Chang'an Avenue and the Modernization of Chinese Architecture

Chapter One: The History of Chang’an Avenue in an Urban Context

13 Chapter One The History of Chang’an Avenue in an Urban Context “Chang’an” means “eternal peace,” or “long peace” in a more literal translation, but the word will immediately remind the Chinese of two of their most powerful dynasties : the Han (202 BCE–220 CE), from which the Chinese ethnic majority acquired its name (Hanren), and the Tang (618–907 CE), from which the overseas Chinese communities derived their collective identity (Tangrenjie).1 Both the Western Han Empire (202 BCE–9 CE) and the Tang Empire had the city of Chang’an (modern day Xi’an) as their capital, and both dynasties represent past golden ages of Chinese political power. Thus the roots of the name Chang’an Avenue stretch far into China’s imperial past. Chang’an Avenue during the Imperial Era “Chang’an” was first used as the name for the major avenue in front of the Imperial City in the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644), during the first fifty-three years of which Nanjing was the national capital. Located on the north bank of the Yangtze River some 1,000 kilometers south of Beijing, Nanjing had served as the imperial capital for many southern regimes before the Ming: Wu (229–80), Eastern Jin (317–420), Song (420–79), Qi (479–502), Liang (502–57), Chen (557–89), and Southern Tang (937–75). None of these regimes unified China. Compared to the powerful and prosperous Han and Tang, with Chang’an as their capital, these dynasties were politically weaker, territorially smaller, and short-lived. When the first Ming emperor, Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu emperor, r. 1368–98), finally chose Nanjing as the main capital of his unified Chinese empire, he was concerned about inauspicious associations with these previous ephemeral dynasties. Therefore the new walled quarters for palaces and central government—also known as the Palace City (Gongcheng) and the Imperial City (Huangcheng), respectively, as later in Beijing—were constructed at the southeast corner of Nanjing to avoid overlapping with the palace sites of former regimes.2 This might also be why the major street in front of the Imperial City was then named Chang’an Avenue, in hopes of a “long peace” and to create auspicious associations with the long-lasting and glorious Han and Tang dynasties. the history of chang’an avenue in an urban context 15 the history of chang’an avenue in an urban context 15 In 1416 the third Ming emperor, Zhu Di (the Yongle emperor), decided to move the capital to Beijing, the site of the previous Yuan dynasty (1271– 1368) capital Dadu (Great Capital). Construction of the new capital started in 1417 and was completed in 1420. Although the new Ming capital partially overlapped with the Yuan Dadu and followed its north-south axis, the layout of Ming Beijing replicated the dynasty’s capital Nanjing, including use of the name Chang’an Avenue for the streets in front of the Imperial City. The Beijing of 1420 had three layers of city walls: the Inner City (Neicheng) with nine gates,3 the Imperial City inside the Inner City with four gates,4 and the Palace or Forbidden City inside the Imperial City with four gates.5 In 1553 walls were constructed to the south of the Inner City to define an Outer City (Waicheng),6 adding a fourth layer of walls with seven gates7 to Ming Beijing. The entire city was dominated by a 7,500-meter-long northsouth axis. Running from Yongding Gate (Gate of Permanent Stability) at the south end of the city to the bell tower in the far north, it lined up not only the main gates of the Outer City, Inner City, Imperial City, and Palace City but also other major imperial monuments.8 This layout persisted for centuries (fig. 1.1). The Manchu rulers of the Qing dynasty, which followed the Ming in 1644, made no major physical changes to the general plan of Ming Beijing or to Chang’an Avenue. Apart from its central location, Chang’an Avenue during the Ming and Qing dynasties was no different from the other major thoroughfares in Beijing. At that time, however, two separate avenues existed, divided by the Imperial Tiananmen Square.9 On the western side of the square, from West Three-Arch Gate (Xisanzuomen ) to Xidan (named after Xidanpailou, West Single Memorial Archway) lay the historic West Chang’an Avenue. On the eastern side...