Early History
Since the fourth century, when the national capital was moved to Jiankang (today's Nanjing) at the start of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (AD 317–420), the Yangtze River Delta has been a major cultural, economic, and political centre of China. Hangzhou served as China's capital during the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1127–1279), and Nanjing was the early capital of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368–1644) before the Yongle Emperor moved the capital to Beijing in 1421.
Other key cities of the region in pre-modern times include Suzhou and Shaoxing. The ancient Suzhou was the capital of Wu State (12th century BC–473 BC), and the ancient Shaoxing was the capital of Yue State (20th century BC?–222 BC). The ancient Nanjing first served as a capital in the Three Kingdoms period as the capital of Wu Empire (AD 229–280). In these periods, there were several concomitant states or empires in China and each one had its own capital.
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