearthed are still too few for making any
conclusive statement other than saying that cities in the Longshan
represent the transition, or proto-cities, from large moated villages
to urban settlements.
The Longshan had entered the stage of patriarchal society and the
Chalcolithic Period, when bronze metallurgy had developed though
stone tools still prevailed (Chapter 3). Large scale flood control and
irrigation projects, together with frequent military conflicts ushered
in a time of masculin power with a strong male symbolism like the
straight line, square or rectangular shapes, replacing the enduring
and embracing curve and circle of the matriarchal society. Thus the
Longshan city wall was either square or rectangular. Yet the new
technological advancement was unable to propel social organization
beyond a limited geographical sphere to reach the wider extent of a
territorial state. What had been evolved was a loose confederation for
coordinating major cross-state flood control and irrigation projects or
for mediating in inter-state rivalries. Chinese legends indicated that
leaders of the confederation were persons of exceptional capability
and virtue. Among them, Huangdi (Yellow Emperor), Yao and
Shun had served such an office. They had won the hearts of “all
people under Heaven” either because they “served the interest of the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 299

people”, or being so virtuous that they had the blessing of Heaven.

These are the source of later key values in Confucianism, and indeed
the moral and social standards that had already been casted in the
“big house”. The development of such basic values into a system of
behavior form the foundation of Chinese civilization. It too formed
the leading principles regarding the function and organization of
the Chinese city after a protracted process of systematization and
codification in Sandai, i.e. the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties.
In Table 13.1, we put Sandai under the label of ‘formation of the
city under the principle of Rites and Music’. The Xia had started
the phase of territorial state and the Bronze Age (Chapter 4). Tech-
nological progress then promoted the agricultural economy. These
achievements have been charted archeologically in the expansion
of the Xia capital, Erlitou. It had a site about 10 times larger than
the largest city of the Longshan so far discovered. Its population
was even 20 times larger. In the core area of Erlitou, more than
50 large structures on high pounded-earth platforms have been
discovered. F1, likely to be the Audience Hall, was more than 50
times the size of its comparable institution in Dadiwan II. The
temple at the back of it was also colossal in size (Table 13.1). In
a royal tomb behind the temple, recently unearthed a rare grave-
good, a decore made of precious stones in the shape of a dragon
that covered from head to toe of the dead person, who is likely
to be the emperor. It indicates the likelihood that emperors of the
time already regarded themselves as Son-of-Heaven. Erlitou also
possessed huge-sized bronze casting workshops unique among all
presently known Xia settlement sites. They also casted huge wares of
strange shapes likely to be used in royal rituals, possibly indicative
of the start of the system of ritual bronzes for administering the
large territorial state. Through official monopoly over the mining
of copper, casting of bronze wares and their distribution and use,
the Xia exerted feudal rule on its peripheral states and welded
them into a unified empire based physically and metaphysically on
the practice of Rites and Music. It set the example of the Chinese
city founded on the basis of Rites and Music. The thrust of rites
is orderliness, responsibility and respect, emphasizing a sense of
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

300 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

solemnity, seriousness and constraint, while the thrust of music is

balance, cooperation and harmony, emphasizing liveliness, joy and
liberation. Rites and Music are an outward act to express, in the case
of a person, one’s inner feelings, and in the case of a country, its basic
policy principles of man-land relationship, respect and harmony.
Without the accompaniment of the inner feelings, these outward
acts would become meaningless. The concepts and innate values
of Rites and Music were further elaborated by the Duke of Zhou,
Confucius and later Confuscian scholars to become the foundation
of Chinese civilization and the mainstay in its urban development
as contained in the Confucian classics of the Five Classics and
Four Books.
King Tang of the Shang dynasty further laid the foundation of
ruling the country in the principles of Rites and Music (Chapter 5).
He raised war on feudal lords and nearby states that did not respect
the Mandate of Heaven and did not attended the sacrifices. Crown
all, he justified his military conquest on King Jie of the Xia as
righteous, as the latter disregarded the livelihood of the people. In
his proclamation (King Tang’s Proclamation) he stated categorically
that the position of Son-of-Heaven was only for virtuous persons.
China (the empire) was not the private property of any household.
It was the joint wealth of all virtuous people. The empire can only
be ruled by virtuous persons, as only under them that the people
could live in peace and prosperity. A similar proclamation was made
several hundred years later when King Wu of Zhou raised his last
and successful war against the last emperor of the Shang. Chinese
historians labeled these military conquests of King Tang and King
Wu as “the revolutions of Tong and Wu”. Within the Zhou Dynasty,
King Li was very autocratic and people were very unhappy about his
rule. He was then deposed by his chief minister, leading to a 14-year
“republican rule” by a committee of ministers and major feudalities.
The Chinese term “republic” was originated from the reign title of
these 14 years, meaning “co-government” ( ). Thus in gradual
steps, the basic concepts of Chinese style democracy based on the
Mandate of Heaven and “people’s interest as the nation’s basics”
had been established firmly by the end of Sandai. It was expressed
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 301

as the rule by Rites and Music through sacrifices related to Ancestral

and Heaven worships.
During Sandai, China was under feudalism and ritual bronzes
were used as testimony of the delegation to a certain feudality to rule
or recognition of the right to rule of a certain state by the emperor to
the local lord. The use of bronze ritualwares accompanied by relevant
music in sacrifices was an indication whether the Son-of-Heaven
(and lords) respected and upheld the Mandate of Heaven, as well
as followed the rules and practices of the ancestors. From the time
of the “big house”, the planning of the national capital as well as
of lesser cities followed the principles of Rites and Music, and such
rules gradually became codified. It finally yielded a comprehensive
planning code in Eastern Zhou, the “Kao Gong Ji”.
“Kao Gong Ji” stipulated that the basic structure of a national
capital follows the key rules with the Son-of-Heaven’s quarter lying
at the center, the Ancestral Temple to its left, and the Altar of
Soils and Grains its right, the Audience Hall in its front, and the
Market at its back. This set pattern is the physical expression of
the purpose of the reign: based on the Mandate of Heaven, as well
as the underlying combined administrative, social and educational
roles of the Chinese city. The code also sets lower standards based
on the same principles, in the planning of lesser cities according
to a rank hierarchy. Chapters 4–6 in this volume that cover the
civilization of Sandai, in particular the inheritance of this civilization
and its codification by Confucius and his followers in Eastern Zhou,
and the great debates between the Confucian School with Daoists,
and the Schools of Legalists and Yin-yang have been treated in
some details. We labeled Sandai as the Period of Formation of
Rites and Music and pointed out the summation and synthesis
by Confucians on the civilization of Sandai. In later dynasties
Confucianism was further modified and evolved, with new ideas,
including the adoption of some from Daoism and other schools of
thought. Its new development had been most noted since the Tang.
In this volume we called it Neo-Confucianism to incorporate the
“Lixue” (Rational Science or School of Principle, ) of the Song and
Ming dynasties, and the “Xinxue” (Essence of the Heart or School
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

302 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

of Mind, ) of the Qing. In short, Neo-Confucianism represents

the values of traditional China and stresses the important imperative
of an individual (including the emperor) to purify his li (principle)
and the expression of the Way (dao, ) of Heaven (tian, ). (Chan,
1963; Tu, 1976). It provided the ideological superstructure of the
continual evolution of Chinese civilization as it had been proven
highly relevant to an agricultural economy by bringing stability and
harmony to such a society. Perhaps this is the reason that, among
the seven ancient civilizations, only the Chinese civilization has
survived up to the present, as Thornby once said, “in all systems
in history, only the Chinese has a practical ideology to support its
government structure”.
Thus as a value system, Confucianism is not rigid and restrictive.
This may also be gleaned from the progress in China’s political and
economic systems in different periods of history, and in the evolution
of the Chinese city which had been the arena for these systems to be
played out. After subduing the six Warring States, the new unified
Qin Dynasty replaced feudalism by a new national administration
based on jun and xian (provinces and counties), opening a new era
of centralized empire rule. This new development had been taken
onboard by Confucians (though in essence it was the proposal of the
Legalists) as it did not conflict with basic values of Confucianism.
The system lasted from the Han to late Qing Dynasty. In Table 13.1,
it is labeled as centralization under Confucianism.
Before Confucianism became China’s predominant value system
and its adoption as the “official school”, a situation of “Rites fallen
apart and Music being damaged” and “instability under Heaven”
during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods began
(Chapter 6). Cities in this gap in history were very different from
those before and after. In function and structure, the typical city of
these periods deviated from traditional norms, as evidenced by cities
of lords built at standards higher than those for the Zhou emperor,
and many cities emphasized on functions of trade, commerce,
industry and military rather than administration and education.
In their structure, many cities did not follow the concentric ring
pattern with the palace quarter as the core. A new pattern of dualism
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 303

appeared, with separate small and large cities in a new dual-city

structure. Such a pattern was initiated by the Duke of Zhou when
the Wangcheng — the Eastern Capital was constructed (Luoyang in
Table 13.1). Wangcheng was a dual-city within which the royal city
was newly built. This “new city” was also called Wangcheng. It was
rigidly laid out according to “Kao Gong Ji”. However, by its side,
the Duke of Zhou constructed a “secondary city”, Chengzhou, with
the main purpose of containing the remaining officers and tribes of
the former dynasty and for stationing a large army to watch over
them. As the Shang tribes were skilled traders, Chengzhou was
given the role of a major commercial center in the new dynasty.
Chengzhou was thus a supplementary or extension of Wangcheng,
with special functional roles. The dual city was used as the national
capital in Eastern Zhou. It was a time when Zhou’s control over the
rest of China started to decline and local lords rose in power. Many
built their capitals following or even exceeded the standards of the
national capital of Eastern Zhou. Xiadu of the State of Yin, and Linzi
of Qi (Table 13.1) are often cited examples. Linzi, which had been
discussed in Chapter 6, was also a dual-city. Its population and city
territory far exceeded the Zhou emperor’s capital. It was also known
to be China’s largest industrial and commercial city at the time. These
testified the falling apart of the system of Rites and Music, and the
strong emphasis on trade and industry of the Warring States.
The First Emperor of Qin, besides setting up a new centralized
administration based on provinces and counties, also purposely
brought most of the famed cities of the earlier period to destruction.
This was to help him to clear all obstructions for developing a new
city hierarchy with clear rank orderliness for the implementation of
his new national administrative system. Superficially, this strategy
followed the spirit of the Legalists, yet in essence it was putting the
Confucian concept of rank orderliness into practice, a key principle
in the national urban/city hierarchy already laid down in “Kao
Gong Ji”. From the Han to Qing dynasties, China’s urban hierarchy
had consistently served as the means of administration for the
centralized government: major cities were sites for offices (yamen)
of important officials and centers of the scholar-gentry (Chapter 7).
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

304 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

They were also centers for official schools and civil examinations, and
housed agencies responsible for regional irrigation and flood control
projects, as well as cultural and social services, including law and
order, natural hazard relief, and medical and social welfare services.
The national capital formed the center or core of the system and was
the largest in size and population among all urban settlements in the
country. Its layout also followed most closely the “Kao Gong Ji”.
The first planned national capital on a greenfield site under the
centralized power of a Chinese empire was Changan of the Han
dynasty (Chapter 7). Changan covered 36 km2 in size, much larger
than the largest metropolis of the Warring States. As it was a 2-tier
city without the outer city, 2/3 of the city’s territory inside the wall
was devoted to palaces, with a city population of only 240,000, and a
“market” of 2.7 km2 (Table 13.1). Most of the city’s population lived
in suburbs outside the wall, such as in Moulin which had 280,000
people. Therefore the real city of Changan should have a population
of over 520,000. Changan of the Tang Dynasty reached the largest
scale among national capitals of all dynasties in imperial China
(Chapter 8). Inside its wall was 87 km2 , larger than Beijing of the Ming
and Qing dynasties which had only 62 km2 . Tang’s Changan (in fact
it was inherited from the short-lived Sui Dynasty) was also built on
a greenfield site and thus was constructed in close alignment with
“Kao Gong Ji”. It also inherited much of the modifications in national
capital planning since the Three Kingdoms, especially in the system
of the Three Audience Courts of the Palace City, the chessboard road
pattern, and the north-south axis design of the city.
Kaifeng of North Song also abided by the “Kao Gong Ji” in the
layout of its Palace and Imperial City as discussed in Chapter 9.
But in Kaifeng, the traditional ward system and chessboard road
pattern had been broken. Industrial and commercial activities lined
sides of streets and river banks and the city’s residents could freely
participate in different urban functions and activities. Such new
developments led to the growth and prosperity of urban trade and
industry which formed the basis of a new urban class and new
urban culture. Therefore, for the first time in Chinese history, in
a major dynasty, other than the traditional administrative role of
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 305

the city, a new urban dynamic had emerged (Table 13.1). After the
Song, in selected regions of China, industrial and trading townships
mushroomed, adding a nationwide new urban dynamic. In the Yuan
and Qing dynasties (Chapters 10 and 11) racial segregation formed a
new element of the Chinese city. In the Qing Dynasty, in the national
capital, Beijing, and major cities such as Xian and Guangzhou, the
“Manchu” or “Tartar” city appeared as a special and separable
component in the residential space of the city. The Manchus had
long been sinisized. After taking over the rule in China, they adopted
Confucianism as their ruling ideology and held more steadfastly to
it than even “Han” rule in the Ming Dynasty.
In summary, China’s 5,000 years urban evolution from Late
Neolithic to mid Qing Dynasty may be divided into four stages:

1. Moated large tribal village,

2. Longshan city-states based on irrigation projects,
3. Feudal city based on early empires,
4. Administrative city of imperial China of centralized control.

Throughout these stages, the Chinese city showed a number of

persistent features:

1. The core of the city is a quarter combining the roles of adminis-

tration and ancestral and heaven worship;
2. North-south orientation of major institutions and structures;
3. Educational institutions (official and private) and civil examina-
tion institutions form key urban infrastructures;
4. Services in administration, religion, and education etc target
towards people of the hinterland rather than the urban populace;
5. Industrial and commercial activities are looked down upon and
officially restricted in space and location;
6. The wall and accompanying gates and gate-keepers form no
hindrance to free movement of people in and out of the city.

In short, the main role of the city in traditional China is to pass

onto its rural hinterland the blessing of Heaven, i.e. regular rain
and shine and a stable and orderly society through the means of
Confucian ideology and its education. At the same time it was the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

306 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

platform for all sorts of central place functions required by a rural

economy and society. Military and industrial-commercial functions
were of secondary or complementary significance in city formation,
designation, and its sustainence.

Deliberation on the Modern Chinese City

We have defined the period from the First Opium War (about 1840) to
the founding of the PRC in 1949 as Modern China, and from 1949 to
the present as Contemporary China (Chapter 12). In Modern China
the traditional agriculture economy bankrupted under the pressure
of population and shaken the very foundation of Confucianism and
imperial rule that was based on it. In the eyes of the Chinese, the Qing
had then lost the Mandate of Heaven. Indeed political developments
in late Qing had proven the truism of the traditional dynastic cycle.
Yet the major global dynamic was aggressive Western imperialism.
The Qing government had also fallen prey to this foreign aggression,
as China turned to become a semi-colonial state after repeated
military defeats by Western powers. This new, global and Western
dynamic had hence promoted a new dualism in China’s urban
development, i.e. the rise of modern industrial and commercial cities,
with the co-existence and sometimes overlapping of the traditional
Chinese cities.
The deteriorating Qing rule had led to, among some members
of the shi class, a lost of faith in Confucianism, and they turned to
the West in search for new ideologies and tools for China’s self-
strengthening and modernization. As a consequence of military
defeats in the Opium War, serious attention was first paid to the
technological might behind modern gunboats and a growing belief
that China’s weakness lied with its lack of such wares. Hence, the
ensuing “Self-Strengthening Movement” was a partnership between
commercial interests and the imperial government for building up
China’s modern army and its accompanying military industries.
It was also extended to the setting up of industries for civilian
products such as the making of telecommunication and silk weaving
machines. The Movement achieved the construction of Asia’s largest
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 307

navy in China, which ranked fifth in the world in terms of the

capacity of its armory. However, China’s seemingly mighty navy
was smashed by Japan’s smaller fleet in a humiliating defeat in
1894, and dawned on some Chinese shi the realization that China’s
weakness lied more with its institution, and not so much in the
deficiency of modern weaponry. Some of them therefore began to
deliberate on whether the republican or constitutional monarchy
form of government would suit China. With the demise of the Qing,
the Republic of China was set up. However, the situation of Modern
China had not been improved, as the country was only republican in
form, while foreign powers controled the warlords and jockeyed for
control of the central government, or a slice of the Chinese territory.
The May Fourth Movement in 1924 was evidence of a rise in the level
of understanding of some of China’s shi that what China needed was
a new ideology to salvage itself from the dismemberment by Western
imperialists. They put up a new slogan that China’s way ahead was
to develop science and democracy.
The continual deliberation and efforts by these intellectuals or shi
in China had led to deeper understanding of the West and the tech-
nology and ideologies they possessed. Yet unfortunately many also
simultaneously rejected Confucianism and some even outrightly
despised their own civilization. Many viewed Confucianism as anti-
science and anti-democracy, a subject that must be refuted before
China could modernize. We do not subscribe to such a view. When
analyzing China’s historical development using the 3-level approach
on civilization, we find that at the macro level, Confucianism can
offer a pragmatic and logical approach to solving issues related to
the balance between man and nature (or Heaven and Earth), between
men, as well as between nations. In contemporary terminology,
these are close to the principles of “sustainable development”,
“ecological balance”, “recycle of resources”, “civil society” and
“public interests”, etc. The difference between the latter ‘pack’ of
values derived in the West and those in traditional China being
that in China, Confucians stressed collective behavior and interests
in the interpretation and administering of these values. Even the
notion of the “family” in Confucianism is the collective concept
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

308 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

of the big household, while in Western civilization, starting from

ancient Greeks, the individual is the denominator in these values and
their practices. At the institution level, what would best fit China’s
traditional conventions and its natural and cultural circumstances
remains to be further deliberated, though in Modern China, Western
models of presidential or parliamentary democracy, or the Soviet
model of Communist Party dictatorship had been tried. History
has already proven that their application in China had not been
successful. In 1963, a new term “Contemporary New Confucianism”
( ) was created based on “A Manifesto on Chinese culture
to the world” by Tang Junyi, Mou Zongsan, Xu Fuguan and Zhang
Junmai (Makeham, 2003). The Manifesto argues that while China
must learn from the West modern science and democracy, the
West must learn from China “a more all-encompassing wisdom”.
The “new Confucian” that the Manifesto portrays, i.e. one who
should accommodate modern science and democracy, and interprets
Confucianism along the general lines of new-Confucianism, agrees
quite reasonably with the history of Confucian development since
the Tang that we have outlined in previous chapters.
Since 1978, the PRC has ushered in a new period of Opening and
Reform. The architect of the new approach, Deng Xiaoping, stressed
that China should utilize global capital, market, technology, and
resources for rapid economic growth. Under him, China was success-
ful in turning its rural economy of scarcity to one of self-sufficiency
with a rapid rate of growth and increasing prosperity. At the same
time he had solved the large urban unemployment and rural under-
employment by encouraging the development of foreign-invested
enterprises in export-oriented and labor-intensive industrialization.
The latter had improved China’s balance of payment and led to
hectic growth of China’s economy. In rural-urban relationship, Deng
allowed the excessive rural labor freedom to migrate towards coastal
cities to participate in export-oriented industrialization and capital
construction there, leading to rapid urbanization and a new type of
transitional cities in the coastal region. Yet Deng’s basic principles
of “economic development is the basic rationale”, “let a minority
to become rich first”, and “wholesale opening” in his Opening and
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-ch13 FA

Message from Chinese Urbanism 309

Reform have not touched much on new institutional building, nor

on values and ideology. The post-2000 new leadership, Wan Jiabao
and Hu Jintao, however, has again raised the Chinese conventional
principles of “people’s interests as basics” ( ), “sustainable
development” ( ), “scientific development” ( ),
and “harmonious society” ( ), very much in agreement with
Confucianism. Thus within the transitional city of the PRC, there
exist the two extremes: traditional Chinese civilization and Western
civilization. Within it too, the socialist market, Confucian values, and
capitalism are mixed together. Re-establishing Confucian values and
their leading role in Contemporary China may therefore be a signif-
icant issue. After 150 years of “futile” search from the West, China
seems to apprehend a need to return to its original civilization. How
should China venture forward in terms of institution building, and
the promotion of science and technology in an ever more globalized
world aganist its traditional value system with a strong emphasis
on collectivism? The answer to this question therefore underlines
the nature and pattern of a new stage in China’s urbanization and
evolution of its city. It is the purpose of the volume to contribute, if
any, in the search for such an answer by pinpointing the relevance
and significance of Confucianism in the course of development in
China’s history and in its city and urbanism.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

Bibliography

An, Jinhuai (1998), “Discussion on the Geographical Location and Pattern of City
Sites of Shang Dynasty at Zhengzhou,” in Proceeding of International Conference
on Shang Culture in China, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology,
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing:
Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, pp. 79–84. (Chinese text)
An, Shibin (1993), “Discussion on the Chinese Early Bronze Wares,” Archaeology,
Vol. 12, pp. 1110–1119. (Chinese text)
Andrusz, G., Harloe, M. and Szelenyi, I (eds.) (1996), Cities After Socialism, Oxford:
Blackwell.
Balazs, E. (1964), Chinese Civilization and Bureaucracy, New Haven: Yale University
Press.
Barnard, Noel (1983), “Further Evidence to Support the Hypothesis of Indigenous
Origins of Metallurgy in Ancient China,” in The Origins of Chinese Civilization,
D.N. Keightley, ed., Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 237–271.
Bater, J.H. (1980), The Soviet City, London: Arnold.
Bergère, Marie-Claire (1981), “The Other China: Shanghai from 1919 to 1949,” in
Shanghai: Revolution and Development in an Asian Metropolis, Christopher Howe,
ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–34.
Boyd, Andrew (1962), Chinese Architecture and Town Planning: 1500 B.C. — A.D. 1911,
London: Alec Tiranti.
Cann, R.L. et al. (1987), “Mitochondrial DNA and Human Evolution,” Nature
January 1–7; 325 (6099), pp. 31–36.
Chan, Kam Wing (1994), Cities with Invisible Walls: Reinterpretating Urbanization in
Post-1949 China, Hong Kong: OUP.
Chan, Wing-tist (1963), A Sourcebook of Chinese Philosophy, Princeton: Princeton
University Press.
Charlton, Thomas H., and D.L. Nichols (1997), “The City-State Concept,” in The
Archaeology of City-states, D.L. Nichols and T.H. Charlton, eds., Washington
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 1–14.
Charlton, Thomas H., and D.L. Nichols (1997a), “Diachronic Studies of City-States:
Permutations on a Theme,” in The Archaeology of City-states, D.L. Nichols
and T.H. Charlton, eds., Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press,
pp. 169–207.
Chen, C.Z. (1946–1947), “Some Ancient Chinese Concepts of Town and Country,”
Town Planning Review, Vol. 19, No. 2–4, pp. 160–163.

310
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

Bibliography 311

Chen, Chun (1997), “Settlement, Residence, Walls and City Site,” Antique, Vol. 8,
pp. 43–47. (Chinese text)
Chen, Chun (1998), “Archaeological Observation of Emirates,” Antique, Vol. 7, pp.
46–51. (Chinese text)
Chen, Enzhi (1985), “Discussion on the Independent Evolution From Ape to Human
and of the Chinese and His Development Framework,” Critique of Social
Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 82–90. (Chinese text)
Chen, Lie (1996), “The Ancestor Cult in Ancient China,” in Mysteries of Ancient
China: New Discoveries from the Early Dynasties, J. Rawson, ed., London: British
Museum Press, pp. 269–272.
Chen, Qiaoyi (1983), The Six Ancient Capitals of China, Beijing: China Youth Press.
(Chinese text)
Chen, Xu (2001), Archaeology of Xia and Shang Dynasties, Beijing: Culture Relics
Publishing House. (Chinese text)
Cheng, Te-k’un (1982), Studies in Chinese Archaeology, Hong Kong: Chinese Univer-
sity Press.
Coon, C.S. (1969), The Origin of Races, New York: Knopf.
Cotterell, A., and D. Morgan (1975), China’s Civilization: A Survey of its History, Arts,
and Technology, New York: Praeger.
Crawford, H. (1991), Sumer and the Sumerians, New York: Cambridge UP.
Daniel, G.. (1968), The First Civilizations: The Archeology of their Origins, New York:
Thomas & Crowell.
Dong, Qi (1995), “A Brief Discussion on the Developmental History of Chinese
Cities in the Pre-Qin Period,” Civilization of Chinese Central Plains, Vol. 1,
pp. 73–78. (Chinese text)
Dong, Qi (2000), The Zhong Yuan of the Xia Period, Beijing: Science Press. (Chinese
text)
Du, Jinpeng (1994), “A Few Questions Relating to the Dawenkou Culture and
Liangzhu Culture,” Archaeology, Vol. 10, pp. 915–923. (Chinese text)
Du, Jinpeng (2004), “Re-understanding of the Intermediate Cultural Relic Outside
Nanguan of Zhengzhou,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and
Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of
Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press,
pp. 93–106. (Chinese text)
Du, Jinpeng (2004a), “Explanation of the ‘Border Signs of Yanshi Shang City
Site,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I,
Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology,
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 107–123.
(Chinese text)
Du, Jinpeng (2004b), “Yanshi Shang City Site and the ‘Project on the Historical
Periodical Division of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties’,” in Archaeology of
the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang
and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 124–125. (Chinese text)
Du, Jinpeng (2004c), “Xinzhai Culture and Erlitou Culture — An Informal Essay on
the Re-investigation of the Xia Culture,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

312 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

(Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou
Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences,
ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 66–72. (Chinese text)
Du, Jinpeng, Xuerong Wang, and Liangren Zhang (1999), “Discussion on a Few
Questions on Small Cities at the Yanshi Shang City Site,” Archaeology, Vol. 2,
pp. 35–40. (Chinese text)
Eberhard, Wolfram (1967), Settlement and Social Change in Asia: Collected Papers
Volume One, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.
Eberhard, Wolfram (1977), A History of China, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Eisenstadt, S.N., M. Abitbol, and N. Chazan (1988), Early States in African Perspective,
Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Elvin, Mark (1978), “Chinese Cities Since the Sung Dynasty,” in Towns in Societies:
Essays in Economic History and Historical Sociology, Philip Abrams and E.A.
Wrigley, eds., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 79–89.
Expert Group of the Project on the Historical Periodical Division of the Xia, Shang
and Zhou Dynasties (2000), “Summary of the Findings of the Project on the
Historical Periodical Division of the Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties Between
1996 and 2000,” Antique, Vol. 12, pp. 49–62. (Chinese text)
Fang, Yousheng (1995), “Remains of the Phase III of Yanshi Erlitou Relic and the
Late Xia Capital,” Archaeology, Vol. 2, pp. 160–185. (Chinese text)
Fang, Yousheng (1998), “Discussion on Yanshi Shang City as the Shang Capital of
Xiho,” in Proceeding of International Conference on Xia Culture in China, Institute
of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Encyclopedia
of China Publishing House, pp. 95–102. (Chinese text)
Faure, David (2001), “What Weber did not Know: Towns and Economic Devel-
opment in Ming and Qing China,” in Town and Country in China: Identity and
Perception, D. Faure and T.T. Liu, eds., Basingstoke: Palgrave, in association
with St. Antony’s College, Oxford, pp. 58–84.
Fei, Sheng (1996), Population Geography of the Tang Dynasty, Xian: Northwestern
University Press. (Chinese text)
Flannery, K. (1968), “The Olmec and the Valley of Oaxaca: A Model for Inner-
Regional Interaction in Formative Times,” in Dumbarton Oaks Conference on the
Olmec, E. Benson, ed., Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library
and Collection, pp. 79–110.
Fu, Xinian (1995), “Exploration of the Planning Techniques for the Changan and
Loyang of the Sui and Tang Dynasties,” Antique, Vol. 3, pp. 48–63. (Chinese
text)
Gao, Wei (1989), “The Ritual System in the Longshan Period,” in Papers in Honour
of Bingqi Su on the Occasion of his 55-Year Archaeological Life, Editoral Group
of Papers in Honour of Bingqi Su on the Occasion of his 55-Year Archaeological
Life, eds., Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing House, pp. 235–244. (Chinese
text)
Gao, Wei, Xizhang Yang, and Jinpeng Du (1999), “Yanshi Shang City Site and
Historical Periodical Division of Xia and Sheung Cultures,” in Research on
the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou) I — Proceeding of 1998 International
Conference on the Civilizations of Shang and Zhou at Xingtai, Hebei Province,
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

Bibliography 313

Editorial Committee of Research on the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou),
ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 186–199. (Chinese text)
Ge Jianxiong (2007), China in History: Territorial Change, Shanghai: Shanghai Flower
Essays Press, p. 233. (Chinese text)
Gernet, Jacques; translated by J.R. Foster (1985), A History of Chinese Civilization,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Goepper, Roger (1996), “Precursors and Early Stages of the Chinese Script,” in
Mysteries of Ancient China: New Discoveries from the Early Dynasties, J. Rawson,
ed., London: British Museum Press, pp. 273–281.
Goodrich, L. Carrington (1962), A Short History of the Chinese People, 3rd Edition,
London: George Allen & Unwin.
Granet, Marcel (1930), Chinese Civilization, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Griffith, R., and C.G. Thomas (1981), “Introduction,” in The City-State in Five
Cultures, R. Griffith and C.G. Thomas, eds., Santa Barbara, C.A.: ABC-Clio,
pp. xiii–xx.
Gu, Yinhai (2002), Orcale-Bone-Script: Discoveries and Research, Shanghai: Shanghai
Bookstore Publishing House. (Chinese text)
Gu, Zhaolin (1992), System of Chinese Cities and Towns: History, Present Situation and
the Future, Beijing: Commerical Press. (Chinese text)
He, Daokuan (1999), Brief Introduction to Chinese Civilization, Beijing: Foreign
Language Teaching and Research Press. (Chinese text)
He, Daokuan (2004), Chinese Culture: A Descriptive and Explanatory Approach, Beijing:
Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
He, Yuling and Hongqiong Hu (2004), “Discussion on the Nature and Interaction
of Early Shang Cities,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and
Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute
of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press,
pp. 150–156. (Chinese text)
Heng, Chye Kiang (1999), Cities of Aristocrats and Bureaucrats: The Development of
Medieval Chinese Cityscapes, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
Henriot, C. (1993), Shanghai, 1927–1937, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hodge, Mary G. (1997), “When is a City-State? Archaeological Measures of Aztec
City-States and Aztec City-State Systems,” in The Archaeology of City-states, D.L.
Nichols and T.H. Charlton, eds., Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution
Press, pp. 209–227.
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (1999), Yanshi Erlitou:
1959–1978 Archeological Excavation Report, Beijing: Encyclopedia of China
Publishing House. (Chinese text)
Institute of Cultural Relic and Archaeology of the Zhejiang Province (2001),
“The Second Brief Excavation Report of the Relics of Liangzhu Culture at
Huiguanshan,” Antique, Vol. 12, pp. 36–40. (Chinese text)
Institute of Cultural Relic and Archaeology of the Zhejiang Province (2002),
“A Brief Investigation Report on the Relics at Yuhang, Liangzhu,” Antique,
Vol. 10, pp. 47–57. (Chinese text)
Institute of Cultural Relic and Archaeology of the Zhejiang Province, and Cultural
Management Committee of the Yuhang City (1997), “Belief Excavation Report
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

314 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

of the Altars and Cemeteries of Liangzhu Culture at Huiguanshan in Yuhang,

Zhejiang Province,” Antique, Vol. 7, pp. 4–19. (Chinese text)
Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of the Hunan Province (1999), “1997–
1998 Excavation Report of the Ancient City Site at Chengtoushan, Li County,”
Antique, Vol. 6, pp. 4–17. (Chinese text)
Jabbar, M.A. (1986), Historic Cities of Asia, Malaysia: National University Press.
Jettmar, Karl (1983), “The Origins of Chinese Civilization: Soviet Views,” in The
Origins of Chinese Civilization, D.N. Keightley, ed., Berkeley: University of
California Press, pp. 217–236.
Jin, Zhengyao (2000), “The Physical Science of Erlitou’s Bronze Wares and the
Investigation of the Xia Civilization,” Antique, Vol. 1, pp. 56–64. (Chinese text)
Johanson, Donald and Maitland Edey (1981), Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind,
New York: Simon and Schuster.
John Makeham, ed. (2003), New Confucianism: A Critical Examination, New York:
Palgrave.
Kirby, R.J.R (1985), Urbanization in China, New York: Columbia University Press.
Kong, Zhaochen, Changjiang Liu, and Juzhong Zhang (1996), “The Discovery of
Evidences of Wet Rice Cultivation at the Jiahu Relic in Wuyang County, Henan
Province, and its Implications on Environmental Archaeology,” Archaeology,
Vol. 12, pp. 78–83. (Chinese text)
Kracke, E.A. Jr. (1975), “Sung K’ai-feng: Pragmatic Metropolis and Formalistic
Capital,” in Crisis and Prosperity in Sung China, John Winthrop Haeger,
ed.,Tucson, Arizona: The University of Arizona Press, pp. 49–77.
Li, Shaolian (1989), “Discussion on the Changes in the Nature of Ancient Chinese
Capitals,” History Monthly, Vol. 3, pp. 8–12. (Chinese text)
Li, Shaolian (1999), “Problems of the Polity of the Shang Empire — Archaeological
Evidences of the Boundary of the Empire,” in Research on the Three Dynasties
(Xia, Shang and Zhou) I — Proceeding of 1998 International Conference on the
Civilizations of Shang and Zhou at Xingtai, Hebei Province, Editorial Committee of
Research on the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou), ed., Beijing: Science Press,
pp. 304–312. (Chinese text)
Li Shengshun (2005), The Yu and Shun Emperors, Changsha: Hunan People’s Press.
(Chinese text)
Li, Xiandeng (1979), “Questions about the Investigation of the Xia Culture,” Bulletin
of the Museum of Chinese History, Vol. 1, pp. 29–34. (Chinese text)
Li, Xueqin (1997), Coming Out from Doubting About the Ancient Chinese History,
Shenyang: Liaoning University Press. (Chinese text)
Li Xueqin bian (2007), Xia’s History and Civilization, Shanghai: Shanghai Science and
Technology Record Press, p. 226. (Chinese text)
Li, Yuan (1995), Famous Chinese Cities, Shanghai: Shanghai Education Press. (Chinese
text)
Lin, Shenglong (1989), “The Physical Geographical Environment of China and the
Evolution of Ancient Human Being in Chain since the Pliocene Epoch,” Journal
of Anthropology, Vol. 3, pp. 209–214. (Chinese text)
Liu, Chunying (2004), Research on the Dongjing City of the Northern Song Dynasty,
Beijing: Science Press. (Chinese text)
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

Bibliography 315

Liu, Li; translated by Xingcan Chen (1998), “Emirates of the Longshan Culture and
Settlement Pattern,” China Archaeology, Vol. 1, pp. 88–112. (Chinese text)
Liu, Li, and Xingcan Chen (2002), “Early State Formation of China — A Discussion
From the Central-Peripheral Relationship between Erlitou and Erligang,” in
Ancient Civilization: Book I, Centre for the Study of Chinese Archaeology of
the Peking University and Centre for the Study of Ancient Civilizations of the
Peking University, eds., Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing House, pp. 71–134.
(Chinese text)
Liu, Li, and Xingcan Chen (2003), State Formation in Early China, London: Duck-
worth.
Liu, Qingzhu (1998), “A Few Questions on the Archaeological Research on Ancient
Chinese Palaces,” Antique, Vol. 3, pp. 49–57. (Chinese text)
Liu, Qingzhu (2000), “Several Questions Related to the Research on Ancient Chinese
Capitals,” Archaeology, Vol. 7, pp. 60–69. (Chinese text)
Liu, Qingzhu (2000), Ancient Capitals and Imperial Tombs Research, Beijing: Science
Press. (Chinese text)
Liu, Shi’e (1998), “Comparison on the Relationships between Yanshi Shang City
Site, the Erlitou Relic, and Zhengzhou Shang City,” in Proceeding of Interna-
tional Conference on Shang Culture in China, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou
Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed.,
Beijing: Encyclopedia of China Publishing House, pp. 103–108. (Chinese text)
Liu, Wei, ed. (2001), Chinese Civilization in a New Light, Hong Kong: Commercial
Press. (Chinese text)
Liu, Yiman (2004), “Discussion on the Burying Condition of Oracle-Bone-Script
at Yinxu and Related Problems,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia,
Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology,
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing:
Science Press, pp. 354–370. (Chinese text)
Liu, Yiman (2004a), “Brief Discussion on Image of the Dragon in Oracle-Bone-Script
and in Yinxu’s Antiques,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and
Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of
Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press,
pp. 371–382. (Chinese text)
Liu, Yiman (2004b), “Discussion on the Composition of Bronze Weapons in the
Burial at Yinxu, Anyang,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and
Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of
Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press,
pp. 160–177. (Chinese text)
Lloyd, P.C. (1971), The Political Development of Yoruba Kingdoms in the Eighteenth and
Nineteenth Centuries, London: Royal Anthropological Society.
Lo, C.P. (1980), “Shaping Socialist Chinese Cities,” in China Urbanization and National
Development, C.K. Leung and G. Ginsburg, eds., pp. 130–155.
Logan, J.R. (ed.) (2002), The New Chinese City: Globalization and Market Reform,
London: Blackwell.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

316 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Lu Xiwen bian (1963), Main Events of 5,000 Years of Chinese History, Hong Kong:
Guang Hua Bookstore, p. 210. (Chinese text)
Ma, Laurence J.C. (1971), “Commercial Development and Urban Change in Sung
China (960–1279),” Michigan Geographical Publication No. 6, Department of
Geography, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Ma, Laurence J.C.; translated by Dacheng Ma (1985), Commerce and Cities in the Song
Dynasty, Taipei: Chinese Culture University Press. (Chinese text)
Ma, Zhenglin (1998), Historical Geography of Chinese Cities, Jinan, China: Shandong
Education Press. (Chinese text)
Meyer, David R. (2000), Hong Kong as a Global Metropolis, Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Moorey, P.R.S. (ed.) (1979), The Origins of Civilizations, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Morris, Ian (1997), “An Archaeology of Equalities? The Greek City-States,” in The
Archaeology of City-states, D.L. Nichols and T.H. Charlton, eds., Washington
D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 91–105.
Mote, Frederick W. (1974), “A Millennium of Chinese Urban History: Form, Time,
and Space Concepts in Soochow,” Rice University Studies, Vol. 59, No. 4, pp.
35–65.
Mumford, Lewis (1961), The City in History, New York: Harcourt B.J.
Murphey, Rhoads (1953), Shanghai: Key to Modern China, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press.
Murphey, Rhoads (1974), “The Treaty Ports and China’s Modernization,” in The
Chinese City Between Two Worlds, Mark Elvin and G. William Skinner, eds.,
California: Standford University Press, pp. 17–72.
Murphey, Rhoads (1978), The Outsiders: The Western Experience in India and China,
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Ni, Pengfei (2004), Annual Report on Urban Competitiveness No.2, Beijing: Social
Sciences Academic Press. (Chinese text)
Ning, Yuemin, Wudong Zhang and Jinxi Qian (1994), History of the Development of
Chinese Cities, Anhui: Anhui Science & Technology Publishing House. (Chinese
text)
Niu, Shishan (2004), “Discussion on the Origin of Early Zhou Culture,” in Archaeol-
ogy of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia,
Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of
Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 235–244. (Chinese text)
Okamura, Hidenori (2000), “Is Qujialing-Shijiahe Culture a City Civilization,”
in Origins of Rice Culture, Pottery and Cities, Wenming Yan and Yoshinori
Yasuda, eds., Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing House, pp. 181–187. (Chinese
text)
Pei, Anping (2000), “Rice Culture and Pottery Along the Middle Course of
Changjiang 7000 Years Ago,” in Origins of Rice Culture, Pottery and Cities,
Wenming Yan and Yoshinori Yasuda, eds., Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing
House, pp. 81–96. (Chinese text)
Pei, Mingxiang (1987), “Structure and Geography of the Early Capitals of the
Shang Dynasty,” in Research on Chinese Ancient Capitals (Third Volume), Chinese
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

Bibliography 317

Society of Ancient Capitals, ed., Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Publishing

House, pp. 80–90. (Chinese text)
Pei, Mingxiang (1993), “Geography of the Palace City of the Shang Dynasty at
Zhengzhou and its Cultural Connotations,” in New Discoveries and Research
on the Archaeology of the Cities of the Shang Dynasty at Zhengzhou: 1985–1992,
Institute of Cultural Relics Research of the Henan Province, ed., Zhengzhou:
Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House, pp. 7–14. (Chinese text)
Qian, Yaopeng (1997), “A Few Questions on Neolithic Circularly-moated Settle-
ments,” Antique, Vol. 8, pp. 57–65. (Chinese text)
Qian, Yaopeng (1999), “Features and Historical Position of Xishan City Site,”
Antique, Vol. 7, pp. 41–45. (Chinese text)
Qian, Yaopeng (2001), Research on Prehistoric Walled-City Sites and the Origins of
Civilization in China, Xian: Northwestern University Press. (Chinese text)
Qu, Yingjie (1989), “Discussion on the Ancient City Sites in the Longshan Culture
Period,” in Ancient Chinese Culture, Changwu Tian and Xingbang Shi, eds.,
Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing House, pp. 267–280. (Chinese text)
Qu, Yingjie (2003), Ancient Cities, Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing House. (Chinese
text)
Rawson, Jessica (1980), Ancient China: Art and Archaeology, London: British Museum
Publications.
Rawson, Jessica (1996), “Introduction,” in Mysteries of Ancient China: New Discoveries
from the Early Dynasties, J. Rawson, ed., London: British Museum Press, pp. 11–
30.
Ren, Shinan (1998), “Investigations of Prehistorical Chinese City Sites,” Archaeology,
Vol. 1, pp. 1–16. (Chinese text)
Ren, Shinan (2000), “Formation and Development of Chinese Settlements in
Neolithic Cultures,” Archaeology, Vol. 7, pp. 48–59. (Chinese text)
Research Centre of Urban Planning, Tongji University (1982), History of the
Construction of Cities in China, Beijing: China Architecture & Building Press.
(Chinese text)
Roberts, J.A.G. (1999), A Concise History of China, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press.
Rowe, W.T. (1984), Hankow: Commerce and Society in a Chinese City, 1796–1889,
Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.
Schirokauer, Conrad (1991), A Brief History of Chinese Civilization, San Diego:
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Service, E.R. (1971), Cultural Evolutionism: Theory in Practice, New York: Rinehart
and Winston.
Shandong Institute of Archaeology (1990), “Chengziya Relic Has New Discoveries
Again: City Site of Longshan, Yueshi and Zhou Dynasty Surfaced,” Chinese
Antique Newsletter, Vol. 29, p. 1. (Chinese text)
Shao, Jiuhua (1998), Hemudu: The Shine of Chinese Ancient Culture, Beijing: Encyclo-
pedia of China Publishing House. (Chinese text)
Shi, Yongshi (1999), “Settlement, City, Capital — Discussion on the Positions of
Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties in the Architectural Development of Chinese
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

318 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Capitals and Palaces,” in Research on the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou)
I — Proceeding of 1998 International Conference on the Civilizations of Shang
and Zhou at Xingtai, Hebei Province, Editorial Committee of Research on the
Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou), ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 429–439.
(Chinese text)
Shiba, Yoshinobu; translated by Mark Elvin (1970), Michigan Abstracts of Chinese and
Japanese Works on Chinese History No.2: Commerce and Society in Sung China, Ann
Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan, Centre for China Studies.
Sit, Victor F.S. (1985), Chinese Cities, Oxford: OUP.
Sit, Victor F.S. (1995), “Shanghai’s Role in China’s Modernization: An Historical
Review,” Asian Geographer, Vol. 14, No.1, pp. 14–27.
Sit, Victor F.S. (1995), Beijing: The Nature and Planning of a Chinese Capital City,
Chichester: Wiley.
Sit, Victor F.S., and Chun Yang (1996), “Foreign Investment ‘Exo-urbanization’ in
the Pearl River Delta, China,” Urban Studies, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 647–678.
Sit, Victor F.S., and J. Cai (1998), “Schools on Chinese Urbanization: A Review,”
Geographical Research, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 208–216. (Chinese text)
Sit, Victor F.S., and J. Cai (2003), “Evolutions of the Three Major Metropolitan
Economic Zones and their Development Strategies,” Geographical Research,
Vol. 22, No. 5, pp. 531–540. (Chinese text)
Skinner, G. William (1977), “Introduction: Urban Development in Imperial China,”
in The City in Late Imperial China, G. William Skinner, ed., California: Standford
University Press, pp. 3–32.
Small, David (1997), “City-State Dynamics through a Greek Lens,” in The Archae-
ology of City-states, D.L. Nichols and T.H. Charlton, eds., Washington D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 107–118.
Socioeconomic Survey Team, National Bureau of Statistics of China (2005), Urban
Statistical Yearbook of China — 2004, Beijing: China Statistical Press. (Chinese
text)
Song, Xinchao (1991), Studies on the Regions of the Yinshang Culture, Xian: Shaanxi
Peoples Publishing House. (Chinese text)
Southall, A. (2000), The City: in Time and Space, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Cambridge
UP.
State Administration of Cultural Heritage’s Training Course for Archaeological
Tour Guides (1999), “Evacuation of Yangshao City Sites at Xishan, Zhengzhou,”
Antique, Vol. 7, pp. 4–15. (Chinese text)
Stone, Elizabeth (1997), “City-States and Their Centers: The Mesopotamian Exam-
ple,” in The Archaeology of City-states, D.L. Nichols and T.H. Charlton, eds.,
Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 15–26.
Su Yuan (2007), The Era of Huangdi, Beijing: Qing Hua University Press, p. 235.
(Chinese text)
Su Yuan (2007a), City States of Huaxia, Beijing: Qing Hua University Press, p. 221.
(Chinese text)
Tang, Jigen (2004), “Brief Discussion on the Yinxu Palaces and Temples at
Anyang,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties) I,
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

Bibliography 319

Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology,

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 291–297.
(Chinese text)
Trewartha, Glenn T. (1952), “Chinese Cities: Origins and Functions,” Annals of the
Association of American Geographers, Vol. 42, pp. 69–93.
Tu Weiming (1976), Neo-Confucian Thought in Action: Wang Yang-ming’s Youth (1472–
1509), Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
Tyrwhitt, Jaqueline (1968–1969), “The City of Ch’ang-An,” Town Planning Review,
Vol. 39, pp. 21–37.
Walder, A.G. (1995), “China’s Transitional Economy: Interpreting its Significance,”
China Quarterly, No. 144, pp. 963–979.
Wang, Dong (2002), Theory on Chinese Civilization: New Philosophy of Multiculturalism,
Harbin: Heilongjiang Education Press. (Chinese text)
Wang, Xuerong (1999), “Exploring the Pattern of Yanshi Shang City Site and
Reflections,” Archaeology, Vol. 2, pp. 24–34. (Chinese text)
Wang, Xuerong (2004), “Research on the Settlement Relic Number 2 of Yanshi
Shang City Site in Henan Province,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia,
Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology,
Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing:
Science Press, pp. 126–149. (Chinese text)
Wang, Yi, and Cheng Jiang (2000), “The Discovery of Early City Relic on Chengdu
Plains and Initial Studies,” in Origins of Rice Culture, Pottery and Cities, Wenming
Yan and Yoshinori Yasuda, eds., Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing House, pp.
143–165. (Chinese text)
Webster, David (1997), “City-States of the Maya,” in The Archaeology of City-states,
D.L. Nichols and T.H. Charlton, eds., Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution
Press, pp. 135–154.
Wenke, Robert J. (1997), “City-States, Nation-States, and Territorial States: The
Problem of Egypt,” in The Archaeology of City-states, D.L. Nichols and T.H.
Charlton, eds., Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 27–49.
Wheatley, Paul (1975), “The Ancient Chinese City as a Cosmological Symbol,”
Ekistics, Vol. 39, pp. 147–158.
Wright, Arthur F. (1965), “Symbolism and Function: Reflections on Changan and
Other Great Cities,” Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 667–679.
Wright, Arthur F. (1977), “The Cosmology of the Chinese City,” in The City in Late
Imperial China, G. William Skinner, ed., California: Standford University Press,
pp. 33–74.
Wu, Rukang (1989), “New Debate on the Origin of Modern Human Being,” Journal
of Anthropology, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp. 182–185. (Chinese text)
Xi, Chunnian (2002), The Origin and Development of Chinese Writing, Nanjing: Jiangsu
Ancient Books Publishing House. (Chinese text)
Xu, Hong (1999), “Discussion on the Characteristics of Cities in the Xia, Shang and
Zhou Dynasties,” in Research on the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou) I —
Proceeding of 1998 International Conference on the Civilizations of Shang and Zhou
at Xingtai, Hebei Province, Editorial Committee of Research on the Three Dynasties
(Xia, Shang and Zhou), ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 286–295. (Chinese text)
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

320 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Xu, Hong (2000), Archeological Research on Cities Before the Qin Dynasty, Beijing:
Beijing Yanshan Press. (Chinese text)
Xu, Hong (2001), “‘Discontinuity’ within ‘Continuity’ — Reflection on Chinese
Civilization and Early State Formation,” Antique, Vol. 2, pp. 86–91. (Chinese
text)
Xu, Hong (2004), Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties)
I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology,
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press. (Chinese text)
Xu, Hong (2004a), “A Few Questions on the Research on Early City Sites,” in
Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I, Department
of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 34–37. (Chinese
text)
Xu, Hong (2004b), “Re-investigation of the State of Lu’s Capital of Qufu,” in
Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I, Department
of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 276–290. (Chinese
text)
Xu, Hong (2004c), “Belief Discussion on the Erlitou Period,” in Archaeology of the
Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang
and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social
Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 58–65. (Chinese text)
Xu, Lianggao (2004), “Research on the Urban Settlements of the Xia, Shang and
Zhou Dynasties,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and Zhou
Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of
Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press,
pp. 38–57. (Chinese text)
Xu Xueqiang (1979), Analysing the Population Structure of Newly Established Cities,
Guangzhou: Sun Yat-sen University (Mimeographed). (Chinese text)
Yan, Wenming (1981), “The Longshan Culture and the Longshan Period,” Antique,
Vol. 6, pp. 41–48. (Chinese text)
Yan, Wenming (1984), “Discussion on the Period of Using Both Bronze and Iron
Wares in China,” Prehistorical Research, Vol. 1, pp. 36–44. (Chinese text)
Yan, Wenming (1989), “Investigation on the Settlement Pattern in Chinese Neolithe
Age,” in Papers in Honour of Bingqi Su on the Occasion of his 55-Year Archaeological
Life, Editoral Group of Papers in Honour of Bingqi Su on the Occasion of his 55-Year
Archaeological Life, eds., Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing House, pp. 24–37.
(Chinese text)
Yan, Wenming (1992), “A Brief Introduction to the Origin of Chinese Civilization,”
Antique, Vol. 1, pp. 40–49. (Chinese text)
Yan, Wenming (1994), “Changes of Circularly-moated Settlements in China,” China
Research, Vol. 2, pp. 483–491. (Chinese text)
Yan, Wenming (1997), “Settlement Archaeology and Prehistorical Social Research,”
Antique, Vol. 6, pp. 27–35. (Chinese text)
Yan, Wenming (2000), The Occurrence of Agriculture and the Origin of Civilization,
Beijing: Science Press. (Chinese text)
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

Bibliography 321

Yan, Wenming (2000a), “Origins of Rice Culture, Pottery and Cities,” in Origins
of Rice Culture, Pottery and Cities, Wenming Yan and Yoshinori Yasuda, eds.,
Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing House, pp. 3–15. (Chinese text)
Yang, Kuan (2003), Research on the Planning and Administrative Systems of Ancient
Capitals in China, Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House. (Chinese text)
Yang, Zhaoqing (1993), “Discussion on the Origin of the State in China’s Central
Core Area — Zhong Yuan,” China Archaeology, Vol. 1, pp. 74–81. (Chinese text)
Yates, Robin D.S. (1997), “The City-State in Ancient China,” in The Archaeology of
City-states, D.L. Nichols and T.H. Charlton, eds., Washington D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution Press, pp. 71–90.
Yoffee, Norman (1997), “The Obvious and the Chimerical: City-States in Archae-
ological Perspective,” in The Archaeology of City-states, D.L. Nichols and T.H.
Charlton, eds., Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, pp. 255–263.
Yu, Shengwu (1973), “A Few Questions Concerning the Research on Ancient
Writing,” Antique, Vol. 2, pp. 32–35. (Chinese text)
Yu, Weichao (1985), “The Developmental Phase of the Planning of Chinese
Ancient Capitals — For the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Chinese Society of
Archaeology,” Antique, Vol. 2, pp. 52–60. (Chinese text)
Yu, Xixian (1996), “Development of the Geographical Pattern of Ancient Capitals,”
Guangming Daily, 16 April. (Chinese text)
Yu, Zhichuan (1993), “Sheepman from the Distant Past — Qiang Clan and its Culture
in Brief,” Chinese Antique Newsletter, 30 May. (Chinese text)
Yuan, Guangkuo (1998), “Discussion on the Historical Division of the Xia and Shang
Cultures,” Archaeology, Vol. 10, pp. 80–89. (Chinese text)
Yuan, Guangkuo (2000), “Reflections on the Causes for the Destruction of the
Longshan City Site at Mengzhuang,” Archaeology, Vol. 3, pp. 39–44. (Chinese
text)
Yue, Hongbin (2004), “Re-understanding of the Fourth Phase of Erlitou Culture
and its Related Relics,” in Archaeology of the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang, and
Zhou Dynasties) I, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute
of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Science Press,
pp. 73–92. (Chinese text)
Zhang, Chi (2002), “The Origins of Agriculture, Economic Development and
Civilization of Prehistorical China — Regions of the Huanghe and Middle-
lower Changjiang as the Core,” in Ancient Civilization: Book I, Centre for the
Study of Chinese Archaeology of the Peking University and Centre for the
Study of Ancient Civilizations of the Peking University, eds., Beijing: Culture
Relics Publishing House, pp. 35–57. (Chinese text)
Zhang, Chuangxin (2005), History of Chinese Political Systems, Beijing: Tsing Hua
University Press. (Chinese text)
Zhang, Guangzhi (1985), “The Concept of City in Early China,” Antique, Vol. 2, pp.
61–67. (Chinese text)
Zhang, Guangzhi (1989), “Formation of the Chinese Interaction Circles and the
Chinese Civilization,” in Papers in Honour of Bingqi Su on the Occasion of his
55-Year Archaeological Life, Editoral Group of Papers in Honour of Bingqi Su on the
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

322 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Occasion of his 55-Year Archaeological Life, eds., Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing
House, pp. 1–23. (Chinese text)
Zhang, Guozhuo (1999), “Discussion on the Origins of the Three Clans of the Xia,
Shang and Zhou Dynasties,” in Research on the Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang
and Zhou) I — Proceeding of 1998 International Conference on the Civilizations of
Shang and Zhou at Xingtai, Hebei Province, Editorial Committee of Research on the
Three Dynasties (Xia, Shang and Zhou), ed., Beijing: Science Press, pp. 280–285.
(Chinese text)
Zhang, Guozhuo (2001), Research on the Planning Rules of the National Capital of
the Xia and Shang Dynasties, Zhangzhou: Henan Peoples Publishing House.
(Chinese text)
Zhang, Hongyan (2003), Introduction to Ancient Chinese Archaeology, Beijing: Higher
Education Press. (Chinese text)
Zhang, Xuehai (1996), “Discussion on the Longshan Cultural City in Shandong,”
Antique, Vol. 12, pp. 40–52. (Chinese text)
Zhang Xuehai (2006), Longshan wen hua, Beijing: Wen wu chu ban she, p. 226.
(Chinese text)
Zhang, Xuqiu (1994), “The Discovery of Qujialing Ancient Cultural City and Initial
Findings,” Archaeology, Vol. 7, pp. 629–634. (Chinese text)
Zhang, Xuqiu (2000), “Prehistoical City Sites along the Middle Course of the
Changjiang and Settlement Clusters of Shijiahe Culture,” in Origins of Rice
Culture, Pottery and Cities, Wenming Yan and Yoshinori Yasuda, eds., Beijing:
Culture Relics Publishing House, pp. 167–179. (Chinese text)
Zhang Zhengyan (2003), Beginning of the Universe, Chengdu: Sichuan People’s Press,
p. 192. (Chinese text)
Zhao, Chunqing (2001), Settlement Changes in Zhengluo Region in the Neolithic Age,
Beijing: Peking University Press. (Chinese text)
Zhao, Hui (2000), “The Formation of the Historical Trend of Zhong Yuan as the
Chinese Cultural Core,” Antique, Vol. 1, pp. 41–47. (Chinese text)
Zhao, Hui, and Jun Wei (2002), “Discovery and Research on Neolithic City Sites
in China,” in Ancient Civilization: Book I, Centre for the Study of Chinese
Archaeology of the Peking University and Centre for the Study of Ancient
Civilizations of the Peking University, eds., Beijing: Culture Relics Publishing
House, pp. 1–34. (Chinese text)
Zhao, Wenlin and Shujun Xie (1988), Demographic History of China, Beijing: People’s
Publishing House. (Chinese text)
Zhao, Yi, and Yifeng Zhao (2002), Ancient History of China, Beijing: Higher Education
Press. (Chinese text)
Zhao, Zhiquan (1998), “Discussion on the Problem of the Age of Construction
of Yanshi Shang City Site,” in Proceeding of International Conference on Shang
Culture in China, Department of Xia, Shang and Zhou Archaeology, Institute of
Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Beijing: Encyclopedia
of China Publishing House, pp. 49–57. (Chinese text)
Zhou, Changsha (2001), Research on Cities in the Han Dynasty, Beijing: People’s
Publishing Press. (Chinese text)
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

Bibliography 323

Zhou, Xing (1987), “Residence Form and Settlement Pattern Along the Upper and
Middle Courses of the Huanghe in the Neolithic Age,” in Papers on Chinese
Archaeology in Honour of Nai Xia on the Occasion of the 50th Anniversary of his
Archaeological Life, Editorial Committee of Papers on Chinese Archaeology, ed.,
Xian: San Qin Publishing House, pp. 117–159. (Chinese text)
Zhou, Yixing (1993), “Several Trends in Chinese Urbanization in the 1980s,” in
Chinese City and Regional Development: Outlook for 21st Century, Yue-man Yeung,
ed., Hong Kong: CUHK.
Zhu, Fenghan (2001), “Discussion on the Objectifications of Some Social Factors in
Early Chinese Civilization,” Antique, Vol. 2, pp. 70–79. (Chinese text)
Zhu, Yanmin (1999), Discussion on the Capital of Yinxu, Tianjin: Nankai University
Press. (Chinese text)
Zhuang, Linde and Jingxiang Zhang (2002), History of the Development and Construc-
tion of Chinese Cities, Nanjing: Southeast University Press. (Chinese text)
Zijderveld, A.C. (1998), A Theory of Urbanity: The Economic and Civic Culture of Cities,
New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

Internet Resources

China10k.com (2004), “Prehistory,” http://www.china10k.com/english/history/,

accessed on 10 November 2004.
Crystalinks (2004), “Chinese Script,” http://www.crystalinks.com/chinascript.
html, accessed on 10 July 2004.
http://www.becominghuman.org/
Institute of Human origins, “‘Lucy’ discovered by Donald Johanson & Tom Gray
in 1974 in Ethiopia,” http://www.asu.edu/clas/iho/lucy.html#found.
The Institute of Human Origins (2001), “Becoming Human: The Docu-
mentary,” http://www.becominghuman.org/becoming_human/main.html,
accessed on 10 November 2004.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (undated), “China, 8000–2000 B.C.,”
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/02/eac/ht02eac.htm, accessed on 10
July 2004.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (undated), “China, 2000–1000 B.C.,”
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/03/eac/ht03eac.htm, accessed on 10
July 2004.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (undated), “Neolithic Period in China,”
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cneo/hd_cneo.htm, accessed on 10
July 2004.
Xinhuanet (2008), “Carvings May Rewrite History of Chinese Characters,”
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-05/18/Carvings may rewrite his-
tory of Chinese characters, accessed on 20 August 2008.
January 13, 2010 16:4 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-bib FA

This page intentionally left blank

January 18, 2010 13:36 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-Index FA

Index

3-tier city structure, 153, 186 blood-related tribes, 16, 21, 291
Book of Documents, 45, 64, 118
administrative hierarchy, 98, 114, 158, Book of Rites, 23, 58, 92, 118
198, 241, 259 bronze casting workshops, 293, 299
administrative seats, 145, 185, 203, 217, bronze industry, 52, 53, 56, 60, 69, 73,
229, 255 86
agrarian economy, 98, 100 bronze metallurgy, v, 3, 8–10, 12, 17,
agricultural surpluses, 283, 285, 286, 49, 51, 70, 71, 83, 285, 298
288 Buddhism, 136–138, 142, 149, 158
Altar of Heaven, 206 Buddhist temples, 138, 155
ancestral worship, ix, 13, 18, 27, 34, 35, built-up areas, 124, 206
59, 65, 91–93, 100, 111, 141, 280
bureaucracy, 108, 112, 114, 118, 119,
ancient civilization, ix, xi
122, 133, 136, 137, 141, 158, 280
ancient mode, 288–290
ancient texts, 45, 117
canal cities, 146, 203, 208
annual population growth, 256
canals, 114, 120, 137, 144, 146, 148, 156,
archaeological digs, 4, 94, 106, 127
175, 180, 181, 185
archaeological discoveries, 1, 45
capitalist mode, 289, 290
artifacts, 5, 6, 12, 34, 46, 47, 49, 55, 59,
central axis, 58, 111, 148, 150, 151, 176,
60, 235, 280
195, 206
Asiatic mode, 287, 289, 290
Audience Hall, 57, 59, 96, 101, 111, 127, central places, 133, 145, 173, 217, 221,
149, 150, 176, 181, 194, 206, 215, 292, 239, 255, 263, 280, 285, 306
293, 297, 299, 301 central settlement, 24, 37, 54
centralism, 103, 105, 112, 154, 199, 206,
bamboo slips, 10–12, 63 210, 211
Banpo, 8, 10 centrality, 98, 122, 148, 206
Beijing, xi, xiii, 72, 137, 162, 186, 190, centralized government, 29, 303
191, 200, 202, 203, 206, 207, 213, 215, Changzhou, 203
218, 219, 221, 244, 245, 260–262, Chengdu, 8, 40, 71, 85, 124, 127, 132,
266–268, 296, 304, 305 146, 147, 168, 170, 171, 203
benevolent feudalism, 113 Chengzhou, 93, 94, 98, 101, 103, 104,
big house, xi, 16, 20, 22, 23, 28, 58, 96, 293, 294, 303
292, 297–299, 301 Chengziya, 38, 39, 41

325
January 18, 2010 13:36 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-Index FA

326 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

China’s periphery, vii counties, 112, 114, 116, 122, 123, 126,
Chinese city, vii, viii, x, xi, xiii, 2, 13, 171, 268, 279, 295, 302, 303
14, 89, 94, 100, 106, 108, 111, 112, 120, Court, 141, 150, 164, 169, 177, 181, 195,
173, 187, 235, 238, 241, 242, 261, 263, 208, 212, 304
264, 279, 285, 290–292, 299, 301, 302, craftsman, 51
305, 306 craftsmen, 105
Chinese civilization, vii, ix–xi, 1–3, 6, culture, vii–ix, 2–8, 14, 30–32, 36,
13, 49, 160, 166, 280, 297, 299, 302, 45–49, 51–54, 56, 61, 62, 86, 90, 93,
309 107, 112, 113, 122, 134, 136, 137, 139,
Chinese Urbanism, vi, 85, 279 149, 158, 162, 165, 168, 170, 188, 189,
Chinese worldview, 98 202, 212, 217, 241, 279–283, 285, 286,
Chiyiu, 12 289–291, 304, 308
city and civilization, 281, 283, 286, 290
Dadiwan II, 18, 19, 21, 58, 96, 292, 298,
city form, 2, 96, 289
299
city hierarchy, 122, 303
Dadu, 190–196, 206
“city” concept, 281 Damaidi, 2, 7, 9, 11
City-States, v, 29, 39, 43 dao, 92, 302
civic culture, 281, 282 Daoism, 136, 137, 149, 301
civilization, vii–xi, 1–3, 6, 9, 13, 17, 47, Datong, xii, 208, 250
49, 53, 114, 116, 122, 160, 162, 166, Dawenkou, 5, 8, 10, 17–19, 33
173, 279–281, 283–287, 290, 291, 297, Daxi, 6, 8
299–302, 307–309 Daxing, 137
“civilization”, ix de, 53
codification, 299, 301 defensive wall, 24, 107, 208
colonial cities, 289 Deng, 253, 269, 308
colonialization, 224 Deng Xiaoping, 253, 308
colonization, 54, 56, 62, 71, 72, 200 dependent, 24, 92, 169, 175, 221, 234,
commerce, 89, 104, 112, 119, 132, 148, 241, 244, 260, 261, 283, 289
168, 172, 183, 187, 206, 215, 219, 237, Dezhou, 203
241, 260, 294, 296, 302 dialectical relations, 287
commercial center, 107, 132, 155, 170, dichotomy, 3, 288, 291
303 ding, 23, 32, 50, 52, 63, 65, 66, 70, 72–74,
communal life, 281 82, 84
Communist Party, 244, 308 Doctrine of the Mean, 98, 118
domination, 18, 55, 243, 247, 289
Confucian ideology, ix, 305
Donghu, 120
Confucian Model, v, 134
Donglongshan, 51, 55, 61, 80
confucianism, vii, x Dongxiafeng, 46, 51, 55, 61, 79
Confuscian, 300 Dongyi, 8, 12, 13, 53, 61
container of civilization, 280, 281 dragon, 32, 84, 299
copper, 9, 51–56, 79, 80, 120, 132, 167, droughts, 104, 118, 134, 251
214, 223, 233, 299 Duke of Zhou, 70, 90, 94, 101, 110, 300,
core-periphery relationship, 53, 55 303
January 18, 2010 13:36 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-Index FA

Index 327

Early Bronze Age, v gates, 23, 26, 33, 41, 74, 77, 96, 98, 99,
Eastern Zhou, ix, 14, 52, 88, 89, 93, 101, 108, 110, 127, 129, 152, 154, 181, 195,
103–108, 110–113, 118, 129, 301, 303 206, 209, 234, 293–296, 305
economics, vii, viii, xiii, 166, 281, 284, ge, 50, 52
291 general theory, 291
education, vii, x, 66, 93, 107, 118, 122, geographical location, 8, 56
142, 162, 165, 166, 198, 217, 224, 241, geopolitical situation, viii
263, 266, 268, 280, 302, 305 goulan, 173
Egyptian, 1 grain, 4, 16, 17, 32, 70, 100, 120, 127,
emergence of the city, 283, 284, 286 129, 134, 143, 144, 146, 156, 170, 176,
177, 201–203, 206, 208, 214, 218, 219,
entertainment centers, 153, 173, 174,
233, 264, 265, 285, 301
177, 181, 205
Grand Canal, 137, 138, 146, 147, 170,
Erlitou, 8, 13, 45–62, 72, 75, 77, 293, 299
176, 191, 197, 202, 206, 210, 219
evolution, vii, x, xi, 13, 15, 17, 19, 52,
Great Leap Forward, 251
108, 114, 208, 279, 280, 283, 285, 287,
Great Unity, xii, 51
290–292, 302, 305, 309
Great Wall, 107, 113–115, 122, 134, 136,
export-oriented industrialization, 308 162, 197, 202, 203, 210
Greeks, 30, 308
fang, 66, 85, 149, 152, 173, 180, 185, 252, gu, 52
254, 295 Guangzhou, xiii, 125, 146, 147, 156,
feudal lords, 59, 91, 279, 300 157, 167, 171, 193, 203, 219–222,
feudal mode, 288–290 231–234, 238, 244, 261, 305
feudal rule, 299 guarding principles, 280
Feudalism, v, 14, 86, 92, 93, 103, 106, gui, 52, 66, 85
111, 113, 279, 293, 301, 302 guo, 106–108, 162, 198
fiefs, 69–71, 82, 85, 86, 90–93, 103, 106,
110, 112, 114, 116, 133, 156 Han, v
First Emperor of Qin, 113, 123, 125, 303 Han Chinese, 113, 212, 214, 216
Five Classics, ix, 118, 139, 300 “Han” race, 8
“five relations”, 92, 93 Hangzhou, 137, 147, 167, 170, 180–182,
five relationships, ix, 139 193, 202, 203, 219
flooding, 44, 52, 123, 251 Hao, 293
Harappan, 1
Forbidden City, 23, 148, 206, 297
harmony, x, 61, 92, 106, 300, 302
Foreign trade, 144, 149, 153, 154, 156,
Heaven and Earth, ix, xi, 34, 96, 98,
157, 219, 222, 231, 233, 237, 238
141, 198, 307
fortified city, 37, 38, 47
Hemudu, 6, 8, 17
fortified frontier cities, 208 Henan, 8, 19, 46–48, 53, 60, 61, 66, 73,
Four Books, ix, 12, 98, 118, 300 78, 82, 106, 171, 172, 256
Fuxi, 12 Historical Records, 8, 12, 45, 61, 64, 95,
Fuzhou, 147, 193, 203 106, 107
ho, 52
Gao, 66, 88, 89, 93, 103, 156 Hongwu, 196, 198, 203, 208, 234
garrison towns, 198, 203, 208, 221 horse-tea trade, 203
January 18, 2010 13:36 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-Index FA

328 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

Huaian, 147, 203 Legalists, 301–303

Huang, 8, 9 legendary chiefdom, 12
Huang Di, 8, 9 lesser-grade cities, 98
Huanghe, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 17, 21, 24, 31, Li Yuan, 137
32, 36–38, 54, 55, 73, 74, 80, 84, 118, Liangzhu, 32–35, 37, 40
123, 132, 143, 156, 172, 176, 177, 195, Liao, 5, 161–164, 172, 185, 208
196, 279, 291 Liaohe, 5
humanity, 98 Liji, 92
Hunan, 8, 12, 26, 56, 72, 170, 218 Linqing, 203, 208
Linzi, 104, 108, 110, 124, 131, 294, 303
ideology, ix, 89, 90, 245, 246, 253, 280, literati, 142, 159, 160, 167, 172, 217, 242,
285, 290, 302, 305, 307, 309 245
Imperial City, 96, 97, 99, 101, 103, 149, Longshan, v, 2, 8–10, 12, 13, 25, 26, 28,
151, 153, 154, 204, 206, 294–296, 304 29, 31–44, 47–49, 52, 53, 60–62, 279,
in-migration, 256 286, 292, 298, 299, 305
industrialization, 246, 247, 250, 251, Longshan settlement hierarchies, 37
259, 260, 284, 308 lords, 59, 91, 92, 97, 98, 106, 134, 161,
iron, 14, 71, 103, 104, 109, 110, 112, 118, 279, 300–303
120, 132, 170, 185, 203, 219, 233, 252, Lower Yangzi, 7, 17, 34, 37, 40, 156,
260, 294 159, 167, 185, 244
Luoyang, 52, 56, 88, 93, 103, 124–127,
jia, 49, 50, 52 129, 130, 134, 136, 137, 150, 154, 155,
Jiangsu, 40, 46, 53, 56, 61, 71, 218 161, 252, 293, 303
Jiangzhai I, 18–21, 96, 291, 292
Jinan, 203, 229 man-heaven, vii, 139, 280
Jingdezhen, 194, 202, 203, 219, 229 man-land, vii, 3, 92, 141, 241, 242, 268,
Jingzhou, 203 290, 300
Jining, 203 man-land relations, ix, 241, 242, 268
ju, 39, 106, 298 man-land relationship, 3, 92, 141, 242,
jue, 49, 50, 52 300
jun, 114, 116, 124, 147, 302 “Man-Land Unity”, 3, 290
Mandate of Heaven, 66, 67, 85, 114,
Kaifeng, 170, 171, 173–177, 180, 181, 117, 133, 176, 189, 191, 196, 214, 243,
186, 187, 189, 203, 295, 304 268, 286, 290, 293, 300, 301, 306
“Kao Gong Ji”, 23, 58, 93, 94, 96, 97, manufacturing, 53, 78, 156, 170, 187,
101, 106, 108, 110, 111, 129, 136, 149, 202, 211, 246, 289
176, 186, 204, 208, 293, 295, 296, 301, market, 15, 70, 96, 99, 100, 103, 104,
303, 304 107, 109–111, 119, 120, 123, 127, 129,
King Tang, 66, 300 145, 148, 149, 153, 154, 156, 167, 168,
kingship, 35, 36, 41, 43, 44, 57, 283–286, 171, 172, 174, 175, 177, 181, 187, 195,
290 205, 207, 218, 224, 226, 229, 253, 264,
269, 282, 288, 294, 295, 301, 304, 308,
Late Neolithic, ix, xi, 13, 14, 17, 19, 21, 309
23, 24, 27, 28, 55, 305 market economy, 253
law code, 137 Marx, 86, 246, 285, 287, 290
January 18, 2010 13:36 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-Index FA

Index 329

Mawangdui, 12 new-Confucianism, 308

merchant city, 289 Ningbo, 17, 147, 167, 185, 186, 203, 220
merchants, 105, 119, 120, 166, 168, 172, nodes, x, 70, 73, 89, 92, 203, 288
195, 219, 232, 233, 235, 237, 239, 285, “non-generative cities”, 282
286, 288, 289 North China, 5, 6, 44, 118, 134, 136,
metropolises, 125, 127, 131, 133, 137, 143–146, 161–163, 171, 172, 181,
145–147, 181, 183, 193, 203, 219, 241 189–193, 200, 203, 213, 214, 244
Middle Ages, 3 North Zhou, 137
Middle East, 120, 125
migration, 3, 43, 48, 54–56, 62, 72, 90, official monopolies, 120, 127, 202
125, 144, 172, 201, 250, 252, 254, 255, oikos, 282
257 open society, 137
military, 18, 26, 32–36, 41–43, 48, 51, 55, Opening and Reform, 15, 246, 253, 308,
62, 66–69, 72, 77, 80, 82, 85, 86, 88, 309
91–93, 103, 104, 107, 108, 112, 116, oracle bone inscriptions, 11, 45, 65, 66,
120, 124, 125, 133, 141–147, 150, 154, 70
156, 158, 161, 162, 164–166, 170, 176, orderliness, x, 98, 100, 117, 120, 129,
187, 193, 195–200, 203, 207, 209–211, 133, 153, 154, 158, 176, 299, 303
214–216, 222, 223, 231, 234, 235, Outer City, 75–77, 86, 99–101, 103, 104,
243–245, 283, 294, 298, 300, 302, 306 107–110, 126, 132, 133, 151–154, 156,
Ming, vi 177, 180, 181, 195, 204–208, 293, 295,
mode of production, 287, 289 296, 304
Modern China, 306–308
Modern Man, 3, 4, 12 Palace (Forbidden) City, 206
modernity, 281 palace zone, 56, 60
monks and nuns, 136, 138, 180 palatial complex, 52, 56, 62
moral, 92, 96, 117, 133, 160, 214, 281, Paleolithic, 12
299 Panglongcheng, 55
multi-centric, 4 “parasitic cities”, 282
paternal elements, 98
Nanchang, 203 peace and prosperity, 213, 216, 300
Nanjing, 136, 147, 187, 196, 200, peasants, 35, 93, 105, 143, 201, 213, 286,
203–206, 219, 225, 244, 265, 266 297
national disasters, 251 People’s Republic, vi, 4, 15, 113, 229,
national trunk roads, 114, 120 242, 245
Neo-Confucian, vi, 216, 221, 226 peripheral states, 299
Neolithic, ix, xi, 3, 4, 7, 13, 14, 16, 17, permanent settlements, 12
19–21, 23, 24, 27, 28, 55, 279, 280, Pingliangtai, 41, 42
283, 305 polis, 281
Neolithic settlements, 3 population structure, 255, 256
New City, 95, 132, 170, 198, 206, 208, potter’s, 7
232, 234, 251, 303 pounded earth, 21, 25, 40, 41, 95
new economic order, 289 pounded-earth platforms, 298, 299
“new race”, 113 PRC urbanization, 246
New Urbanity, v, 172, 173, 187 “pre-industrial cities”, 282
January 18, 2010 13:36 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-Index FA

330 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

priests, 69, 104, 138, 283 scholar-gentry, 280, 303

princes, 51, 97, 98, 217 “scholars” (shi), 105
proclamation, 66, 122, 300 “secondary city”, 303
Protestant ethic, 281, 282, 290 self-sufficiency, 264, 265, 308
Proto-Urban Settlements, v Semi-Colonialism, vi, 222
provinces, 4, 68, 94, 171, 172, 226, 231, Shang, v, ix, 1, 3, 8–14, 24, 27, 34, 39,
235, 244, 247, 250, 252, 255, 279, 302, 43–46, 48, 49, 51, 59–74, 77, 80,
303 82–88, 90–93, 100, 103, 104, 107, 112,
provincial capitals, 255, 259, 260 114, 122, 138, 177, 252, 254, 279, 284,
286, 293, 294, 299, 300, 303
Qi, 62, 66, 95, 104–106, 108, 109, 114, shi, 8, 66, 104, 105, 117, 118, 133, 142,
134, 303 148, 158, 160, 166, 245, 248, 280, 306,
Qin, v, 13, 14, 29, 41, 70, 79, 88, 307
103–105, 112–116, 118–120, 122, 123, Shu, 8, 85, 90, 103, 132, 136, 137, 162
125–127, 132, 133, 156, 204, 205, 231, Shun, 8, 44, 48, 61, 66, 279, 298
279, 302, 303 Sijing, 45
Quanzhou, 167, 203 silk-weaving, 120
Sima Qian, 8, 12, 45, 61
rank orderliness, x, 120, 129, 153, 154,
small urban centers, 172, 249
158, 303
social organization, 291, 298
religion, 18, 34, 36, 43, 44, 91, 117, 122,
136, 141, 142, 149, 153, 158, 225, 281, social status, 7, 289, 298
282, 290, 305 socialist market, vii, 253, 309
Renaissance, v, 160, 166, 187, 198 “socialist market system”, vii
rites, 13, 23, 51–53, 55, 58, 59, 91, 92, Son-of-Heaven, 92, 206, 279, 299–301
111, 118, 138, 162, 176, 214, 268, 280, Song, v, 14, 45, 52, 64, 94, 118, 119, 134,
293, 294, 299–303 159–177, 180–189, 191, 193, 194, 196,
Rites and Music, 52, 280, 293, 294, 198, 200, 204, 210, 219, 234, 237, 242,
299–301, 303 290, 295, 301, 304, 305
rotation of posting, 137 Song city, 171, 173, 187
round-moat village settlements, vii South China, 6, 125, 134, 136, 143–146,
royal rituals, 207, 299 162, 167, 168, 170, 171, 176, 180, 181,
Royal Territory, 93 191–193, 195, 200, 203, 214, 218, 222,
royal tomb, 299 244
rule of avoidance, 137 Spring and Autumn, 59, 88, 302
rural economy, 92, 145, 196, 201, 210, square, 13, 16, 34, 39, 41, 42, 57, 59, 61,
228, 289, 306 77, 95, 96, 100, 101, 127, 150, 152,
rural hinterland, 228, 266, 280, 291, 305 176, 181, 195, 204, 207, 208, 248, 268,
“rural”, x, 281 292–295, 298
state enterprises, 120
salt, 55, 73, 79, 80, 120, 144, 146, 156, state investment, 252, 255
177, 201, 203, 214, 220 suburban development, 289
Sandai, 13, 45, 52, 114, 115, 138, 279, Sui, 14, 135, 137, 138, 141, 146, 150, 151,
290, 299–301 154, 156, 180, 295, 304
Sanxingdui, 8, 71, 84, 85 Sumerian, 1, 44, 284, 286, 290
January 18, 2010 13:36 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-Index FA

Index 331

Suzhou, 147, 181, 193, 198, 202, 203, urban hierarchy, 114, 158, 171, 201, 229,
218, 219 241, 303
system of writing, 7, 11 urban population, 91, 104, 191, 221,
250–252, 254
Tang, v, 14, 65, 66, 70, 71, 75, 115, 126, Urban Revolution, 170, 283
135–139, 141–165, 167, 170–173, 176, “urban”, 43, 187, 281
177, 181, 185–187, 189, 196, 210, 215, Urbanism, v, vi, 13, 29, 42, 56, 59, 62,
219, 234, 241, 290, 295, 300, 301, 304, 64, 77, 79, 85, 86, 93, 106, 108, 112,
308 116, 122, 173, 176, 216, 221, 222, 254,
temple, 18, 27, 31, 34, 39–42, 47, 57, 59, 259, 280, 281, 283, 309
75, 82, 84, 85, 95, 96, 101, 107, 110, urbanity, v, 116, 122, 159, 172, 173, 175,
111, 127, 129, 136, 138, 141, 142, 187, 281–283
149–151, 153–155, 176, 180, 185, 191,
194, 195, 206, 221, 283, 285, 287, 289, value system, ix, 133, 188, 221, 242,
290, 292, 298, 299, 301 280, 282, 291, 302, 309
territorial state, 14, 49, 54, 60, 62, 279, vassal states, 40, 43, 51, 67–69, 73, 80,
298, 299 85, 86, 90, 94, 103, 104, 112, 113, 116,
Third Front, 252, 255 139
Three Kingdoms, 14, 135, 198, 203, 304 virtuous, 66, 299, 300
Tianshiu, 203
town and country, 92, 160, 246, 247, walls, 10, 12, 30, 40, 41, 57, 61, 85, 95,
264, 287, 288, 291 98, 107, 114, 129, 154, 156, 175, 176,
traditional China, x, 98, 114, 122, 133, 180, 197, 204, 206, 221
158, 165, 239, 242, 248, 253, 291, 302, Wangcheng, 101, 106, 293, 303
305, 307 Warring States, v, 11, 13, 14, 88, 89,
transient population, 208 103–108, 110–112, 126, 127, 131, 133,
181, 293, 302–304
transition, 49, 139, 269, 298
wazi, 167, 173, 177, 187
transitional city, vii, 309
Well-Field System, 92, 93, 103
Treaty Ports, 216, 224–226, 228, 229,
Western city, x
231, 238, 242, 247
Western civilization, x, 308, 309
tribal community, 291, 297
Western powers, 223, 224, 242, 243,
tribal federations, 113
289, 306
“tribal” society, 12 western regions, 255
“true” city, x, 287 Western Zhou, 11, 14, 68, 86, 88–96,
99–101, 103, 106–108, 110, 111
“untrue” cities, 283, 287 working age group, 256, 260
urban bourgeoisie, 172 workshops, 17, 20, 33, 49, 51, 55, 56, 76,
urban civilization, 173, 284, 285, 291 84, 103, 132, 156, 177, 194, 208, 265,
urban culture, 2, 3, 14, 188, 280 292–295, 299
urban development, vii, 13, 15, 84, 261, Wuchang, 203, 235, 237
266, 267, 300, 306 Wudi, 116, 118–120, 123, 129, 132, 133
urban entertainment, 172
urban growth, 15, 120, 211, 237, 252, Xia, v, 8–10, 12–14, 29, 44–53, 56, 57,
286 60–62, 64, 66, 67, 70, 71, 73, 75, 77,
January 18, 2010 13:36 spi-b879 9in x 6in b879-Index FA

332 Chinese City and Urbanism: Evolution and Development

79, 80, 85, 86, 88, 90, 112, 114, 122, Yao, 8, 44, 48, 90, 279, 298
138, 162–164, 171, 185, 187, 189, 208, ye-ren, 93
252, 254, 279, 286, 293, 299, 300 yi, 40, 43, 54, 56, 61, 62, 65–67, 91, 93,
Xian, 19, 90, 106, 114, 124, 127, 141, 148, 101, 106, 126, 198, 298
172, 185, 200, 221, 234, 235, 252, 260, Yongle, 196, 198, 202, 206
264, 265, 279, 302, 305 Yu, 8, 44, 47, 48, 52, 60–62
Xianbei, 136, 137, 142, 143, 154, 189 Yuan, vi, 6, 12, 14, 33, 34, 36, 38, 43, 47,
xiang, 72, 106, 107, 114, 180, 252, 254 52, 61, 66, 73, 93, 103, 114, 120, 125,
Xiongnu, 120, 134, 137 137, 162, 166, 189–196, 201, 203, 206,
237, 243, 244, 279, 280, 305
Yandi, 12, 21 yue, 32, 34, 40, 41, 52, 138, 165, 180
Yangshao Period, v, vii, ix, xi, 2, 44 Yuezhi, 120
Yangzhou, 145–148, 156, 157, 203, 219
Yangzi, 4, 7, 8, 13, 17, 24, 31, 32, 34, 37, zhens, 170, 171, 203
40, 55, 73, 82, 116, 120, 125, 132, 144, Zhenxun, 45, 53, 60
146, 147, 156, 159, 167, 171, 183, 185, Zhong Yuan, 6, 12, 33, 34, 36, 38, 43, 47,
201, 219, 229, 231, 237, 239, 52, 61, 73, 93, 103, 114, 120, 125, 280
244, 291 Zhou Dynasty, v, ix, 64, 85, 98, 101, 155
Yanshi, 56, 61, 72, 73, 77–80, 82, 84, 86 Zhujiang, 4, 146