OpenGeofiction
Hello everyone, Happy 2019!
Haven’t written a new diary for a while, so this time I’m gonna show something I made quite a long time ago, the Royal City of Cinasia.
I have been read some books about the ancient Chinese city planning, the wisdom of ancient people is so amazing.
The Royal City is inspired by the Forbidden City in Peking, and yes, the scale of both are similar, and they look similar too, but the details are different. I tried to obey the ancient Chinese law, all main buildings locate on an axis(中軸線), the front part of palace is the center of political activities and the back part is the living areas. Hope you guys like it.
Hilson~
Discussion
Comment from louis_walker on 20 January 2019 at 17:36
This is really fabulous detail work! I love the little water pavilion. Bravo!
Comment from histor on 20 January 2019 at 18:06
Fine work, indeed. But — as I know chinese people (feng shui and so on) it is better, to draw this forbidden town north-to south, not at 45° as now.
Comment from zhenkang on 20 January 2019 at 22:21
@histor given the nature of the OGF world, I wonder if fengshui can even work here.
Comment from Hilsonbergman on 21 January 2019 at 14:00
@histor Feng shui is not sth mysterious, it bases on science and geography, China is a country at northern hemisphere, so a house faces south will capture more sunshine, for a country in southern hemisphere, facing north is the best option. However, I have planned this town long ago, if I rotate the whole palace, everything have to change, so I keep it 45 degree. Or you can say like this, Cinasia is now a republic because the Feng shui of the palace is not good enough XD.
Comment from Sarepava on 21 January 2019 at 19:55
Most impressive. I wonder if you might label some of the historical buildings. Also it’s likely this place would be a major tourist attraction so some kind of entrance structures would be found around here to sell tickets and overpriced souvenirs.
Comment from Luciano on 21 January 2019 at 20:05
Non-north-south orientation for “feng shui” (Korean 풍수 pungsu) is not uncommon. There is a famous palace in Seoul that is diagonal to the compass
osm.org/#map=17/37.57998/126.99143
Comment from zhenkang on 21 January 2019 at 22:26
So actually if I want a Chinese empire nearby at the same latitude, the buildings and stuff need to be diagonal? Assuming they followed Fengshui in the past.
Comment from Luciano on 22 January 2019 at 00:28
@zhenkang - not necessarily. I don’t know about Chinese fengshui, but Korean pungsu is more based on the slopes of hillsides and the positions of nearby mountains. So palaces and temples are laid out relative to where they face “out” or “down” valleys. As I understand it, the reason the location of the city of Seoul was so propitious was because the valley/mountain pungsu lined up perfectly with the north/south pungsu - thus the positioning of the main palace and the city that grew up around it.
osm.org/#map=18/37.57714/126.97815
Note that the palace is a little bit off of “true north” - I assume their calculations weren’t perfect in 600 AD.
Comment from zhenkang on 22 January 2019 at 00:50
Hmm well the capital needs thorough planning then if Fengshui needs to be taken into consideration. Looks like I have to do the natural features first as well, if I maanged to get the territories needed for the empire.
Comment from Hilsonbergman on 22 January 2019 at 14:26
@Sarepava, Thank you for your wonderful idea!