Historical capitals of China

Four Great Ancient Capitals

List of historical capitals of China

• Acheng District of the city of Harbin was the capital of the Jin dynasty from 1115 to 1153. It was called Shangjing or Huining Prefecture at the time. It was destroyed in 1157 and reestablished as a secondary capital in 1173.
• Anyang was the capital of the Shang dynasty at its peak. It was called Yin by the Zhou.
• Balasagun in modern Kyrgyzstan was the capital of the Western Liao dynasty from 1134 to 1218.
• Beijing, literally meaning "Northern Capital", previously also known as Beiping, was the capital of various dynasties and regional regimes, including:
• Changchun was the capital of Japanese puppet state Manchukuo during the Japanese occupation in WWII, then named Xinjing.
• Chengde was the summer residence and capital of the Qing dynasty from 1703 to 1820.
• Chengdu was the capital city of various regional kingdoms in ancient China:
• Chongqing was the capital city of Ba State during Warring States period. Ming Yuzhen, the rebellion leader during the transition time between Yuan and Ming dynasties, established the Xia kingdom and set the capital city in Chongqing. Chongqing was also the provisional capital of the Nationalist government of the Republic of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War, and briefly the seat of the Nationalist government in late 1949 towards the end of the Chinese Civil War.
• Datong was the capital of the Northern Wei dynasty from 398 to 493.
• Emin was briefly the capital of the Western Liao dynasty from 1132 to 1134.
• Fenghao, located near present-day Xi'an, was the capital of the Western Zhou dynasty from 1046 BC to 771 BC.
• Fuzhou was briefly the capital of the Southern Ming dynasty from 1645 to 1646.
• Guangzhou was the capital of:
• Hangzhou was the capital of:
• Haojing was capital of Western Zhou.
• Kaifeng was the capital of various dynasties, including:
• Karakorum in modern Mongolia was the capital of the Northern Yuan dynasty from 1371 to 1388.
• Luoyang was the capital of various dynasties, including:
• Nanjing, literally meaning "Southern Capital", was the capital of various dynasties and governments, including:
• Ruijin in Jiangxi was the capital of the self-declared Chinese Soviet Republic from 1931 to 1934, the start of the Long March.
• Shaoguan, then known in English as Kukong, was the temporary capital of Nationalist controlled areas of Guangdong during the Sino-Japanese war, after the fall of Guangzhou.
• Shenyang in the northern state of Liaoning briefly served as the capital of Later Jin, the predecessor of the Qing dynasty from 1625 until Qing takeover of Beijing in 1644. It was referred to as Shengjing
• Taipei in Taiwan has been the de facto capital and the seat of government of the Republic of China since 1949.
• Tongwancheng was the capital of the Hu Xia dynasty from 419 to 427.
• Wuhan was the capital of a government formed by Wang Jingwei and leftist members of the Kuomintang in 1927. It opposed the Nationalist government led by Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek. It was also briefly "provisional wartime capital" in 1937 during the Sino-Japanese war.
• Xanadu / Shangdu, located northwest of present-day Dolon Nor in Inner Mongolia, China, was the summer capital of the Yuan dynasty. After the fall of the Yuan dynasty, it briefly became the capital of the Northern Yuan dynasty between 1368 and 1369. It was destroyed in 1369.
• Xi'an, previously usually called Chang'an, and including its surrounding areas in present-day Shaanxi Province, was the capital of various dynasties, including:
• Ye, located within the present-day city of Handan, was one of secondary capital cities of Cao Wei, and the capital city of several regional kingdoms during Eastern Jin period: Later Zhao, Ran Wei and Former Yan. It was also the capital city of two major dynasties in Southern and Northern dynasties period: Eastern Wei dynasty, and the Northern Qi dynasty.
• Yinchuan was the capital of the Western Xia from 1038 to 1227, when it was called Xingqing.
• Yingchang was briefly the capital of the Northern Yuan dynasty from 1369 to 1370.
• Zhaoge was the secondary capital city during last years of Shang dynasty when it was ruled by King Zhou. Later, it was the capital city of Wey during the Eastern Zhou period.
• Zhaoqing was the capital of the Southern Ming dynasty from 1646 to 1662.

  Chronology