Resistance

§ After you capture a City, it may be a while before its citizens recognize their good fortune in having gained such a wise and benevolent leader as yourself. In the meantime, they may "resist" your rule. Further, cities under great cultural pressure may go into resistance before revolting and "flipping" to another civilization's control (see Borders).
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Effects of Resistance

§ No Production, Commerce or Food: If a city is in resistance, its population refuses to work. Thus the city produces no food, production, or commerce for the duration of the resistance. This may lead to Starvation.
§ No Cultural Radius: The city has no Cultural Radius.
§ No Defensive Bonus: The city receives no defensive bonus for size or culture (see Cities).
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Duration of Resistance

§ The duration of a city's resistance is based upon its similarity or dissimilarity to your civilization. If you recapture one of your own cities shortly after it was taken from you, you'll see little or no resistance. A foreign city that has been under a lot of cultural pressure from your civilization will tend to spend less time in resistance, as will a city that shares your civilization's religion. A big, old foreign city with a lot of culture and a different religion will tend to resist longer.
§ You cannot do much to shorten the duration of resistance once it is in progress. However you can lessen the chances of the city returning to resistance by passing your state religion to that city and building temples and such, and by raising the city's culture and reducing any outside cultural pressure on that city. It is also a good idea to have one or two units garrisoning a city in resistance.
§ A Great Artist can instantly end resistance in a city by creating a Great Work in it - but be warned that this will consume the Artist.