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Cities and villages | Palaces Fortifications The Great Wall Tombs Cities and VillagesHouses, Streets, Bridges Monasteries and Pagodas Gardens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The capitals of the Chinese Dynasties more or less corresponded to the Fengshui pattern: a river to the south and a hill to the north, sometimes there was the need to pile up an artificial mountain or to divert a creek. All cities in China were fortified with a city wall (cheng 城) and enclosed dwelling quarters of population, merchants and guilds; one or more markets (shi 市); and the administration buildings respectively the imperial palace of the capital city. The modern Chinese word for city, chengshi 城市, is composed of the terms for "wall" and "market". Administratorial buildings were normally located in the central or northern part of the city, the inner or private buildings of the emperor or magistrate or whoever in the north, official halls to the south. The emperor or his representant is facing the south, the subjects bowing to the north. Many dynasties had more than one capital city. The following table shall give an overview of the capital cities (secondary capitals and the capitals of minor dynasties are not included in this table):
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