Han Capitals, Provincial Cities and Buildings: Urban Planning and Daily Life

Chang’an, the Western Han capital near modern Xi’an, and Luoyang, the Eastern Han capital in present-day Henan, concentrated the court, government and major ceremonial institutions. Their palace compounds housed imperial families and officials, while walls, avenues and waterways carried people and provisions around them. Beyond the capitals, commandery centres and county seats brought administration, markets and local residents together.

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Choosing and shaping the Han capitals

Liu Bang initially ruled from Luoyang after the Han was established, but moved his court to Chang’an in the Guanzhong region of present-day Shaanxi. The location offered defensible terrain and access to a substantial agricultural hinterland. Chang’an also lay near, but outside, the former Qin capital area. Its position helped the new regime protect its center of power and keep close watch on potential rivals. The choice was therefore about more than a convenient site: it shaped how the court managed security and political authority.

The first Han buildings at Chang’an reused and altered earlier palace grounds. Liu Bang’s chancellor Xiao He oversaw the renovation of the Xingle Palace, which became Changle Palace, and construction of Weiyang Palace nearby. In the account preserved by Sima Qian, Xiao He defended the scale of these works as a way to impress rivals and affirm the new dynasty’s authority. The two palaces did not serve identical purposes: Weiyang became the main seat of government, while Changle later housed empress dowagers and members of the imperial household.

Luoyang’s Han capital occupied a different urban setting in the central plain. The Eastern Han court established it as the capital in 25 CE. Its city walls enclosed a roughly rectangular area, about four kilometres from north to south and two and a half kilometres from east to west. The Gu River, a tributary of the Luo, lay beyond the city’s northeastern side.

Palaces, administration and public institutions

Palace compounds gave the emperor and court a distinct, controlled setting within the city. At Chang’an, the palace grounds expanded over time. Under Emperor Wu, new palaces and a large imperial park added to the built environment; the park, Shanglin, was reserved for imperial use rather than remaining open for common cultivation. By the later Western Han, palace grounds occupied a substantial share of the land within the city walls. This concentration of space gave the court room for residence, government and ceremony, while limiting how much of the walled area was available for other urban uses.

Luoyang’s Eastern Han palace complex also organized court life across separate compounds. A Southern Palace and a Northern Palace stood about three kilometres apart and were connected by a covered way. This sheltered route linked important court spaces while maintaining separation between them. The city also accommodated institutions that supported rule and ritual. In 26 CE, altars for the gods of soil and grain and for Heaven were established, alongside a temple to the founding emperor of the Former Han. The Imperial University was restored in 29 CE, providing an institutional setting for higher learning and the preparation of officials.

County seats performed a different set of daily tasks. A magistrate and subordinate officials registered households, collected revenue, heard legal cases and organised public work. Their offices connected records and stored resources with the residents liable for taxes or service. A town was consequently a place to settle a dispute or conduct official business as well as to buy and sell goods.

Walls, gates and movement through the city

At Chang’an, construction proceeded in stages. Palace building began first, and the city’s walls were built under Emperor Hui, with work beginning in 195 BCE and completion reported in 191 BCE. The walled city was largely finished by 189 BCE. Its perimeter was irregular rather than a simple rectangle. The relationship between the wall’s shape, the river and the placement of existing palace grounds has been debated; the evidence does not require a single explanation for the outline.

Walls and gates helped define the boundary between the city and its surroundings, while broad avenues connected major entrances with important parts of the urban area. These routes made it possible to move people and supplies through a large city and toward court compounds. Luoyang’s encircling walls similarly set out a clear urban boundary. In 48 CE, the Yang Canal linked the capital with the Luo River, adding a water route to the city’s connections. Such infrastructure served practical movement as well as the operation of an imperial center.

In 23 CE, rebels captured and sacked Chang’an during the fall of Wang Mang’s Xin regime. In the late Eastern Han, disorder again drew the court into abrupt changes of capital. The general Dong Zhuo moved the court from Luoyang to Chang’an in 190 CE. After the court returned to Luoyang in 196, it was moved again, this time to Xuchang. These episodes show how the location and condition of a capital could change with the balance of political and military power.

Markets, housing and the life of the city

Markets supplied food, cloth, tools and other goods to the court and urban residents. Chang’an had designated market enclosures, while at Eastern Han Luoyang a market chief and assistants supervised trade. Officials maintained order, collected commercial taxes and reviewed prices. Contracts could record the goods, price, parties and witnesses, making a transaction a written agreement that could be referred to later.

Chang’an’s residential wards were enclosed neighbourhood units overseen by minor officials. Within households, residents needed places to cook, store provisions and carry out work such as weaving. Ceramic tomb models depict courtyards, towers, wells and grain-processing equipment, representing those functions in miniature for the dead. Their wooden counterparts have mostly disappeared.

Outside the palace, urban work joined specialised businesses with production in homes. Merchants sold goods brought from the surrounding countryside or other regions; artisans made and repaired equipment. The city’s residents thus depended on the movement of grain, fuel and raw materials through its gates as well as on the institutions within the walls.

Building materials and what survives

Timber was an important building material, particularly for structural frames and roofs, but it survives poorly. Buildings could stand on raised platforms of rammed earth, and earth was also used in walls and other large structures. Brick and stone were used too, especially in durable or subterranean construction. At Luoyang, Eastern Han tomb chambers survive with vaulted forms and incised wall decoration.

Rammed earth was made by packing and compacting successive layers of soil within temporary formwork. The dense mass could form a wall or raised building platform. Timber posts and beams above a platform carried the roof, with tiles protecting major buildings from rain. Earthworks and fallen tiles often remain after the wooden frame has decayed.

Urban change from Western to Eastern Han

Wang Mang’s Xin regime altered the Western Han capital rather than simply inheriting it unchanged. It pursued plans based on an idealized design text known as the Kaogongji, removed the Jianzhang Palace and built additional temple complexes south of the city. The destruction of Chang’an in 23 CE marked a rupture, but the city remained an important point of reference after the Eastern Han court settled at Luoyang.

For the wider setting, see Han China: History, Institutions and Society.