Luoyang History

Luoyang is a prefecture level city of Henan Province. Regarded as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals in China and one of the cradles of Chinese civilization, Luoyang is not only a cultural city but one with long and splendid history. It is commonly reputed as ‘the Ancient Capitals of Nine Dynasties’, which means it had been the capital cities of nine dynasties in Chinese history; however, according to historical materials, in fact, Luoyang served as the capitals for total 15 dynasties in history.

In 2070 BC, Xia, the first dynasty in Chinese history, chose the intersection of Luo River and Yi River as capital and named it Zhenxun which was located right within today’s Luoyang city. In 1600 BC, King Tang of Shang Dynasty built a new capital-Western Bo whose ruins were also located within Luoyang.

In 1136 BC, Zhou Dynasty constructed a settlement named Chengzhou for these captured ones of Shang and later built a new capital of Western Zhou Dynasty in the place 15 kilometers west of Chengzhou. And this new capital was named Luoyi, also Wangcheng which was still the capital of Eastern Zhou Dynasty till 510 BC, when the capital was moved to Chengzhou.

Luoyang became the capital city of Eastern Han Dynasty in the year 25AD. The Emperor of Eastern Han Dynasty Liu Xiu unified China and at that time the capital Luoyang served as the political, economic and cultural center of ancient China for a very long time. In addition, the world-famous White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist Temple of China, was founded in Luoyang in 68AD. And Luoyang still served as the capital city for following Wei Dynasty and Western Jin Dynasty. But in the late Western Jin, a war called ‘the Upheaval of the Eight Princes’ started and lasted for 16 years; no doubt, Luoyang was destroyed heavily.

In 493, the Northern Wei moved its capital from Datong to Luoyang. Emperor Xiaowen ordered to restore the ruined Luoyang city which served as a capital again. Longmen Grottoes were constructed since the year 494 when Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty (368-534) moved the capital to Luoyang. Then, it comes to the Sui Dynasty, Emperor Yang chose Luoyang as its capital and at that time Luoyang became the political, economic and transportation center in the whole ancient China area.

During Tang Dynasty, Luoyang was called Dongdu which means the Eastern Capital with a population only second to ancient Chang’an (today’s Xian) which was the largest city all over the world at that time. What’s more, Luoyang was also the capital city of Later Liang, Later Tang and Later Jin Dynasties. In Song Dynasty, Luoyang was the birthplace of the founder of Song-Zhao Kuangyin. Just like what has mentioned before, as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals in China, Luoyang had witnessed a lot.