Reconsidering Chinese Literati Bureaucrats’ Socializing across Blocks and the Functional Zoning of Chang’an City in the Middle Tang: A Case Study of the Socializing between Zhang Ji and Bai Juyi

Abstract

During the middle Tang, as the systems for selecting and appointing officials gradually matured, literati bureaucrats who rose through the imperial examinations congregated in the capital. Chang’an served as the stage for their daily lives. There had been an interactive impact between the city and literati bureaucrats. Firstly, Chang’an’s development pattern affected residents within it. During the Sui and the early Tang, the capital lacked strictly demarcated zones. Following the relocation of the political center from the Taiji Palace to the Daming Palace during the reigns of Emperor Gaozong and Empress Wu of the Tang, the importance of East Chang’an grew increasingly prominent. This politically driven shift in spatial orientation significantly influenced bureaucratic activities. Conversely, the residential choices and socializing of literati bureaucrats also reshaped the cultural landscapes and social functions of various urban blocks in Chang’an, giving rise to cultural hubs, such as the central and southern blocks of East Chang’an, also easily overlooked was West Chang’an. This interaction may serve as a starting point for examining the transformation of urban society during the transition between the Tang and Song dynasties. The case of the prominent civil officials Zhang Ji and Bai Juyi engaging in socializing across the Zhuque Avenue provides insight into the emergence of intra-urban functional zoning in the ninth-century Chinese capital, as well as the underlying political and socio-cultural implications.

Keywords

the Middle Tang / literati bureaucrats / urban functional zoning / Zhang Ji / Bai Juyi

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

Higher Education Press