Chang'an
People have been living in the city of Chang'an in China since the Stone Age. But Chang'an reached its biggest size - about a million people - under the T'ang Dynasty, when the powerful T'ang emperors made Chang'an their new capital city. In 750 AD, Chang'an was probably the biggest city in the world, bigger than Constantinople or Baghdad.
All around the city of Chang'an there were big walls with many towers. Inside the walls, there were straight wide streets and big city blocks. No street was narrower than 25 meters, and the widest street, the Imperial Way, was 150 meters wide! In 740 AD, the emperors even planted fruit trees along the sides of the big streets. Five canals also ran through the city, to bring in food and firewood, water the many parks and gardens, and take out garbage.
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(a project)
Along the streets there were several palaces, a lot of Buddhist monasteries and Taoist abbeys, pagodas, and many private houses. Unfortunately not much is still there because when the T'ang Dynasty collapsed invaders burned the city of Chang'an. Among the buildings that are still standing are Da Ci'en, or the Temple of Great Maternal Grace, several pagodas, and the Great Mosque, one of the earliest mosques in China.
T'ang Dynasty Architecture
T'ang Dynasty Art
T'ang Dynasty History
Sung Dynasty Architecture
More Chinese Architecture
Ancient China home
To find out more about ancient Chinese architecture, check out these books from Amazon or from your library:
The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, by Jessica Rawson and others (1996). Rawson is a curator at the British Museum, and she uses the collection of the British Museum to illustrate this book. Library Journal calls it "easily the best introductory overview of Chinese art to appear in years".
Art in China (Oxford History of Art Series), by Craig Clunas (1997). Not specifically for kids, but a good introduction to the spirit of Chinese art. Warning: this one is not arranged in chronological order. Instead, it has chapters on sculpture, calligraphy, and so on.
