繁盛的长安城 

　　唐代的都城长安，今名西安。长安城建于隋代，叫大兴城，唐代改称长安城，经过近100年的建设，规模宏大的长安城才最后建成。唐代的长安城比现在的西安旧城要大近十倍，是当时国际性的都市。

　　唐都长安，有雄伟的宫城，是皇帝居住和处理国家政务的地方。宫城南面的皇城里面有政府的官署。城内街道和住宅设计得像棋盘，布局整齐，东西对称。城里的很多街道宽度都在100米以上，其中朱雀大街最宽。这充分体现出当时国力的强盛和经济的繁华。明清时代的北京城就是仿照唐代长安城修建的。

　　长安城内有坊，有市。坊为住宅区，市为繁华的商业区，市坊分开。市里开设了许多店铺，叫做“行”，有“肉行”、“鱼行”、“药行”、“绢行”、“铁行”、“金银行”等，据说仅东市就有200多种行业。四面八方的奇珍异宝，在这里都有出售。

　　长安城还是当时的文化中心，娱乐活动丰富多彩，如音乐、舞蹈、斗鸡、拔河、荡秋千等。唐代最有名的画家、书法家和诗人都聚集在长安城中，他们的创作活动给长安城增添了许多光彩。那时日本、新罗(今朝鲜半岛)等许多国家都派人来长安留学，波斯(今伊朗一带)和大食(今中亚一带)的商人也纷纷前来长安城经商。当时，百万人口的长安，长期居住的外国人达万家以上。长安不仅是唐代中国的政治、经济、文化中心，而且已经成为了当时国际上著名的城市。

　　Chang'an, the capital city of the Tang Dynasty, is now called Xi'an. The city of Chang'an was built in the Sui Dynasty, and called at that time Daxing. The city took nearly 100 years to build. During the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an was almost 11 times as big as today's Xi'an, and was a metropolis of international renown.

　　There emperor lived and ruled in the imperial palace in Chang'an. To the south of the palace there was the so-called Imperial City, where the government offices were located. The streets and residences of Chang'an were designed like a chessboard, with neat and symmetrical layout of the east and west. The width of many streets and avenues inside the city was over 100 m (Zhuque Avenue was the widest street). The city of Beijing in the Ming and Qing dynasties was modeled on the pattern of Chang'an.

　　The residential areas and commercial areas inside the city were located separately. In the commercial areas there were many shops: meat shops, fish shops, medicine shops, silk shops, iron shops, gold and silver shops, etc. There were said to be over 200 kinds of shops in the eastern commercial area. All kinds of precious and rare goods were available there.

　　Chang'an was also the cultural center of China at that time, with rich and colorful recreational activities, such as music, dancing, cock fighting, tug-of-war, swing-playing, etc. The most famous painters, calligraphers and poets of the Tang Dynasty all gathered in Chang'an, and their creative activities added much glory to the city. Students came from Japan and Korea to study in Chang'an, and merchants flocked there from Central Asia. Among the population of around one million in Chang'an, there were over 10,000 foreign households.