TravelTill

History of Shenyang


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The city’s name, Shenyang, literally meaning "the city to the north of Shen River", comes from the Hun River on the city’s south side, which used to be called the Shen River. Archaeological findings show that human beings resided in present-day Shenyang as early as 7,200 years ago. The City of Shenyang was first established by Qin Kai, a general of Yan in the Warring States period about 300 BCE. It was named as Hou City at that time. It became known as the Shen Prefecture in the Jin Dynasty and Shenyang Circuit in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, it became Shenyang Zhongwei.

In 1625, the Manchu leader Nurhaci moved his capital to Shenyang, or Simiyan hoton, as it is called in Manchu. The official name was changed to Shengjing in Chinese, or Mukden in Manchu, in 1634. The name derives from the Manchu word, mukdembi

meaning "to rise", and this is reflected by its Chinese name, which means "rising capital". A major city needed a major building and in 1626 under Nurhaci's orders the Imperial Palace emerged as Shenyang's symbolic center. It featured more than 300 ostentatiously decorated rooms and 20 gardens as both a symbol of power and grandeur.

After the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644, Manchu rule moved west inside the great wall and was established in China proper in Beijing. However, it retained considerable importance as the previous capital and the spiritual home of the Qing dynasty through the centuries. Treasures of the royal house were kept at its palaces, and the tombs of the early Qing rulers were once among the most famous monuments in China. In 1657, Fengtian Prefecture, pinyin: Fèngtiān fǔ; Manchu: Abkai imiyangga fu or Fungtyian "obeying heaven") was established in the Shenyang area, and Fengtian was sometimes used synonymously with Shenyang/Mukden. In 1914, the city changed back to its old name Shenyang. Shenyang continued to be known as Mukden in some English sources (sometimes spelled Moukden) through much of
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