Influence Of Environmental Change And Disasters On The Dislocations Of Capital Cities In The Middle Reaches Of The Yellow River In History

The Central Plain Area lying in the middle and lower reaches of theYellow River is the origin of Chinese culture. During the unified dynasties in historicalperiod of China, Western Zhou dynasty, Qin dynasty, Western Han dynasty, Xin-Mangdynasty, Eastern Han dynasty, Western Jin dynasty, Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty hadchoosen Chang'an area in Guan Zhong Basin as the capital; Xia dynasty, Shang dynasty,stern Zhou dynasty, Eastern Han dynasty, Western Han dynasty and Tang dynasty hadfounded capital in Luo Yang Basin; also Northern Song dynasty and Jin dynasty hadfounded capital in Kaifeng plains. It is concluded that the capital site relocated severaltimes between Chang'an and Luoyang-Kaifeng areas.The location, construction and migration development of capital site should bebased on the environment and resources. The ancient capital site of our countrymigrated constantly in the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and then moved to theplain of the lower reaches of the Changjiang River. Environmental variance anddisasters is one of the crucial motives during the migration process. When researchingthe reasons for establishing and moving capital, people always focus on the humanisticand social factors. From the views of climatic, hydrological, environmental change andnatural disasters, this paper analyses the possible influence of environmental change ondisloction between Changan and Luoyang-Kaifeng areas.According-to analyzing statistics of the flood and drought disasters, and discussingthe environmental and resources condition of the ancient capital site, this thesis revealsthe influence of environmental changes and natural disasters on the dislocations ofcapital cities in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. This plays an importantscientific significance on recognizing the development of ancient capital's constructionand urbanization in the future.The results are as follows:(一) The climate change of Chang'an, Luoyang and Kaifeng area were cocurrentwith the country and even the whole world. The change patterns were coherent: thebeginning of the Helocene was cold, the Holocene Megathermal was warm and moist. 3100a B.R was the bound of the mid-helocene and the late-helocene. It has been anotherrelative aridity period since 3100 years. In millennial-Scale the climate cold and drydoesn't change,but fluctuated in century-scale.(二) According to the historical record, the paper analyzes the characteristics ofthe drought and flood disasters in temporal and spatial distribution.1. The frequency of the drought and flood disasters fluctuated in time-scalebecause of the climate change. There were more flood hazards in Luoyang area inEastern Han dynasty, Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty, and more drought and flooddisasters in Kaifeng area in Northern Song dynasty. The times of the flood hazardshappened in Luoyang area were greatly more than Chang'an's, while the droughthazards were greatly less than Chang'an's, and Luoyang area was more moist thanChang'an area.2. According to the statistics, although the Yellow River has entered the delugingperiod since the late Tang dynasty, and the trend of the deluging-scale graduallylargened, most busrt happened in northern and western area of Hebei, Shandong andHenan province. But the burst seldom directly threatened Kaifeng.(三) Through observing the capital site of the the Zhou dynasty, Han dynasty, Suidynasty, Tang dynasty and Northern Song dynasty, the paper studies the dislocation rulefrom the macroscopic and microscopic view.1. From the macroscopic view, the capital sites were always located in Chang'anarea with less flood disasters when the climate was moist. Contrarily the capital siteswere founded in Luoyang and Kaifeng areas when dry.2. The detailed positions of the capital in Chang'an, Luoyang and Kaifeng werealso changed. In Chang'an, the site moved from the south to the north bank of theWeihe River, also from the first to the second and third terrace; in Luoyang, the sitemoved the eastern to the western, and the early townsite scope was only limited in thehigh land along the north bank of the Luo River. At the same historic stage, it wentacross Luo River to enlarge townsite area.(四) The reasons of the dislocations of the capital site are as follows:1. Natural factors including landform, water system, land, climate, disaster, etc. aresignificant to found capital. The good environment and resource conditons boosteconomy and society development of the capital, while the bad conditions aredisadvantageous to the capital. Especially the flood disaster can destroy the urban facilities directly, and bring tremendous economic loss to the country and people's lifesafety.2. The ancient capital site of our country migrated constantly in the middle reachesof the Yellow River, and then moved to the plain of the lower reaches of the ChangjiangRiver. Besides the political and military factors, environment and resource conditonsand their changes were also the important driving fators.3. During the migration process, political and military problems or nationalcontradictions were the driving factors seemingly; in fact, the environmental change andresources conditions were the fundamental factors. In period, environmental change anddisasters has a great influence on the location, construction and migration developmentof capital site.