China to free old city (7)
I believe the answer is:
antioch
'old city' is the definition.
(ancient city)
'china to free' is the wordplay.
'free' indicates an anagram.
'china'+'to'='chinato'
'chinato' is an anagram of 'ANTIOCH'.
(Other definitions for antioch that I've seen before include "Early centre of Christianity" , "Ancient name for Antakya in Turkey" , "early Christian centre" , "Ancient city now Antakya" , "Ancient Syrian city" .)