Bohai Shangjing: a capital in three enclosures
The outer city, imperial city and palace city offer a way to read the capital’s nested plan.
Bohai Shangjing was laid out with an outer city and a separate imperial enclosure. The palace precinct stood north of the imperial city, where government compounds occupied the central zone; surviving gates, walls and foundations let archaeologists trace the plan of an early medieval capital across the present site.
The outer city, imperial city and palace city offer a way to read the capital’s nested plan.