咸阳 / Xianyang
咸阳 / Xianyang appears in 《资治通鉴·周纪》17丨韩昭侯和申不害 as the new 秦国 capital selected at the opening of 公孙鞅 / 商鞅’s second reform round in 350 BCE. The episode treats the move from Liyang to Xianyang as more than an address change: it is part of 商鞅变法 becoming a durable state geography.
The source explains the name through location: south of the Jiuzong mountains and north of the Wei River, with “xian” glossed as total or complete. It also notes that Qin remains centered there through 秦始皇’s unification and the Qin dynasty’s end.
《资治通鉴·周纪》55丨 张仪痛失贵人秦惠王 adds Xianyang as the destination Zhang Yi does not reach before learning that 秦惠文王 has died. The road back toward the Qin capital becomes the place where successful 连横 work turns into 靠山更替暴露风险 under 秦武王.
《资治通鉴·周纪》61丨谁是历史上胆儿最肥的帝王？ adds Xianyang as the imagined target of 赵武灵王’s anti-Qin plan. After entering Qin in disguise to inspect terrain and 秦昭襄王, Zhao Wuling Wang decides the usual 函谷关 route is too difficult and considers moving south from Yunzhong and Jiuyuan toward Xianyang.
《资治通鉴·周纪》62丨稷儿，诓你舅舅的“腿”啊 adds Xianyang as the detention and office setting after the 武关 trap. 楚怀王 is taken there after Qin seizes him, then pressured by 秦昭襄王 to cede 巫郡 and 黔中. The same episode closes by saying 孟尝君 / 田文 arrives at Xianyang and is made Qin chancellor.
《资治通鉴·周纪》63丨 德高望重孟尝君是伪君子？ resolves that chancellor setup by making the Qin court a danger zone for Mengchangjun. Qin Zhaoxiang Wang suspects his Qi loyalty, replaces him with 楼缓, imprisons him, and releases him only after a palace favorite is persuaded through the stolen white fox-fur robe.
《资治通鉴·周纪》65丨我穿越去给浪漫的楚王念首诗 makes Xianyang the start and end point of 楚怀王’s final failed escape. Chu Huaiwang leaves the Qin capital, cannot return through 武关, is captured after being refused by Zhao, and dies back in Qin captivity in 296 BCE. The capital therefore carries both administrative centrality and the reputational burden of a detained foreign ruler’s death.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》115-1｜荆轲刺秦似乎有点儿草率了 adds Xianyang as the palace setting for 荆轲’s access attempt. 蒙嘉 helps turn 燕国’s surrender script, 樊无忌’s head, and the 督亢地图 into a grand court audience. The capital’s ceremony then becomes active pressure: 秦武阳 freezes before the assembled Qin kin and ministers, forcing Jing Ke to proceed alone.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》117-2｜学着点！秦朝武将竟然如此高情商？ adds Xianyang as the property target in 王翦’s self-protection performance. Before and during the Chu campaign departure, Wang Jian repeatedly asks 嬴政 / 秦始皇 for fields and houses near the capital, making 贪财人设式自保 legible as a capital-centered property signal rather than an ordinary reward request.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》120-4｜并六国后 秦始皇教你如何守江山 makes Xianyang the post-unification concentration point for people, metal, and display. Confiscated weapons from the conquered realm are brought there and cast into palace figures, while 120,000 powerful households are forced to move to the capital so 嬴政 / 秦始皇 can enrich the center, monitor potential opposition, and detach local elites from their old networks. The same source describes Qin copying conquered states’ palaces around the Wei River area, turning Xianyang into a visible archive of empire.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》121｜嬴政造世界最早高速公路 2200年荒草不生 makes Xianyang both the center the emperor leaves and the center rebuilt as cosmic hub. Qin Shi Huang departs from the capital toward 陇西郡, 北地郡, and Qin old lands, then returns to a construction program in which 极庙 south of the Wei River, roads toward 骊山, covered passages, and 驰道 fold the capital into 秦代宇宙化都城规划.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》125-1｜秦始皇修建史上最大烂尾楼阿房宫 adds the overcrowded and hidden-palace version of Xianyang. The episode says the earlier relocation of 120,000 powerful households makes the capital population surge, helping explain the move of offices south of the Wei River and the planning of 阿房宫. It also makes the Xianyang region the center of 帝王行踪保密: hundreds of palaces are connected, the emperor’s residence is concealed, and senior officials wait at Xianyang Palace because the ruler’s movements are deliberately opaque.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》127-2｜李斯为啥不帮英明的扶苏 makes Xianyang the endpoint that gives 秘不发丧式过渡控制 its timing. 李斯, 赵高, and 胡亥 keep Qin Shi Huang’s death hidden until the convoy returns; only at Xianyang do they announce the death and present Hu Hai’s succession as a completed fact.
《资治通鉴·秦纪》127-3｜海外回归一批竹简 揭开胡亥立帝之谜！ keeps Xianyang as the public-announcement endpoint in the traditional branch, but the 《赵正书》 branch changes what had already happened before the return. If Hu Hai was chosen during Qin Shi Huang’s final illness, Xianyang remains where accession is announced and mourning is formalized, not necessarily where the heir decision is invented.
Hanji 139 makes Xianyang the newly occupied capital whose meaning splits between temptation and records. 刘邦 enters the Qin palace and wants to stay with its wealth and women until 樊哙 and 张良 persuade him to return to 霸上. At the same time, 萧何 goes to the chancellor’s office and preserves maps, registers, and archives, turning the capital from a palace prize into the information base of administrative archive capture.
Hanji 142 gives Xianyang its Xiang Yu aftermath. After the Hongmen escape, 项羽 enters the capital, kills 子婴, destroys the Qin royal line, burns the palace complex, and seizes wealth and women before leaving east. The episode uses that conduct as a direct contrast with Liu Bang’s earlier palace withdrawal and archive-preserving occupation posture.
Connections
- 秦国 - polity whose capital moves there.
- 公孙鞅 / 商鞅 and Shang Yang Reforms / 商鞅变法 - reformer and reform package linked to the move.
- Strategic Capital Relocation / 战略性迁都 - broader concept for reading capitals as statecraft instruments.
- Qin Administrative Standardization / 秦国行政标准化 - second-reform administrative branch in the same source.
- 秦始皇 - later Qin ruler used by the source to mark the capital’s duration.
- 张仪, 秦惠文王, 秦武王, and 靠山更替暴露风险 - Zhouji 55 return-road succession notice.
- 赵武灵王, 秦昭襄王, 函谷关, and 战国军事形态转变 - Zhouji 61 northern-route target after disguised reconnaissance.
- 楚怀王, 武关, 巫郡, 黔中, and 孟尝君 / 田文 - Zhouji 62 captive Chu king and Qin chancellor setup.
- 楼缓, 齐国, and 鸡鸣狗盗式人才批评 - Zhouji 63 Mengchangjun imprisonment, replacement, and escape context.
- 楚怀王, 武关, 赵国, and 道德名望政治资本 - Zhouji 65 escape, return to captivity, death, and reputational backlash context.
- 荆轲, 秦武阳, 蒙嘉, 樊无忌, and 督亢地图 - Qinji 115-1 assassination access and palace-pressure branch.
- 王翦, 嬴政 / 秦始皇, and 贪财人设式自保 - Qinji 117-2 estate requests around the capital.
- Qinji 120-4, 统一后收兵器, 豪杰迁徙控制, and 帝国整齐划一 - capital-centered disarmament display, elite surveillance, and post-unification palace construction.
- Qinji 121, 极庙, 太一, 骊山, 驰道, and 秦代宇宙化都城规划 - capital as departure point, ritual-cosmic hub, and road-network center.
- Qinji 125-1, 阿房宫, 豪杰迁徙控制, 帝国工程过载, and 帝王行踪保密 - overcrowding, south-bank expansion, and hidden-palace network.
- Qinji 127-2, 秦始皇, 胡亥 / 秦二世, 赵高, 李斯, and 伪诏继位政变 - delayed mourning announcement and public accession endpoint.
- Qinji 127-3, 《赵正书》, and 临终就近立储 - same endpoint under the alternate deathbed-selection account.
- Hanji 139, 刘邦, 萧何, 行政档案接管, 樊哙, 张良, and 霸上 - occupied-capital palace temptation and archive capture.
- Hanji 142, 项羽, 子婴, 韩生, 关中, and 联军战后安排失败 - punitive capital entry, burning and plunder, and rejected Guanzhong state-building.