Abstract: Porous carbons (PCs) for supercapacitors were synthesized by a combined Mg(OH)₂ templating and in-situ KOH activation method using coal tar pitch as the carbon precursor, and were characterized by TEM, Raman spectroscopy, XPS and N₂ adsorption. Their electrochemical properties were investigated by galvanostatic charge-discharge, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry. Results show that the specific surface area of the PCs increases with the KOH dosage and exhibits a maximum with an activation temperature at 800℃. The optimum PC has a high surface area up to 3145 m² g^-1 with abundant micropores, and exhibits a high specific capacitance of 272 F g^-1 at 0.05 A g^-1, a rate capability of 217 F g^-1 at 20 A g^-1 and a good cycle stability with a 96.69% capacitance retention after 10000 cycles in a 6 M KOH electrolyte. This work provides a simple method for the large-scale production of PCs from pitch-based carbon sources for high-performance supercapacitors.