Planning With Heaven And Earth:research On The Planning Theory And Method Of Capital Cities In Qin And Western Han Dynasties

Holism and correlative thinking are two major characters of ancient Chinese culture. Reflected in capital city planning area, it is called “planning with heaven and earth”. Historical documents and archaeological researches show that the theory of “planning with heaven and earth” holds a very important position in traditional Chinese capital city planning. However, it has been neglected due to the lack of systematic research and empirical case study.This paper focuses on the theory and method of “planning with heaven and earth” of the capital cities in Qin and Western Han dynasties. Firstly, the paper uses GIS to rebuild the geographical environments around the cities in history, which helps to determine the locations of major palaces and planning patterns of Xianyang and Chang’an. Secondly, the paper summarizes five key elements of the theory of “planning with heaven and earth”, which are “center”, “axis”, "schema", "beginning" and "height". Thirdly, the paper analyzes the differences of sky and calendar between Qin and Western Han, and uses Stellarium to restore the two star maps. Finally, by combining the results of sky maps and planning patterns, the paper concludes that the “planning with heaven and earth” of Xianyang and Chang’an fits the abovementioned five elements and develops a series of methods to maintain the purpose.To sum up, the planning of Xianyang and Chang’an in imperial China reflects the traditional ideology, which emphasizes the connection of stars and landscape, and the relation to the calendar.Under the guidance of such ideology, the ancient Chinese successfully organized the time and the space in the process of capital city planning. It gradually became a tradition of human settlements to plan with the heaven and earth. This planning theory and method of pursuing the order of space, could be a positive inspiration to today’s construction of human settlements.