"Nancy Steinhardt's book, elaborating on the transformation and continuity of morphological urban design of Chinese imperial cities and detailing their profound impact on urban planning in East Asia, is indeed a most welcome contribution to the urbanology of East Asia." --Journal of Asian Studies

"An admirable survey.... Bringing together an impressive range of sources, [the author] argues that the notion of a single tradition of Chinese imperial city planning is too simplistic and proposes a more nuanced account of morphological evolution. [Furthermore] readers will find Steinhardt's bibliography an invaluable guide to sources in six languages." --Asian Studies Review

Chinese Imperial City Planning is the first synthesis of what is known from textual and archaeological evidence about every Chinese imperial capital, from earliest times to the present. It explains the fundamental architectural principles and visual characteristics of imperial planning in China and shows how these features are related to the Chinese idea of rulership. The volume also reconstructs the 3,500-year-old history of imperial planning using sources such as resident descriptions, travel accounts, official Chinese court records, and the most recent archaeological and scholarly studies. The extensive documentation provides students with a standard source of reference from which to embark on further research on Chinese urban planning.

Nancy Shatzman Steinhardt is professor of East Asian art at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of Liao Architecture (UH Press, 1997).