Tracing China's origins

A flourishing city

My next stop in time was Luoyang during the Sui (581-618) and Tang (618-907) dynasties, a significant period in the city's history. In 605,Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty ordered the construction of Luoyang as the Sui's eastern capital. He also launched the building of the Grand Canal, with Luoyang serving as a key transportation hub.

This network enabled the transportation of grain from the southern regions around the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to Luoyang, which housed two of the Sui's largest granaries, Hanjia and Huiluo. Thus, Luoyang grew in prominence.

The city further flourished under Empress Wu Zetian. After succeeding to the throne — defying the tradition that only men could rule — she sought to distance herself from the Tang royal family, based in Chang'an (present-day Xi'an, Shaanxi province) and establish a new political order. She chose Luoyang as her capital city and called it the "Divine Capital".

Under her rule, a central axis, an ensemble of palaces, ceremonial and public buildings, roads and other structures gradually took shape.

Many were huge, as high as 150 meters, according to records. "If Chang'an reflects the duration of the Tang Dynasty, as it was used by the Tang as the capital for more than 200 years, then Luoyang represents the pinnacle of architectural achievement of that time," says Wang Kai, a local historian.

Today, the buildings are gone, but visitors can still see some of their unearthed foundations and tour replicas of some of the city's ancient components.

At the Dingdingmen Site Museum, the southern gate of Luoyang's outer city, visitors can see a re-creation of a Tang-era roadway featuring traces of wheel ruts, footprints and hoof prints. It is easy to imagine the bustle of trade along the ancient Silk Road, which linked Luoyang with Xiyu, a historical term used to describe modern-day Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Central Asia.

Because of this significance, the gate was named part of the UNESCO World Heritage site, "Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor", in 2014.