The original city was constructed by the Duke of Zhou (Öܹ«) in the 11th century BC and was thus named Chengzhou. It became the capital of the Zhou Dynasty since 770 BC. The city was destroyed in a civil war in 510 BC and rebuilt the next year at the request of the king.

In AD 25, Luoyang became the capital of Eastern Han Dynasty. Wei Dynasty and Jin Dynasty were also established in Luoyang. For several centuries, Luoyang was the gravity center of China. When Jin was overrun by barbarians and forced to move its capital to Jiankang (modern day Nanjing), however, the capital city was nearly totally destroyed.

In AD 68, the White Horse Temple, first Buddhist temple in China, was founded in Luoyang. The temple still exists, albeit the architecture is of later origin, mainly from the 1500s. An Shihkao was one of the first monks to popularize Buddhism in Luoyang.

In AD 190, powerful tyrant Dong Zhuo ransacks and pillages the city before razing most of the buildings to the ground. The court is moved to Xi'an, since it is better suited to repel the coalition set up against him.

In AD 493 the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital from Datong to Luoyang and started the construction of the artificial Longmen Caves. More than 30,000 Buddhist statues from the time of this dynasty have been found in the caves.


Culture
The Longmen Grottoes were listed by the UNESCO among the World Heritage Sites in November 2000. White Horse Temple is located 12km east of the modern town. Guanlin is a series of temples that have been built in honor of a hero of the Three Kingdoms period, Guan Yu, close to the grottoes to the south of the city. China's only tombs museum, the Luoyang Ancient Tombs Museum is situated north of the modern town. Luoyang Museum is in the center of town.

Luoyang is also famous for the Water Banquet Shui Xi, which consists of 8 cold and 16 warm dishes cooked in various broths, gravies or juices, hence its name.

Luoyang has a reputation as a cultivation center for peony (city flower of Luoyang).


Popular culture
There is a city called "Louyang" (a modified spelling of "Luoyang") in the MMORPG Ragnarok Online.

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About Xian

. A sub-provincial . This article concerns places that serve as centers of government and politics. For alternative meanings see capital (disambiguation) . Encyclopedia of Modern Asia© on Xi¡¯an . Wade-Giles ( . A province, . The Chinese phrase Four Great Ancient Capitals of China (Traditional Chinese: ÖЇøËÄ´ó¹Å¶¼; Simplified Chinese: ÖйúËÄ´ó¹Å¶¼; pinyin: Zh¨­nggu¨® S¨¬ D¨¤ G¨³d¨±) traditionally refers to Beijing, Nanjing, Luoyang, and Xi¡¯an. . Zhou Dynasty . Early career . Western and Eastern Zhou . Xi??an West Peak (Xi Feng) . Qin Dynasty . Oppression During Zheng¡¯s Rule . Qin Shi Huang . Xianyang

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