As the capital of the first unified Chinese empire, the planning and design of Xianyang in the Qin Dynasty is of significant value in the historical research of urban planning. However, its urban spatial structure is still ambiguous due to the insufficient historical literature and archaeological findings, thereby enforcing the breakthrough of extant research visions and methods. This paper is a tentative response to this issue from the perspective of urban planning. Firstly, the paper infers that the method of Bianfang Zhengwei [Orientation Identification and Position Determination] has been applied in the planning of Xianyang in the Qin Dynasty based on the study of the planning tradition of pre-Qin and Qin-Han dynasties. Secondly, it recognizes and reorganizes the related literature documents and archaeological findings according to the clue of “Core Establishment” and “Orientation Determination,” to identify the axis system of Xianyang with the Polar Temple and Epang Palace as the core, based on which the spatial structure of Xianyang is revealed. Ultimately, it expounds the methodological and practical significance of this study.
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