If you're from Xi'an and don't know much about the "neighborhood system", you'll want to read this article and check out the displays at the museum.
There are many display maps of the Tang Chang'an City, but this one is probably the most detailed and realistic of the restoration models, which not only lists all 108 neighborhoods to scale, but also puts in place "ancillary facilities" according to the level of prosperity of each neighborhood at that time.
The city of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty*** had 108 workshops. Among them, the north-south 13 rows symbolize "a year of leap"; the Imperial City from west to east in the south of the 4 columns, meaning the four seasons, the north-south 9 rows of Square symbolizes the "King's City, nine Kui". The "Li" and "Square" are actually the name of each area, just called differently.
The map below shows the overlap between Xi'an now and Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty, so you can zoom in to find out which neighborhood you lived in.
At the same time, you should be smart enough to understand that this kind of planning and designing for OCD is a necessary tool for the management of the people, not only to prevent the population from moving around, but also to make it possible for those who commit adultery to hide, which is why it was always used in the ancient feudal society.
So let's say you live in Chang'an, how big is your neighborhood?
First of all, let me tell you that 1 hectare = 10,000 square meters.
During the Western Han and Sui dynasties, the area of the Rifang remained stable at about 20 hectares, but the Sheng Tang had money to spare, and its Rifang area was divided into three kinds:
The smallest 4 rows of Rifangs directly south of the Imperial City had 28-41 hectares.
The remaining 6 columns south of the Imperial City are about 51-66 hectares.
And the palace and the Imperial City on both sides is the largest workshop, each workshop is exactly 93 hectares.
Such an area is equivalent to the size of an ordinary county town in the Spring and Autumn period suitable or the Qing Dynasty.
And compare to other grid cities in ancient Europe ...... Below, from left to right, are the Greek city of Miletus, the Roman city of Timgar, and the medieval French city of Mihoud, so you can feel it.
Wow, it's really a big city, the area is almost as big as 1 of our workshops, great.
The interior of the neighborhood is also rich, it is divided by the main road, divided into 4 areas with small crossroads, *** forming 16 blocks. There are also irregular "alleys" and "curves" separating them, and official offices, Buddhist temples, Taoist temples and residences are all arranged in the 4 phases separated by cross streets, and each neighborhood is a rich little society with enough partners to communicate and play.
As for which neighborhood you live in, you can't just pick and choose, the government will make it clear.
First, the principle of class, good feng shui, good lighting, close to school, close to the emperor, it is not your turn, that all belong to the princes and ministers.
For example, the pro-Ren Square is where An Lushan, who started the "An Shi Rebellion", lived.
After these top residential areas, the rest of the civilian areas are still up to you to decide what type of house you can get. According to the Luoyang Galaxy Records, "East of the city, there are two miles of commerce and goods. The people inside, all the craftsmen and butchers to make a living".
That is to say, people were divided into residential areas according to the type of work, close to the Imperial City, the location of those good "upscale neighborhoods" may be occupied by skilled craftsmen, if you are not noble and no crafts, then you can only live outside the "five rings".
And with so many neighborhoods and so many people, how wide were the streets of Tang Chang'an? Take Yanpingmen to Yanxingmen of this east-west main road to give an example, it is 55 meters wide, to know the width of the modern two-way 4-lane width is only 24.5 meters.
And this "two-way 8-lane" luxury road, but almost the narrowest street at that time, according to records, the Tang Chang'an Palace Street width of the whole 220 meters, secondary streets such as the Vermilion Bird Street has 155 meters, than the existing Xi'an City Vermilion Bird Street is about three times wider.
Although the main street for the royal family to carry sedan chairs, princes and ministers to the court, Indian ambassadors to ride elephants with a very wide, but the streets for the daily use of the people in the Square is only 15 meters and 2 meters of these two specifications.
That means you live in a city that has the biggest and widest road in the world, but you've never walked it once.
But even if the streets are not wide enough, you'll still have plenty of room to maneuver. The city of Chang'an was full of temples, and there was at least one temple in every square, many with pagodas. Unlike churches abroad, which served a single function, the temples of Chang'an were both places of worship for the faithful, where monks and nuns held their Buddhist ceremonies, and centers of public ****ing activity for the city's residents.
Just like the current "Small Wild Goose Pagoda - Jianfu Temple"
You can walk the birds here, sing, dance, and some even raise flowers and vegetables. Moreover, the top gardens in the compound are regularly open to the public, developing into a unique type of classical Chinese gardens - temple gardens.
And in addition to the square of the temple, as well as the city's Datang East Market, West Market, which are for people to communicate with the area, there is another place is often used as a good place to chat and relieve boredom after dinner, that is, the square of a few families **** with the edge of the well.
So, in the late Tang Dynasty, some of the works depicting the daily life of the common people were also called the literature of the marketplace.
But as the movie says, with the economic development of the Tang Dynasty, the only two markets in the city could not satisfy the trade needs of the residents, and so there appeared one after another official hotels, workshops, snack stores and other stores in the neighborhoods, which enriched the lives of the people.
As for the housing of the people, there were no commercial properties for sale at that time.
The government distributed the land equally according to this standard:
1 mu of land for less than 3 people of good character, and 1 mu for 3 people; 1 mu of land for less than 5 people of untouchability, and 1 mu for 5 people.
On what exactly is considered a good citizen?
What development did the Li Fang system in Tang Chang'an City go through?
Hey yo travel will be in the subsequent update for you to answer in detail, I hope you continue to pay attention to the next installment, we continue to explore the Xi'an Museum of the "basic display area", to see the inside of those great national treasures, the small skunks and you will not see you.