The Chang'an in the movie "30,000 Miles of Chang'an" is not the Xi'an today!

The recently released animated film "30,000 Miles from Chang'an" reproduces the majestic spirit of the Tang Dynasty's heyday and the classic charm of Tang poetry that has been passed down for thousands of years.

**The "Chang'an" in the film refers to the capital of the Tang Dynasty,** and represents the "ideal place" in the minds of Li Bai, Gao Shi and others.

In most people's impressions, the Tang capital Chang'an is the current city of Xi'an.

In fact, from ancient times to the present, Chang'an and Xi'an are two different concepts, and their geographical locations are also different.

Stills from "30,000 Miles from Chang'an" (Source: China Animation Network)

The Millennium Capital of Han and Tang Dynasties

Judging from the origin of the name, Chang'an's history is far greater than that of Xi'an.

The history of Chang'an can be traced back to the Han Dynasty more than 2,200 years ago.

In early 202 AD, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, faced the Qin capital Xianyang, which was almost burned to ruins by the King of Chu, Xiang Yu, and could not help but worry about the establishment of the capital of the new dynasty.

Soon, ministers Xiao He and Zhang Liang discovered that the Xingle Palace south of the Wei River in Xianyang was well preserved and suggested building the capital there.

The location of Xingle Palace was called Chang'an Township, which escaped the disaster because it was far away from Xianyang. In order to save manpower and material resources and to take the auspicious meaning of "long-term peace and stability" from the name Chang'an, Liu Bang built Changle Palace based on Xingle Palace and promoted Chang'an Township to Chang'an County, which governed the original Xianyang City.

Two years later, Changle Palace was completed and the Han Dynasty moved its capital to Chang'an. Chang'an City in the early Han Dynasty was located in the northwest of today's Xi'an City, with a total area of ​​about 35 square kilometers.

After years of expansion and renovation, Chang'an became the country's political, economic and cultural center during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, the eastern starting point of the Silk Road, and enjoyed the reputation of "Chang'an in the East and Rome in the West".

Restoration of the plan layout of Han Chang'an City (Source: History Research Society)

After more than 300 years of wars during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Chang'an City became dilapidated until the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, the court built a new Chang'an City on the basis of the Sui capital Daxing City (located in the south of the Han Chang'an City, with a total area of ​​84 square kilometers) and designated it as the capital.

The city wall of Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty was 12 meters high, the circumference of the city was 36 kilometers, and the total area was about 87 square kilometers, about 2.4 times that of Chang'an in the Han Dynasty. During the Zhenguan period of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, the population of Chang'an exceeded one million, and it became an international metropolis, which had a profound impact on subsequent urban planning and construction.

Restoration of the plan layout of Tang Chang'an City (Source: History Research Society)

Chang'an in the Tang Dynasty had a very profound cultural heritage. As shown in "Chang'an 30,000 Miles", writers, poets, painters and others at that time all hoped to have a place in Chang'an. According to historical records, when the poet Bai Juyi first arrived in Chang'an at the age of 16, his predecessor Gu Kuang laughed at him and said, "Rice is expensive in Chang'an, and it is not easy to live in a big city."

It is worth mentioning that the Tang Chang'an City is only one percent of the current Xi'an City in terms of area. The two are incomparable in scale.

Unfortunately, the prosperity of Chang'an disappeared with the demise of the Tang Dynasty. After that, the total area of ​​Chang'an City was only one sixteenth of that of Tang Chang'an City. It was just an ordinary small city.

It was not until the Ming Dynasty, more than 600 years later, that the thousand-year-old capital regained its vitality and the name "Xi'an" was born.

Xi'an is named after the first feudal lord

In 1369, after Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, defeated the Yuan army and pacified Shaanxi Province, he renamed Fengyuan Road ("Lu" was an administrative unit in the Yuan Dynasty, similar to the current "city") in the province as Xi'an Prefecture.

"Xi'an" means "settling the northwest". Xi'an Prefecture governed 15 counties including Chang'an and Xianning, with Chang'an County as the prefectural seat. The original Chang'an City was located in Chang'an County and Xi'an Prefecture. From this, we know that it has only been more than 600 years since Xi'an got its name.

Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty reinforced and expanded the imperial city and palace city of the original Tang Chang'an City to create the new Xi'an City, with a circumference of about 14 kilometers. The Xi'an City Wall is the most complete ancient city wall in the world.

The current Xi'an city wall was built by Emperor Taizu of the Ming Dynasty (Source: History Research Society)

Since the administrative level of "fu" is higher than that of "xian", people often confuse "Xi'an" and "Chang'an", or even use "Xi'an" instead of "Chang'an".

In the Ming Dynasty, Xi'an Prefecture governed six prefectures including Huazhou and Shangzhou, and 31 counties including Chang'an County and Xianyang County, which is equivalent to the jurisdiction of five prefecture-level cities today including Xi'an, Shangluo, Weinan, Tongchuan, and Xianyang. The Zhu family vassal king (called "Qin Wang") who was enfeoffed in Xi'an Prefecture was "the longest feudal king" and was known as "the first vassal king in the world."

After the Ming Dynasty, although Chang'an County underwent many administrative changes, it was always just an administrative unit under the jurisdiction of Xi'an Prefecture (City).

Two administrative changes after the founding of the People's Republic of China clarified the status of the two: in 1958, Shaanxi Province transferred Chang'an County to Xi'an City; in 2002, Chang'an County was abolished and divided into districts, but it still belonged to Xi'an City, and it is the Chang'an District that has evolved to this day. Chang'an District is only a part of Xi'an City, with an area of ​​more than 1,500 square kilometers and a permanent population of more than 1 million (2021); Xi'an City is not only an important city in the central and western regions of my country, but also one of the most popular cities for young people, and a Chinese city that foreigners must "check in". The status and importance of the two are self-evident.

Chang'an District is only a part of Xi'an City (Source: Baidu Map)

As the city was built, the walls of Chang'an gradually disappeared, and only the walls of the original Xi'an Prefecture remained. Chang'an and Xi'an eventually merged into one. This is the origin of what most people now believe to be "Chang'an is Xi'an".

It has to be said that although Xi'an City is the "leader" of Chang'an District in terms of region and jurisdiction, Xi'an cannot compare with Chang'an in terms of historical origins and cultural heritage.

This is the real reason why some people now suggest changing the name of Xi'an to "Chang'an City", and it is also one of the reasons why the movie "30,000 Miles in Chang'an" quickly attracted people's attention.

The evolution of Chang'an during the Han, Tang, Ming and Qing dynasties (Source: History Research Society)

References:

1. Paper "Flood and Drought Disasters and Urban Development in Guanzhong Plain in Historical Periods", by Yin Shuyan, Huang Chunchang, Qiu Lihui, "Arid Zone Research", Issue 1, 2007

2. Article "Is Xi'an really renamed from "Chang'an"? ", source: Global Intelligence WeChat account

3. "The Development and Changes of the Ancient Capital Xi'an and Its Relationship with the Transformation of Historical Culture", by Zhu Shiguang and Xiao Ailing, Journal of Shaanxi Normal University, No. 4, 2005

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Author: Wei Deyong, member of Shenzhen Writers Association, Guangdong