论中国城墙的起源

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE CITY WALLS IN CHINA

中国的城墙起源于原始社会后期,即龙山文化时代。它是由壕沟演变而来的防御工程,并逐渐代替壕沟而成为城市防御的主要手段。经过夏、商两代的发展,西周时代已普遍筑城,城和国已成为同义词。而且筑城技术也发展到一个新的高度,与今天的筑城方法十分相似。城和市都兴起很早,二者之间也没有关系。由于西周时代城内设市,就出现了中国早期的城市。“城市”一词起源于战国,即设市之城邑谓之城市。

The chinese city wall originated in the period of LongShan Culture of the late primitive society. It was a kind of defense work developed from the ditches and gradually became the chief way of city protection instead of the ditches After the development If architectural skills in Xia and Shang dynasties, the city walls had been widespreadly built in the prtiod of Western Zhou Dynasty; 'the city' and 'the empire' had the same meaning at that time, and the building skills also developed to a new level, which was quite similar to that of today. Although the city and market emerged very early, there were no relations between them at all. It was because there were markets in the city that the earliest chinese cities appeared in the period of Western Zhou Dynasty. The term 'city ' was primarily used in books in the warring states period. It is said that 'A region with markets in it and surrounded by the walls was called A City.'