In the late Zhou Dynasty, Kaifeng was expanded and a second city wall was built. The land area covered by the new city wall is three times that of the old city wall. Because Kaifeng City is located in the valley and surrounded by Ma Pingchuan, it can be said that there is no danger to defend, but its strategic position is very important, so it is necessary to build many thick and solid walls around it and dig enough ditches to protect the city from foreign enemies.
In Song Dynasty, Kaifeng was a square city with three walls and a total area of about 32 square kilometers. That is a big city that deserves it. Miyagi, the seat of the royal family, is in the innermost part of Kaifeng City and is closely protected by three walls. Therefore, this urban layout was imitated by many dynasties after the Song Dynasty.
Miyagi, also known as ouchi, is divided into vestibule and back bedroom, which is the place where the emperor rests and works, and no one else is allowed to set foot in it. The imperial city, that is, the inner city, is equivalent to Bianzhou in the Tang Dynasty. The imperial city covers an area of about 4.5 square kilometers, where civil and military offices are located, so it is the administrative center of the whole country. In addition, the ancestral hall and the social altar are located in the south of the imperial city.
In a word, the construction of the Imperial City and Miyagi strictly follows Confucianism, that is, "the unity of heaven and man", and music is the basic principle of its layout planning.
Of course, in addition to various administrative organs, there are many commercial and entertainment places in the imperial city. In the commercial street, there are all kinds of luxury stores, such as grocery stores, gold and silver stores and jewelry stores. In addition, there are tiles, brothel district, doctor street, Yujie street, Quyuan street and other blocks to provide specific services.
The largest night market in this city is located in the Qiao Zhou area of the Imperial City. Among the four tributaries of the Yellow River flowing through Kaifeng, Bianhe River is the busiest commercial activity. 90% of the freight in Kaifeng passes through the Bianhe River, and among these goods, rice and salt are the necessities of life, which are mainly used to supply palace rooms, soldiers and officials in the city.
Because grain transportation enters the capital through the Bianhe River in the southeast corner of the city, the storage area and commercial area of Bianhe Street are the busiest in the city. The famous painting The Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival depicts the bustling scene of Bianhe Street.
In contrast, Kaifeng in the Tang Dynasty was not as lively as that in the Northern Song Dynasty, when there were only two closed markets in the city. In the Northern Song Dynasty, markets and commercial streets were open. Most of these places are linear distribution, sometimes mixed with residential areas. The government will set up some tax bureaus and related management agencies in important business districts, which is to facilitate the collection of taxes from businesses.
Obviously, in a prosperous city like Kaifeng, its tax revenue certainly far exceeds that of other cities in China. There are two main types of taxes in Kaifeng:
First, commodity tax;
Secondly, it is the storage tax.
Government-run industrial and trade franchises have a large number of employees, such as manufacturing luxury goods for nobles or royal family members, or manufacturing weapons for the army, all of which are completed by these employees. Kuocheng is the location of private manufacturing industry and is also very prosperous. Miyagi is the core of urban roads, and countless roads extend to all parts of the city along Miyagi.
The entertainment area of Kaifeng City is called "Wazi". There are six tiles I in Kaifeng, which are distributed in all parts of the inner city and the outline city. In addition to Miyagi, there are restaurants, restaurants and shops all over the city, and the most concentrated place of these shops is on the main road beside the river.
Kaifeng was not only the administrative center of the Song Dynasty, but also the center of education and culture.
In addition to traditional imperial academy, there are numerous official and private schools, which not only teach Confucian classics, but also teach martial arts, medicine, law and other subjects. Kaifeng is an international metropolis, which can accommodate various religions. There are hundreds of different religious temples and tens of thousands of religious people in this city.
With the destruction of the workshop system, multi-storey buildings appeared. These buildings have three functions of industry, commerce and residence, and their density and height have increased compared with before.
It is worth mentioning that the fire organization in Kaifeng is very complete.
In Kaifeng, this kind of organization has existed since the late Zhou Dynasty and developed further since the Song Dynasty. There is a fire station every few hundred meters in the city. There are watchtowers and all kinds of fire fighting equipment in the fire station, and special firefighters are stationed here. Firefighters are all soldiers. There are thousands of soldiers who act as firemen in this city.
In addition to fire fighting, Kaifeng's greening measures are also very good, and people began to green the city in the second week. At the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, a royal garden was built outside the palace, and its prosperity and luxury were far beyond people's imagination. It can be said that the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty was invincible in the same period, and the demise of the Northern Song Dynasty was partly due to the lifestyle of the Song people.
Of course, there is another reason: Kaifeng is located in the North China Plain, which is easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Then, even so, why did the Northern Song Dynasty build its capital here? Among them, the most direct reason is that Jiangshan in the Northern Song Dynasty was Zen in the later Zhou Dynasty, and Kaifeng was the capital of the latter Zhou Dynasty. The Northern Song Dynasty followed the old system and continued to take Kaifeng as its capital. Moreover, Kaifeng had become an important town in Henan at that time.
Finally, with the overall situation of Song Taizu and Zhao Kuangyin settled, the Northern Song Dynasty still did not move its capital. In his later years, Song Taizu realized the disadvantage of Kaifeng from a military point of view, so he decided to move the capital to Chang 'an, but the proposal to move the capital was finally rejected.