Luoyang

Luoyang ( Chinese 洛陽市 / 洛阳市 , Pinyin Luòyáng Shì ) is a district-free city in the Chinese province of Henan . It is one of the four great ancient capitals of China , which exercised the capital function under several dynasties . Today it has developed into an important industrial city. It is located about 110 kilometers west of the provincial capital Zhengzhou on the southern Luo He . The administrative area of the city has an area of 15,492 km² and around 6.55 million inhabitants (2010). 1.6 million people live in the actual urban settlement area of Luoyang (2010 census).

Administrative structure

At the county level, Luoyang is made up of six urban districts , eight counties and one urban district. These are:

Xigong district ( 西工区 ), 56 km², 340,000 inhabitants, center, seat of the city government;
Laocheng district ( 老城区 - "Old Town"), 57 km², 130,000 inhabitants;
District Chanhe Hui District of Hui ( 瀍河回族区 - "Muslim quarter"), 29 km², 170,000 inhabitants;
Jianxi District ( 涧西区 ), 89 km², 450,000 inhabitants;
Jili District ( 吉利区 ), 80 km², 70,000 inhabitants;
Luolong District ( 洛龙区 ), 243 km², 330,000 inhabitants;
County Mengjin ( 孟津县 ), 759 square kilometers, 440,000 inhabitants,
Xin'an County ( 新安县 ), 1,160 km², 490,000 inhabitants,
District Luanchuan ( 栾川县 ) km² 2478, 320,000 inhabitants,
Song County ( 嵩县 ), 3,009 km², 520,000 inhabitants,
Ruyang County ( 汝阳县 ), 1,325 km², 430,000 inhabitants,
Yiyang County ( 宜阳县 ), 1,666 km², 670,000 inhabitants,
Circle Luoning ( 洛宁县 ), km² 2350, 450,000 inhabitants,
District Yichuan ( 伊川县 ), km² 1243, 750,000 inhabitants,
City of Yanshi ( 偃师市 ), 948 km², 830,000 inhabitants.

history

Satellite photo of Luoyang

The modern Luoyang

Luoyang is located in the central plains of China, which was already densely populated during the Neolithic period (about 7,000 years ago). This is shown by finds that were found in the course of irrigation work in the 1950s.

The city was originally owned by Zhougong (周公) in the 11th century BC. And was then called Chengzhou (成周). It is said that Confucius studied in Luoyang and Laozi also worked there.

Around 770 BC The city became the capital of the Zhou dynasty . In 510 BC It was destroyed in a civil war, but rebuilt the following year by order of the king.

In 25 AD, Luoyang became the capital of the Han Dynasty . Later, the Wei Dynasty and the Jin Dynasty also had their centers in Luoyang. Luoyang was the center of China for seven centuries. In 68, the first Buddhist temple in China was founded in Luoyang . This temple can still be found today, but mostly in the architecture of the 16th century .

The city also had a large imperial school with 30,000 students studying. Cai Lun also invented paper in Luoyang , and the astronomer Zhang Hen also worked in Luoyang. After the fall of the Han Dynasty, Zuo Si wrote the poem The Three Capitals , which is known to this day.

In 190, Luoyang was burned down by Dong Zhuo as part of the internal power struggles of the late Han dynasty . In 311 the city was conquered and plundered by the Xiongnu under Liu Cong , about which a Sogdian trader named Nanai-Vandak reported in a received letter .

“Lord, the last emperor, as they say, fled Saragh (Luoyang) from the famine. Its fortified residence and fortified city were turned over to the fire. The residence burned down and the city was destroyed. Since then, Saragh is no more, and Ngapa is no more. Furthermore, the emperor was made a prisoner and taken into captivity by the Huns (Xiongnu). "

In 493, the Northern Wei Dynasty moved their capital from Datong to Luoyang. At the same time, the Longmen caves began to be digged. More than 30,000 Buddhist images from the Wei period have been found there. At that time, Luoyang is said to have had a population of half a million people. It rose to become one of the most important trading centers in Asia. But as early as 534 the Wei emperors gave up Luoyang and forced the residents to move with them to Ye ; the city fell apart.

The Sui dynasty in turn chose Luoyang as the capital of their empire. The city was rebuilt in a very short time and then supposedly had at least 500,000 inhabitants. In 1971 a granary was found that could protect 250,000 tons of grain from moisture and vermin.

The Tang Dynasty moved their capital to Chang'an , today's Xi'an . With this began the descent to a normal Chinese city, which intensified with the sinking of the Tang.

economy

China Molybdenum , one of the largest raw material producers in the world, has its headquarters there.

Attractions

Entrance to the Temple of the White Horse

The newly built Dingding Gate with a piece of the reconstructed city wall

The city of Luoyang itself is an industrial city, but the remaining parts of the old town are currently being restored. The monumental, newly built city museum, in which numerous finds from different epochs are exhibited, is worth seeing.

The Dingdingmen is an old city gate that was reconstructed around the turn of the millennium together with a section of the former city wall as a museum hall around the historical foundations. It was recognized by UNESCO as part of the “Silk Road” world heritage site, along with the archaeological sites of the Hanguguan Pass and the ruins of the capital of the Han and Wei.

The Longmen Grotto , translated as Dragon Gate Grotto , is located on the Yi River, and is 13 kilometers south of the ancient capital Luoyang. The grotto is one of the four most famous Buddhist grottoes in China, the other three are the Mogao Grotto in Dunhuang, the Yungang Grotto in Datong, and theumi Grotto in Chongqing. The grotto is located in the valley of the Yi River between Scent Mountain ( Xiangshan ) and Dragon Gate Mountain (Longmenshan). The construction of the grotto began in the Northern Wei Dynasty and lasted about 400 years. There are a total of 2,345 niches, over 100,000 statues of Buddha and more than 2,800 inscriptions. The largest statue is the 17.14 meter high Buddha Vairocana, the smallest micro-engraved Buddha figure is only 2 centimeters high. The caves were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2000 .

There is also Guanlin , an ensemble of temples built in honor of a hero from the Three Kingdoms , Guan Yu .

The temple of the white horse is an important sight . It was built in 68 AD and renovated in the Ming and Qing dynasties , as well as in 1950 and 1973. The temple complex is the oldest Buddhist temple in China. It is dedicated to the white horse, which two Indian monks and the Buddhist scriptures carried to China. The monks are known by name as Matanga and Gobharana and accepted an invitation from the emperor Mingdi ( Eastern Han dynasty ) to the then capital Luoyang.

The graves museum is probably a unique attraction in the world. Graves found in the Luoyang area have been rebuilt along long underground passages. In this way one gains an impressive overview of the burial culture of China over the course of several dynasties.

Culture

The official symbol of Luoyang is the peony , which has since been cultivated here and is China's national flower. To commemorate this tradition, the annual Peony Festival takes place here from April 1st to May 10th. Numerous parks in Luoyang offer garden shows on this topic during this time, such as the Luoyang Peony Park, the Botanical Garden or the Wangsheng Park.

The asteroid (239200) 2006 MD13 is named after Luoyang.

The Luoyang dialect is predominantly spoken in Luoyang. It differs greatly from Standard Mandarin in its emphasis, although it also comes from Zhongyuan Mandarin.

The tradition of the water banquet is a culinary specialty.

Town twinning

Japan Okayama , Japan , since 1981
France Tours , France , since 1982
Japan Sukagawa , Japan , since 1993
Bulgaria Plovdiv , Bulgaria , since 1994
United States La Crosse , United States , since 1997
Russia Togliatti , Russia , since 2000
Japan Kashihara , Japan , since 2006
Spain Alcalá de Henares , Spain , since 2010

sons and daughters of the town

Yuan Shao (154-202), warlord
Song Taizu (927–976), Emperor of China, founder of the Song Dynasty
George Lindbeck (1923–2018), American Lutheran theologian and professor at Yale University
Xiu Xiu (* 1987), modern pentathlete
Wang Jianan (born 1993), soccer player

Web links

Commons : Luoyang - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Henan (China): Prefecture Level, Cities & Counties - Population Statistics, Maps, Graphics, Weather and Web Information. Retrieved January 18, 2018 .
↑ See the description in Rafe de Crespigny : Fire over Luoyang. A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23-220 AD. Leiden / Boston 2016.
^ Rafe de Crespigny: Fire over Luoyang. A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23-220 AD. Leiden / Boston 2016, p. 456ff.
↑ A full English translation of the letter can be found in Valerie Hansen: The Silk Road. A history with documents. Oxford 2016, pp. 227-229. See also Étienne de La Vaissière : Sogdian Traders. A history. Leiden 2005, p. 43 ff.
^ Burchard Brentjes: Central Asia. A cultural history of the peoples between the Caspian Sea and Tien Shan. Leipzig 1977, p. 62.
↑ UNESCO World Heritage Center: Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor. Retrieved April 18, 2018 .
↑ UNESCO World Heritage Center: Longmen Grottoes. Accessed April 14, 2018 .