6 - Tale of Two Chang’ans

Summary

The layout of Tang Chang’an and the daily routines it fostered were stunning expressions of state power at the heart of an urban network. The city was a microcosm of the vast empire it managed, down to the tightly controlled rural growing regions, with trading routes reaching far west. It was an empire rooted in spatial order, the city’s modular layout designed to conform as closely as possible to the cosmos, the emperor at the heart of the city mandated to rule all under heaven. For all these zealous efforts at social control, Chang’an was paradoxically the world’s most cosmopolitan city. The imported religions of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Zoroastrianism existed alongside Chinese Taoist and Confucian thought. In all, dynastic China engaged in unparalleled expansions of urban bureaucracy through the Qin, Han, Sui, and Tang dynasties. This chapter explores the complex cultural interactions between urban civilization and nomadic societies, exploring in particular the role of the Great Wall in urban governance.