History springs to life in Nanjing, China's 'southern capital'

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History springs to life in Nanjing, China's 'southern capital'

By Zhou Yubin (Shanghai Daily) 09:40, August 07, 2013

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Nanjing (file photo)

The Chinese character jing, meaning “capital city,” is now used in the names of only two cities in China: one is Beijing, today’s capital city, and the other one is Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu Province in the south. Other ancient capitals such as Xi’an and Luoyang are no longer called jing because of historic changes. (Nanjing is literally “southern capital,” while Beijing is “northern capital.”)

As the only other city honored with jing in its name, Nanjing has a long and prosperous history as China’s onetime capital city and a flourishing cultural heritage.

During the Three Kingdoms (220-280), Sun Quan of the Wu Kingdom relocated his capital to Jianye, today’s Nanjing, in AD 229. Since then, the city has always been at least an economic and cultural center for southern China.

After the Three Kingdoms, several dynasties such as Jin (265-420), Southern Dynasty (420-589), Ming (1368-1644) — before it relocated the capital to Beijing — and the Republic of China (1912-49) chose the city on the Yangtze River to be the political center.

While Nanjing lost its spot as the most important city in China, economic and industrial development has changed it into a modern city. With the Second Asian Youth Games being held in the city this month, starting on August 16, many visitors will get a chance to see its modern stadium and infrastructure. However, historic sites in Nanjing and their cultural influence still remain a great attraction of this ancient city.

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