In a broad sense, the city of Luoyang in the Sui and Tang Dynasties covered an area of ​​455 square kilometers.

In a broad sense, the city of Luoyang in the Sui and Tang Dynasties covered an area of ​​455 square kilometers.

1. Can Shangyang Palace (north of Sui Imperial Palace) be included in the total area of ​​Luoyang City?

1. "A Brief Analysis of the Development of the Urban Axis of Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties" published by the School of Architecture of Henan University of Science and Technology clearly states: "The emergence of Shangyang Palace is a sign that Luoyang City has entered the 'two palace system'." And Shangyang Palace and the east side The Ziwei Palace together constitutes the "two palace system" of Luoyang City and is closely connected with Luoyang City. It is not a divorced palace. Therefore, it is unobjectionable to include it in the total area of ​​Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

2. Professor Han Jianhua also pointed out in the article "On the Palace Formation and Layout of Luoyang City, the Eastern Capital of the Tang Dynasty and Related Issues": "Shangyang Palace and West Shangyang Palace are an important part of Luoyang City in the Tang Dynasty. Their setting made Tang Dong The east and west sides of the axis of Luoyang City are basically balanced. From this point of view, the axis of Luoyang City, the capital of the Eastern Tang Dynasty, is not biased to the west of the city, but is roughly in the middle, coinciding with the central axis of the palace city, becoming the real center of the city. axis.”

The paper not only clarifies that Shangyang Palace is part of Luoyang City, but also further supports the huge area of ​​Luoyang City based on the argument of "balancing the central axis of the entire Sui and Tang Dynasty Luoyang City".

The Daming Palace in Chang'an is in a similar situation. Because it is located in the northeast outside Chang'an City, even though it was once considered a palace, it was generally listed as part of the total area of ​​Chang'an City in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, it is also unobjectionable to include Shangyang Palace (Xiyuan of the Sui Dynasty) into the total area of ​​Luoyang City.

2. How big is the area of ​​Xiyuan?

Xiyuan is located to the west of Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. According to the "Book of Sui·Shihuo Zhi": "(Xiyuan) is connected to Xin'an in the north, Feishan (Longmen Mountain) in the south, Mianchi (located in today's Sanmenxia City) in the west, and surrounded by hundreds of Li." If we infer according to the records in "Tang Liangjing Chengfang Kao", then if Luoyang infers based on this, then the area of ​​​​Xiyuan is roughly 400 square kilometers.

To judge the total area of ​​an ancient city, we mainly refer to the area included in the east, west, south and north gates, and the west gate of Xiyuan is exactly the west gate of the entire Luoyang City. Therefore, it is completely reasonable to include Xiyuan into the total area of ​​Luoyang City.

To sum up, the total area of ​​Luoyang City in a broad sense should be about 455 square kilometers, which is 5.2 times that of Chang'an City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties (87 square kilometers), about twice that of Nanjing City in the Ming Dynasty (230 square kilometers), and Beijing City in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. (60 square kilometers) more than 7 times, so Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties can be called the largest capital city in the history of the world.

7017k