Archaeological Discovery and Research into the Layout of the Palaces and Ancestral Shrines of Han Dynasty Chang'an –A Comparative Essay on the Capital Cities of Ancient Chinese Kingdoms and Empires

Abstract

The principal function of the ancient Chinese royal capital city was political. From the perspective of archaeology, the physical manifestation of this is primarily revealed through palace buildings and ancestral shrines. Chang’an was the capital city of the Western Han Empire. After extensive excavation and research into the sites of palatial structures and ancestral shrines of Han Dynasty Chang’an city, it is clear that the two are distinct in form. Also, comparative research into the layout of the palaces and ancestral shrines of Han Chang’an that have undergone excavation beside those palaces and shrines of the capital cities of the kingdoms of the pre-Qin era also reveals that the two architectural forms have clear differences. The difference in architectural form between palaces and ancestral shrines reflects the difference in function they performed, between rule through territorial authority and rule through kinship. From the side-by-side placement of palaces and ancestral shrines within the royal precincts of capital cities of the kingdom era (the pre-Qin period), to the separate placement of palaces and shrines in the capital cities of the imperial era (Qin-Han to Ming-Qing periods), as well as in the formation of the system centered on the royal palace, whereby the “ancestors occupy the left, while the altar of soil occupies the right,” the difference in the layout of palaces and ancestral shrines in the capital cities of the kingdom era and those of the imperial era clearly explains how the palace, which represents rule by territorial authority, and the ancestral shrine, which represents rule by kinship, wax and wane in the strength of their social function with the development of society and the change in societal configuration. Archaeological discovery and research into the architectural sites of palaces and ancestral shrines of Han Chang’an city reveals that the kingdom era of ancient Chinese society was a time for the integration of rule through kinship and rule through territorial authority, while from the Qin-Han period to the Ming-Qing era was a time of centralized imperial power, where rule by territorial authority was primary, and rule through kinship was secondary.