The ruins of Luoyang City of the Han and Wei Dynasties, as one of the important capital sites in Chinese history, was first built in the Western Zhou Dynasty. The city has a history of nearly 1,600 years. It served as the capital for more than 600 years, making it the longest-lasting capital in ancient my country.

The Paper learned from the official website of the Henan Provincial People's Government that the Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum will be open during this year's Luoyang Peony Cultural Festival. The museum will systematically display the important archaeological excavations and research results of the Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins over the past 60 years. At present, the museum's display cabinets, exhibition equipment, lighting systems and various multimedia facilities for displaying cultural relics have all been installed in place, and some exhibits have been placed in the display cabinets and will be fully open in the near future.

Han and Wei Luoyang Ancient City

The Paper learned that the Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum is located in Zhaiquan Village, Baimasi Town, Chanhe District, Luoyang City, covering an area of 219 mu and a total construction area of 29,000 square meters. It is an important part of Luoyang City's "Five Capital City Ruins Museum Group". From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty, Han and Wei Luoyang City wrote a 1,600-year historical scroll. The Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Wei, Western Jin Dynasty, and Northern Wei Dynasty successively established their capitals here. Han and Wei Luoyang City served as the capital for 600 years and witnessed many major historical events in ancient China.

Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum

Since 1962, archaeologists have basically explored the overall scale of the ancient city of Luoyang in the Han and Wei dynasties, including the remains of ritual buildings in the southern suburbs, the remains of Jinyong City, the remains of Yongning Temple, and the remains of the palace city's Changhe Gate, Taiji Hall, and Xianyang Hall. The Han and Wei Luoyang City shows the germination and formation of the city's central axis, indicating a turning point in the capital city planning in the history of Chinese urban development, which has influenced future generations for a thousand years.

The Luoyang City during the Northern Wei Dynasty, covering an area of 100 square kilometers, was the largest, most complete, and best preserved capital city ruins in the world at that time. "If you want to know about the rise and fall of ancient and modern times, please look at Luoyang City." This was Sima Guang's true feeling when he saw the dilapidated Han and Wei Luoyang City. Walking into the Han and Wei Luoyang City Ruins, the crops everywhere form a sharp contrast with the vicissitudes of the ruins. The grand city gates and towering palaces that once stood here have long since turned into smoke, leaving only the spectacular building foundations to tell the former prosperity and prosperity of this ancient city.

Han and Wei Luoyang Ancient City

The Han and Wei City Ruins Museum is a huge building with a magnificent appearance. The exhibition mainly consists of "Chinese History - Basic Exhibition of Han and Wei City Ruins Museum" and "Cultural Relics Treasure Hall", which will systematically display the important archaeological excavation and research results of the Han and Wei City Ruins in the past 60 years and its important historical, scientific and artistic value. At present, the display cabinets, display equipment, lighting systems and various multimedia facilities for displaying cultural relics in the museum have all been installed in place, and some exhibits have been placed in the display cabinets, which will be fully open in the near future.

The Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum, which has undergone several name changes

However, the site museum also experienced a name change during the construction process. In 2024, the museum under construction was named "Han and Wei Luoyang City Ruins Museum", and later changed to "Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum", removing the word "Luoyang", which caused heated discussions.

The Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum under construction

According to Dingdian News, some netizens believe that removing the word "Luoyang" from the museum's name weakens Luoyang's historical and cultural status, saying that as an important capital during the Han and Wei dynasties, Luoyang's historical status cannot be ignored, and this should be clearly reflected in the museum's name. Another group of netizens is worried that the museum's appeal will be affected after the name change. They believe that the name "Han and Wei Luoyang City Ruins Museum" is more intuitive and attractive, and can more directly convey the theme of the museum.

In the "Reply of the State Administration of Cultural Heritage on the Han and Wei Luoyang City Ruins Museum Project" Cultural Relics Guarantee Letter [2023] No. 830 issued on August 1, 2023, it was indeed declared under the name of "Han and Wei Luoyang City Ruins Museum". For this reason, Wu Rongquan, deputy director of the Luoyang Municipal Cultural Relics Bureau, once said in an interview with the media that in the early stage of the museum construction, the relevant approval procedures were handled under the name of "Han and Wei Luoyang City Ruins Museum" to promote the construction of the project. In accordance with the work deployment of the Luoyang Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government and the overall plan for the development of Luoyang's museum industry, the museum aims to be a national museum and strives to create a benchmark model for the "Five Capitals" ruins museum group.

Wu Rongquan said that the Han and Wei ancient city specifically refers to the Han and Wei Luoyang City, which is unique. The museum will focus on the Han and Wei Luoyang City ruins and tell the story of the Han and Wei period. Combined with the positioning of a national museum, it is named "Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum".

The main building extracts elements of the Han and Wei Dynasty palaces

As an important part of Luoyang's "Five Capital City Ruins Museum Group", the main building shape of the Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum is extracted from the palace architectural elements of the Han and Wei dynasties. The ingenious design of the eaves elements makes the museum majestic and solemn, and adds a touch of agile beauty. The yellow sand color is integrated with the main color of the ruins area.

Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum

Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum

Entering the museum gate, there is an arched bridge that spans between the ground and the second-floor exhibition hall of the museum. Guo Rong, director of the Research and Education Department of the Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum, introduced that the main exhibition area of the museum is concentrated on the second floor, and visitors can directly reach the exhibition hall by walking across the arched bridge. "Because the arched bridge is 88 meters long and magnificent, some netizens joked that coming to the Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum is like going to court in ancient times." Guo Rong explained that the Luoyang City in the Eastern Han Dynasty was divided into the South Palace and the North Palace, which were connected by a double-story corridor. The design inspiration of this bridge came from the double-story corridor.

Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum Building (partial)

The three exhibition halls of "Zhong", "He" and "Tong" display the history of Heluo for 1600 years

Entering the first exhibition hall of the museum, the first thing that catches your eye is the eight characters "Heluo is the capital of the world". The Heluo civilization, which was born in the Heluo region with Luoyang as its center, is one of the important sources of the birth of Chinese civilization. Therefore, within the area of less than 40 square kilometers on both sides of the Luo River, there are five major ancient capital sites, including the Yanshi Shang City Site, the Erlitou Site of the Xia Capital, the Han and Wei Luoyang City Site, the Sui and Tang Luoyang City Site, and the Eastern Zhou Dynasty Royal City Site.

Exhibition Hall of Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum

Exhibition Hall of Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum

"Among the five major capital sites, the Luoyang City of the Han and Wei Dynasties is not only the largest in area, but also located in the middle of them." Guo Rong introduced that the inscription on the He Zun begins with the record: "The king first moved his residence to Chengzhou." This confirms that King Cheng of Zhou moved the capital to Luoyang, believing that this was the center of the world, which reflects the ancient people's idea of choosing the center to build the capital.

The ancient city of Luoyang in the Han and Wei dynasties was not only the capital from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty, but its construction history can be traced back to the Western Zhou Dynasty, and it was used for nearly 1,600 years. The central area of the exhibition hall uses a multimedia display form of "holographic projection + geographical sand table" to intuitively show the audience the development of the city site of Luoyang in the Han and Wei dynasties from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Exhibition Hall of Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum

On the left side of the exhibition hall, there is a tomb of a nobleman from the Western Zhou Dynasty discovered by archaeologists in the southeast corner of the palace city in 2023. It is worth mentioning that the tomb was not buried with nobles from the Western Zhou Dynasty, but with the remnants of the Shang Dynasty, which provides precious material for people to understand the functional division of Luoyang city in the Western Zhou Dynasty.

Relevant person in charge of the museum said that the core keywords of the three exhibition halls of the Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum are "Zhong", "He" and "Tong" respectively. The audience will have a panoramic understanding of the historical and cultural features of the Han and Wei periods from multiple angles, including the capital form, capital building concept, ethnic integration, cultural exchange, and impact on the world.

Exhibition Hall of Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum

Exhibition Hall of Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum

The general preface hall is a place for rest and sightseeing, hosting a variety of public activities such as the museum opening ceremony, the immersive interactive performance of "Han and Wei Capital", and the Han and Wei cultural show. The basic exhibition hall and the immersive theme hall highlight the immersive experience and storytelling expression, deeply excavating and displaying the most valuable cultural connotations of the Han and Wei ancient city ruins, allowing tourists to enhance their historical awareness and strengthen their cultural confidence in the dialogue with history.

Exhibition Hall 1: Dadu is the center of the world

The first exhibition hall is divided into two units: Selecting a Neutral Country and Building a Pole. Luoyang is backed by Mang Mountain and faces Luo River to the south. Duke Zhou used the method of measuring shadows with a gnomon to find the "center of the world". Based on the concept of "selecting the center of the country to build a palace and selecting the center of the palace to build a temple", he assisted King Cheng in building Luoyi of Zhou. From "selecting a neutral country" to "building a neutral pole", after hundreds of years of construction and development, the capital of Luoyang in the Han and Wei dynasties reached perfection, inheriting the Three Dynasties and ushering in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, influencing the world and becoming a model of ancient Chinese capitals.

Exhibition Hall Interior

Exhibition Hall Interior

The second exhibition hall: the fusion of the classic souls of Han and Wei dynasties

The second exhibition hall is divided into two units: ethnic integration and national system model. It shows the ancient ethnic integration witnessed by the ancient city of Han and Wei, which led to the formation of a unified multi-ethnic country, as well as many major historical events such as the reign of Emperors Cheng and Kang, Emperor Guangwu's revival, Cao Pi's replacement of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Xiaowen's reforms, reflecting the diversity and unity of Chinese culture and the integration and tolerance of the Chinese nation.

Exhibition Hall Interior

Exhibition Hall Interior

Exhibition Hall Interior

Exhibition Hall Interior

Exhibition Hall Interior

Exhibition Hall 3: A Millennium Initiative to Create World Harmony

The third exhibition hall is divided into four units: Four Capitals, Han and Wei Literature, Hakka Ancestors, and Starting Point of the Silk Road. There is also a special exhibition "The Wonderful Aspects of the Temple". Through the confrontation between the two great powers that led the trend of the times, Qin and Han and Rome, the great cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries during the Han and Wei dynasties, the spread of Chinese civilization from East Asia to Eurasia, the migration of Hakka ancestors from the ancient city of Han and Wei to the south, and the Silk Road that spanned 7,000 kilometers from Luoyang to the west across the Eurasian continent, the world attributes and contemporary attributes of Luoyang City in the Han and Wei dynasties are displayed.

Exhibition Hall Interior

Exhibition Hall Interior

According to Mu Peng, curator of the Han and Wei Ancient City Ruins Museum, the cultural relics on display in the museum are basically in place and have entered the stage of refined improvement. The remaining finishing work is also proceeding in an orderly manner and the museum will be fully open during this year's Peony Culture Festival.

According to local media reports in Luoyang, in conjunction with the construction of the Xia and Shang Civilization Archaeological Research Center, the Erlitou Xia Capital Ruins Museum has continuously enriched its exhibition content, allowing visitors to touch the "earliest China" and feel the "dawn of civilization" in an immersive experience; the Yanshi Shang City Ruins Museum has put forward a preliminary plan, and the venue with a construction area of approximately 25,000 square meters will more systematically display the layout of large-scale city sites in the early Shang Dynasty.

The Eastern Zhou Dynasty Royal City Ruins Museum will make overall use of the above-ground and underground spaces of the Zhou Dynasty Royal City Square and the Zhou Dynasty Royal City Emperor's Six-horse Chariot Museum, and strive to show the profound impact of "Duke Zhou's construction of Luoyang" on the later capital pattern; combined with the protection and utilization plan of the central axis of Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Luoyang will build the Sui and Tang Luoyang City Ruins Museum based on the Dingdingmen Ruins Museum. In the future, this will become another important position and window for telling Chinese history and spreading Chinese civilization, recreating the prosperous atmosphere of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

(This article is compiled from Wenboquan, Henan Provincial People's Government Portal, Dingdian News·Henan Business Daily, etc.)