Yanjing

Last updated February 24, 2019

Yanjing (Chinese: 燕京, also known as Youzhou 幽州, Ji 薊 or Fanyang 范陽 for administrative purposes) was an ancient city and capital of the State of Yan in northern China. It was located in modern Beijing.^[1]

Chinese is a group of related, but in many cases not mutually intelligible, language varieties, forming the Sinitic branch of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Chinese is spoken by the Han majority and many minority ethnic groups in China. About 1.2 billion people speak some form of Chinese as their first language.

Yan (state) ancient Chinese state during Zhao dynasty

Yan was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Its capital was Ji. During the Warring States period, the court was also moved to another capital at Xiadu at times.

China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia and the world's most populous country, with a population of around 1.404 billion. Covering approximately 9,600,000 square kilometers (3,700,000 sq mi), it is the third- or fourth-largest country by total area. Governed by the Communist Party of China, the state exercises jurisdiction over 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, four direct-controlled municipalities, and the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.

History

Yanjing was founded by State of Yan, whose rulers made it their capital city. After the conquest of Yan by the State of Qin, the city was made the capital of Guangyang commandery (simplified Chinese :广阳郡; traditional Chinese :廣陽郡). During the Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 BCE), the city was renamed Fanyang as the capital of Yuyang commandery (漁陽郡). It was the administrative center of Youzhou at the time of the Eastern Han (25–220 CE). Due to its proximity to the northern border of China, Yanjing was constantly involved in armed contests with various external powers. Further assaults on the city followed during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, which began in 184 CE.

Qin was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Traditionally dated to 897 B.C., it took its origin in a reconquest of western lands previously lost to the Rong; its position at the western edge of Chinese civilization permitted expansion and development that was unavailable to its rivals in the North China Plain. Following extensive "Legalist" reform in the 3rd century BC, Qin emerged as one of the dominant powers of the Seven Warring States and unified China in 221 BC under Shi Huangdi. The empire it established was short-lived but greatly influential on later Chinese history.

Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, they are one of the two standard character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the People's Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s to encourage literacy. They are officially used in the People's Republic of China and Singapore.

Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the standardized character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong and Macau, and in the Kangxi Dictionary. The modern shapes of traditional Chinese characters first appeared with the emergence of the clerical script during the Han Dynasty, and have been more or less stable since the 5th century.

At the time of the Three Kingdoms Period (220–280 CE), the commander of Fanyang was Liu Yan, better known as the governor of Yizhou Province a few years later. After Liu Yan's reposting, Liu Yu became the commander of Yizhou. His subordinate, Gongsun Zan, eventually attacked Youzhou and killed Liu Yu, becoming the commander of Fanyang.

The Three Kingdoms was the tripartite division of China between the states of Wei, Shu, and Wu. It started with the end of the Han dynasty and was followed by the Jin dynasty. The term "Three Kingdoms" is something of a misnomer, since each state was eventually headed not by a king, but by an emperor who claimed suzerainty over all China. Nevertheless, the term "Three Kingdoms" has become standard among English-speaking sinologists. To distinguish the three states from other historical Chinese states of the same names, historians have added a relevant character to the state's original name: the state that called itself Wei (魏) is also known as Cao Wei (曹魏), the state that called itself Han (漢) is also known as Shu Han (蜀漢) or just Shu (蜀), and the state that called itself Wu (吳) is also known as Eastern Wu or Sun Wu (孫吳).

Liu Yan, courtesy name Junlang, was a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was also a member of the extended family of the Han emperors. For most of his career he served as the Governor of Yi Province, which he developed into an independent power base. His domain was passed on to his son Liu Zhang, and eventually to Liu Bei, who founded the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period.

Gongsun Zan, courtesy name Bogui, was a military general and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China.

During the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) and Later Jin (936–947 CE), Fanyang was an important military garrison and a commercial hub. To the north of the city lay the military region of Yingzhou (营州) with Daizhou (代州) to the west.^[2] An Lushan began his revolt in Fanyang, and when he became the Emperor of the Greater Yan, Fanyang was designated its capital.

The Later Jìn, also called Shi Jin (石晉), was one of the Five Dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in China. It was founded by Shi Jingtang, who was posthumously titled "Gaozu". Liao, its original protector state, destroyed Later Jin by invading in 946 and 947, after Jin's second ruler, Shi Chonggui, fell out with them.

An Lushan was a general in the Tang dynasty and is primarily known for instigating the An Lushan Rebellion.

The An Lushan Rebellion was a devastating rebellion against the Tang dynasty of China. The rebellion overtly began on 16 December 755, when general An Lushan declared himself emperor in Northern China, thus establishing a rival Yan Dynasty, and ended when Yan fell on 17 February 763. This event is also known as the An–Shi Rebellion or An–Shi Disturbances, as it continued after An Lushan's death under his son An Qingxu and his deputy and successor Shi Siming, or as the Tianbao Rebellion (天寶之乱), as it began in the 14th year of that era.

Under the Liao Dynasty (907–1125), the city was renamed Nanjing (南京) and was the southern capital of Liao. It was also called Yanjing. In the following Jin dynasty (1115–1234), the city was called Zhongdu (中都), the central capital of the Jin. After the Mongols took the city, it was renamed Yanjing. After the Mongols razed it, a new city called Dadu was built adjacent to the former Jin capital which was the capital of the Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368).^[3]

The Jin dynasty, officially known as the Great Jin, lasted from 1115 to 1234 as one of the last dynasties in Chinese history to predate the Mongol invasion of China. Its name is sometimes written as Kin, Jurchen Jin or Jinn in English to differentiate it from an earlier Jìn dynasty of China whose name is identical when transcribed without tone marker diacritics in the Hanyu Pinyin system for Standard Chinese. It is also sometimes called the "Jurchen dynasty" or the "Jurchen Jin", because its founding leader Aguda was of Wanyan Jurchen descent.

The Mongol Empire existed during the 13th and 14th centuries and was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in the steppes of Central Asia, the Mongol Empire eventually stretched from Eastern Europe and parts of Central Europe to the Sea of Japan, extending northwards into Siberia, eastwards and southwards into the Indian subcontinent, Indochina and the Iranian Plateau; and westwards as far as the Levant and the Carpathian Mountains.

Khanbaliq or Dadu was the capital of the Yuan dynasty, the main center of the Mongol Empire founded by Kublai Khan in what is now Beijing, also the capital of China today. It was located at the center of modern Beijing. The Secretariat directly administered the Central Region (腹裏) of the Yuan Empire and dictated policies for the other provinces. Kublai and his successors also claimed supremacy over the entire Mongol Empire, although in practice that had already fragmented into a number of khanates since the death of Möngke Khan.

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Yangzhou, Yangchow or Yang Province was one of the Nine Provinces of ancient China mentioned in historical texts such as the Tribute of Yu, Erya and Rites of Zhou.

Xuzhou as a historical toponym refers to varied area in different eras.

Nanjing was the name for modern Beijing during the Liao dynasty, when Khitan rulers made the city the southern capital. To distinguish Nanjing, which literally means "Southern Capital" in Chinese, from modern Nanjing in Jiangsu Province and Beijing Damingfu, the Northern Song Dynasty name for modern Daming County in Hebei Province, Chinese historians sometimes refer to Beijing during the Liao dynasty as Liao Nanjing. The Khitan rulers of the Liao acquired the city, then known as Youzhou, in the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures in 938 from the Later Jìn, one of the five shortlived dynasties that ruled northern China following the end of the Tang Dynasty. The city was officially renamed Nanjing, Youdu Fu (南京幽都府). In 1012, the city was renamed Nanjing, Xijin Fu (南京析津府). The city was also colloquially referred to at the time as Yanjing. In 1122, the city was captured by the Jurchen Jin dynasty and was officially renamed Yanjing, ending the use of Nanjing for what is today modern Beijing.

Yong Province or Yongzhou was the name of various regions and provinces in ancient China, usually around the Wei River or the imperial capital.

Yōuzhōu Jiédùshǐ (幽州), also known as Yōujì Jiédùshǐ (幽薊), Yānjì Jiédùshǐ (燕薊), Fànyáng Jiédùshǐ (范陽), and Lúlóng Jiédùshǐ (盧龍), was a military district during the Tang dynasty. It covered the area of Yānjì (燕薊) in what is now the Beijing and Hebei region. Youzhou was the base of operations for An Lushan as well as one of the revolting three garrisons of Hebei.

References

↑ Michael Dillon (1998). China: a cultural and historical dictionary. Taylor & Francis (Psychology Press). p. 367. ISBN 0-7007-0439-6.
↑ According to the Taiwan edition of The Cambridge History of China, vol.3, Tang and Sui, p.219
↑ Haw, Stephen. Beijing: A Concise History. Routledge, 2007. p. 136.

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[1] Michael Dillon (1998). China: a cultural and historical dictionary. Taylor & Francis (Psychology Press). p. 367. ISBN 0-7007-0439-6.

[2] According to the Taiwan edition of The Cambridge History of China, vol.3, Tang and Sui, p.219

[3] Haw, Stephen. Beijing: A Concise History. Routledge, 2007. p. 136.

Yanjing

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