Why do many famous cities of ancient times not match their modern economies and status?

I want to talk about Lanzhou. <>

In ancient times, Lanzhou's strategic position was unshakable, it was not only a necessary place on the Silk Road, but also a strong line of defense against foreign enemies, so it was called the "Golden City", which was among the best in terms of economy and culture, and was truly an excellent territory.

But in modern times, Lanzhou has gradually declined, and even ranked at the bottom, it is strange to say, in ancient times, it occupied a good geographical location, and now it is also a loss of geographical location, located inland, too far away from the coastal area, and the development opportunity is very small.

This is the inevitable development of the times, because in ancient times there were many famous cities will rely on some natural hazards to guard, at that time did not need too developed transportation, but in modern society is more about transportation, only traffic extends in all directions will have better development.

In ancient times, wars continued, and the choice of the national capital would generally be in the relatively central position of the country, and standing in the era of peace, peace and development became the main body of the times, and some places with developed transportation and rich resources became the main body of the economy.

Shangqiu City in the Central Plains is known as the capital of the emperor, and the emperor built the capital in Shangqiu a long time ago, and has a high status. But now due to the lack of resources and other elements, it is now just an ordinary third-tier city. <>

Luoyang. This city is the capital of many dynasties, the Central Plains in ancient times, and the place where soldiers must fight. Nowadays, Henan's economic development is average, although Luoyang is still developing very well, but compared with the megacities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, it still seems a little sluggish.

In ancient times, there was no industry, mainly agriculture, and those famous cities in ancient times were located in places where the land was vast and the people were abundant. Nowadays, in addition to agriculture, the main economic system also has industry side by side, such as the Pearl River Delta cities due to their geographical advantages, more conducive to the import and export of goods and transportation, the economic status of the ancient famous cities is also surpassed.

In ancient times, cities mainly had political, economic, and military functions, and their productive forces were backward.

The political centers of ancient dynasties were relatively prosperous, such as "Chang'an".

The economy of ancient times was a small-scale peasant economy, characterized by self-sufficiency, fertile land, and sufficient grain production, such as "Suhu is ripe, the world is full".

In modern times, a variety of mixed economies are implemented in parallel, and the small-scale peasant economy has been eliminated by the times.

In modern times, no matter which city relies on science and technology to develop its economy, it no longer relies on agriculture, so the famous cities of ancient times cannot be compared with the famous cities of modern times.

I think for my personal understanding, the conditions for the development of ancient and modern times are different, and the conditions needed are also different, in ancient times, farming, grain production was the largest, modern people want to develop, there are too many convenient transportation, scenery and geographical factors, whoever reforms first can develop.

I can't say a lot, I can only say that some cities are like this, such as Luoyang, in ancient times, the main consideration of the city's geographical location is very important militarily, and today in the era of peace, we think more about transportation, if the traffic is developed, the geographical location is important, the economic development is relatively fast, and it is also related to the country's macro policy, such as Shenzhen, these new cities.

Because due to the continuous development of human beings, the aesthetics have also changed with the changes of the times, and there may be many ancient famous cities with the appearance of good looks, but if you get the modern aesthetics, it is not very good.

Changan. Chang'an, with a population of 1.85 million at its peak, the city is composed of Waiguo City, the Imperial City and the Palace City, the Forbidden Garden, and the Fang City, with an area of nearly 100 square kilometers, which means that it is 10 kilometers long and kilometers wide, with a total of 108 squares in the city. The prosperity of all industries and the adjacency of the palaces show the superb level of planning and design of ancient Chinese residential buildings.

In the planning process, the city embraces the idea of the unity of heaven and man, and the Son of Heaven lives in Longshou Mountain, overlooking the whole city. In order to accommodate more people and migrate to the grand plan of the nobles of the exterminated countries in the south of the Yangtze River to Shijingshi, the city was built ahead of time, with an area of nearly 84 square kilometers, including the royal and aristocratic gardens in the suburbs, and it is more than 100 square kilometers. Even if only the city is counted, Tang Chang'an is also the Han Chang'an city is the Ming and Qing Dynasty Beijing City, the Byzantine Empire capital Constantinople is 7 times larger, than the Baghdad city built in 800 AD, the ancient Roman city is only one-fifth of Chang'an, after thousands of years, until the rise of industrial civilization, Chang'an City has been ranked as the largest capital built by human beings, is well-deserved"The first city in the world"。

It was only in the first half of the nineteenth century that it was surpassed by London, the capital of the empire on which the sun never sets. Therefore, from the rise of mankind to 1840, Tang Chang'an City has always been the largest city in the world.

Because of the influence of TV dramas, the ancient streets and alleys we see are very prosperous, which makes us full of fantasies about ancient times, and even many children have dreams of being able to travel back to ancient times.

However, that is all the beautification of ancient streets by modern people, and the ancient streets are not as beautiful and spectacular as they are seen in TV dramas.

First, there is a lot of poop on the street.

This is not a casual nonsense, it is recorded in the book "Wanli Ye Ed.", even if it is a big city street, if it rains, it is simply a disaster for the common people. When you step on it, it's all soaked feces, and the muddy water splashes and hits people, it's really disgusting.

Because the poop splashed wantonly, everyone hid even more. Because I dodged harder, I stepped harder. So, when it rains, you can see many days of stepping on the street.

This was because there were not as many public toilets on the streets as there are now, and there were no shops for everyone's convenience. Therefore, it can only be solved on the spot. Even if it's not raining and it's dusty, it always smells like poop.

Second, street sanitation is poor.

In addition to poop, there is also a lot of other garbage. In ancient times, there were no special cleaners like now. So, all kinds of garbage are littered. Moreover, unlike now, the main trunk and branches are clear.

The day in power is to stay in the palace, of course, the palace is very beautiful, how can you care about the life of the common people? The private visit to the micro-service once every few years is also an illusion after receiving the news in advance and after rectification.

This is true for big cities, let alone small ones. In addition, the streets at that time were not as wide as they are now, and the small street vendors on the side of the road were very crowded.

In ancient times, cities were thatched huts, tiled houses, which could not be compared with today's high-rise buildings, and there were no public transportation facilities in ancient times, only horse-drawn carriages.

In ancient times, cities were small in size and scattered in a wide range of people's lives, and the gap between them and today's cities may be the density of population.

Ancient cities were still relatively prosperous, but relatively speaking, they were not as advanced as modernization, and they were also places that people yearn for.

According to the eyes of the ancients, the city is very luxurious, but we modern people look at it simply.

In fact, the difference between the ancient city and the current city is only in terms of architecture, and there is basically not much difference in other aspects.

It's certainly not as commercial as it is now, some bad atmosphere, maybe old but very substantial.

It should be very shabby, but it is particularly cultural, unlike now, which is all commercial.