The Research Of The Martial-defensive Settlements In The Region To The North Of The Yanmen Pass On Ming Dynasty In Shanxi Province

The region to the north of the Yanmen Pass, Shanxi Province, was themajor military defense area under the jurisdiction of Shanxi Dusi, Xing Dusi.During the Ming dynasty, based on the system of Wei Suo (military areas atprovincial, regional and county level), the defensive settlement was mainlymade up of military castles, affiliated defense works and architectural facilities.The building also took into account of local natural environment, architecturalfeatures, history and culture. The development of the settlement therefore bearsindelible military and political imprint over the years.Among the nine defensive areas along the Great Wall, the region to thenorth of Yanmen Pass overshadowed the others with its complicated naturalconditions and strategic position which helped to form deep and multi-layerdefense system. The region's rich history of military defense and relativelycontinuous development will be helpful to our overall understanding of thecommon characteristics of the defensive settlements in ancient North China.This thesis gives a detailed account of the content, rules and historicaldevelopment of the Wei Suo system of the Ming Dynasty and attempts toreveal the guiding building concept and hence the planning and buildingformula for an ideal city. The author analyzes the military-activity-centeredeconomic development of Ming and Qing Dynasties, the characteristicresources flow brought about by across-the-border trades, their relations withthe settlement development and impacts on architecture and culture. The authortries to present a complete picture of the establishment, development anddecline of the entire defense system as well as the building, improvement, thetransformation of functions and nature of the city so as to find out the hiddenlaw.While comparing the defensive settlement to the north of Yanbei Pass withthat of the central and southern part of Shanxi Province, the author analyses theproblems existing in the protection, inheritance and development of thetraditional settlements, the relevant subjective and objective factors so as tofind a way to best develop and protect them and provide historical evidencesfor the sustainable development of the economy, resources and culture of thesettlement. The author attempts to retrieve the city and its architectural layoutin the old days from the limited relics and literatures available and portray thesplendor of the settlement in its prime time.