Ancient Capital

Hangzhou is recognised as one of the seven ancient capitals of China. Its flourishing period as a capital came when the court of the Song dynasty was forced to flee south from DongJing (Kaifeng) the then capital of the Song dynasty. They fled to Hangzhou and in the 12th and 13th centuries Hangzhou became a centre for trade and entertainment the very midpoint for Chinese civilisation, many famous and most celebrated poets in Chinese history came to work and live here during this period. This lasted until the Mongols took over all of China and proclaimed a Mongol empire known as the Yuan dynasty proclaimed in 1271.