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Eight Ancient Capitals of China - Page 1
The Chinese phrase Four Great Ancient Capitals of China traditionally refers to Beijing, Nanjing, Luoyang, and Xi’an. After the 1920s as more discoveries were made, other historical capitals were added to the list. The phrase Seven Ancient Capitals of China introduced later on, also include Kaifeng (added in the 1920s as the fifth ancient capital), Hangzhou (became the sixth ancient capital in the 1930s), and Anyang (after archaeologists' proposal in 1988, it became the seventh ancient capital); in 2004 the China Ancient Capital Society officially added Zhengzhou as an eighth thanks to archaeological finds there.
1. Beijing
History
There were cities in the vicinities of Beijing by the 1st millennium BC, and the capital of the State 
of Yan, one of the powers of the Warring States Period (473-221 BC), Ji, was established in present-day Beijing.
After the fall of the Yan, the subsequent Qin, Han, and Jin dynasties set-up local prefectures in the area. In Tang Dynasty it became the headquarter for Fan yang jiedushi, the virtual military governor of current northern Hebei area. An Lushan launched An Shi Rebellion from here in 755. This rebellion is often regarded as a turning point of Tang dynasty, as the central government began to lose the control of the whole country.
In 936, the Later Jin Dynasty (936-947) of northern China ceded a large part of its northern frontier, including modern Beijing, to the Khitan Liao Dynasty. In 938, the Liao Dynasty set up a secondary capital in what is now Beijing, and called it Nanjing (the "Southern Capital"). In 1125, the Jurchen Jin Dynasty annexed Liao, and in 1153 moved its capital to Liao's Nanjing, calling it Zhongdu, "the central capital." Zhongdu was situated in what is now the area centered around Tianningsi, slightly to the southwest of central Beijing.
Mongol forces burned Zhongdu to the ground in 1215 and rebuilt it to the north of the Jin capital in 
1267. In preparation for the conquest of all of China, Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty founder Kublai Khan made this his capital as Khanbaliq (Mongolian for "great residence of the Khan") or Dadu. This site is known as Cambuluc in Marco Polo's accounts. Apparently, Kublai Khan, who wanted to become a Chinese emperor, established his capital at this location instead of more traditional sites in central China because it was closer to his power base in Mongolia. The decision of the Khan greatly enhanced the status of a city that had been situated on the northern fringe of China proper. Khanbaliq was situated north of modern central Beijing. It centered on what is now the northern stretch of the 2nd Ring Road, and stretched northwards to between the 3rd and 4th Ring Roads. There are remnants of Mongol-era wall still standing.
After the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368, the city was later rebuilt by the Ming Dynasty and Shuntian prefecture was established in the area around the city. In 1403, the third Ming Emperor Yongle moved the Ming capital from Nanjing (Nanking) to the renamed Beijing (Peking), the "northern capital", situated in the north. The capital was also known as Jingshi, simply meaning capital. During the Ming Dynasty, Beijing took its current shape, and the Ming-era city wall served as the Beijing city wall until modern times, when it was pulled down and the 2nd Ring Road was built in its place.
It is believed that Beijing was the largest city in the world from 1425 to 1650 and from 1710 to 1825.
2. Xi'an
History
Zhou Dynasty established its capital in Feng and Hao between the late 11th century BCE and 770 
BCE, both located West of contemporary Xi'an. Xian was the terminus of the ancient Silk Road. It was also among the richest cities in China because of the silk trades with the west.
Qin Dynasty (221-206 BCE) constructed its capital in Xianyang, on the north shore of WeiRiver. It was burned by Xiang Yu at the end of the dynasty.
202 BCE: Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, established Chang'an County as his capital; his first palace ChanglePalace was built across the river from the ruin of the Qin capital. This is traditionally regarded as the founding date of Chang'an and Xi'an.
200 BCE: Emperor Liu Bang built WeiyangPalace in Chang'an.
194 BCE: Construction of the first city wall of Chang'an began, which did not finish until 190 BCE. The wall measured 25.7 km in length, 12-16 m in thickness at the base. The area within the wall was ca. 36 km2.
190 CE - The most powerful tyrant of the time, Dong Zhuo, moves the court from Luoyang to Chang'an in a bid to avoid a coalition of powerful warlords against him.
582: Emperor of Sui Dynasty ordered a new capital to be built southeast of the Han capital, called 
Daxing. It consisted of three sections: the X'ian Palace, the ImperialCity, and the civilian section. The total area within the wall was 84 km2. The main street Zhuque Avenue measured 155 m in width. It was the largest city in the world. The city was renamed Chang'an (Perpetual Peace or Eternal Peace) in Tang Dynasty.
7th century: Buddhist monk Xuan Zang, well-known as Tang Sanzang in China, established a sizeable translation centre after returning from India with Sanskrit scriptures.
652: Construction of Da Yan Pagoda (Great Wild Goose Pagoda) began. It measured 64 m in height. This pagoda was constructed for the storage of the translations of Buddhist sutras obtained from India by the monk Xuan Zang.
707: Construction of Xiao Yan Pagoda (Little Wild Goose Pagoda) began. It measured 45 m in height. After the earthquake of 1556, its height was reduced to 43.4 m.
904: The end of Tang Dynasty brought destruction to Chang'an. Residences were forced to move to Luoyang, the new capital. Only a small area continued to be occupied after the destruction.
1370: Ming Dynasty built a new wall to protect a much smaller city of 12 km2. The wall measures 11.9 km in circumference, 12 m in height, and 15-18 m in thickness at the base.
This city was the site of the Xi'an Incident in 1936 during World War II. The Xi'an Incident brought the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang to a truce so the two forces could concentrate on fighting against Japan.
In 1974, terra cotta soldiers built by Emperor Qin Shihuang to guard his tomb were discovered by farmers digging a well.
3. Nanjing
History
Nanjing is one of the earliest established cities in the southern China area. According to the 
legend, Fu Chai, the Lord of the State of Wu, founded the first city, Yecheng in today's Nanjing area in 495 BC. Later in 473 BC, The State of Yue conquered Wu and constructed the city of Yuecheng on the outskirt of the present day Zhonghua Gate. In 333 BC, after eliminating the State of Yue, the State of Chu built Jinling Yi in the northwestern part of the present day Nanjing. Since then, the city has experienced numerous destructions and reconstructions.
Nanjing first became a capital in 229 AD, where Sun Quan of the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms Period relocated its capital to Jianye, a city he extended on the basis of Jinling Yi in 211 AD. After the invasion of the Five Hu, the nobles and wealthies of Jin Dynasty escaped across the Yangtze River and established Nanjing as the capital, which was then called Jiankang. Since then Jiankang remained as the capital of Southern China during the North-South Division period, until Sui Dynasty reunified China and destroyed the entire city, turning it into farmland.
The city was reconstructed during the late Tang Dynasty It was again named capital (then known
as Jinling) during the short-lived Southern Tang Kingdom (937 – 975), (who renamed it Xidu) who succeeded the Wu Kingdom. Jiankang's industry burgeoned and thrived during Song Dynasty, although it was constantly under threat from the northern foreign invasion. The Mongolians, after taking over China, further consolidated the city's status as a hub of the textile industry.
After successfully emerging as the winner during the warlords division period at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, established the city again as the capital of China in 1368, for the first time adopting the modern name, Nanjing, for the city. He constructed what was the largest city in the world during that time, and it took 200,000 laborers 21 years to finish the project. The present day city wall of Nanjing was mainly built during that time, and it is the longest surviving city wall in the world.
During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the Nanjing area was known as Jiangning and served as the seat of government for the Liangjiang Viceroy. Nanjing was the capital of the TaipingKingdom in the mid-19th century, being renamed as Tianjing (lit. Heaven's Capital). As Qing General Zeng Guofan retook the city in 1864, massive slaughtering occurred in the city with over 100,000 committing suicide or fighting to the death.
4. Luoyang
History
The original city was constructed by the Duke of Zhou in the 11th century BC as a settlement for 
the remnants of the captured Shang nobilities and was thus named Chengzhou. It became the capital of the Zhou Dynasty since 770 BC. The city was destroyed in a civil war in 510 BC and rebuilt the next year at the request of the king.
In AD 25, Luoyang became the capital of Eastern Han Dynasty. Wei Dynasty and Jin Dynasty were also established in Luoyang. For several centuries, Luoyang was the gravity center of China. When Jin was overrun by barbarians and forced to move its capital to Jiankang (modern day Nanjing), however, the capital city was nearly totally destroyed.
In AD 68, the White Horse Temple, first Buddhist temple in China, was founded in Luoyang. The 
temple still exists, albeit the architecture is of later origin, mainly from the 1500s. An Shihkao was one of the first monks to popularize Buddhism in Luoyang.
In AD 190, chancellor Dong Zhuo ordered to ransack and pillage the city before razing most of the buildings to the ground. The court is moved to Chang'an, since it is better suited to repel the coalition set up against him.
In AD 493 the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital from Datong to Luoyang and started the construction of the artificial LongmenCaves. More than 30,000 Buddhist statues from the time of this dynasty have been found in the caves. (Top China Travel)
Page 2 - Kaifeng / Hangzhou / Anyang / Zhengzhou
