The location of Epang Palace
Epang Palace is a palace of the Qin Dynasty. According to historical records, it was built in 212 BC. The site is located in Afang Village, 15 kilometers away from the western suburbs of Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province today. It is a national key cultural relic protection unit.
[Edit this paragraph] The pronunciation of Afang Palace
The pronunciation of Afang Palace is traditionally considered to be [ē páng gōng], but there is controversy.
1. One view is that it should be read [ē páng gōng]
Hao Mingjian, editor-in-chief of "Yi Wen Che Zi", thinks that it should be read "ē pánggōng". Hao Mingjian believes that "Ah" (ē) in ancient times referred to the winding places at the foot of the mountain, and there is no objection to the pronunciation of "Ah" as ē. And "fang" refers to "side", so it should be pronounced páng. Song Ziran, director of the Institute of Immigration Culture at Sichuan Normal University and professor of exegesis, believes: "The word 'fang' in the three characters Afang Palace is a fake character, it is the word 'pang' next to it, and should be pronounced 'páng'." Wang, Sichuan Normal University The professor said: "Afang Palace refers to the palace next to the mountain. A is pronounced ē, and the ancient pronunciation of Fang is páng. This unique usage cannot be pronounced with the pronunciation of ordinary characters."
2. The second type The opinion is that it should be read [ē fáng gōng]
Zhang Jie, a professor at Liaoning University and director of the Institute of Qing History, and Du Yongdao, deputy editor of the Chinese Language Press, think it should be read "ē fáng gōng". The "Standardized Dictionary of Modern Chinese" (January 2004 edition) edited by Li Xingjian also holds this view.
3. The third view is that it should be read [ā fáng gōng]
Professor Liu Qingzhu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that the interpretation of the word "Ah" (ā) in the pronunciation of Shaanxi dialect means "that", and "fáng" (fáng) is a place name in Shaanxi. According to "Historical Records", when the construction of Afang Palace began, there was no name. The so-called "Afang Palace" is just a reference, referring to "in the house". The palace of that place", so its pronunciation should be (ā fáng gōng).
[Edit this paragraph] Overview of Afang Palace
"The six kings are finished, the four seas are one, the Shu Mountain is Wu, and Afang comes out."
After Qin Shihuang (259 BC to 210 BC) eliminated the six kingdoms and unified the country, he built a large number of palaces and palaces in Xianyang, the capital. Among them, the largest palace built was Epang Palace. According to the "Historical Records: The Chronicles of Qin Shi Huang", in the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shi Huang (212 BC), Qin Shi Huang believed that there were too many people in Xianyang, the capital, and the palace of the former king was too small, so he ordered a construction project to the south of the Wei River between Feng and Hao, the capital of the Zhou Dynasty. In the royal garden, Shanglin Garden, a new imperial palace was built that imitated the elites of architecture from all over the world. This imperial palace was the famous palace later known as Afang Palace. The floor tiles of Epang Palace "all the ministers in the world are mature, and the way is not hungry"
In the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shihuang (212 BC), he began to build the imperial palace, namely Epang, in Shanglin Garden south of the Wei River. palace. Due to the vastness of the project, only one front hall was built during Qin Shihuang's reign. According to the "Historical Records: The Chronicles of the First Emperor of Qin": "The front hall of Afang is five hundred steps east to west and fifty feet north and south. Ten thousand people can sit on the top, and a flag of five feet can be built below. The pavilion road runs all the way from your highness to the Nanshan Mountain. The top is regarded as the Que, and it is the restoration road. It crosses the Wei River from Afang and belongs to Xianyang. "It is conceivable that it is so large that it wastes people and money. Qin Shihuang died before the project was completed. Hu Hai, the second emperor of Qin, transferred the craftsmen of Afang Palace to build the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang, and then continued to build Afang Palace, but the Qin Dynasty soon collapsed.
Sima Qian, a historian of the Western Han Dynasty, recorded in "Historical Records: The Chronicles of the First Emperor": The front hall of Afang Palace is five hundred steps from east to west and fifty feet from north to south. Ten thousand people can sit in the hall. In the Qin Dynasty, one step was six feet, three hundred steps was one mile, and the Qin ruler was about 0.23 meters. Calculated in this way, the front hall of Epang Palace is 690 meters wide from east to west and 115 meters deep from north to south. It covers an area of ??80,000 square meters, which is more than enough to accommodate 10,000 people. Today, in the south of Sanqiao Town in the western suburbs of Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, starting from Jujiazhuang in the east and reaching Gucheng Village in the west, the Epang Palace ruins with an area of ??about 600,000 square meters are still preserved.
Ban Gu, a historian of the Eastern Han Dynasty, recorded in the "Book of Han Jia Shan Biography": "Starting from Xianyang and heading west to Yong, there are three hundred palaces left. The bells, drums and curtains are still there. It is also the palace of Afang. "The palace is tens of feet high, five miles from east to west, a thousand paces from north to south, with chariots and horses galloping, and flags unflinching. This is the beauty of the palace." In fact, starting from the "Book of Han", the regulations of Afang Palace are suspected to have been amplified.
In the past, it was generally believed that after Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, led his army into the pass, he turned his hatred on things and set fire to Epang Palace and all its ancillary buildings, turning it into ashes. However, the "Historical Records of Xiang Yu" only said that "burning the palace of Qin will last for three months" and did not mention Epang Palace. Archeology has found that the so-called "Xiang Yu burned Epang Palace on fire" is a historical misinformation. Archaeologists did not find any traces of burning during the contemporary archaeological excavation of the Epang Palace site.
According to legend, Afang Palace has an unprecedented scale and grandeur. "The palace is separated from the palace, across the platform of Mishan Mountain, and the chariot roads are connected." The scenery is spectacular. It is said that Afang Palace has more than 700 large and small halls. In one day, The climate of each temple is different. Qin Shihuang visited various palaces and lived in one place a day. He did not live in all the palaces until his death. This glorious imagination of later generations basically comes from the "Ode to Afang Palace". Du Mu, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, wrote in "Ode to Afang Palace": "It is covered for more than three hundred miles and isolated from the sky. Lishan Mountain is built in the north and turns west, going straight to Xianyang. The two rivers flowed into the palace wall. There were five steps to the first floor and ten steps to the pavilion; the corridors were winding and the eaves were high; each one embraced the terrain and fought with each other. "Efang Palace became a very grand building complex at that time. It can be imagined that the Epang Palace has many palaces, a wide building area, and a grand scale. But these are all legends. Later generations of officials used Qin's metaphors to admonish the current emperor. According to contemporary archaeological evidence, Afang Palace was not built.
[Edit this paragraph] Archaeological Conclusion
After a long investigation in 2006, the archaeological team conducted an intensive exploration of five holes per square meter. In addition to discovering tamped soil, Nothing else.
Because of fear of negligence, the soil was specially sent to a microscopy expert for examination under a microscope, but no carbide produced by burning was still found.
Moreover, during the investigation, traces of burning were only found on the old site of Xianyang Palace, and there were no traces of burning elsewhere. It is said that Xiang Yu burned Afang Palace back then, which is probably just people's imagination. There is no evidence that Afang Palace was burned down, but Xianyang Palace was indeed burned down by Xiang Yu.
Based on the rarity in historical data and the recorded time, we can draw a final conclusion with great credibility: the Afang Palace that has been rumored by people for thousands of years does not exist, but It's not finished at all.
Qin Shihuang recruited 700,000 coolies and spent four years building only a rock-solid earth ram. In the end, Qin Shihuang never completed the Afang Palace until his death. In order to fulfill the late emperor’s last wish, Qin II convened another The coolies planned to complete the construction of Afang Palace, but uprisings had begun in various places at that time, and in the end it was not completed.
The description in "A Fang Palace Ode" written by Du Mu only exists in people's imagination, or in other words, the construction of Afang Palace was not completed at all.
[Edit this paragraph] The origin of the name of Afang Palace
Afang was originally just the name of the front hall of the imperial palace. Qin Shihuang originally planned to "rename it" after the entire imperial palace was completed. . Because the palace was so large, even though hundreds of thousands of hard laborers participated in the construction work every day, the palace was still not completed until the fall of the Qin Dynasty. In this way, people called it Afang Palace. Why is this palace named "Afang"? There are different records in the past dynasties, and there are different opinions. There are mainly the following views:
The first view is that the name Afang was named because the palace site was close to Xianyang. "Ah, it's close, so it's close to Xianyang, so it's named Afang."
The second view is that the name Afang is named based on the shape of the palace's "Si A Pang Guang". In ancient meaning, it can also be interpreted as Quchu, Quyu, Tingzhiqu, etc. The architectural structure of Epang Palace, which is "twirling and winding, with winding corridors and curved waists, and clustered around each other," embodies the style and characteristics of the "four Epangs". It is precisely because of the architectural style of Epang Palace that the index of "Historical Records: The Chronicles of Qin Shihuang" explains why the palace is called Epang Palace: "This palace is named after its shape, and it means that the palace is wide in all directions.
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The third view is that the reason why this palace is called Afang Palace is because the upper palace is so tall that it is like being a room in Afang Palace. This view comes from "Hanshu Jiashan Biography", The annotation in the biography says: "Ah, Daling is also named Afang, which means that it is so high that the upper part is the room. "This means that Afang Palace was named because the palace was built on a large mausoleum. Judging from archaeological excavations, this statement is also reasonable. The area around Afang Village, about 15 kilometers outside Xi'an, is where the ruins of the ancient Afang Palace are located , it can be seen from the excavated ruins that the Epang Palace was located on a high hill, and the tall foundation of the palace still remains here. Near the south of Afang Village, there is a large earth platform left behind by the palace, with a circumference of about 100 meters. 31 meters, about 20 meters high; in the southwest of the village there is a tall rammed earth platform that is believed to be the ruins of the front hall of Afang Palace. It is about 1200 meters long from east to west and 500 to 600 meters long from north to south. The highest point of Afang Palace is about 8 meters. It is built on these high platform foundations, just as the "Book of Han" said, "The height is as high as the upper part of the house."
There is also a saying that "Chang'an Chronicle" explains that "A" is because. The palace is adjacent to the mountain and has no name, so it was first named Afang. This saying comes from the "Historical Records", which says that before Afang was completed, the palace would be named.
There is also a bizarre folk legend. King Ying Zheng of Qin fell in love with a beautiful folk woman named Afang, but this beautiful love did not have a beautiful ending after all. In order to commemorate the woman he loved deeply, he named it Afang Palace.
It can be seen that the above opinions are well-founded and reasonable, and they can all be justified. Therefore, it is difficult to determine which one is right and which one is wrong before newer and more convincing materials are found. Therefore, as to why this famous palace was named Afang at that time, the true meaning of Afang can only be said to be an inconclusive historical mystery.
[Edit this paragraph] Afang Palace Fu.
Du Mu of the Tang Dynasty
The six kings of Epang Palace are surrounded by the sea and the Shushan Mountain. Epang Chu covers more than 300 miles and isolates the sky from the north. Turn and go straight to Xianyang. The two rivers flow into the palace wall. Five steps to the first floor, ten steps to the pavilion; , I don’t know how many tens of millions have fallen. The long bridge is lying on the waves, and there are no clouds in the sky. What is the rainbow in the sky? I don’t know the east and west. It's miserable. In one day, the weather is uneven among the palaces.
The concubines, concubines, princes and grandsons left the palace and came to the Qin Dynasty to sing and sing at night. Palace people. The stars are shining brightly, and the makeup mirrors are opening; the green clouds are disturbing, and the servant girls are combing in the morning; the Wei River is swollen and greasy, and the fat water is flowing; the smoke is slanting, and the peppers and orchids are burning; the palace carriages are rolling. Listening from afar, I don’t know where it is. Every muscle and appearance is extremely beautiful, and I look far away. I can’t see it for thirty six years. It was collected by Yan and Zhao, managed by Han and Wei, and the elite of Qi and Chu. For several generations, they plundered people and piled them up like mountains. Once they were no longer available, they threw away jade, gold nuggets, and gravel, and they were thrown away in the winding road. The people of Qin did not cherish them.
Sigh! One person's heart is like the hearts of thousands of people. Qin's love is so rich that people miss his family. How can he use it like sand? There are more farmers; there are more rafters building beams than there are workers on the machine; there are more phosphorus on nail heads than there are grains of millet in Yu; there are more jagged seams in tiles than there are silk threads all over the body; there are more straight columns and horizontal sills than there are in a city with nine soils; there are more orchestras and orchestras. Dumb, more speech than the people in the city. Make people in the world dare not speak out but dare to get angry. The heart of a single husband is becoming increasingly arrogant. The soldiers of the garrison shouted, and the soldiers lifted up the grain, and the people of Chu fired their torches, pitifully scorching the earth.
Woohoo! Those who destroy the six kingdoms are the six kingdoms, and they are not Qin; those who belong to Qin are Qin, and they are not the world. Sigh! If the six countries love their own people, it will be enough to reject Qin; if Qin loves the people of the six countries again, he will be king for three generations and will be king for eternity. Who will win and the family will be destroyed? The people of Qin had no time to mourn for themselves, so that future generations would mourn for them; if future generations mourned without taking note of it, they would also cause future generations to mourn for future generations again.
[Edit this paragraph] Translation of "Afang Palace Fu"
The six kingdoms were destroyed and the world was unified. The trees in the mountains and forests of Sichuan were cut down, and the Epang Palace was built.
(It) covered more than three hundred miles, almost blocking the sky. It was built from the north of Lishan Mountain and extended to the west in a zigzag manner, all the way to Xianyang. The Wei River and Fanchuan River flowed into the palace wall mightily. There is a tall building every five steps, and a pavilion every ten steps. The long corridor is like a belt, twists and turns, and the eaves are high, flying in the air like a bird's beak. These pavilions, terraces and pavilions are surrounded by different terrains, with winding corridors like hooks and towering eaves like fighting horns. They twist and turn, twist and turn, as dense as honeycombs, as interconnected as water vortexes, towering and majestic, there are tens of millions of them. The long bridge lies on the water (like a dragon), (but) there are no clouds, how can there be a dragon flying? The passage between the pavilions is suspended in mid-air (like a rainbow), (but) it is not clear after the rain, how can there be a rainbow? The high and low pavilions are so dark and blurred that people can't distinguish north, south, west, and east. The singing from the high platform made people feel warm, as warm as spring. The dancing sleeves fluttering in the hall made people feel cold, as cold as the wind and rain. On the same day, in the same palace, the climate is completely different.
The maids and concubines (of the Six Kingdoms), the daughters and granddaughters of the princes and royal families, bid farewell to the palaces and attics of their homeland, and took chariots to the State of Qin. (They) sang in the morning and played the piano in the evening, and became the palace servants of Emperor Qin. (Early in the morning) I saw stars twinkling, (it turned out to be them) opening the dressing mirror, and seeing dark clouds turbulent, (it turned out to be them) combing their hair early in the morning; (it turned out to be them) there was a layer of greasiness on the Wei River, (it was they) who splashed it There is powder and water; the light smoke lingers and the fragrant mist fills the air. It is the fragrance of the peppers and orchids they burned. Suddenly a thunderous sound shook the sky, and it turned out to be a palace carriage passing by; the sound of rumble wheels gradually became distant, and it was unclear where it was going. (The palace maids) tried their best to show their charm and beauty. Every part of their skin and every posture were extremely moving. (They) stood for a long time, looking out, hoping that the emperor would favor him and visit; (poor) some people had never seen the emperor in thirty-six years. The rare treasures collected by the State of Yan and Zhao, the gold and silver accumulated by the State of Korea and Wei, and the treasures preserved by the State of Qi and Chu, were all plundered from the hands of the people over many years and generations and piled up like mountains. Once the country is destroyed and can no longer be occupied, they will all be transported to Afang Palace. From then on, the tripods were regarded as iron pots, the jade was regarded as stones, the gold was regarded as clods, and the pearls were regarded as gravel. They were all thrown around, and the people of Qin looked at them without feeling pity. The Epang Palace built by contemporary people based on imagination
Alas! What one person thinks is also what millions of people think. Qin Shihuang liked prosperity and luxury, and the people also missed their homes. Why don't you miss even a penny when searching for treasure, but treat it like dirt when you squander it? There are even more pillars supporting the beams than there are farmers in the fields; there are more rafters on the roof beams than there are weavers on the looms; there are more uneven seams in the tiles than there are silk threads on people's bodies. There are more strands; there are more straight railings and horizontal thresholds than the city corridors of Kyushu; the sound of pianos and flutes is noisy, noisier than the voices of people in a busy city. (This) makes people all over the world dare not speak out, but their hearts are full of anger. Qin Shihuang, the tyrant, became increasingly arrogant and stubborn. So Chen Sheng and Wu Guang rose up, Liu Bang broke through Hangu Pass; Xiang Yu set off a fire, but unfortunately the luxurious palace turned into a scorched earth!
Alas! The one who destroyed the Six Kingdoms was the Six Kingdoms themselves, not Qin. It was the King of Qin himself who destroyed Qin, not the people of the world. well! If the kings of the six kingdoms can care for their own people, it will be enough to resist Qin; (after the unification of Qin) if they can also care for the people of the six kingdoms, they can be emperors for three generations or even for ten thousand generations, and who can perish? What about him? The rulers of Qin had no time to lament their own demise, but they made future generations lament it; if future generations lamented it and did not learn from it, then they would have to be lamented by future generations.