Linzi () was the capital city of the Chinese Qi state. The ruins of the city lie in modern-day Linzi District,

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. The city was one of the largest and richest in China during the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...

. Upon occupying Linzi in 221 BC, King Ying Zheng of Qin completed his conquest of the Chinese rival states and declared himself the first emperor of China shortly afterwards. The ruins of the ancient city were excavated in 1926 by Japanese archaeologists and in 1964 by Chinese archaeologists.

Layout

Linzi covered an area of around with the city built between two parallel rivers that ran north–south, the

Zi River The Zi River (资水) in Hunan, China, flows into the Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau an ...

to its east and the old course of the

Xi River The Xi River (; ) or Si-Kiang is the western tributary of the Pearl River in southern China. It is formed by the confluence of the Gui and Xun Rivers in Wuzhou, Guangxi. It originates from the eastern foot of the Maxiong Mountain in Quji ...

to its west. Linzi sewer 2010 06 06

The city was surrounded by a perimeter wall of

rammed earth Rammed earth is a technique for construction, constructing foundations, floors, and walls using compacted natural raw materials such as soil, earth, chalk, Lime (material), lime, or gravel. It is an ancient method that has been revived recently ...

. The city consisted of an outer city and an inner city. The outer city wall reached a maximum of in base width, averaging between in width. The inner city wall reached a maximum of in base width. The city had a sewer and water supply system. The palace was located in the inner city, located in the southwestern corner of Linzi. A large rammed earth platform was found inside the inner city, commonly referred to as the Duke Huan platform. The remains of the platform measure and are high. "Seven broad avenues, some wide and over long, ran north-south and east-west, roughly forming a grid pattern. Four major avenues met in the northeast section of the city. This area yielded the richest cultural remains from the Western Zhou to the Han." In the ''

Records of the Grand Historian The ''Shiji'', also known as ''Records of the Grand Historian'' or ''The Grand Scribe's Records'', is a Chinese historical text that is the first of the Twenty-Four Histories of imperial China. It was written during the late 2nd and early 1st ce ...

'', the population of Linzi in the fourth and third centuries BC was said to be 70,000 households, with at least 210,000 adult males. Scholars today believe this was somewhat exaggerated.

Jixia Academy

The kings of Qi and the Qi state acted as patrons of the

Jixia Academy The Jixia Academy or Academy of the Gate of Chi Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilisation in China', Vol. 1, pp. 95 f. Cambridge University Press, 1956. , 9780521057998. Accessed 2 Nov 2012. was a scholarly academy during the Warring States period ...

(ca 315-285 BC) in Linzi, the earliest and largest (in its time) center of learning in China. The academy, possibly named after the city gate (Ji) nearby, was made up of chosen scholars who received a handsome stipend from the government in return for advising the king on government, rites and philosophy. Among the Jixia Academy scholars were

Mencius Mencius (孟子, ''Mèngzǐ'', ; ) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher, often described as the Second Sage () to reflect his traditional esteem relative to Confucius himself. He was part of Confucius's fourth generation of disciples, inheriting ...

Xun Zi Xunzi (荀子, ''Xúnzǐ'', ; ), born Xun Kuang, was a Chinese philosopher of Confucianism during the late Warring States period. After his predecessors Confucius and Mencius, Xunzi is often ranked as the third great Confucian philosopher of a ...

(who taught

Han Fei Han Fei (233 BC), also known as Han Feizi, was a Chinese Legalist philosopher and statesman during the Warring States period. He was a prince of the state of Han. Han Fei is often considered the greatest representative of Legalism for th ...

Zi and

Li Si Li Si (; 208 BC) was a Chinese calligrapher, philosopher, and politician of the Qin dynasty. He served as Chancellor from 246 to 208 BC, first under King Zheng of the state of Qin—who later became Qin Shi Huang, the "First Emperor" o ...

, among others), and Shen Dao.

Tombs

The ruins of the city are surrounded by over 100

tumuli A tumulus (: tumuli) is a mound of Soil, earth and Rock (geology), stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds, mounds, howes, or in Siberia and Central Asia as ''kurgans'', and may be found through ...

, some as far as away. Many of the tombs around Linzi have been looted in antiquity. In pits near what is considered the tomb of Duke Jing of Qi, over 600 sacrificed horses have been found arranged in two rows.

Erroneous DNA test

An initial test of corpses from Linzi graves'

mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

(mtDNA) claimed that their mtDNA was found to be more similar to Europeans than modern Chinese. The mtDNA was reexamined and the initial test was found to be wrong, with results showing European mtdna sharing no links to the remains found in the graves, and the study says it "highlight that ancient mtDNA data obtained under different sampling schemes and subject to potential contamination can easily create the impression of drastic spatiotemporal changes in the genetic structure of a regional population during the past few thousand years if inappropriate methods of data analysis are employed."

References

External sources

* Allan, Sarah (ed), ''The Formation of Chinese Civilization: An Archaeological Perspective'', {{ISBN, 0-300-09382-9 Ancient Chinese capitals Archaeological sites in China Chinese architectural history Major National Historical and Cultural Sites in Shandong Zibo Qi (state)