With Beijing as the cultural and political capital, and Shanghai as the economic, fashion and luxury powerhouse, it is easy to forget about some of the other cities in China. Here's a list of the top ten "fallen cities" in the country.

Changchun 长春

10) Changchun 长春
Once the capital of the Japanese puppet state, Manchukuo, Changchun was the first city to begin large scale automobile production after the founding of the PRC. Changchun, Shenyang, Anshan, and Daqing formed the center of the industry. Before the Reform and Opening, Changchun was in an enviable position, but during the 1980s, it quickly fell behind Shanghai, Tianjin, and Guangzhou as foreign automakers moved into the former treaty ports. Once known as "The Car City," Changchun has lost most of its former glory. Changchun has also been surpassed by other Northeastern cities such as Dalian, Shenyang, and Harbin.

Xuzhou 徐州

9) Xuzhou 徐州

Xuzhou was once a hotly contested strategic battleground. Even though Xuzhou has been called a place of "endless chaos and war," the people of the city have helped it retain its character and continuity over the millenia. But today, Xuzhou has fallen behind many other parts of the rest of the country. Its economic development remains incredibly slow and all of its growth depends on heavily polluting industries. Xuzhou also has one of the lowest average annual income rates of any city in Jiangsu. Xuzhou also remains a cultural misfit in Jiangsu, a province with a strong southern tradition. 

Luoyang 洛阳

8) Luoyang 洛阳

Once one of the largest, most cosmopolitan cities in the world, Luoyang has fallen far from its former glory. At the time of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Luoyang was suggested to be the capital of Henan. This would have made the rebirth of Luoyang possible. But since Zhengzhou was already one of the major commercial centers of the area and was already connected by an extensive railway, it was chosen as the capital instead. Now, Luoyang is an industrial city with modest GDP growth, but it is horribly polluted. People today only vaguely recollect the saying "Luoyang's peonies are the best under heaven.

Lianyungang 连云港

7) Lianyungang 连云港

Lianyungang is at the Eurasian land bridge’s eastern end. It is also one of China's 14 earliest opened port cities. Despite this advantage, Lianyungang's shipping industry has not grown very quickly and this has led to its position as the poorest of all Chinese eastern coastal cities. A part of wealthy Jiangsu province, impoverished, undeveloped Lianyungang couldn't be more different than its western counterpart, Rotterdam.

Haikou 海口

6) Haikou 海口

Hainan was once a special economic development zone, and since Haikou was the capital, it benefited from many favorable policies. In the 1980s, thousands of college graduates went south to Hainan, and Haikou's economy, then linked with Shenzhen, started to take off. But by the end of the 20th century, the city had run out of steam and Sanya, a resort city with a large tourism industry, had eclipsed Haikou.

Wuhan 武汉

5) Wuhan 武汉

Since the end of the Qing Dynasty, Wuhan has been one of the major commercial and industrial centers in China. During the Nationalist Era, Wuhan was called the "Chicago of the East" due to its industrial development. When the PRC was founded, Wuhan was one of the ten most industrialized cities in the country. But since the 1990s, Wuhan's economy has continued to fall behind other cities like Tianjin. Wuhan still remains one of the 20 largest cities in China, but its GDP growth and average income is lagging far behind that of the other major cities.

Shantou 汕头

4) Shantou 汕头

Shantou was first forced open to foreign trade after the Opium Wars and it immediately started growing. Although Shantou's history is not long, it was prosperous for a time. Several successful business people now living in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia originated from Shantou.  After the Reform and Opening, Shantou also received economic planners' attention and was selected as one of China's five special economic development zones. But twenty years later, Shantou's economy still hasn't really taken off. Factory towns like Dongguan and Foshan have left Shantou in the dust.

Harbin 哈尔滨

3) Harbin 哈尔滨

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Harbin's economy started growing rapidly, and after about a decade it had become a major city. Because of its proximity with Russia, Harbin was known as the "Moscow of the East." During the Nationalist Period, the city, like Shanghai and Tianjin, was strongly influenced by foreign architecture and fashions. After the founding of the PRC, Harbin became one of China's ten major cities. But as the northeastern provinces began to fall behind the rest of the country, Harbin too, experienced a precipitous decline in standing. Now no one would think of Harbin as a major city.

Nanjing 南京

2) Nanjing 南京

Nanjing, the Southern Capital, is often compared with Beijing. During the Ming Dynasty, these two capital cities were the most developed, cosmopolitan cities in China. During the Nationalist Period, Nanjing once again became the capital. But ever since the Rape of Nanking, the city has been unable to regain its former glory. Wuxi and Suzhou have already surpassed Nanjing in GDP growth. Beijing's GDP is now three times the size of Nanjing's, making it hard to compare the two capitals any more.

Xi'an 西安

1)  Xi'an 西安

Xi'an has fallen perhaps more than any other city in China. The capital of the Han and Tang Dynasties, Xi'an was the center of the Chinese world for over eight centuries. Its decline began during the Song Dynasty, but it was the main Northwestern city up until the Nationalist Era. At the time of the founding of the PRC, Xi'an was still one of the largest cities in the country. Now Xi'an's GDP is not even in the top 40 and its average income and per capita GDP has been surpassed by Urumqi. The center of western china has also shifted south to Chongqing and Chengdu, two cities whose growth will keep them ahead of Xi'an for decades to come.

Read the original in Chinese here

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