Chang'an

So what did these sites tell us about early Chinese religious beliefs? Do they complement, confirm, challenge what we find in texts at all?

There's only one well-established shrine or temple, and that is the Wangwang Temple outside of Chang'an.

And that came pretty late.

Aside from that major temple complex, there's actually very little evidence or actual durable remains of ritual activity left.

And I don't know, as you mentioned, a ritual center that was on the outskirts of that.

Do we have a good sense of how these cities were laid out, for example? Can we reconstruct that?

Chang'an is unusual.

Rather than putting the capital in Luoyang, which is the traditional capital or center of the world, they moved it to further west to where the Qing had their own capital region.

They captured Jiangling.

Basically, a lot of captives, again, from court to commons, a lot of people were captured and taken to North China, to Chang'an.

So those survivors, yes, it's almost like history is, in a way, reversing itself.

That is, you know, about 150 years ago, their ancestors fled to the south from Norse, to south.

For more information, or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. A Selection from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling Translated by Herbert Allen Giles Volume 1, Part 2 The Talking Pupils, read by Ashwin Jain.

At Chang'an there lived a scholar named Fang Tung, who, though by no means destitute of ability, was a very unprincipled rake, and in the habit of following and speaking to any woman he might chance to meet, the day before the spring festival of clear weather

he was strolling

about outside the city when he saw a small carriage with red curtains and an embroidering awning followed by a crowd of waiting-maids on horseback one of whom was exceedingly pretty and riding on a small palfrey going closer to get a better view mr chang noticed that the carriage curtain was partly open and inside he beheld a beautifully dressed girl of about sixteen, lovely beyond anything he had ever seen.

When Liu Bang was too busy pouring the foundation for the Han dynasty and consolidating his power and trying to keep the peace, I mentioned he set his family relatives up in these kingdoms and replaced those who had, by their acts, displayed a certain amount of disloyalty to Liu Bang.

So all these Lius were set up as princes out in these lands beyond the immediate control of the capital in Chang'an.

Everything was fine, of course, while the Gaozu emperor was alive, but once he passed in 195 BC, the bonds of fealty began to fray until the moment for these seven states came in 154 BC.

In reading the situation in the capital with Emperor Jing, they felt the time was right to reassert themselves and become independent of the Han emperor.

Even after Emperor Jing had Cao Cao executed, the rebellion continued, and Han Jingdi had to come up with a plan B.

So he called in the reliable and loyal general Zhou Yafu.

General Zhou Yafu set out from Chang'an and in a matter of time managed to bring an end to the rebellion.

One by one, the princes capitulated, and the last one to go was the prince of Zhou with his capital at Handan.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. A Selection from Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling Translated by Herbert Allen Giles Volume 1, Part 2 The Talking Pupils, read by Ashwin Jain.

At Chang'an there lived a scholar named Fang Tung, who, though by no means destitute of ability, was a very unprincipled rake, and in the habit of following and speaking to any woman he might chance to meet, the day before the spring festival of clear weather

he was strolling

about outside the city when he saw a small carriage with red curtains and an embroidering awning followed by a crowd of waiting-maids on horseback one of whom was exceedingly pretty and riding on a small palfrey going closer to get a better view mr chang noticed that the carriage curtain was partly open and inside he beheld a beautifully dressed girl of about sixteen, lovely beyond anything he had ever seen.

Read by Ashwin Jain.

At Chang'an there lived a scholar named Fang Tung, who, though by no means destitute of ability, was a very unprincipled rake, and in the habit of following and speaking to any woman he might chance to meet.

The day before the spring festival of clear weather, he was strolling about outside the city when he saw a small carriage with red curtains and an embroidering awning, followed by a crowd of waiting maids on horseback, one of whom was exceedingly pretty, and riding on a small palfrey.

Going closer to get a better view, Mr. Chang noticed that the carriage curtain was partly open, and inside he beheld a beautifully dressed girl of about sixteen, lovely beyond anything he had ever seen.