Research Of The Location And Morphology Of Wandu Mountain City

Koguryo,founded in the period of the Western Han Dynasty in the year 37 BC,lasted 705 years as an ethnic local regime in Northeast China and collapsed in the year 668 AD during the Tang Dynasty.Since the founding of the kingdom,Koguryo had been adopting the model of "one capital,two cities",a very unique morphology of building a plain city and a mountain city for one time.The subject of the research is Wandu mountain city located in Ji'an City,Jilin Province,China,which was built as the mountain capital city in the middle period of Koguryo,just opposite to the plain capital city named Guonei City.The author has collected a large quantity of archaeological research material.Through literature review and on-the-spot investigation,the research into the location characteristics of Wandu Mountain City has been done from Koguryo's political,military,cultural and natural environmental respects.With the analysis of the political contradictions between Koguryo and the Central Plains dynasty as well as its surrounding ethnics,self-development strategic objectives and the influencing factors of relocating the capital,the basis for the location of Wandu Mountain City has been studied from both the macro and micro levels.This paper has also had an analysis of the morphology of Wandu Mountain City from the perspective of urban functions.After much field research,the author discovered quite a few defense facilities of the mountain city as well as a garrison residence,which have not been mentioned by previous scholars.As for the number of the city gates,the author has a different viewpoint from the predecessors,which has been recognized by the local archaeological authorities in Ji'an.Based on these new discoveries and the existing ruins,the author believes that Wandu Mountain City was very likely to have been used by the king of Koguryo,unlike Hesheng City or Shanchengzi Mountain City owning the function of settling ordinary residents.This paper has carried out the research into the location and morphology of Wandu Mountain City from the perspective of urban planning.It has not only enriched and supplemented the range of the research archaeologically,but also analyzed the mountain city's location characteristics and construction skills in the glorious mid-term development period of Koguryo.Questions are raised and suggestions are given to the archaeologists,and comparatively rich research data are provided for the construction of the Koguryo 's capital and the further study of Koguryo's history in the period of mid-term development.