Is it correct to use 首都 for capital of province?

Question

I am trying to do a cultural project on the city of Harbin. However, I'm not sure if it is correct to say this. I found out that Harbin was the capital of the province of Heilongjiang. If I said, 哈尔滨是黑龙江的首都, would it make sense since 首都 means capital.

北京是中国的首都: Beijing is the capital of China. 拉萨是西藏的首府: Lhasa is the capital of Tibet. 西安是陕西的首府/省会: Xi'an is the capital of Shaanxi. 我今天要去省城: I need to go to the provincial capital (city) today. — xenophōn, Jul 06 '17 at 05:11

score 13 · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-23T11:22:25.993

13

No, you should use 省会 (provincial capital) instead, i.e. 哈尔滨是黑龙江的省会. You could also use 省城 (in a little old-style), or 首府 (especially for 自治区(autonomous region)).

首都 is only used for the capital of a country, e.g.北京是中国的首都.

edited Oct 23 '17 at 11:22

answered Jun 24 '17 at 09:30

Also, 省城 - http://baike.baidu.com/item/%E7%9C%81%E5%9F%8E 省城，是汉语词汇，解释为省政府驻地，省会，首府。 – Tang Ho Jun 24 '17 at 09:54
自治縣的行政駐地通常被稱為「首府」，如呼和浩特、烏魯木齊、銀川、南寧、拉薩。 – Tang Ho Jun 24 '17 at 09:58
actually, 首府 is not so widely used in daily languages – ospider Jun 27 '17 at 06:07

score 2 · Answer 2 · edited Nov 17 '19 at 08:08

2

I am afraid it is not very suitable, 首都 is capital，Beijing is the capital of china, the capital of province is 省会，guangzhou is the 省会 of guangdong province.

edited Nov 17 '19 at 08:08

answered Jul 13 '17 at 06:10

katherine li

144
3

Is it correct to use 首都 for capital of province?

2 Answers2