Study On The Changes Of Taoyuan City

Taoyuan County is located in the southwest of Changde City, Hunan Province. Itbelonged to Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, wasaffiliated to Qianzhong county in Qin Dynasty, and was part of Linyuan, Wulingcounty in Han Dynasty. In the twenty-sixth year of Jianwu of Eastern Han Dynasty(50), Linyuan County was separated from Yuannan county. Since then, the territory ofTaoyuan had been affiliated to Linyuan county and Yuannan county respectively. Inthe third year of Kaihuang of Sui Dynasty (583), Linyuan county, Yuannan county andHanshou county was incorporated into Wuling County. It was separated in the secondyear of Qiande of Northern Song Dynasty (964). As there was Peach Blossom Springin its territory, it got the name of the county "Taoyuan." Close to the Yuan River andthe Yanxi, Taoyuan City which enjoyed a pleasant climate, flat terrain, and convenientwater transportation was the county’s political, economic and cultural center. Superiornatural geographical environment and profound historical and cultural heritage hadprovided favourable historical and geographical conditions for the rise anddevelopment of Taoyuan City.Taoyuan county was formerly known as the Old Yuannan county. The seat ofYuannan County was located in the Old Mountain City, and then moved to XunyangPing. In the early years of the Song Dynasty, Taoyuan County was founded, and theseat of Taoyuan County has been located in Zhangjiang Town. At first urban areaswere small and there was no city walls. From Ming, Qing to the Republic period, thespatial form in Taoyuan City was continuously evolving. In the sixteenth year ofChenghua (1480), Taoyuan city began to build the city walls. Initially it was an earthcity made of loess, then reconstructed to a stone city, and eventually built into a brickcity and a moat was dug. Because of ravages caused by soldiers and brigands, citywalls of Taoyuan City have been ruined several times, and nothing was left now.Buildings in the city were destroyed repeatedly due to the wars and the floods.Successive county magistrates rebuilt and upgraded them constantly. The type and thenumber of the building increased gradually, and the scale and the area of urban districtalso expanded by and by. In Qing Dynasty, Taoyuan City formed a city pattern withthe buildings of government offices and schools serving as the center, and streets,cists, pavilions, altars and ancestral temples, dwellings, wells, ponds, city and post station acting as the complement.The population in Taoyuan City from Ming, Qing to the Republic periodcontinued to increase. Although there were stagnation and repetition, the overall trendwas rising. Meanwhile, the economy and culture of Taoyuan City had developedgreatly. During the Xianfeng years(1851—1861), the city became the distributioncenter of goods and materials of the whole county and goods were sold to other places.During the Republic period, the number of merchants was on the increase, andvarious trade associations were set up in the city. Schools and Ancient Academies inTaoyuan County continually upgraded and expanded. After implementing the newacademic structure, new schools in the city which developed a lot of talents forTaoyuan were established one after another.After the founding of China, the tourism of the Peach Blossom Spring led to theeconomic development of Taoyuan City, and some achievements had been made invarious causes, such as the construction of urban area. However, the construction ofurban area and the process of urbanization are relatively slow, the construction oftransportation can not keep pace with times, and historical and cultural sites have beenseriously damaged. All these issues must be resolved. The author tries to summarizethe rule and experience from the historical changes of Taoyuan City, and providereference for solving the current problems of the development in Taoyuan city.