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Eight Ancient Capitals of China - Page 2
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.
5. Kaifeng
History
In 364 BC, the state of Wei during the Warring States Period founded a city called Daliang as its 
capital in this area. During this period, the first of many canals in the area was constructed; it linked a local river to the Huang He. When the State of Wei was conquered by the Qin, Kaifeng was destroyed and abandoned except for a mid-sized market town, which remained in its place.
Early in the 7th century, Kaifeng was transformed into a major commercial hub when it was connected to the Grand Canal as well as a canal running to western ShandongProvince.
In 781 (Tang Dynasty), a new city was reconstructed and named Bian. Bian was the capital of the Later Jin (936-946), Later Han (947-950), and Later Zhou (951-960) of the Five Dynasties Period. The Song Dynasty made Bian its capital when it overthrew the Later Zhou in 960, and shortly afterward, they further expanded the city.
During the Song Dynasty, Kaifeng was the capital with a population of over 400,000, living both inside and outside the city wall. Typhus was an acute problem of the city.
In 1049, Youguosi Pagoda, or Iron Pagoda as it is called today, was constructed, which measures 54.7 m in height. It has survived the destruction of wars and floodings and become the oldest landmark in this ancient city. Another Song Dynasty pagoda, Bo Ta, from 974, has been partially destroyed.
Another well-known sight was a clocktower by Su Song.
Kaifeng reached its peak of importance in the 11th century, when it was a commercial and 
industrial center at the intersection of four major canals. During this time, the city was surrounded by three rings of city walls and probably had a population of 600,000 to 700,000.
It is believed that Kaifeng was the largest city in the world from 1013 to 1127. This period ended in 1127, when the city fell to Jurchen invaders (see Jingkang Incident) and came subsequently under the rule of the Jin Dynasty. While it remained an important administrative center, only the city area inside the inner city wall of the early Song Dynasty remained settled and the two outer rings were abandoned.
Kaifeng served as the Jurchen's "southern capital" from 1157 (other sources say 1161) and was reconstructed during this time.[2][3] But they kept their main capital further north, until 1214, when they were forced to move the imperial court southwards to Kaifeng in order to flee the Mongol onslaught. In 1234 they succumbed to combined Mongol and Song Dynasty forces. Mongols took control, and in 1279 they conquered all of China.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty in 1368, Kaifeng was made the capital of HenanProvince.
In 1642, Kaifeng was flooded by the Ming army with water from Yellow River to prevent the peasant rebel Li Zicheng from taking over. After this disaster, the city was abandoned again.
Under the celebrated Qing emperor Kangxi (1662), Kaifeng was rebuilt. However, another flooding occurred in 1841, followed by another reconstruction in 1843, which produced the contemporary Kaifeng as we know it.
6. Hangzhou
History
The celebrated Neolithic culture of Hemudu has been discovered to have inhabited this area as 
far back as seven thousand years ago, when rice was first cultivated in southeastern China.
The city of Hangzhou was founded about 2,200 years ago during the Qin Dynasty, it is listed as one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China, but the city wall was not constructed until the Sui Dynasty (591).
It was the capital of the WuyueKingdom from 907 to 978 during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. Named Xifu at the time, it was one of the three great centers of culture in southern China during the tenth century, along with Nanjing and Chengdu. Leaders of Wuyue were noted patrons of the arts, and especially of Buddhism and associated temple architecture and artwork. It also became a cosmopolitan center, drawing scholars from throughout China and conducting diplomacy not only with neighboring Chinese states, but also with Japan, Korea, and the Khitans
In 1089, Su Shi constructed a 2.8 km long dike across the WestLake, which Qing Emperor Qianlong considered particularly attractive in the early morning of the spring time. The lake, which itself is artificial, is largely surrounded by mountains. The Baoshi Pagoda sits on one of these hills to the north.
Hangzhou was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty from the early 12th century until the 
Mongol invasion of 1276, and was known as Lin'an. It served as the seat of the imperial government, a center of trade and entertainment, and the nexus of the main branches of the civil service. During that time, the city was the gravity centre of Chinese civilization as what used to be considered the "central China" in the north was taken by the Jin, an ethnic minority dynasty. Numerous philosophers, politicians, and men of literature, including some of the most celebrated poets in Chinese history such as Su Shi, Lu You, and Xin Qiji came here to live and die.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, commercial expansion, an influx of refugees from the conquered north, and the growth of the official and military establishments, led to a corresponding population increase and the city developed well outside its 9th century ramparts. According to the Encyclop?dia Britannica, Hangzhou had a population of over 2 million at that time, while Historian Jacques Gernet has estimated that the population of Hangzhou numbered well over one million by 1276. (Official Chinese census figures from the year 1270 listed some 186,330 families in residence and probably failed to count non-residents and soldiers.) It is believed that Hangzhou was the largest city in the world from 1180 to 1315 and from 1348 to 1358.
The Venetian Marco Polo visited Hangzhou in the late 13th century and referred to the city as "beyond dispute the finest and the noblest in the world." Although he exaggerated that the city was over one hundred miles in diameter and had 12, 00 stone bridges, he still presented elegant prose about the country. "The number and wealth of the merchants, and the amount of goods that passed through their hands, was so enormous that no man could form a just estimate thereof."
Because of the large population and densely-crowded (often multi-story) wooden buildings, Hangzhou was particularly vulnerable to fires. Major conflagrations destroyed large sections of the city in 1132, 1137, 1208, 1229, 1237, and 1275 while smaller fires occurred nearly every year. The 1237 fire alone was recorded to have destroyed 30,000 dwellings. To combat this threat, the government established an elaborate system for fighting fires, erected watchtowers, devised a system of lantern and flag signals to identify the source of the flames and direct the response, and charged more than 3,000 soldiers with the task of putting out fires.
The city remained an important port until the middle Ming Dynasty when its harbor slowly silted up.
As late as the latter part of the 16th and early 17th centuries, the city was an important center of Chinese Jewry, and may have been the original home of the more well-known Kaifeng Jewish community.
7. Anyang
History
Anyang is the site of the ancient Shang Dynasty (1600 BC - 1046 BC) capital known as Yinxu, or "the ruin of Yin" - the last capital of Shang Dynasty that was annihilated by the Martial King (Wu Wang) of Zhou Dynasty in the 11th century BC.
Anyang's TangyinCounty was the seat of YueVillage, birth place of the famous Song Dynasty general Yue Fei.
The contemporary Anyang was constructed in 1368 AD during the Ming Dynasty.
8. Zhengzhou
History
The Shang Dynasty established Aodu or Bodu in Zhengzhou. The pre-historical city had been 
long lost even before the time of the First Emperor of China.
The name of Zhengzhou came from Sui Dynasty (AD 581), albeit it was located in Chenggao, another town. The government moved to the contemporary city during Tang Dynasty.
Zhengzhou is a dusty, flat industrial city set amid the farmland of central China. As the city has few scenic attractions, most travelers use Zhengzhou as a resting place or a transfer point on the way to nearby tourist spots such as the ShaolinTemple and the Longmen Grottoes of Luoyang.Zhengzhou's most notable cultural institution is the HenanMuseum, one of China's most important museums. (Top China Travel)
Page 1 - Beijing / X'ian / Nanjing / Luoyang
(Source: RGT Newsletter)
