China News Service, Beijing, February 8 (Xinhua) Taiwan's "Economic Daily" recently published a report introducing Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province, tracing the long history of Taiyuan City.
Taiyuan ancient county. Image source: Taiwan's "Economic Daily"
According to reports, the ancient city of Jinyang was built in the late Spring and Autumn Period and destroyed in the early Song Dynasty. It was an important political, economic and military town in northern China in ancient times. Its ruins are located within the jurisdiction of Jinyuan Town, Jinyuan District, Taiyuan City today.
The name of Taiyuan first appeared in "Zuo Zhuan: Year of Zhaogong". Tai Ni surrendered to the Black Dragon of Fenhe River. The flood receded and flat land was exposed. People named this fertile wilderness "Taiyuan". After a long time, this "dragon" land A city gradually formed, so Taiyuan became known as "Dragon City".
In the first year of Lu Zhaogong (the seventeenth year of Jin Pinggong), Xun Wu of Jin State led his troops to successfully conquer the north, and the Taiyuan area began to enter the territory of Jin State. In the fifteenth year of Duke Dinggong of Jin Dynasty, Dong Anyu, a retainer of Zhao Yang, the minister of Jin Dynasty, built the city of Jinyang in the north of Jinshui River. It was impregnable and could be attacked when advancing and defended when retreating. The ancient city of Jinyang was the capital of Zhao State in the early Warring States Period.
During the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan and his son raised troops from Taiyuan. When they established their capital in Chang'an, they took "Tang" as their country name because Jinyang was called "Tang State" in ancient times. In the early Tang Dynasty, several emperors expanded Jinyang City several times, and Jinyang City was called the "Three Capitals" and "Three Capitals" together with the capital Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang. In the first year of Tianshou, the northern capital was set up in Jinyang, which still served as the governor's office; in the first year of Shenlong, the northern capital was dismissed; in the eleventh year of Kaiyuan, the northern capital was set up again. At this point, Taiyuan City reached the largest scale in history, consisting of three connected central, east and west cities. It had 24 city gates and a city wall of three feet and five feet high, which was higher than Chang'an City. In the early Ming Dynasty, the county seat was rebuilt on the ruins of the ancient city of Jinyang, which is the ancient county seat of Taiyuan.
Taiyuan Museum. Image source: Taiwan's "Economic Daily"
As the capital of three dynasties and the capital of five dynasties, Taiyuan is rich in cultural resources. There are about 200,000 above-ground and underground historical relics and unearthed cultural relics, including more than 20 types of pottery, bronzes, porcelain, calligraphy and painting, etc. The Taiyuan Museum is surrounded by the Fen River in front and an inland river in the back, showing the rise of Taiyuan City and the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. The museum's architecture is inspired by Chinese red lanterns. The main building is five elliptical inverted cones, with red and bronze as the main colors of the exterior walls. (over)