Research On The Historical Geography Of Datong City

Datong is located in the north of Shanxi Plateau and the center of Datong Basin.It is known as "the key of the north" because it guards the throat of Shanxi,Hebei and Inner Mongolia.Since ancient times,it has been the important place for the nomads in the north and the farming people in the Central Plains.Datong is one of the first batch of famous historical and cultural cities approved by the State Council.Before the Qing Dynasty,the long history of urban development has been evolving under the alternate rule of the Han ethnic group and the minority regime,with distinct characteristics of ethnic integration.Datong’s urban development history is a typical example of the northern frontier cities in China.From a long-term perspective,this paper analyzes the geographical elements of Datong,such as the geographical environment,the shape of the city,the internal spatial layout and so on,clearly grasps the historical context of Datong’s urban development,combs the change process of Datong’s historical geographical elements and its impact on the urban development,and sums up the history of Datong The development law of Datong urban geography is of great significance to expand the research field of urban historical geography and provide theoretical support for the development of Datong City.This paper is divided into five parts.The first four parts mainly take the time series of the development of Datong City as the context to present the spatial characteristics of Datong City Geography in each period.The fifth part is to analyze the spatial evolution characteristics of Datong City from the perspective of internal construction elements.The first part is the historical and geographical basis of the rise of Datong City.The climate and soil conditions of Datong basin not only meet the requirements of farming economy,but also meet the needs of nomadic economy,which makes it an intertwined zone of farming civilization and nomadic civilization.Datong is located at the entrance of the long and narrow Datong Basin.Its flat terrain,abundant water resources and surrounded by mountains make it an important city connecting the northern nomadic areas and the Central Plains agricultural areas.With the emergence of the unified state of Qin Dynasty,the struggle between the northern nomads and the Central Plains regime around the farming pastoral ecotone of Datong Basin began to appear,and the military status of Pingcheng in Qin and Han Dynasties was rising in the strengthening and construction of the frontier defense system.The second part is the construction and layout of Pingcheng in the Northern Wei Dynasty.Pingcheng,the capital of the Northern Wei Dynasty,has a lot to do with its historical and geographical advantages.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty,due to the changes in the border situation,a large number of northern nomads moved to the south.The Tuoba Xianbei ethnic group took the opportunity to rise and establish the northern Wei regime.After many considerations,they moved the capital to Pingcheng.Pingcheng has entered an unprecedented construction period.On the basis of Pingcheng in Han Dynasty,Pingcheng in the Northern Wei Dynasty gradually built a three-layer city wall form of palace city,outer city and Guocheng city.The palace construction,ritual architecture,suburban royal gardens and other landscapes in the city were gradually improved.At the same time,in order to orderly manage the huge and complex urban population,the inner square structure separated by streets was set up in the outer city.Pingcheng in the Northern Wei Dynasty became a characteristic minority capital with magnificent shape,orderly layout,perfect functions,prosperous culture and strong economy.The third part is the reconstruction and layout of Datong City from Tang Dynasty to Yuan Dynasty.The uprising of six towns in the Northern Wei Dynasty caused serious damage to Pingcheng.During this period,the administrative structure of Pingcheng changed frequently.It was not until the restoration of Yunzhou in Datong in the Tang Dynasty that Pingcheng was stable.Yunzhou city is a northern military town rebuilt on the basis of the outer city of Pingcheng.The layout of the city has not changed greatly,and the structure of Lifang still plays a role in controlling the residents.Datong was ceded to Khitan at the end of Tang Dynasty and later Jin Dynasty.Before the establishment of Ming Dynasty,it was occupied by ethnic minorities.Liao,Jin and Yuan Dynasty,as the northern minority regime,knew the important strategic position of Datong in the south to the Central Plains.Therefore,Liao and Jin Dynasties set Datong as the auxiliary capital of Xijing,and Yuan Dynasty set up Datong Road.All three dynasties gave full play to the strategic military position of Datong in border defense and important rear areas.Similarly,the construction of the city wall highlights its military defensive function,and the internal layout of the city continues to use the Lifang street layout,while actively learning from the Han culture to promote ethnic integration.During the Liao,Jin and Yuan Dynasties,there was a landmark breakthrough in the urban management system.The government office pattern of "one government with two counties" and the special urban management system were established,which took the first step of the specialization of urban management and the separation of urban and rural management in the traditional period.The fourth part is the urban spatial pattern of Datong in Ming and Qing Dynasties.In order to defend against the counterattack of the Mongolian forces,the Ming Dynasty constantly strengthened the defense construction in Northern Xinjiang and established a nine side system including Datong Town,which further highlighted the characteristics of the military defense landscape of the city.Datong City in the Ming Dynasty was built with bricks on the basis of the southern half of the Earth City in the Liao and Jin Dynasties,and small cities were built on three sides to strengthen the city defense,showing the plane pattern of phoenix spreading its wings,forming the basic shape of Datong City in the Ming and Qing dynasties.Daiwangfu is the palace of Ming Dynasty vassal in Datong,which formed a double wall structure with Datong City in Ming Dynasty and was destroyed in late Ming and early Qing Dynasty.In the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the spatial layout of Datong City maintained the traditional pattern of "Beigong Nanshi",and the streets still followed the chessboard layout of the previous dynasties,while the belief spatial pattern of Millennium precipitation was basically fixed in the urban space,and showed the inclusive characteristics.The fifth part,Datong City internal space building elements research-Shanhua temple,Huayan Temple,mosque as an example.Today,Shanhua temple,Huayan Temple and mosque in Datong City are basically well preserved,which are the material remains of different historical periods.Shanhua temple was built in the Tang Dynasty,and its site has not changed since then.The scale of Shanhua temple was further expanded by reconstruction in the Liao Dynasty.It was rebuilt again after being destroyed by war in the late Liao Dynasty and the early Jin Dynasty.It basically maintained the regular layout since the Tang Dynasty and the architectural style of the Liao and Jin Dynasties,and continued the tradition of burying the temple in Pingcheng in the Northern Wei Dynasty.The scope of the temple in the Ming and Qing Dynasties gradually narrowed.Huayan Temple was first built in the Tang Dynasty.The royal family of Liao Dynasty expanded the old temple relic Pagoda in Datong City,which is a typical style of ethnic minorities’construction.In Jin Dynasty,Huayan Temple was rebuilt many times on the basis of the destroyed Huayan Temple at the end of Liao Dynasty.In the Yuan Dynasty,the affiliated buildings of Huayan Temple were expanded on the basis of Liao and Jin Dynasties to manage the temple economy.In the Ming Dynasty,there was a shortage of land in the urban area of Datong,and the scope of the temple began to be divided into upper temple and lower temple.In the Qing Dynasty,the layout of the temple followed that of the Ming Dynasty.The mosque was built at least in the Yuan Dynasty,and rebuilt in the Ming Dynasty on the basis of it.The Muslim dignitaries,with the Ma family as the core,built many times,and gradually built a mosque combining the Arabic form with Chinese traditional elements.The basic form of the Qing Dynasty still followed the Ming system.Through the analysis of the temple form,layout characteristics and change process,it highlights the characteristics of the frontier military city of multi-ethnic integration and cultural exchanges in Datong City.Through the analysis of the urban change process of Datong,it is found that it presents some historical and geographical characteristics,such as the urban spatial development form centered on the "outer city" of Pingcheng in the Northern Wei Dynasty,the functional city setting with the "military town" as the main line,the urban street layout based on the "Lifang structure",and the urban resident structure with the style of pluralistic integration."Ethnic relations" is the macro political factor affecting the development of Datong City,"one belt and one place" is the medium geographical factor determining the functional orientation of Datong City,"border town" is the micro military factor casting the pattern of Datong City construction.