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Model diorama of Kaifeng in the Northern Song dynasty
The famous painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival is believed by some to portray life in Kaifeng on Qingming Festival. Several versions exist – the above is an 18th-century recreation – of an original attributed to the 12th-century artist Zhang Zeduan.
The city of Kaifeng (Dongjing, Bianliang) in Northern Song dynasty
Outer city of Bianjing (Kaifeng), Yuan dynasty map from Shilin Guangji by Chen Yuanjing
Kaifeng is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China. There have been many changes during the course of its history.
Antiquity[edit]
During the Spring and Autumn period, there existed two ancient cities in the vicinity of Kaifeng, one is called Yi (儀邑) built by the Wey state and one is Qifeng (啟封), built by Duke Zhuang of Zheng south of the present-day city. Wey was later annexed by the state of Wei.
During the Warring States period, the lords of the state of Wei held the title of King of the realm of Liang (梁王, Liángwáng). In 361 BC, King Hui of Wei relocated the Wei capital from the city of An (安邑) to Yi where he built the city of Daliang (大梁). Thereafter, the Wei state was called Liang. During this period, the first of many canals in the area was constructed linking a local river to the Yellow River. When the State of Qin conquered the State of Wei, Daliang was destroyed and abandoned except for a mid-sized market town, which was renamed Junyi (浚儀).
During the Han dynasty, Junyi was the capital of the Kingdom of Liang ruled by Liu Wu (son of Han emperor Wen) when he was enfeoffed as Prince of Liang. Liu Wu restored the old city walls and constructed many buildings. Daliang became a center of music, art, a refuge for artists, and of splendid gardens despite the trivial political importance of the city at this period. Emperor Jing of Han changed the name of the city of Qifeng to Kaifeng (開封) because of a naming taboo. During the Eastern Han era, the Kingdom of Liang was changed to Liang County, and part of it became the Chenliu Commandery (陳留郡) but was re-established as a principality during the Cao Wei and Jin dynasty. In 202, Cao Cao repaired the Suiyang Canal in Junyi, opening the Bian River to the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers. The canal's completion allowed grain transport northbound from the Yangtze and Huaihe River regions, and Junyi, strategically located at a waterway and land junction, saw an economic recovery.
Northern dynasties and Sui, Tang[edit]
The city fell into decline during the turmoil at the end of the Western Jin dynasty and during the Sixteen Kingdoms era. In 534, Emperor Xiaojing of Eastern Wei changed Chenliu County to Liangzhou (梁州). In 555, the Daxiangguo Temple was built. During the Northern Zhou dynasty, Liangzhou was renamed as Bianzhou (汴州), named after the Bian River.
Early in the 7th century, the old city of Daliang, now called Bianzhou (汴州城) was transformed into a major commercial hub when it was connected to the Grand Canal as well as through the construction of a canal running to western Shandong. In 781 during the Tang dynasty, a new city wall with a circumference of 22 li was constructed by Bianzhou's governor Li Mian. Meanwhile the old city of Kaifeng (Qifeng) declined in prominence and later abandoned. The ruins of Qifeng can be found near today's Zhuxian town.
Five dynasties and Song dynasty[edit]
During the Five Dynasties period, Emperor Taizu of Liang established his capital in Bianzhou, calling it Dongdu (東都) or Eastern Capital (the previous Tang dynasty's eastern capital was Luoyang). Dongdu was the capital of the successive dynasties of Later Liang (913-923), Later Jin (936–946), Later Han (947–950), and Later Zhou (951–960). In 955, the city underwent further expansion as Emperor Shizong of Zhou mobilized 100,000 civilians to build an outer city. The Song dynasty made Bian its capital when it overthrew the Later Zhou in 960, renamed it the Eastern Capital of Bianliang (東京汴梁), or Dongjing (東京).
During the Song dynasty, the governmental entity of the capital was the Kaifeng Prefecture (Kaifeng Fu, 開封府) and it was the only prefecture of the Capital Region (Jingji Lu, 京畿路). In 1010, Xiangfu County was established under Kaifeng Prefecture, so the region was also called Xiangfu (祥符).
Kaifeng-Dongjing became largest and most prosperous city in China, with a population of over 400,000 living both inside and outside the city wall. The historian Jacques Gernet provides a lively picture of life in this period in his Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276, which often draws on Dongjing Meng Hua Lu, a nostalgic memoir of the city.
According to the Dongjing Menghualu: "Outside Donghua Gate, the market was bustling... All manners of food, seasonal fruits and flowers, fish, shrimp, turtle, crab, quail and rabbit jerky, cured meats, gold, jade, and treasures, as well as clothings, were the finest in the world. The taste was exquisite, and if a customer requested a dozen or so dishes to go with their wine, they would be readily available".
In addition to daytime trading, there were also night markets and dawn markets. The main street of Dongjing was called the Imperial Street (御街). There were patrol stations located every two or three hundred steps, the patrolmen directed pedestrian and vehicle traffic during the day, and guarded government offices and merchants' residences at night. The city's restaurants (fencha 分茶), taverns (wasi 瓦肆) and theaters (goulan 勾阑) could accommodate and entertain thousands of people. Daily performances included storytelling, singing, puppet shows, dance and acrobatics. The Northern Song painter Zhang Zeduan's painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival depicts the bustling scenery of the capital and the banks of the Bian River during the Qingming Festival.
Typhus was an acute problem in the city. In third year of Chunhua (992), a plague swept through the city with a massive death toll.
In 1049, the Iron Pagoda of Youguo Temple (佑國寺塔) was constructed, measuring 54.7 m (179 ft) in height. It has survived the vicissitudes of war and floods to become the oldest landmark in this ancient city. Another Song-dynasty pagoda, Po Pagoda [zh], dating from 974, has been partially destroyed.
Games in the Jinming Pool, an early 12th-century painting depicting Kaifeng, by Zhang Zeduan.
Another well-known sight was the astronomical clock tower of the engineer, scientist, and statesman Su Song (1020–1101 AD). It was crowned with a rotating armillary sphere that was hydraulically powered (i.e. by water wheel and a water clock), yet it incorporated an escapement mechanism two hundred years before they were found in the clockworks of Europe and featured the first known endless power-transmitting chain drive.
Dongjing reached its peak importance in the 11th century as a commercial and industrial center at the intersection of four major canals. During this time, the city was surrounded by three rings of city walls and probably had a population of between 600,000 and 700,000. It is believed that it was the largest city in the world from 1013 to 1127.
Jin and Yuan dynasties[edit]
This period ended in 1127 when the city fell to Jurchen Jin invaders during the Jingkang Incident. The Jurchen Jin dynasty's emperor ordered all the assets and captured prisoners, including the Song imperial family and officials, to be taken back to the Jin capital – Shangjing (near present-day Harbin). Prince Zhao Gou escaped and moved the remaining Song court to Jiankang. The Jurchens retreated during the year but the Song court never moved back to Bianliang. Dongjing was renamed Bianjing (汴京). It was captured by the Jurchens again in 1130 and became the capital of a Han-ruled puppet state called Great Qi（大齊）until 1138. It subsequently came under the direct rule of the Jin dynasty, which had conquered most of North China during the Jin–Song Wars. The city fell into ruin, with only the area inside the inner city wall of the early Song remained settled and the two outer rings were abandoned. Fan Chengda, while on a diplomatic mission to the Jin court, described that "The new city was mostly in ruins, some places being plowed for fields. The old city was dotted with shops, all of which were just surviving...old palaces, temples, all of them were in ruins".
In 1153, the Jin dynasty built a Central Capital (中都大興府) in Daxing Prefecture (today's Beijing) and make Bianjing the Southern Capital (Nanjing-南京), the secondary capital of the Jin Dynasty. Nanjing was administered by the Kaifeng Prefecture of Nanjing Circuit.
From 1211, Genghis Khan led his troops to attack the Jin dynasty several times. In 1214, Emperor Xuanzong of Jin moved the imperial court southwards to Nanjing-Kaifeng, relying on the Yellow River defense line to resist the Mongols. In 1233, Kaifeng fell to Mongol forces after a 10 months siege. The city was looted and Jin royal family members were captured and massacred.
During the Mongol-ruled Yuan dynasty, Bianliang became the capital of Henan Jiangbei Province, which was established in 1268. In 1260, Marco Polo arrived at Kaifeng, and wrote about it in his diaries.
East Market Street, Kaifeng, 1910. The synagogue of the Kaifeng Jews lay beyond the row of stores on the right
Ming, Qing and modern time[edit]
From 1358 to 1359, the city was briefly captured by the Red Turban rebels led by Liu Futong and Han Lin'er, who proclaimed emperor of the restored Song. They were crushed by the Yuan forces. In 1368, Bianliang was captured by the Ming dynasty and was reverted back to the old name Kaifeng. During the reign of the Hongwu Emperor, Kaifeng Prefecture was designated as the secondary Northern Capital of the Ming dynasty, bearing the name of Beijing, in anticipation of the construction of the new capital Zhongdu in Fengyang. In 1378, the Zhongdu project was abolished and Kaifeng Prefecture became the capital of Henan province. Kaifeng remained the capital of Henan from Ming to the early years of the People's Republic. It was until 1954 that the capital of Henan province was moved to Zhengzhou. In 1410, the Yellow River flooded, destroying the city and killing 14,000 households.
Kaifeng was conveniently situated along the Grand Canal for logistics supply but militarily vulnerable due to its position on the floodplains of the Yellow River. Five major floods devastated the city between 1375 and 1416, and flooding occurred more than 300 times from the Southern Song Dynasty to the late Qing dynasty.
Map of Kaifeng (K'ai-feng) in 1950s
In 1642, Li Zicheng's rebels attacked Kaifeng three times. During the third siege, Kaifeng was flooded by the Ming army with water from the Yellow River to drown the rebels. The entire city was submerged in several feet deep water. Only 30,000 of the 370,000 people in the city survived. After this disaster, the city was abandoned again. In 1662, during the reign of the Kangxi Emperor in the Qing dynasty, Kaifeng was rebuilt. Another reconstruction in 1843 followed the flood of 1841, shaping Kaifeng as it stands today.
From the 8th to 9th century and up to the 19th century, Kaifeng was known for having the oldest extant Jewish community in China, the Kaifeng Jews. As of 2016, there are 500 to 1,000 Jews still left in the city.
From June 1938 to August 1945, the city was occupied by the invading Japanese Imperial Army. In 1948, the Battle of Kaifeng occurred between Chinese communist forces and Chinese Nationalist forces but ultimately lead to a PLA Victory and the collapse of the Nationalist forces.
In October 1954, the capital of Henan province was moved from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou. In September 1983, Kaifeng City (开封市) was formed on the basis of former prefectures and districts.
