Ancient Urban Water System Construction of China

Introduction

China is an agricultural-based country, but the documented urban history was dated back to more 4,000 years. The early civilizations began in the middle and lower basin of Yellow River (Cai, 2012). Accordingly, in the early age of the Chinese cities, the major river nearby places were strongly considered as the site for building the city, especially rivers like Yellow River basin and Yangtze River basin. However, all the influential ancient cities in China were built close to the major rivers. They include a series of the most influential ancient capital cities such as Anyang, Chang’an, Luoyang, Kaifeng, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Beijing, etc. For example, Anyang, the oldest capital city of China, was built crossed the riversides of the old Heng Shui (洹水) river. Chang’an, today’s Xi’an City, was built close to eight rivers likes Wei(渭)、, Jin(泾)、, Lao(涝)、, Feng(沣), etc and became the capital city for 1,700 years by 13 dynasties. Kaifeng City was located between the Yellow River...