Liáoyáng

Liaoyang briefly became the capital of Nurhaci’s Later Jin state after his army captured the city in 1621. Construction of a new capital, Dongjing, began that August. Its rhomboid walls enclosed a small plateau and had eight gates, two on each side. The gateways carried names in both old Manchu and Chinese, giving the new capital a visibly bilingual face.

Building proceeded hurriedly: discarded millstones and inscribed stone fragments were packed into the rammed-earth walls beneath their brick and stone facing. An octagonal audience hall and the khan’s residence occupied the interior. In 1625 Nurhaci moved his capital to Shenyang, leaving Dongjing under guard. The site nevertheless retained religious life, with a Buddhist temple founded there in 1641, after its short period as the ruler’s seat had ended.