Chapter 12 conclusion

An ancient capital is a piece of history, a microcosm of the social conditions of the past, and a long and splendid picture scroll reflecting the achievements of ancient economy, science, and culture.The urban layout of the capital, palaces, temples, neighborhoods, gardens, tombs, and sculptures are all the crystallization of the hard work and wisdom of the ancient Chinese people.Chang'an and Luoyang in the Han and Tang Dynasties, Kaifeng in the Northern Song Dynasty, Lin'an in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Beijing in the Yuan Dynasty were all cities with the largest population, the most developed economy and culture, and the most beautiful urban architecture in the world at that time.There are so many splendid and magnificent ancient capitals in our country, which are indeed worthy of our pride.

With the change of time, many famous ancient capitals in the past have been reduced to ruins, become farmland, or obliterated by weeds.Less than a few years after the fall of the Shang Dynasty, the capital of Shang has become a land of wheat and millet.Cao Wei, which played an important role in the history of the development of ancient Chinese capitals, Yecheng, the capital of the Sixteen Kingdoms, Northern Dynasties and Five Dynasties, Tongwan City, the impregnable capital of the Sixteen Kingdoms period, and the magnificent capital of Mongolia and Linhe. The capital city has been reduced to ruins.

It is gratifying that after all, there are still many ancient capitals that have survived the difficult process of reconstruction and reconstruction many times, and some have developed into important metropolises in our country today.The seven ancient capitals of our country, except Anyang, were all developed on the ruins of the old capitals.Among them, Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Changsha, Yinchuan, Chengdu, Lhasa, Taiyuan, and Shenyang are the capitals of provinces and autonomous regions.These thousand-year-old cities are glowing with new vitality today.There are also some ancient capitals, although they survived, they have declined due to various reasons. Today, they are just ordinary towns, and some are just small villages with few people.Jiangling, Hubei was the capital of the great state of Chu during the Warring States period, but today it is just an ordinary county.Longquanfu, the capital of the Bohai Kingdom in the east of the sea, and Linhuangfu, the capital of the Liao Dynasty, which ruled the roost in northern China, are just inconspicuous small towns today.Despite this, we cannot erase their glorious history as the capital of a larger regional regime because of subsequent changes.

When Li Bai climbed the hill in present-day Nanjing to search for the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, he saw ruins and weeds overgrown.In fact, not only the ancient capitals of the Six Dynasties, but also all other ancient capitals.Even though the ancient capital still exists today, after the destruction of war, natural disasters and human factors, there are few historical sites that really exist today, and it is difficult to see the whole picture of the former capital. Taking the ancient capital Beijing as an example, it has only been more than 80 years since the 1911 Revolution ousted the Qing emperor from power, and it has transformed from a quaint feudal capital into a vibrant modern metropolis.Due to the development of modern industry, commerce and transportation, the imperial city walls began to be demolished in the early years of the Republic of China, and most of them had been demolished by 1923.After the Republic of China, the demolition of individual city towers and urns, and the construction of opening gaps and opening new city gates were also carried out one after another.In the few years after 1956, the old city walls of Beijing were completely demolished, completely changing the ancient pattern of Beijing.In addition, Beijing's Tiananmen Square and the city's transportation system have also been transformed.Today, the appearance of the old city of Beijing has largely changed, leaving only some ancient buildings, ancient gardens and ancient tombs, as well as some ancient ruined walls, which remind people of its past.

If Beijing, the last ancient capital of China, is like this, other ancient capitals can be imagined.In fact, it is impossible to find an ancient capital that preserves its former features relatively completely. The times are advancing, and the ancient capital is developing. It is a historical necessity to transform the closed, strict and lifeless feudal imperial capital into a modern city full of vitality and convenient for production and life.In a sense, the first step in building a new world can only be to destroy the old world first, so building a new city on the basis of the old city will inevitably hurt the old pattern.However, once the ancient capital is the crystallization of history and culture, once the cultural relics of the past are gone, it is undoubtedly very difficult to get a glimpse of its past appearance.Even if the past situation can be verified through the study of historical documents and archaeological excavations, it is, after all, paperless, lacking in imagery, and something with subjective imagination.Therefore, it is of certain significance to protect the ancient capital, protect cultural relics, and reduce the degree of damage to it.

The ancient capital and its cultural relics and historic sites are the product of the industrious and wisdom of the ancient working people, and the essence of the ancient culture that remains to this day.It belongs to the ancients, to us, and to our descendants.How to transform the ancient capital, protect the ancient capital, and make the modern city live in harmony with the ancient cultural relics in urban construction has been placed in front of every city where the ancient capital is located.In the process of modernization, protecting the ancient capital and making it regain its original glory on the basis of the previous generation has also become a problem that the city where the ancient capital is located is seriously considering and solving.

The tourism resources of the ancient capital of our country have been increasingly valued and developed.Beijing, Hangzhou, Xi'an, Nanjing, Suzhou, Luoyang and other ancient capitals have become tourist hotspots due to their long history, elegant and solemn ancient buildings, and charming natural and cultural landscapes that have been carefully crafted in the past dynasties.Some remote ancient capitals or ruins of ancient capitals, such as the ancient city of Gaochang in the east of Turpan City, Xinjiang, and the ruins of the capital city of Bohai in Ning'an County, Heilongjiang, have also begun to arouse the interest of tourists at home and abroad.While building tourist attractions, the cultural relics of the ancient capital began to be restored.For example, the people of Xi'an relied on their own strength to repair the dilapidated old city walls, dredged the blocked moat, and built a unique park around the city.In addition, many scholars have comprehensively studied the ancient capital from various perspectives such as history, geography, economy, and culture, and have achieved new results.In a word, the ancient city is ancient, but at the same time it is full of vitality, and its future will be even more brilliant.