How to clear/reset dropdownlist Using JQuery

Hi Folks,

While Working with Drodownlist's today i faced one problem it is not clearing the Old data.
Then realised to clear the data except default value using jQuery

My asp.net MVC Razor Code:

@Html.DropDownList("City", (IEnumerable<SelectListItem>)ViewBag.Cities, "--Choose Your City--", new { @id = "ddlCity", @style = "width:200px;" })

and Javascript section as below

@section Scripts {

    <script type="text/javascript">

function GetCities(_Id) {              

            var ddlcity = $("#ddlCity");   

            $.ajax({

                cache: false,

                type: "GET",

                url: '@Url.Action("GetCities", "Admin")',

                data: { "id": _Id },

                success: function (data) { 

   //Clearing the Data except first default value.

                    ddlcity.children('option:not(:first)').remove();

                    $.each(data, function (id, option) {

                                      ddlcity.append($('<option></option>').val(option.id).html(option.name));

                    });

                },

                error: function (xhr, ajaxOptions, thrownError) {

                    alert('Failed to retrieve Cities.');

                }

            });

        }

    </script>

}