Jiangsu Province 江 苏 省 简 介 - Nanjing 南京市

The city’s representative flower is plum blossom and its tree being cedar南京的市花是梅花，市树是雪松。Why the plum blossom is selected as the city’s flower is because it boasts five petals symbolizing the eternal unity of the five major nationalities such as Han, Manchu, Mongolia, Hui and Tibet. Others say plum blossom is the symbol of five blessings五福的象征, such as happiness快乐 , luck幸运 , longevity长寿 , successfulness 顺利, and peace和平. The city was first built in 472 BC. Built in the period 1366 to 1386, the perimeter of the city wall of Nanjing totals 33.4 kilometers, ranking number one in the world. Nanjing--- “Southern Capital”—along with Xi’an, Luoyang, Beijing, Anyang, Kaifeng, and Hangzhou, is the one of the seven historical capitals of China, and the many imperial tombs and architectural remains in the city and its environs reflect it grandiose past. Today, the city is the capital of Jinagsu Province, encompassing 6,421 square kilometers and with a population of over 5.37 million. Its industries include machine-building, automobile assembly, electronics, petroleum, iron and steel, textiles, shipbuilding and foodstuff. A double-tiered road and rail bridge, completed in 1968, spans the Yangtze River in Nanjing.

With the Yangtze River on the north side, and surrounded on the other three sides by hills, Nanjing was thought to be auspicious as well as strategically important. As early as 5,000 to 6,000 years ago, primitive clan villages already appeared in the Nanjing area. At the end of the Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), Yecheng of Nanjing was an important site for metallurgy for Fuchai, King of the State of Wu. In 475 BC, the first year of the Warring States period, Goujian, King of the State of Yue, destroyed the State of Wu, and Fanli, his prime minister, built a city at Changganli of Nanjing, which was the first city wall of Nanjing. In 334 BC, King Weiwang of the State of Chu defeated the State of Yue and occupied all the land of the State of Wu. Afraid that another ruler would emerge from Nanjing, King Weiwang chose a place and buried a gold statue of man there to suppress such emergence. From that time on, Nanjing has also been called “Jinling” (Mausoleum of Gold).

After Qinshihuang, first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), who unified China in 221 BC, the name of Jinling was changed to Moling County. In AD221, at the end of the Han Dynasty, Sun Quan of the State of Wu moved his capital from Jingkou (today’s Zhenjiang) to Moling, and converted the name of Moling into Jianye (meaning establishment of exploits) the following year. When Sun Quan became emperor, he made Jianye (former name for Nanjing) his capital. This was the beginning of the history of Nanjing as a capital. After the State of Wu, the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties (Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen), altogether six dynasties (the Six Dynasties—the six dynasties between the downfall of the Han in 220 and the reunification of China in 589, which had for their capital what is now Nanjing—i.e. the Wu, the Eastern Jin, the Song, the Qi, the Liang and the Chen), also made Jianye (former name for Nanjing) their capital. Later, the Southern Tang of the Five Dynasties, the early Ming Dynasty, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution led by Hong Xiuquan (1814-1864), and the Provisional Government of the Republic of China made Nanjing their capital one after another, for a total period of 449 years. Therefore, the city was also called the “capital of ten dynasties.”

In 212, Sun Quan (182-252, ruled 229-252) built Shitou (Stone) City, a military fortress, at Mount Shitou. Nowadays, there are still traces, which can be found. Proceeding not far northward, along the highway outside Hanzhong Gate, visitors can see the greenish grey city wall of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) built with the mountain as its back and its foundation being precipices at the river shore. A reddish brown rock, about six meters long and three meters wide, rises between the outside of Qingliang Gate and Gaochang Gate. Its surface is uneven and looks like a grimace, so it is called “Grimace City” by the people of Nanjing. This is the world-famous Stone City.

Over 30 stone carvings of mausoleums of the Southern Dynasties are preserved in Nanjing, including stone beasts, stone columns, and stone steles. In front of the tombs of emperors and kings stand unicorns and “Tianlu” (a fabulous creature); standing in front of the tombs of the nobility are stone lions, also called here-say-attackers. These stone beasts were all carved from huge rocks with a length and width both about four meters, each weighing about 15,000 kilograms. With open mouth and protruding tongue, the beasts hold their heads high and stick out their chests, bend their bodies and have their tails hanging down, appearing impressive and imposing.

The foundation of the stone columns is a pair of fabulous dragons, which hold pearls in their mouths, each with two horns on their heads, and with their heads and tails intersecting with each other, lying in the form of a ring. On the upper part of the column there is a horizontal tablet, the inscription on the right being written in normal form, while that on the left in reversed form, or on the left the text goes from left to right, while on the right the text goes from right to left. This is peculiar to the stone columns of the tombs of the Southern Dynasties. According to experts, the text written in normal form is meant for visitors to the tombs and the text written in reversed form is supposed to be read by the deceased. These bodies carved from huge rocks rare, exquisite carvings in the art treasure house of the world.

Zhu Yuanzhang, founder of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), captured Nanjing in 1356 and established his capital here, building palaces, temples and pagodas. The famous green and white-glazed-tile Porcelain Pagoda of the Gratitude (Bao’en Temple 报恩寺)，so often praised as one of the seven wonders of the world by earlier travelers, belonged to this period, though it was totally destroyed during the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Revolution (1851-1864).In the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing was the the political, economic and cultural center of China. In the 53 years of the early Ming Dynasty, before the capital was moved from Nanjing to Beijing from 1368 to 1420, a lare number of cultural relics and historical sites were left over. For instance, Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty, tombs of meritorious officials of the Ming Dynasty, ruins of the former palace of the Ming Dynasty, Mochou Lake, Shengqi Tower, Tomb of Zheng He (1371-1435), Jinghai Temple, the Tomb of the King of Bone, a part of the ancient astronomical instruments of Zijinshan (Purple Mountain) Observatory.

Following the 1911 Revolution, Nanjing was declared the capital of the Republic of China in 1912. (Dr Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Nationalist Republic, was buried in the eastern part of Nanjing here in 1929). The bronze statue of Dr Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the late Chinese revolutionary leader, stands in the Xinjiekou area of downtown Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province. It was the first time the 5.75-meter-high, 6.2-ton statue was cleaned and polished it was erected on November 12, 1996.

Nanjing Man 南京人

In Nanjing, after completing the latest evaluation of the skull, local paleontologists and their Australian colleagues have confirmed that “Nanjing Man” lived more than 500,000 years ago according to Professor Wang Yongin of Nanjing Normal University. After using a new thermal ionization mass spectrometer, Zhao Jianxin from the University of Queensland, Australia, estimated the skull dated back 580,000 to 620,000 years. This is consistent with the results Professor Wang and Chinese American scientist Cheng Hai obtained some years ago in the United States. A male and female skull of “Nanjing Man” were discovered in 1993 in Tangshan Cave near Nanjign, and were initially believed to be about 150,000 years old. Scientists held that the discovery of “Nanjing Man” provides important clues to human evolution. It follows the other significant discoveries of “Peking Man”, “Yuanmou Man,” in Yunnan, “Lantian Man” in Shaanxi and “Hetian Man” in Anhui. Chinese scientist believe that their research indicates that multiple regions have contributes to human evolution. Some international scientists, who hold that Africa was the only place where human beings evolved, have questioned such beliefs. The skull is now preserved in Nanjing Museum and undergoing in-depth research. Professor Wang first published a thesis on “Nanjing Man” in 1999.

A Ming City to Be Built in Nanjing 南京将建名城

A Ming-dynasty City of 10 square kilometers will be built in the southern suburb of Nanjing with an investment of 3 billion yuan (US $ 360 million), adding to the 300 manmade scenery spots throughout China. The Ming City will include a part representing culture and life in the era of the Ming Dynasty, a Nanjing Amusement Park similar to the one in Suzhou, and about 10 “water towns” comprising villas. The project will be completed in five years. The scenic spot aims to attract residents of Nanjing and tourists from East China, especially from Shanghai. Its location, at Niutoushan, is near 10 highways, including one from Shanghai to Nanjing and the Nanjing Lukou International Airport. The cultural relics nearby, including the tomb of Zheng He (1371-1435) and tombs of two emperors of the Southern Tang, will be well protected during the construction and developed into tourism sites. Tourism projects will be launched in Jiangning after Ming City, further representing the traditions of the Qinhuai River and life in the capitals of the Qin Dynasty, the Three Kingdoms, the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Kuomintang period before 1949.

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