The strategy of attracting corporate headquarters has been fairly popular among many Chinese cities. Research on the locational characteristics of corporate headquarters however is rather inadequate. Based on the related literature on corporate headquarters, this paper has made a special effort to investigate the spatial pattern and evolution of corporate headquarters. It is highlighted that corporate headquarters are highly agglomerated at all spatial scales, which is motivated by the cost - savings and efficiency - improvement resulted from external agglomeration economies. Corporate headquarters might relocate from one place to another due to cost, policy and personal considerations. There is also a sequential stage of agglomeration and dispersion processes in the locations of corporate headquarters. The locational characteristics of corporate headquarters have important policy implications for Chinese cities.