Editing Luoyang (section)

===Han dynasty===
[[File:China-henan-luoyang-white-horse-temple-entrance-20040506.jpg|left|thumb|220x220px|[[White Horse Temple]] gate]]
In 25 AD, Luoyang was declared the capital of the Eastern Han dynasty on November 27 by [[Emperor Guangwu of Han]].<ref name="Hymes">{{cite book |author=[[Robert Hymes]] |url=https://archive.org/details/columbiachronolo00john |title=Columbia Chronologies of Asian History and Culture |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=2000 |isbn=978-0-231-11004-4 |editor=John Stewart Bowman |page=[https://archive.org/details/columbiachronolo00john/page/13 13] |url-access=registration}}</ref>  The city walls formed a rectangle 4&nbsp;km south to north and 2.5&nbsp;km west to east, with the Gu River, a tributary of the [[Luo River (Henan)|Luo River]] just outside the northern eastern walls.  The rectangular Southern Palace and the Northern Palace were 3&nbsp;km apart and connected by The Covered Way.  In 26 AD, the Altar of the Gods of the Soils and Grains, the Altar of Heaven, and the Temple of the eminent Founder, [[Emperor Gaozu of Han|Emperor Gao]] of Former Han were inaugurated.  The Imperial University was restored in 29 AD. In 48 AD, the Yang Canal linked the capital to the Luo. In 56 AD, the main imperial observatory, the Spiritual Terrace, was constructed.<ref name="Rafe">{{cite book |last1=de Crespigny |first1=Rafe |title=Fire over Luoyang: A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23–220 AD |date=2017 |publisher=Brill |location=Leiden |isbn=9789004324916 |pages=16–52}}</ref>

For several centuries, Luoyang was the focal point of China. In AD 68, the [[White Horse Temple]], the first [[Buddhist]] temple in China, was founded in Luoyang.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}} The temple still exists, though the architecture is of later origin, mainly from the 16th century. [[An Shigao]] was one of the first monks to popularize [[Buddhism]] in Luoyang.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

The diplomat [[Ban Chao]] restored the [[Silk Road]] during the Eastern Han dynasty, thus making Luoyang the eastern terminus of the Silk  Road during the Han dynasty.{{citation needed|date=October 2024}}

In 166 AD, the first [[Sino-Roman relations|Roman mission]], sent by "the king of Da Qin [the Roman Empire], Andun" ([[Marcus Aurelius|Marcus Aurelius Antoninus]], r. 161–180 AD), reached Luoyang after arriving by sea in [[Rinan]] Commandery in what is now central [[Vietnam]].<ref>Hill (2009), p. 27.</ref>

The late 2nd century saw China decline into [[anarchy]]:

<blockquote>The decline was accelerated by the rebellion of the [[Yellow Turbans]], who, although defeated by the Imperial troops in 184 AD, weakened the state to the point where there was a continuing series of rebellions degenerating into civil war, culminating in the burning of the Han capital of Luoyang on 24 September 189 AD. This was followed by a state of continual unrest and wars in China until a modicum of stability returned in the 220s, but with the establishment of three separate kingdoms, rather than a unified empire.<ref>Hill (2009), p. xvi,</ref></blockquote>