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36°16′29″N114°24′01″E / 36.2748°N 114.4002°E /36.2748; 114.4002
Ye orYecheng (simplified Chinese:邺城;traditional Chinese:鄴城;pinyin:Yèchéng;Wade–Giles:Yeh4-ch'eng2) was an ancient Chinese city located in what is nowLinzhang County,Handan,Hebei province and neighbouringAnyang,Henan province.
Ye was first built in theSpring and Autumn period byDuke Huan of Qi, and by the time of theWarring States period the city belonged to the state ofWei. During theHan dynasty, Ye was the seat ofWei Commandery and an important regional center. Following thecollapse of Han rule, Ye served as the military headquarters of the warlordsYuan Shao andCao Cao. Under the latter's rule, Ye transformed into a political and economic center of northeastern China during theThree Kingdoms period, and during theSixteen Kingdoms andNorthern dynasties, the city served as the capital for theLater Zhao,Ran Wei,Former Yan,Eastern Wei andNorthern Qi dynasties.
In 204, Cao Cao wrestled the city of Ye from Yuan Shao's sonYuan Shang. As the precedingbattle of Ye had destroyed the inner city, Cao Cao set about rebuilding the city in the mold of an imperial capital.[1] He initiated a number of works in Ye, digging canals in and around the city to improve irrigation and drainage, building the Hall of Civil Splendour (文昌殿) which was to become the centerpiece of Ye's palace complex,[2] and erecting theBronze Bird Terrace in 210 that became much-celebrated inChinese poetry. Cao Cao's impact on Ye was so extensive that he alone, more than any ruler of the city before and after, is associated with the city of Ye in the Chinesecultural memory.[3] Ironically, after Cao Cao's grandsonCao Huan was forced to abdicate toSima Yan in February 266, Cao Huan was relocated to Ye where he lived for the rest of his life.[4]
During theSixteen Kingdoms period, Ye was an important city for theJie-ledLater Zhao dynasty that unified most of northern China, later becoming its capital in 335 during the reign ofShi Hu. After Shi Hu's death, his adopted grandson,Ran Min, forcibly seized the city, where he founded the short-livedRan Wei state in 350. TheXianbei-ledFormer Yan dynasty soon conquered Ran Wei in 352, and Ye became their capital from 357 up till its fall in 370.[5]
In the 490s,Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei moved his capital from Pingcheng (平城, in modern Datong, Shanxi) to Luoyang. This move was not welcomed by all. Antagonism grew between Xiaowen and his sinicized court and those who preferred to cling to the traditional Tuoba tribal ways, and it only increased with further changes calling for the abandonment of Tuoba dress and names. Eventually, under the leadership of Gao Huan (a Chinese general who was Tuoba in his ways and "outlook"[6]), thesinicization-dissenting 'northern garrisons' mutinied and captured Luoyang in 534. "At three days' notice its inhabitants were required to accompany Gao Huan to his own base, the city of Ye...where he declared himself the first Eastern Wei emperor."[7] "During most of the sixth century Ho-pei (Hebei) was the heart of an independent state with its capital at Yeh [Ye]...."[8] It remained the capital of theEastern Wei dynasty and theNorthern Qi dynasty until 580. At that time Ye was being used by a resistance force led byYuchi Jiong, which was defeated byYang Jian, founder of theSui dynasty, and the city was razed to the ground.
Some scholars, such as Ku Chi-kuang[9] reported that the Hebei region continued to harbour separatist sympathies into theTang dynasty. It was the region from whichAn Lushan launched his rebellion during the reign of the TangEmperor Xuanzong. The city was razed after the rebellion's failure.
Extensive excavations of the city have been made in recent years, allowing Chinese historians to make detailed plans of the site. In 2012, archaeologists unearthed nearly 3,000Buddha statues during a dig outside Ye. Most of the statues are made of white marble and limestone, and could date back to the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties (534–577 CE).[10]
A community of merchantSogdians resided in Northern Qi era Ye.[11]