A Study Of Architectural Regulations Of Capital And Vassal Cities In Shang Dynasty

The city is an important factor in the origin of the country and civilization.Shang Dynasty,as the important developmental stage of the capital and vassal cities' civilization in pre-Qin Dynasty,is one of the most important academic branches for researchers.Since the cities emerged in the midst of the Neolithic period,after the development of Xia Dynasty,the capital and the vassal cities' architectural regulations has been quite complete,which laid down the foundation for the Western Zhou Dynasty's strict construction concept.This paper analyzes the characteristics of the location,shape,scale and layout of several city sites which belong to the Shang Dynasty in the archaeological discoveries,and want to prove the characteristics of the regulation of the Shang Dynasty capital and vassal cities differences and the elements which influence the people's architectural planning such as the politic,economic and ideological.In this paper,the comparative analysis of the location,shape,scale and layout of the capital and vassal city sites in Shang Dynasty shows that the natural factors' influence for the construction concept such as terrain have reduced in Shang dynasty,and the politic,economic and ideological have increased at the same time.In the site selection,the ideology of founded the capital in the central part and the orientations of the merchant worship are all affected the capital sites' selection of the Shang Dynasty.First of all,the emperor in Shang Dynasty moved the capital from Yanshi to Zhengzhou because of the ideology of founded the capital in the central part.When the capital founded in the Zhengzhou,the act of succession was in disorder for nine generations in Shang Dynasty,and during this period,the northern tribal invaded Anyang again.The capital moved from Zhengzhou to Anyang not only because the emperor in Shang Dynasty must be resists the northern tribes,and more importantly,Anyang located in the northeast in Shang Dynasty.This location phenomenon looks like the layout of the capital palace building.That means the people had the orientation worship in Shang Dynasty or the concept of orientation had existed.And this awareness affects the people's mind of the city sites and layout.In the cities' form,the characteristics of the square ancient Chinese city system have been developed and perfected in this period,and this process of development and perfection is the result of the common effect of the development and grade of the Shang Dynasty.The ancients theory ”the square earth and spherical heaven ” of the worldview of the city formed the original round city system,because a round building is a place where connect with the god and accept the gods will.In the late Neolithic period,the rounded square shape started to appear in the castle construction,and in Xia Dynasty,the castles' were founded with rectangular form.In Shang Dynasty,the castles' construction formed the square shape system because of the imperial power strengthened.The capital city and vassal city sites in Shang Dynasty have more difference in the location,shape,scale and layout.For example,the vassal city was founded to highlight the function of military defense firstly.This circumstance reflected the relationship between the central part and local part such as the contact,mutual economic exchanges and influence between them.The difference between the capital and the vassal city in Shang Dynasty is the result of the common effect of the political system,the economic development and the people's ideology.It conforms to the needs of the development of the ancient Chinese feudal hierarchy system,and provides a blueprint for the later construction theory in the ancient time.