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Top 8 Ancient Capitals in China

China has a long ancient history, and also generally has the different national capitals in different dynasties. In the early times, China’s national capitals mainly were centralized in middle China such as Luoyang, Anyang, and Xian. In the glorious time of Chinese feudalism, Xian and Beijing are the most outstanding representatives of Chinese ancient capitals. Meanwhile, Kaifeng and Hangzhou are mainly famous as the capital of Chinese Song Dynasty, which was a special dynasty highlighted by its incomparable achievements in culture and spirituality as well as the encouragement of personality. Nanjing is also a capital for many different dynasties including The Republic of China. Generally it is said that Nanjing is not suitable as the site of capital in folk community, it is partially correct according to the historical records on short-lived dynasties that established their capitals in Nanjing. Someone says it is mostly because Nanjing is too feminized to be the national capital if compared with Xian and Beijing. Of course it is just a joke. If you are interested, the list below will be useful.

Beijing3

Beijing is a world-famous ancient cultural city, the capital of China, as well as China’s political, economic and cultural center as well as a center for international communications. Roughly 500,000 years ago the land was the home of Peking Man. Beijing was established as a city in 1045 BC. For nearly 800 years, Beijing was a capital city – the provisional capital of the Liao Dynasty and the capital of the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Bill Clinton, the former USA president, once said: To equate Beijing and New York, Beijing only needs 100 years. While New York at least needs 2000 years…

Xi'an1

Xi’an, traditionally called Changan, is the provincial capital of Shaanxi in China. Xian is one of four world ancient capitals (the other three are Athens, Roma and Cairo). As the 13-dynasty capital for more than 1100 years from the 11th century BC to the 10th century AD, Xian was the national center of China’s politics, economy and culture. Xian is one of 15 assistant provincial-level cities in China and one of core cities of 9 regions in China…

Luoyang

Luoyang has rich historical and cultural sites. The Longmen Grottoes are one of China’s three most precious treasure houses of stone sculptures and inscriptions. The White Horse Temple is the first Buddhist temple and is honored as the ‘Cradle of Buddhism in China’. Mt. Mangshan is where ancient tombs of emperors, nobles and literates in the past dynasties collected…

Nanjing

Nanjing, literally “the southern capital”, was an ancient metropolis of six different dynasties in China. The first dynasty to choose Nanjing as its capital was Eastern Wu during the Three Kingdoms period and named the city “Jian’ye”. In the latter years of the Western Jin Dynasty, Nanjing was called “Jian’kang” and it was a name used from beginning of the 3rd century to the end of the 6th century. The city was formally called Nanjing for the first time in the early Ming Dynasty (1368 to 1644 AD)…

West Lake in Hangzhou5

Hangzhou located in the southeastern coast of China with different sceneries in the differentiated seasons is one political, economical and cultural center in the area of Yangtze Delta. Its climate is mainly characterized with subtropical monsoon; four seasons are clearly demarcated by this climate. Mildness, wetness, sufficient sunshine and abundant rainfall gift this charming city infinite enchantment. Since the seasonal change of prevailing wind, the weather system, dominated air mass and …

Kaifeng

Kaifeng is a time-honored city on the yellow river and used to be the national capital of northern Song Dynasty, and it was called Bianzhou,Bianliang and Bianjing as well. Kaifeng is one of top-seven ancient capitals and one of 24 famous cities issued officially by State Council for their history and culture. It has more than 2700 years old since it was established as a city. It is equally famous with Xian, Luoyang, Beijing, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Anyang…

Anyang

Anyang located in the northernmost part of Henan province, is the place of the Ruins of Yin, a world-famous cultural heritage in China. Anyang is also the center of Chinese Character Invention and Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Also, it is the birthplace of Book of Changes, Spirit of the Red Flag Canal, General Yue Fei known as a hero as well as the tombs of two forefathers of China. In the meantime, it is the center city of Chinese central economic zone…

Zhengzhou

Zhengzhou is partially different from other advanced or developed cities along the coast. It is modern but traditional in life, beautiful and attractive in tour. Its long history and rich custom give us the evidence that it is undoubtedly worth travelling. Zhengzhou is the famous cultural city in China with the long history. It is the rising modern business and trade city.

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Aug 30, 2026~ Sep 16, 2026, 8-person small group 18 Days in Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Shangrao, Zhangjiajie, Chongqing, Chengdu, Beijing

Hello everyone! Eric, thank you so much for your attention during our trip to China. Having you and your team there was essential—we really enjoyed it! We hope to return to China with our children in the future and will stay in touch. It will also be a pleasure to recommend you to our friends, who are already eager to visit China after seeing our photos and videos! Thank you!

Fabio

Best of China Tour, 13 Days in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Chongqing

Sep 2026 • Family

This was a very special trip for my big birthday where I wanted to take my two sons to China. Our travel professional was Jane, who answered my million questions, promptly and with the utmost patience. She provided us with the right apps to use, transportation assistance, personable and knowledgeable local guides who spoke English. Everything was absolutely perfect and I encourage anyone taking a big trip, to give yourself plenty of time. It took me 10 months to plan with Jane’s help. I plan to use Best Asia Tours again!

Victoria Y.

China Essence with Natural Wonders Exploration

May 05th, 2026, Couple

We traveled to China during 05th May to 17th May, 2026. Here goes our comment.

Guilin & Yangshuo:

Mr. Tom was an excellent guide in every aspect. He made every experience a great adventure and beyond. With his energy and knowledge, he adjusted the schedule with extra activities such as visiting the pandas, which made it extra special. He is good at explaining everything in a clear and succinct way, since much is guiding us, we loved our time in China and couldn’t have done it without Tom. He is also frequently offering helpful knowledge we very much appreciated. He also took great pictures of us. Mr. Kong, the driver is very courteous & flexible.

Zhangjiajie, Furong & Fenghuang town:

Allen is a capable and smart guide who has an optimistic and patient personality. We feel fortunate to have her. She is very good at arranging the schedule and navigating the towns’ sights in an efficient manner. We appreciate her help to negotiate with the photographer and provide us good seats and advice. The driver Mr. Lee is a safe & excellent driver who is courteous to us, other drivers and pedestrians. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in the Zhengzhou area. The hotel was excellent!

Beijing:

Ray Liu is a very knowledgeable and smart guide with excellent English. We learned a lot from him about Chinese history, culture, and current life. He is on time and capable. He shared with us a lot of interesting facts and information, and it was easy to talk to him because he is friendly, talkative and has fluent English. Ray knows his way around & got us everywhere, and it was nice there was a charge port in the back. He can be more courteous to bikers & pedestrians, but we got everywhere safely.

Linda Cheng


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