Nanjing (nán jīng 南京) has a long history. The Six dynasties of the Wu (wú 吴), the Eastern Jin (dōng jìn 东晋), the Song (sòng cháo 宋朝), the Qi (qí 齐), the Liang (liáng 梁) and the Chen (chén 陈), chose Nanjing as their capital. Later on, the Southern Tang Dynasty (nán táng 南唐), the Ming Dynasty (míng cháo 明朝), the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (tài píng tiān guó 太平天国, 1852-1864AD) and the Republic of China also made Nanjing their capital. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Nanjing became the capital of Jiangsu Province and the largest comprehensive industrial city of this province.

Luoyang (luò yáng 洛阳) lies in the west of Hennan Province (hé nán shěng 河南省). Situated in the central plain, it is known as “the Gravity Center of China” and “the Hinterland of Nine Divisions (a poetic name for China)”. Named due to the location on the north side of the Luohe River (luò hé 洛河), Luoyang is one of the most important places of origin of the Huaxia civilization (huá xià wén míng 华夏文明).

Starting from the Xia Dynasty (xià cháo 夏朝), the first imperial dynasty in China, Luoyang severed as the capital for thirteen dynasties. It was the earliest capital city with the longest time of being capital in China’s history. During the Sui (suí cháo 隋朝) and Tang (táng cháo 唐朝) dynasties, with a population of more than one million, Luoyang was at that time the most prosperous city in the world.