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Nanjing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
南京
— Sub-provincial city —
南京市
Nickname(s): The Southern Capital
Coordinates: 118°46′E / 32.05°N 118.767°E / 32.05; 118.767
Country China
Province Jiangsu
County-level divisions 13
Township divisions 129
Settled 495 BC
Government
- CPC Nanjing Zhu Shanlu
Committee Secretary
- Mayor Ji Jianye
Area (ranked 29th)
- Total 6,598 km2 (2,547.5 sq mi)
Elevation 15 m (50 ft)
Population (2009)
- Total 7,713,100
- Density 1,123.5/km2 (2,909.9/sq mi)
Time zone China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code 210000 - 211300
Area code(s) 25
License plate prefixes 苏A
GDP (2009) ¥423 billion
GDP per capita ¥55,290
Website City of Nanjing
Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara)
Méi (Prunus mume)
Nanjing
Chinese 南京
Literal meaning southern capital
Transliterations
Mandarin
- Hanyu Pinyin Nánjīng
- Wade–Giles Nan-ching
- Postal Map Nanking
Nanjing (help·info) (Chinese: 南京; Romanizations: Nánjīng (Pinyin), Nan-ching (Wade-Giles), Nanking (Postal map spelling)) is the capital of China's Jiangsu Province, and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. The different spellings 'Nanjing' or 'Nanking' bear the same Chinese name '南京' - meaning 'Southern capital' - Nanking was widely used until the Pinyin language reform after which Nanjing is the international standard spelling of the city's name.
Located in the lower Yangtze River drainage basin and Yangtze River Delta economic zone, Nanjing has always been one of China's most important cities. It served as the capital of China during several historical periods and is listed as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. Nanjing was the capital of the Republic of China before the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Nanjing is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure, enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province. Apart from having been the capital of China for six dynasties and of the Republic of China, Nanjing has also served as a national hub of education, research, transportation and tourism throughout history. It will also host the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics.
With an urban population of over five million (2006), Nanjing is the second largest commercial center in the East China region, after Shanghai. It has been ranked fourth by Forbes magazine in its listing of "2008 Top 100 Business Cities in Mainland China", seventh in the evaluation of "Cities with Strongest Comprehensive Strength" issued by the National Statistics Bureau, and second in the evaluation of cities with most sustainable development potential in the Yangtze River Delta. It has also been awarded the title of 2008 Habitat Scroll of Honor of China, Special Award of UN Habitat Scroll of Honor and National Civilized City.[1]
History
Nanjing was one of the earliest established cities in the southern China area. According to the legend, Fu Chai, the Lord of the State of Wu, founded the first city, Yecheng (冶城) in today's Nanjing area in 495 BCE. Later in 473 BCE, The State of Yue conquered Wu and constructed the city of Yuecheng (越城) on the outskirts of the present-day Zhonghua Gate. In 333 BCE, after eliminating the State of Yue, the State of Chu built Jinling Yi (金陵邑) in the northwestern part of present-day Nanjing. Under the Qin and Han dynasties, it was called Moling. Since then, the city has experienced destruction and renewal many times.
Nanjing first became a capital in 229 CE (公元), where Sun Quan of the Wu Kingdom during the Three Kingdoms Period relocated its capital to Jianye (建鄴), a city he extended on the basis of Jinling Yi in 211 CE. After the invasion of the Five Hu, the nobles and wealthy families of the Jin Dynasty escaped across the Yangtze River and established Nanjing as the capital, which was then called Jiankang (建康). Thereafter, Jiankang remained as the capital of Southern China during the North-South Division period. Possibly the best preserved monument of that era is the ensemble of the Tomb of Xiao Xiu (475–518), a brother of Emperor Wu of Liang, located in today's Qixia District on the eastern outskirts of the modern Nanjing.[2][3] The period of division ended when the Sui Dynasty reunified China and destroyed almost the entire city, turning it into a small town.
The city was reconstructed during the late Tang Dynasty. It was again named capital (then known as Jinling (金陵) during the short-lived Southern Tang Kingdom (937–975) (who renamed it Xidu), who succeeded the Wu Kingdom.[4] Jiankang's textile industry burgeoned and thrived during Song Dynasty despite the constant threat from the northern foreign invasions. The Mongolians, the occupiers of China, further consolidated the city's status as a hub of the textile industry under the Yuan Dynasty.
The Ming capital
The first emperor of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor) who overthrew the Yuan Dynasty rebuilt this city and made it the capital of China in 1368. He constructed what was the longest city wall in the world at that time. It took 200,000 laborers 21 years to finish the project. The present-day city wall of Nanjing was mainly built during that time, and it is the longest surviving city wall in the world.
Nanjing remained the capital of the Ming Empire until 1421, when the third emperor of the dynasty, Zhu Di, relocated the capital to Beijing. It is believed that Nanjing was the largest city in the world from 1358 to 1425 with a population of 487,000 in 1400.[5]
Besides the city wall, other famous Ming-era structures in the city included the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (still one of the most famous sites of the region) and the Porcelain Tower (destroyed by the Taipings in the 19th century).
As the center of the empire, early-Ming Nanjing had worldwide connections: it was home of admiral Zheng He, who went to sail the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and it was visited by foreign dignitaries, such as the sultan of Brunei Abdul Majid Hassan, who died during his visit to China in 1408. The sultan's grave, with a suitably royal bixi stone tortoise monument, was discovered in Yuhuatai District south of the city in 1958.[6]
The Qing period
