Page "Grid plan" Paragraph 7

The tradition of grid plans is continuous in China from the 15th century BC onward in the traditional urban planning of various ancient Chinese states.

Guidelines put into written form in the Kaogongji during the Spring and Autumn Period ( 770-476 BC ) stated: " a capital city should be square on plan.

Three gates on each side of the perimeter lead into the nine main streets that crisscross the city and define its grid-pattern.

And for its layout the city should have the Royal Court situated in the south, the Marketplace in the north, the Imperial Ancestral Temple in the east and the Altar to the Gods of Land and Grain in the west.