Author: Xu Haifeng Wang Zhi
In Chinese history, the names of Zhongdu include Jin zhongdu, Yuan Zhongdu, and Ming Zhongdu. The political intention of "establishing the people of the four seas" is to rely on the geographical advantages to achieve effective rule over the country by relying on the geographical advantages. Among the three capitals, Jinzhong capital is modeled on the capital of the Central Plains, created by the ancients, and enlightened a new generation of new yuan, which has become the beginning of the regulation of the capital city of Beijing. The capital of Jinzhong fell for more than 60 years, but the city was still there, with the name of "Nancheng" as the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the capital coexisting, and until the first year of Hongwu Xu Da conquered the capital, it gradually disappeared after the Ming Jiajing Dynasty built the outer city of Beijing. The capitals of the Great Yuan dynasty and the capitals of the Ming Dynasty were all ill-fated, all built in the name of the capital, but neither escaped the fate of being deposed, which was short-lived in history, but its regulations, layout, and architecture occupied an extremely important position in the history of the ancient Chinese capital. Among them, the Capital of the Ming Dynasty is a key link in the evolution chain of the ancient Chinese capital, but since the strike, with the loss of the status of the capital, the Capital City has gradually declined and eventually disappeared into the depths of history, until the 1960s and 1970s when it returned to people's sight, and its historical status and historical value were gradually excavated and explained.
I. "The Three Capitals of the Beginning of the Country"
The capital city of all generations has been a symbol of a country's political power and imperial power, and as the center of the capital city, it is the center of power of the country, so the capital is the foundation of the founding of the country, and it is also the foundation of "the mianguo zuo in the world". However, the Ming Dynasty's proposal to establish a capital was protracted, and the choice of the capital was uncertain, so that the pattern of "three capitals at the beginning of the country" appeared, which was unique in Chinese history. The reason for this is that the traditional idea of Lidu, the political, economic, and natural conditions, and the concept of the ruler are all prerequisites or constraints for Lidu.
In the sixteenth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1356), Zhu Yuanzhang led an army to capture Jiqing (present-day Nanjing), changed Jiqing Road to Yingtianfu, and established Jiangnan Xing Zhongshu Province at the site of the Yuan Dynasty's Jiangnan Xing yushitai. In the twenty-fourth year of the Yuan Dynasty (1364), Zhu Yuanzhang proclaimed himself the King of Wu, and the establishment of a palace in the capital was put on the agenda. The literature states that "Liu Ji and others were ordered to make a new palace in the sun of Zhongshan"; "Ordered to build a temple society and establish a palace room". In the twenty-seventh year of the Yuan Dynasty (1367), the founding name was Wu, called Wu Yuannian, and in September of the same year, the new palace was completed, called the New Palace of the King of Wu, although the scale was small and the regulations were not complete, but it laid the foundation for the later construction of Nanjing City. The following year (1368), Zhu Yuanzhang took the throne, officially established the name of the country as Daming, built Yuan Hongwu, and moved into the new palace, but did not declare Ying Tianfu as the capital. This is mainly because Zhu Yuanzhang's obsession with "the capital of the Central Plains" has a long history, and the literature says: "When the army first crossed the great river, every time the subject listened to Confucianism, he knew: 'Those who have the world cannot control the treacherous and stubborn in the Central Plains.'" 'Listen to what He says, and never forget it.' The political and military situation at that time also fulfilled its wishes.
In March of the first year of Hongwu (1368), Xu Da attacked Shandong and Henan, and the Central Plains were pacified. The literature reads: "Taste the clouds and the king of the world must be in the Central Plains." Now that the Central Plains are peaceful, they must bow down to each other, look up and look down, and choose a place to live in. So in the summer and April of that year, he led tens of thousands of forbidden troops to look at it, against the river, full moon, and arrived at Bieliang. "After Zhu Yuanzhang personally blessed Bieliang, he changed the bieliang Road to Kaifeng Province, and issued an edict that Ying Tianfu was Nanjing and Kaifeng was Beijing, intending to open all of Them. The literature reads: "The edict reads: 'Look at the soil of the Central Plains, pay tribute to the four sides, be just in the way of the Daoli, and the words of the father and the elders are in harmony with the Yuanzhi.' However, the scale of the founding of the country is solid, and the Xingwang is not light at all, with Jinling as Nanjing and Daliang as Beijing, and it travels back and forth in the Spring and Autumn Period. It can be seen that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to build the second capital of the north and south instead of the constant capital, and the capital was still in hesitation.
Just after the establishment of the northern and southern capitals, Xu Da conquered Dadu, and the situation changed drastically, and subsequently, Zhu Yuanzhang's idea of Lidu also underwent a major change, "The edict took Linhao as the central capital", and discussed the capital in the way of "meeting the group of ministers". The literature reads: "In the beginning, the old ministers of the Shangzhao asked for the place where the capital was built, or the kingdom of the heavenly capital in the middle of the yanguan, the dangerous golden city, the kingdom of the tianfu; or the luoyang heaven and earth, the tribute of the four sides, the Daoli Shijun; the old capital of the Fengliang and the Song Dynasty; or the palace of the Northern Pingyuan was complete, so that it could save the people's strength." Shang: 'All that is said is good, but sometimes there are different ears.' Chang'an, Luoyang, Fenjing Shizhou, Qin, Han Wei, Tang, and Song were founded, but at the beginning of the pacification, the people did not rest, and if the capital was built on the other side, the supply force was sent to the south of the jiangsu province, and the people were labored hard. If it is in Beiping, the palace room cannot be changed without change, nor is it easy. Now Jianye Yangtze River Graben, Dragon Pan Tiger Standing, Jiangnan shaped victory, really enough to establish a country. Linhao is the front of the river and the back of the Huai, with danger can be held, with water can be cao, the desire to think of the capital, how? 'All the courtiers are good. In the end, the first order is to set the city pool palace que, such as the system of the capital master." This shows that Zhu Yuanzhang was determined at this time to establish the capital of Zhongdu, and although he asked the old ministers and consulted the interests of the capitals of various countries, they were all rejected by the many difficulties of the people's livelihood at the beginning of the country; and the analysis of the geographical shape of the capital was victorious, so that the ministers followed his ideas and all agreed with it, and achieved his wish to establish the capital.
From the second year of Hongwu (1369) to the eighth year (1375) "ZhaoZhi Zhongdu Gongzuo", Zhongdu was built for nearly 6 years, and when the literature recorded that when the strike was built, Zhongdu "the merits will be completed". Not long after the strike, it was "rebuilt into the Ouchi Palace". In the 10th year of Hongwu (1377), "it was transformed into the Great Inner Palace... The system is the same as the old, and with a little gain, the scale is greater." In the eleventh year of Hongwu (1378), Nanjing was changed to "Jingshi" and the capital was officially established. In the thirty-first year of Hongwu (1398), Zhu Yuanzhang died, Zhu Di launched the "Battle of Jingnan" to seize the throne, changed the Yuan Yongle, Yongle four years (1406) "edict to build the Beijing Palace in May of the next year"; Yongle eighteen years (1420) "from next year to change the capital to Nanjing, Beijing as the Beijing division"; in the same year "to move the capital to Beijing Zhao Tianxia", Since then Beijing has been the capital of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Zhu Yuanzhang claimed that King Wu had the idea of establishing a capital, that is, at the beginning of the throne, he wanted to build the capital in Bieliang, and the capital was in Fengyang, building a gorgeous capital city, and eventually restoring the capital in Jinling; Zhu Di built a Palace in Beijing, moved the capital to Beijing, and the discussion of establishing a capital lasted for more than 50 years, objectively forming the three capitals of the first year of the country. Among the three capitals, Zhongdu City was the first capital city built with high standards and high specifications in the early Ming Dynasty, and its triple ring set, square layout, miyagi selection, central axis symmetry, and skillful use of nature perfectly reflect the ancient Chinese capital construction regulations and ideas. The main structure of its Miyagi city shows a complete system commensurate with the status of the Kyoshi, and its grand scale, the volume of stone components, exquisite ornate stone carvings, and high-quality stone materials reflect its supremacy. In the reconstruction of nanjing palace and the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing, in addition to the continuity of regulations, it also embodied a kind of "but seek safety, not gorgeous ... But simple and strong, can be passed on forever" architectural ideas. Therefore, the three capitals of the first three years of the country have become an important reference and example for studying the formation of the final model of the regulation of ancient Chinese capitals.
Second, the vicissitudes of the middle capital
In the eighth year of Hongwu (1375), after the zhongdu was deposed, the mission of the capital city as the capital was completed, and its fate also changed.
In the Ariake generation, the biggest "disaster" for the central capital was the construction and reconstruction of Longxing Temple. The "Zhongdu Zhi" says: "The Great Longxing Temple, in the north of Fuzhi, Hongwujian withdrew the Zhongdu Palace room and built it on a grand scale. ...... In the fifth year of orthodoxy (1440), the temple was destroyed by fire. Tianshun three years (1459)... More than 500 yamen rooms such as Zhongshu Province in the imperial city were withdrawn, and they were rebuilt according to the style. "This is a great destruction of the buildings in the Zhongdu Palace and the Forbidden Walls. After the Tianshun Dynasty, the "high wall" of imprisoning the Sin Sect was built, "the pond was built to repair the wall, and the years were built to build work", and "the gate tower was enemy, and the county town was not reduced". In the fifth year of Jingtai (1454), zhongdu Tucheng was built. By the end of the Ming Dynasty, it had been eroded by wind and rain, fell into disrepair for a long time, and the HuaiShui had invaded, and the zhongdu city was gradually declining and dilapidated. In the eighth year of Chongzhen (1635), the peasant army captured Fengyang, destroyed the imperial tomb, burned the Longxing Temple, the official palace, etc., and the zhongdu city was again destroyed.
In the Qing Dynasty, in the sixth year of the Kangxi Dynasty (1667), Fengyang County was moved to the old imperial city (Forbidden City) and renamed the county seat. In the 20th year of Qianlong (1755), the forbidden walls outside the imperial city, the zhongdu city, the bell tower platform foundation, etc. were withdrawn, and bricks were taken to build the city of Fengyang Province. In the third year of Xianfeng (1853), the Taiping Army burned Longxing Temple, Drum Tower, etc. In the Xianfeng Decade (1860), the landlords armed the destruction of the mansion houses. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the invaders demolished houses in the county.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Fengyang Fucheng was demolished in 1954, and in 1961, the Imperial City (Miyagi) of Zhongdu was listed as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit in Anhui Province. In the "Ten Years of Catastrophe", the capital city suffered another disaster. Due to the evil thinking, the organized demolition of city bricks, the construction of wells and dams, and so on have shocked the eyes, and even the "vigorous" "movement" to dismantle and sell city bricks has emerged. It was not until 1972 that this large-scale demolition of the wall was stopped, but the "piecemeal" sabotage activities did not stop. In 1982, Zhongdu City was announced as a national key cultural relics protection unit, and the Zhongdu City, which had experienced vicissitudes and tribulations, ushered in a new life, and scientific, orderly and effective protection was opened.
Third, the middle of the search for the remains
The capital city, which has been sleeping for nearly 600 years, has long been forgotten by the historical and archaeological circles. Until 1969, an elderly man in his fifties almost single-handedly walked on the fields, regardless of the cold and heat, and searched for relics, and finally made this long-sealed Capital City of Daming return to people's sight and became famous. He is the famous historian Mr. Wang Jianying.
For nearly six years from 1969 to 1975, Mr. Wang Jianying was sent to work at the Fengyang 57 Cadre School of the Ministry of Education. At that time, the demolition of the city wall was in full swing, and Mr. Wang Jianying was also sent as a porter to transport the city bricks. At that time, except for the walls on both sides of the Donghua Gate that were demolished, the rest of the walls of the city still existed. When Mr. Wang Jianying saw the majestic city wall, the exquisite White Jade Relief inside and outside the Noon Gate, and the huge Panlong Stone Foundation, he was shocked. When he ascended to the top of donghua gate, Xuanwu gate and noon gate, he looked around, the flat land between Jianghuai and Huaihuai, the square city wall was intermittently visible, and the continuous Phoenix Mountain stood as a screen, and the magnificent and vast momentum and solemn historical atmosphere made it move. Mr. Wang Jianying, with his superb knowledge and profound historical skills, is keenly aware of its value and significance. Since then, single-handedly, tirelessly, and all the searches have been left behind.
The Ming capital city is the standard three-ring layout in the ancient Chinese capital, with the outer Guo City, the Imperial City (Forbidden Garden), and the Miyagi Ring Set, with strict hierarchy and regular layout. Mr. Wang Jianying's visits to the masses, the identification of ground remains, the detailed recording of information, the measurement and mapping, is a completely archaeological investigation method. As for the results of the field investigation, Mr. Wang also relied on his solid documentary and historical skills, compared with the remains, collected the documents, hooked the historical facts, and analyzed the ruins, and from 1975 to 1982, he completed the two manuscripts of "Ming Zhongdu City Examination" (Historical Section) and "Ming Zhongdu Ruins Investigation Report", which became a classic document for the study of Ming Zhongdu, and is still a must-read literature and extremely important reference for the study of Ming Zhongdu.
"Ming Zhongdu City Examination" (historical part) (later published under the name of "Ming Zhongdu"), this book is a systematic and informative combing of the ming and Zhongdu documents, Mr. Wang Jianying upholds the spirit of rigorous evidence, with his familiarity with various documents, extensive collection and extensive quotations, article analysis, exploration of the subtle, from its observation of the Zhongdu exquisite stone carving as the beginning, throughout the history, records, tongjian, Tongzhi, Tuzhi, Huidian, Fang zhi, notes, poems, inscriptions, etc., not only to investigate its trunk, but also to find its branches and leaves. Mr. Wang Jianying's in-depth examination has enabled the "past and present life" of Zhongdu City, the establishment of zhongdu City, the site selection, construction history, preparation, construction, strike, regulatory layout, and architectural changes to be fully presented. Mr. Wang Jianying also inherited the tradition of "left map and right history" and "detailed preparation", leaving us with a classic work that can stand the test of time, and has become an indispensable scientific basis for today's history, architecture, archaeology, cultural heritage protection and other references. Under difficult conditions, the spirit of the scholars of the previous generations who are willing to be lonely and immersed in learning is really a model of houkun, and the mountains are uplifted.
Compared with the "Examination of the Ming Zhongdu City" based on historical materials, the "Report on the Investigation of the Ming Zhongdu Ruins" is a comprehensive and systematic account of the first-hand information obtained by Mr. Wang Jianying through the wind and rain, tireless efforts, and on foot. According to the layout of the three-fold ring of the capital city, Mr. Wang Jianying sequentially gave detailed records and measurements to the city gates, city walls and water passes of The Outer Guocheng City, the city gates and walls of the Forbidden Garden, the gates of the Imperial City, the corner towers, the city walls, the Outer Jinshui River, the moat, the palace, the Neijinshui River, etc.; the ruins of the Zhongshu Province, the Governor's Mansion and the Yushitai Ruins of the Noon Gate; the Ruins of the Circular Hill and the Fangqiu; the Ruins of taimiao and Taisheji; the Ruins of the City God Temple, the Temple of heroes, and the Temple of the Emperors of the Past Dynasties; the Ruins of Million Warehouses, the Observatory, the Huitongguan, the Guozixue Site; the Drum Tower, the Bell Tower Ruins, and so on 2. Examine, draw flat sectional drawings, explain the structure, function, characteristics, etc., and corroborate with the literature, basically restore the layout of the huanghuang capital that has been forgotten for hundreds of years, the actual location of each remaining place, and take a large number of current situation photos, leaving us with comprehensive, informative and reliable extremely precious information.
At the same time, Mr. Wang Jianying also investigated and examined the Huangjue Temple, Longxing Temple and Imperial Tomb on the outskirts of the Central Capital City, and also conducted a detailed examination of the types, origins, nature and functions of millions of city bricks in the Ming Capital. Historical relics are non-renewable, for various reasons, many of the remains of Zhongdu City are no longer traceable today, and Mr. Wang Jianying's painstaking work has become the only basis for our reference today.
Mr. Wang Jianying surveyed the ruins of the Fengtian Temple in Zhongdu
"Ming zhongdu study" book shadow
The Slovaks are gone, and the great deeds have been passed down. When Mr. Wang Jianying faced the Zhongdu City for the first time, he was both surprised and worried, happy that the Zhongdu Imperial City was basically intact and the scenery was magnificent; worried that he witnessed the demolition with his own eyes. Mr. Wang Jianying suppressed anxiety, calmly, objectively and truthfully recorded the current situation at that time, and every time he read it, he could strongly feel the rigor, justice and responsibility spirit of the older generation of scholars. Today, I still sigh in my revisiting, and the words are still in my ears and warnings.
"When I arrived in Fengyang in the early autumn of 1969, the Imperial City of Zhongdu was basically still intact, and when I ascended to Donghua Gate from the brick-paved Shangcheng Ramp, I felt that the grass and trees here were lush, the scenery was beautiful, and the quality of the ancient buildings was very high. When I came back in 1970, I saw the city wall being demolished on a large scale. At that time, the eastern city wall had been almost demolished, and there were brick stacks and brick chips everywhere, leaving only one Donghua Gate. The eastern section of the southern city wall is being demolished, the brick stacks from the city root to the river of the barrel, the truck has to climb up and down on the brick chip pile on the side of the brick stack, the east wing of the noon gate has just begun to be demolished, because the city bricks are made of tung oil, lime, glutinous rice pulp, some are also watered with alum, milky white translucent slurry frozen outside the brick cracks, crystal white, as if it has just been watered, but the pickaxe is on it, Mars bursts, very hard, it is very difficult to pick. At that time, the reliefs on the white stone Sumire seat around the Noon Gate were still intact, and the northern city wall and the Xuanwu Gate had not yet moved. In May 1973, in order to investigate, survey, survey, and photograph the capital of mingzhong, the author continued to go to the imperial city, at this time, the phenomenon of large-scale demolition of the city wall has been stopped, but every time I go, I can find some new damage, and the phenomenon of cultural relics and monuments continuing to be destroyed is still very serious.
Due to the development from the demolition of ancient buildings on the ground to the excavation of underground buildings and base sites, this aspect allows me to observe the internal structure of some ancient buildings, see more ancient buildings that were not seen on the ground, and measure the exact location of some ancient buildings and their scope, size and other data; but on the other hand, this is not a leading, planned, organized archaeological excavation, and there is no complete record, I just happened to encounter something, I recorded some sporadically, I wrote "Ming Zhongdu Kao" with a very anxious mood, I really can't imagine what the Zhongdu City will look like when the "Ming Zhongdu Examination" is finished. In the past few years, the Imperial City of Zhongdu has changed from a perfect ancient building to an ancient site with residual buildings, if the phenomenon of destroying cultural relics continues, it is likely that even this ancient site will gradually 'disappear', bringing great difficulties to future cultural relics and archaeology.
Therefore, the Imperial City of Mingzhongdu described here is not an ancient building with a relatively stable status quo and good protection and management, but a cultural relics and monuments that are constantly being destroyed and gradually transformed from ancient buildings into ancient ruins. Since the author has personally seen the complete ancient building and seen the process of destruction, he not only describes the situation of the complete Forbidden City in the whole, but also describes the current situation after the destruction, and describes some of the internal structures that can be observed. In March 1981, I went to Fengyang to participate in the inspection of the Ming Zhongdu ruins and saw that the remaining Zhongdu Imperial City had been preserved, and the phenomenon of ripping and demolishing the city bricks had been stopped. ”
Fourth, the middle of the truth
Under the appeal of Mr. Wang Jianying and others, in 1982, the ancient city of the Ming Dynasty and the stone carvings of the imperial tomb were announced as the second batch of national key cultural relics protection units. Since then, the protection work of Mingzhongdu is on the right track. Mr. Wang Jianying's investigation and research on the Ming capital city for the first time comprehensively explained the historical, archaeological and social values of the middle capital city, and provided a solid academic foundation for archaeological work. With the progress of the times, the cause of cultural heritage protection in China has ushered in unprecedented development, and the scientific archaeology work in Zhongdu City has also begun.
Archaeological work on Zhongdu City can be roughly divided into three stages:
(i) Sporadic Archaeology (1982-1995)
The archaeological work at this stage is mainly to carry out experimental excavation, survey and research on the sites of Ming zhongdu and the imperial tombs, the work is relatively sporadic, the excavation area is small, and it is still mainly based on ground survey and survey.
From 1982 to 1983, the Anhui Provincial Cultural Relics Task Force and the Fengyang County Cultural Relics Management Institute conducted surveys and test excavations of some palace sites.
In the spring of 1984, the Chuxian Regional Institute of Cultural Relics Protection Science and Technology and the Fengyang County Cultural Relics Management Institute surveyed some of the gate sites and the Jinshui River Old Road.
In August 1996, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Fengyang County Cultural Relics Administration Institute conducted surveys and excavations of the Imperial City and the Imperial Tomb Hall.
(2) Partial Archaeology (2003-2013)
During this period, with the rise of capital construction, the need to cooperate with construction promoted more archaeological work related to Mingzhongdu. Moreover, the scientific protection of the Mingzhongdu site has also been put on the agenda, and some coordinated excavations have been carried out.
From October to November 2003, in order to cooperate with the formulation of the protection plan for the ruins of the Imperial City of Mingzhong, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Fengyang County Cultural Relics Management Institute excavated the jinshui river, royal bridge and Chengtianmen ruins outside the Ming capital.
From May to July 2007, in order to cooperate with the construction of the Fengyang County Government Affairs New Area, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted archaeological surveys and explorations on the land area west of the Forbidden Wall of Zhongdu City to the two sides of the Tushan Gate and the site of the Bell Tower.
In September 2012, in order to cooperate with the protection and utilization of the Bell Tower site, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Fengyang County Cultural Relics Management Institute conducted exploration and excavation work on the Bell Tower site.
From July to October 2013, in order to cooperate with the construction of the Link Line from Benghuai Expressway to Ningluo Expressway, the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology of Anhui Province discovered 34 kiln sites at the Qiaojianzi site in Fengyang County, and excavated and cleaned up 12 of them, which are Ming Dynasty brick kilns, which are related to the construction of the Ming capital or imperial tomb.
In the same year, in conjunction with the planning of the Mingzhong Imperial Ancient City National Archaeological Site Park, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology formulated a special archaeological work plan for the Mingzhongdu site.
(3) Comprehensive Archaeology (2014 to present)
In 2013, the Ming-Zhongdu Imperial Ancient City National Archaeological Site Park was approved by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage. This phase of archaeological work is based on this opportunity. Since 2014, with the full support of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage, the Anhui Provincial Bureau of Cultural Relics, and the Fengyang County Party Committee and County Government, the Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with Shandong University and the Palace Museum, has carried out planned, large-scale and continuous archaeological work on Mingzhong, achieving major gains, solving a number of unsolved mysteries and refreshing many old cognitions.
After continuous archaeological exploration from 2014 to 2017, except for the part of the southeast occupied by the city and the area north of the Wulinxin River that has not been explored, the rest of the area within the Mingzhong capital has been completed, and the stratigraphic accumulation characteristics, water system direction and distribution of the main building in this area have been basically clarified. Compared with Mr. Wang Jianying's early investigation, this archaeological exploration has achieved the following breakthrough understanding:
1. The overall architectural layout of Miyagi Castle has initially emerged, and the distribution of the main buildings in Miyagi Castle is quite consistent with Mr. Wang Jianying's investigation, and the exploration further determines the location and basic structure of the palace, gates and temples in the former dynasty area.
2. A number of architectural groups located on both sides of the Imperial Road were found in the south of the Noon Gate, which had a certain correspondence with the records of the buildings of Zhongshu Province, the Metropolitan Governor's Palace, the Goshidai, and the Taisheji.
3. A large number of kiln sites were found on the southwest side of the outside of Miyagi Castle, which were not expected during past investigations, and these should be the remains of the projects during the construction of the Mingzhong Capital, which enriched the understanding of the construction process of the Mingzhong Capital.
Archaeological excavations since 2014 have taken the central axis as the core, successively excavated sites such as the Former Dynasty Palace, Chengtianmen Gate, and Waijinshui Bridge, and dissected and excavated the eastern wall of Miyagi Castle and the outer kiln site of the Western Forbidden Wall in order to explore the trajectory of the evolution of the craft and the source of the character bricks. At the same time, in cooperation with the cultural relics repair project of the Ming Zhongdu ruins, the cleaning of donghuamen, southeast corner platform, northeast corner platform, xihuamen city platform top and Yong Road in the noon gate cave was carried out, and a wealth of information was obtained, and a series of new understandings were made about the specific shape of various buildings. Select examples:
1. It was determined that the layout of the central palace was in the shape of a "worker" rather than the "middle" glyph seen on the surface, and it was a structure of the front and back halls plus corridors that was closer to the Yuan Dadu Palace, which was different from the layout of the three halls speculated by Mr. Wang Jianying.
2. The direction of the Waijinshui River, the location, quantity and structure of the Waijinshui Bridge can be clarified, and the excavations have revealed that the Waijinshui Bridge has seven bridge foundations, and there are segments in the width and depth of the river and correspond to the regulation of the bridge, and the ground and sea mounds and water-saving sluices have also been found in the river.
3. The shape and structure of chengtianmen and other buildings were determined. The Chengtianmen City Platform was found to be a "3+2" city gate layout, which was the first time in the layout of the city gate of China's ancient capital.
4. Excavations have revealed some of the state of the Ming and Zhongdu at the time of the strike, such as the bricks in the Noon Gate Cave at the time of the strike, the bricks in the door openings of donghua gate and chengtian gate have not yet been bricked; the water system within the forbidden wall city should have been completed, but the road network has not yet been fully formed; the top of the Xihua gate platform should not have been built; the central palace has not yet been completed.
5. The excavation outlines the basic process of the construction of the city site. According to the stratigraphic relationship, the internal change law of excavated relics and relics, the excavation determined the construction timing of "first the palace after the city wall, and the palace wall after the forbidden wall". At the same time, the inscription brick and rammed earth form were included in the space-time framework for observation, and the change law of brick inscription content and rammed earth type was found, reflecting the trend of continuous maturity and standardization of project management.
6. The excavation also learned about the relevant construction techniques in the construction of ming and zhongdu, such as earthwork, brickwork and stone craftsmanship.
Panorama of Zhongdu Miyagi Castle (Wang Zhi, Wu Wei)
Zhongdu No. 1 Palace Ruins Excavation Area (Wang Zhi, Wu Wei)
Fifth, the central capital is forward-looking
From the perspective of archaeological work for decades, although the Mingzhong Capital of the "System of the Beijing Division" was finally abolished, it was not completely built and used, but its structure, regulation, construction technology, etc. are traceable, and the complete capital city has complete elements, and it is still a model for the mature stage of the development of the ancient Chinese capital, and the Ming Nanjing Palace City is based on the Ming Zhongdu Palace City for reconstruction, and the Ming Beijing Palace City is based on the Ming Nanjing Palace City as a model, so the Ming Zhongdu Palace City can be described as an important follower in the formation of the end mode of the ancient Chinese Palace City, and on its basis, it is reconstructed. The addition of Nanjing Palace City opened a new system, and finally made the Forbidden City in Beijing the greatest and highest model of China's capital. Therefore, the site of the capital city of Ming and Zhongzhong is a complete summary of the ancient Chinese palace system and a key stage in the archaeology of the capital city in the late Chinese historical period, which is of landmark significance in the history of China's urban development.
As the core field of urban archaeology, capital archaeology is an important way to understand the characteristics of ancient national civilizations. Ming and Zhong are all capital cities built according to high standards and high specifications in the flat area between Jianghuai and Huaijiang, unlike Chang'an, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Nanjing, Beijing and other previous generations of historical heritage that can be inherited, Fengyang is only an imperial hometown rather than an imperial capital, which is equivalent to "a blueprint drawn on a blank piece of paper", so there is no "bondage" and no "burden" to achieve the ideal planning and layout in accordance with the system of yingdu. Now it seems that the zhongdu city basically reflects the near-perfect, all-element configuration of the ancient Chinese capital. Therefore, Zhongdu archaeology should be based on the system, integration and "holographic" composition of the capital city, that is, the concept of "Dazhongdu". Judging from the current discoveries, the capital city is a huge cluster of ruins inside and outside the city, and the architectural sites in the city represented by the city walls, city gates and palaces, official offices, bell and drum towers, etc.; the sacrificial sites represented by circular hills and square hills outside the city, the burial area represented by the imperial tombs, the military facilities and temples and temples represented by the imperial tomb guards and changhuaiwei, the large-scale road network water systems represented by the royal roads, water passes, and the inner and outer Jinshui River, etc., in addition, there are handicraft sites, general residence sites and fuzhi related to the construction of the city. Prefectural government, neighborhoods and other ruins.
In view of the characteristics of the Mingzhongdu site and summarizing the experience of archaeological work over the past few decades, we believe that the archaeology of Mingzhongdu needs to adhere to the working idea of "overall planning, hierarchical advancement, primary and secondary order, and combination of points and surfaces".
(1) Overall planning is based on the vast geographical background of the shape of mountains and rivers, with the concept of the organic unity of all elements of the large capital city, with the most complete concept of the regulation of the ancient Chinese capital, with the three-ring set layout as the starting point, the overall consideration of functional partitioning, the grid way to deal with the relationship between the whole and the part, to ensure the pertinence and effectiveness of archaeological work.
(II) Hierarchical advancement is to distinguish the types and nature of different remains, and the corresponding archaeological concepts and means are different, such as the iconic remains of the capital city wall, the main palace, etc., the remains of the infrastructure water system road network, the official offices that embody the will of the state, the relics of sacrifices, the large tombs that reflect the imperial power, as well as the ruins related to the operation of the city and the small ruins related to the construction of the city. Therefore, archaeological work is carried out in a hierarchical and step-by-step manner rather than "generalization".
(III) Primary and Secondary Orderly It is necessary to take the perspective of large-scale urban archaeology, closely follow the main purposes of revealing and restoring the regulations, layout, and structure of the capital city, and attach importance to the palace and other main and secondary relevant work, so as to avoid blindly and passively "grasping the beard and eyebrows".
(IV) Combination of Points and Surfaces That is, archaeology is not fully exposed, and we must adhere to the principle of "comprehensive investigation, key exploration, and local excavation", on the basis of systematic regional investigation, to solve academic problems as the guide, grasp key nodes, and take the point to lead the way to ensure the academic and purposeful nature of archaeological work.
Although ming and zhongdu have existed briefly in history, they have had an extremely important impact on the history of the development of ancient Chinese capitals, leaving a profound historical imprint, which is a link that cannot be ignored in the study of ancient capitals, and its valuable cultural heritage and value connotations are worthy of our continuous exploration and excavation. Mr. Wang Jianying spared no effort to investigate and examine in the most difficult special years, protected the site of Mingzhongdu, and also opened the prelude to the archaeological research of Mingzhongdu. Today's Ming Zhongdu Archaeology is not only to inherit the good work foundation laid by Mr. Wang Jianying, but also to uphold Mr. Wang Jianying's spirit of learning and seeking truth, and to go far and forward, and to push the protection of cultural relics and archaeology in Mingzhongdu to a new peak.
(This year marks the 100th anniversary of Mr. Wang Jianying's birth, and I would like to commemorate Mr. Wang Jianying, who made pioneering contributions to the study of the central capital city.) ）
Author Affilications:Xu Haifeng, Institute of Archaeology, Forbidden City
Wang Zhi Anhui Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology
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