Luoyang
Province
Luoyang (Chinese洛阳 市) is a prefecture -level city in the Chinese province of Henan. It is one of the four great ancient capitals of China, which functions as a capital exercised ( " Honanfu " ) under several dynasties. Today it has developed into an important industrial city. It is located about 110 kilometers west of the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the river Luo He. The administrative area of the city has an area of 15,492 km ² and approximately 6.54 million inhabitants ( end of 2008).
Administrative Divisions
At county level, Luoyang consists of six districts, eight counties and one independent city together. These are:
- Municipality Xigong (西 工区), 56 km ², 340,000 inhabitants, center, seat of the city government;
- Municipality Laocheng (老 城区, Old Town '), 57 km ², 130,000 inhabitants;
- Municipality Chanhe Hui (瀍 河 回族 区, Muslim Quarter ' ), 29 km ², 170,000 inhabitants;
- Municipality Jianxi (涧西 区), 89 km ², 450,000 inhabitants;
- Municipality Jili (吉利 区), 80 km ², 70,000 inhabitants;
- Circle Mengjin (孟津 县), 759 km ², 440,000 inhabitants,
- District Xin'an (新 安县), 1160 km ², 490,000 inhabitants,
- Circle Luanchuan (栾川县), 2478 km ², 320,000 inhabitants,
- Circle Song (嵩县), 3009 km ², 520,000 inhabitants,
- Circle Ruyang (汝阳 县), 1325 km ², 430,000 inhabitants,
- District Yiyang (宜 阳县), 1666 km ², 670,000 inhabitants,
- Circle Luoning (洛宁 县), 2350 km ², 450,000 inhabitants,
- Yichuan county (伊川 县), 1243 km ², 750,000 inhabitants,
- Yanshi City (偃师 市), 948 km ², 830,000 inhabitants.
History
Luoyang is located in the central plain of China, which was densely populated as early as the Neolithic period ( about 7000 years ago). This show finds, which were found in the course of irrigation works in the 1950s.
The city was originally built by Zhougong (周公) in the 11th century BC and was then called Chengzhou (成 周). It is said that Confucius studied in Luoyang and Laozi also worked here.
To 770 BC the city became the capital of the Zhou Dynasty. In 510 it was destroyed in a civil war, but was rebuilt the following year by order of the king.
In the year 25 AD Luoyang capital of Han dynasty. Later also had the Wei Dynasty and Jin Dynasty centered in Luoyang. During seven centuries, Luoyang was then the center of China. In the year 68 AD, the first Buddhist temple in China was founded in Luoyang. This temple can still be found today, but for the most part in the architecture of the 16th century.
The city also had a great imperial school where taught 30,000 students. Likewise, the paper was invented by Cai Lun in Luoyang and also the astronomer Zhang Hen worked in Luoyang. After the fall of the Han Dynasty Zuo Si wrote the poem The three main cities, which is known to this day.
In the year 493 the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital from Datong to Luoyang. At the same time they began to dig up the Longmen Caves. There one has more than 30,000 Buddhist images found from the Wei period. At that time, Luoyang to have had a population of half a million inhabitants. She went to one of the most important commercial centers on in Asia. Already 543 gave up the Wei Emperor Luoyang and forced the inhabitants to move with them to Ye; the city was divided.
The Sui Dynasty again chose Luoyang as the capital of their empire. The city was rebuilt in a short time and then allegedly counted at least 500,000 inhabitants. In 1971, you have a granary found who could protect 250,000 tons of grain from moisture and vermin.
The Tang Dynasty moved its capital to Chang'an, today's Xi'an. Thus began the descent to a normal Chinese city, with the demise of the Tang still reinforced.
Attractions
The city of Luoyang itself is an industrial city whose remaining parts of the old town but just restored. Worth seeing is the monumental, newly built city museum are exhibited in the numerous finds from different periods. The Dingdingmen is an old city gate that was reconstructed externally around the turn of the millennium, including a section of the former city wall
The Longmen Grottoes are since 2000 a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. There are also Guanlin, a ensemble of temples that were in honor of a hero from the time of the Three Kingdoms, Guan Yu built.
A major attraction is the temple of the White Horse dar. It was in the year 68 AD. built and renovated in the Ming and Qing Dynasty, as well as in the years 1950 and 1973. The temple complex is the oldest Buddhist temple in China. It is dedicated to the white horse, which two Indian monks and the Buddhist scriptures was to China. The monks are known by name as Matanga and Gobharana and followed an invitation of the Emperor Mingdi ( Eastern Han Dynasty) in the then capital Luoyang.
One of the world most unique attraction is the rush era. Along long underground passages landscaped graves found were rebuilt around Luoyang. One gets such an impressive overview of the grave culture of China during several dynasties.
Culture
The official symbol of Luoyang is the peony, which has since been cultivated here and the national flower of China is. To commemorate this tradition, it hosts the annual Peony Festival from April first to the tenth of May. Numerous parks in Luoyang offer at this time garden shows on this topic, such as the Luoyanger Peony Park, the Botanical Gardens or the Wangshengpark.
The asteroid (239200) 2006 MD13 is named after Luoyang.
In Luoyang Luoyang dialect is spoken predominantly. It differs in the emphasis heavily on the standard Mandarin, although it is also apparent from the Zhongyuan Mandarin.
A culinary specialty represents the tradition of water - banquets