六朝時代華北の都市

Abstract

A big transformation took place in Chinese society in the Six Dynasties through the Three Kingdoms from the Han ; tens of thousand of local agricultural centers were disintegrated into villages, while part of their population was absorbed in the large cities. On the other hand, a few large cities of the Han period became nonproductive politico-military centers, and their inhabitants largely consisted of the gentry, officials and soldiers. When the chieftains of the Five Northern Barbarians became rulers in North China, the tribesmen became professional soldiers and resided in these big cities, while many Chinese moved from the cities to the local communities. Thus, these cities became military bases with strong inner and outer walls. The palace was located not in the center of the city but along the north outer wall. P'ingcheng of Northern Wei, Loyang, and Ch'angan of T'ang and Sui were capitals of such structure.