Dictionary:
Nan·jing (nän'jĭng')  also Nan·king
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A city of east-central China on the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River) northwest of Shanghai. The capital of China from the third to the sixth century A.D. and again from 1368 to 1421, it was opened to foreign trade by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. It was Sun Yat-sen's capital from 1912 to 1927 and Chiang Kai-shek's capital from 1928 to 1937, when it was captured by the Japanese. Reclaimed by Chinese forces in 1946, it is now the capital of Jiangsu province. Population: 2,820,000.
| 5min Related Video: Nanjing |
| US Military Dictionary: Nanjing |
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
| Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Nanjing |
For more information on Nanjing, visit Britannica.com.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Nanjing |
Bibliography
See I. Chang, The Rape of Nanking (1997).
| Geography: Nanjing |
City in eastern China on the Yangtze River, northeast of Shanghai; an industrial and transportation center.
| Dialing Code: The telephone dialing code for: Nanjing, China |
The country code is: 86
The city code is: 25
| Word Tutor: Nanking |
| Wikipedia: Nanjing |
| Nanjing 南京 |
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| — Sub-provincial city — | |
| 南京市 | |
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| Nickname(s): The Southern Capital | |
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  Nanjing
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| Coordinates: 32°03′N 118°46′E / 32.05°N 118.767°E | |
| 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 (2008) | |
| - Total | 7,588,900 |
| - 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 (2008) | ¥377.5 billion |
| - per capita | ¥50,327 |
| Website | City of Nanjing |
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Deodar Cedar (Cedrus deodara) Méi (Prunus mume) |
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Nanjing (help·info) (Chinese: 南京; Romanizations: Nánjīng (Pinyin), Nan-ching (Wade-Giles), Nanking (Postal map spelling); The city's name from the Tang Dynasty until the Qing Dynasty was Jinling (金陵).), abbreviated in Chinese as Ning (宁), is the capital of China's Jiangsu Province, and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. Nanjing (literally: 'Southern capital') 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.
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. 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. With an urban population of over five million, it is also 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]
Nanjing, with a total land area of 6,598 square kilometers (2,547.5 sq mi), is situated in one of the largest economic zones of China, the Yangtze River Delta, which is part of the downstream Yangtze River drainage basin. The Yangtze River flows past the west side of Nanjing City, while the Ningzheng Ridge surrounds the north, east and south side of the city. The city is 300 kilometers (186 mi) west of Shanghai, 1,200 kilometers (746 mi) south of Beijing, and 1,400 kilometers (870 mi) east of Chongqing. Nanjing has a humid subtropical climate and is under the influence of the East Asia Monsoon. Seasons are distinct in Nanjing, with usually hot summers and plenty of rainfall throughout the year. Along with Wuhan and Chongqing, Nanjing is often referred to as one of the "Three Furnacelike Cities" along the Yangtze River (长江流域三大火炉) for the perennially high temperatures in the summertime.[2] The average temperature during the year is 16 °C (61 °F). The average high temperature in January is 7 °C (45 °F) while the average low is −1 °C (30.2 °F); the average high in July is 32 °C (90 °F) with an average low of 25 °C (77 °F).[3] The highest recorded temperature is 40.7 °C (105 °F) (Aug 22, 1959), and the lowest −14 °C (7 °F) (Jan 6, 1955). On average it rains 117 days out of the year, and the average annual rainfall is 1,106.5 millimetres (43.6 in). The time from mid-June to the end of July is the plum blossom Meiyu season, during which the city experiences a period of mild rain as well as dampness.
| Weather data for Nanjing(1971-2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 7.0 (45) |
8.8 (48) |
13.4 (56) |
20.3 (69) |
25.6 (78) |
28.8 (84) |
31.9 (89) |
31.7 (89) |
27.3 (81) |
22.2 (72) |
15.9 (61) |
10.0 (50) |
20.2 (68) |
| Average low °C (°F) | -1.1 (30) |
0.6 (33) |
4.8 (41) |
10.6 (51) |
15.9 (61) |
20.7 (69) |
24.6 (76) |
24.2 (76) |
19.2 (67) |
12.9 (55) |
6.1 (43) |
0.4 (33) |
11.6 (53) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 37.4 (1.47) |
47.1 (1.85) |
81.8 (3.22) |
73.4 (2.89) |
102.1 (4.02) |
193.4 (7.61) |
185.5 (7.3) |
129.2 (5.09) |
72.1 (2.84) |
65.1 (2.56) |
50.8 (2) |
24.4 (0.96) |
1,062.4 (41.83) |
| Sunshine hours | 129.1 | 123.3 | 136.1 | 168.1 | 194.0 | 171.9 | 205.6 | 214.7 | 167.2 | 169.1 | 153.5 | 150.2 | 1,982.8 |
| % Humidity | 76 | 74 | 74 | 73 | 74 | 78 | 81 | 81 | 79 | 77 | 76 | 74 | 76 |
| Source: 中国气象局 国家气象信息中心 2009-03-17 | |||||||||||||
Nanjing is endowed with rich natural resources, which include more than 40 kinds of minerals. Among them, iron and sulfur reserves make up 40 percent of those of Jiangsu province. Its reserves of strontium rank first in East Asia and the South East Asia region. Nanjing also possesses abundant water resources, both from the Yangtze River and groundwater. In addition, it has several natural hot springs such as Tangshan Hot Spring in Jiangning and Tangquan Hot Spring in Pukou.
Surrounded by the Yangtze River and mountains, Nanjing also enjoys beautiful natural scenery. Natural lakes such as Xuanwu Lake and Mochou Lake are located in the center of the city and are easily accessible to the public, while hills like Purple Mountain are covered with evergreens and oaks and host various historical and cultural sites. Sun Quan relocated its capital to Nanjing after Liu Bei's suggestion as Liu Bei was impressed by Nanjing's impeccable geographic position when negotiating an alliance with Sun Quan. Sun Quan then renamed the city from Moling (秣陵) to Jianye (建邺) shortly thereafter. [4]
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. Since then, the city has experienced numerous destructions and reconstructions.
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, until 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. [5] 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 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.[6]
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.[7]
Two and a half centuries after the removal of the capital to Beijing, Nanjing was destined to become the capital of a Ming emperor one more time. After the fall of Beijing to the Li Zicheng's rebels and then to Manchu Qing invaders, and the suicide of the last "real" Ming emperor Zhu Youjian (the Chongzhen Emperor) in the spring 1644, the Ming prince Zhu Yousong was enthroned in Nanjing in June 1644 as the Hongguang Emperor. His short reign was described by later historians as the first reign of the so-called Southern Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yousong, however, fared a lot worse than his ancestor Zhu Yuanzhang three centuries earlier. Beset by factional conflicts, his regime could not offer effective resistance to Manchu troops, when the Manchu army, led by Prince Dodo approached Jiangnan the next spring.[8] Days after Yangzhou fell to the Manchus in late May 1645, the Hongguang Emperor fled Nanjing, and the imperial palace was looted by local residents.[9] On June 6, Dodo's troops approached Nanjing, and the commander of the city's garrison, Zhao the Earl of Xincheng, promptly surrendered the city to them.[10] The Manchus soon ordered all male residents of the city to shave their heads in the Manchu way, requisitioned a large section of the city for the bannermen's cantonment, and destroyed the former imperial palace, but otherwise the city was spared the mass murders and destruction that befell Yangzhou.[11]
During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the Nanjing area was known as Jiangning (江宁) and served as the seat of government for the Liangjiang Viceroy. It had been visited by the Kangxi and Qianlong Emperors a number of times on their tours of the southern provinces.
Nanjing was invaded by the British troops during the First Opium War, which was ended by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842.
Nanjing was the capital of the Taiping Kingdom[12] in the mid-19th century, being renamed as Tianjing (天京) (lit. Heaven's Capital).
Both the Qing Viceroy and the Taiping king resided in buildings that would later be known as the Presidential Palace. As Qing general Zeng Guofan retook the city in 1864, massive slaughtering occurred in the city with over 100,000 committing suicide or fighting to the death.
The Xinhai Revolution led to the founding of the Republic of China in January 1912 with Dr. Sun Yat-sen as the first provisional president, and Nanjing was selected as its new capital. However, the Qing Dynasty still controlled the northern provinces, so revolutionaries asked Yuan Shikai to replace Sun as president in exchange for the emperor's abdication. Yuan demanded the capital be at Beijing (closer to his power base).
In 1927, the Kuomintang (KMT) under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek again established Nanjing as the capital of the Republic of China, and this became internationally recognized once KMT forces took Beijing in 1928. The following decade is known as the Nanjing decade, as they used the Presidential Palace in Nanjing as their headquarters.
In 1937, the Japanese army invaded and occupied Nanjing, the capital city of Republic of China, and carried out the systematic and brutal Nanking massacre. The total death toll could not be confirmed, since no official records were kept. Though often contested, most estimates, including those made by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal, put the number of dead between 200,000 and 350,000.[13] The Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall was built in 1985 to commemorate this event.
After the conquest of the city, the Imperial Japanese Army established the bacteriological research Unit 1644, a section of Unit 731, where Japanese doctors experimented on humans. [14]
Many of the atrocities of the massacre were documented in the diaries of John Rabe, a German businessman who created a "Safety Zone", an area whose borders were Sikang Street to the west, Hanchung Men Gate to the south and ironically the Japanese Embassy to the east. Rabe's own house, the German & US Embassies and Nanjing University were all encompassed within the Safety Zone. Many took refuge within his walls, Rabe in many instances exploiting Germany's alliance with Japan to stop Japanese soldiers from entering the compound to rape and slaughter the many women and children inside.
A Japanese-collaborationist government known as the "Nanjing Regime" or "Nanjing Nationalist Government" led by Wang Jingwei was established in Nanjing as a rival to Chiang Kai-Shek's government in Chongqing. After the Surrender of Japan, the KMT relocated its central government back to Nanjing.
On April 23, 1949, The People's Liberation Army conquered Nanjing. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Nanjing was initially a province-level municipality, but very soon became, and today remains, the provincial capital of Jiangsu.
Until 2002, the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of China, as well as textbooks published in Taiwan, referred to Nanjing as the official capital of the Republic of China, while Taipei is just its provisional capital.[15]
It had long been rumored that Nanjing might be split from Jiangsu Province in future years and become its own municipality, but the rumour was never officially confirmed.
The full name of the government of Nanjing is "People's Government of Nanjing City". The city is under the one-party rule of the CPC, with the CPC Nanjing Committee Secretary as the de facto governor of the city and the mayor as the executive head of the government working under the secretary.
Nanjing currently consists of thirteen county-level divisions, of which eleven are districts, and two are counties. The districts are the urban areas of Nanjing while the counties are the rural areas governed by the city.
The sub-provincial city of Nanjing has direct jurisdiction over 11 districts (区 qu) and 2 Counties (县 xian):
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Subdivision | ||||
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| Nanjing City Proper | Nanjing Suburban and Rural | ||||
| ■ Xuanwu-qu | 玄武区 | ■ Pukou-qu | 浦口区 | ||
| ■ Baixia-qu | 白下区 | ■ Luhe-qu | 六合区 | ||
| ■ Qinhuai-qu | 秦淮区 | ■ Qixia-qu | 栖霞区 | ||
| ■ Jianye-qu | 建邺区 | ■ Yuhuatai-qu | 雨花台区 | ||
| ■ Xiaguan-qu | 下关区 | ■ Jiangning-qu | 江宁区 | ||
| ■ Gulou-qu | 鼓楼区 | ■ Lishui-xian | 溧水县 | ||
| ■ Gaochun-xian | 高淳县 | ||||
The current partition of districts of Nanjing might change in the future. There was a rumor that Lishui County would be designated as a new urban district in the near future.
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According to the Fifth China Census, the total population of the City of Nanjing reached 6.24 million in 2000. The statistics in 2008 estimated the total population to be 7.59 million, while the registered population was 6.24 million. The birth rate was 8.75 percent and the death rate was 6.27 percent. The urban area had a population of 5.4 million people.
As in most of eastern China the ethnic makeup of Nanjing is predominantly Han nationality (98.56 percent), with 50 other minority nationalities. In 1999, 77,394 residents belonged to minority nationalities, among which the vast majority (64,832) were Hui nationalities, contributing 83.76 percent to the minority population. The second and third largest minority groups were Manchu (2,311) and Zhuang (533) nationalities. Most of the minority nationalities resided in Jianye District, comprising 9.13 percent of the district's population.
In 2003 the sex ratio of the city population was 106.49 males to 100 females.
Since the Three Kingdoms period, Nanjing has become an industrial center for textile and mint owing to its strategic geographical location and convenient transportation. During the Ming Dynasty Nanjing's industry was further expanded, and the city became one of the most prosperous cities in China and even the world. It led in textile, mint, printing, shipbuilding and many other industries, and was the busiest business center in the Far East.
Into the first half of the twentieth century, Nanjing gradually shifted from a production hub into a heavy consumption city, mainly because of the rapid expansion of the wealthy population after Nanjing once again regained the political spotlight of China. A number of huge department stores such as Zhongyang Shangchang sprouted up, attracting merchants from all over China to sell their products in Nanjing. In 1933, the revenue generated by the food and entertainment industry in the city exceeded the sum of the output of the manufacturing and agriculture industry. One third of the city population worked in the service industry, while prostitution, drugs and gambling also thrived.
In the 1950s, the CPC invested heavily in Nanjing to build a series of state-owned heavy industries, as part of the national plan of rapid industrialization. Electrical, mechanical, chemical and steel factories were established successively, converting Nanjing into a heavy industry production center of East China. Overenthusiastic in building a “world-class” industrial city, leaders of Nanjing also made many disastrous mistakes during the development, such as spending hundreds of millions of yuan to mine for non-existent coal, resulting in the negative economic growth in the late 1960s.
The current industry of the city basically inherited the characteristics of the 1960s, with electronics, cars, petrochemical, iron and steel, and power as the "Five Pillar Industries". Some representative big state-owned firms are Panda Electronics, Jincheng Motors and Nanjing Steel. The tertiary industry also regained prominence, accounting for 44 percent of the GDP of the city. The city is also vying for foreign investment against neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta, and so far a number of famous multinational firms, such as Volkswagen Group, Iveco, A.O. Smith, and Sharp, have established their lines there. Since China's entry into the WTO, Nanjing has received increasing attention from foreign investors, and on average, two new foreign firms establish offices in the city every day.
The city government is further improving the desirability of the city to investors by building large industrial parks, which now total four: Gaoxin, Xingang, Huagong and Jiangning. Despite the effort, Nanjing's Gross Domestic Production is still falling behind that of other neighbouring cities such as Suzhou, Wuxi and Hangzhou, which have an edge in attracting foreign investment and local innovation. In addition, the traditional state-owned enterprises find themselves incapable of competing with efficient multinational firms, and hence are either mired in heavy debt or forced into bankruptcy or privatization. This has resulted in large numbers of layoff workers who are technically not unemployed but effectively jobless.
In recent years, Nanjing has been developing its economy, commerce, industry, as well as city construction. In 2008 the city's GDP was RMB 377.5 billion (3rd in Jiangsu), and GDP per capita was RMB 50,327, a 12.1 percent increase from 2007. The average urban resident's disposable income was RMB 23,123, while the average rural resident's net income is RMB 8,951. The registered urban unemployment rate was 3.16 percent, lower than the national average (4.2 percent). Nanjing's Gross Domestic Production ranked 17th in 2008 in China, and its overall competence ranked 9th.
Nanjing is the transportation hub in eastern China and the downstream Yangtze River area. Different means of transportation constitute a three-dimensional transport system that includes land, water and air. As in most other Chinese cities, public transportation is the dominant mode of travel of the majority of the citizens. Therefore see also Transport in Nanjing.
For the railway system, the Tianjin-Pukou, Shanghai-Nanjing and Nanjing-Wuhu Trunk Railways meet in Nanjing, which has become an important hub of railways linking north, east and central China. Passenger rail service in Nanjing is provided mainly by Nanjing Railway Station, while both Nanjing West Railway Station and Nanjing South Railway Station serve minor roles. Since 2008, A new Nanjing South Railway Station has started construction. This will officially be claimed the largest railway station in Asia after it is finished.
As an important regional hub in the Yangtze River Delta, Nanjing is well-connected by over 60 state and provincial highways to all parts of China.
Express highways such as Hu-Ning, Ning-He, Ning-Hang enable commuters to travel to Shanghai, Hefei, Hangzhou, and other important cities quickly and conveniently. Inside the city of Nanjing, there are 230 kilometers (143 mi) of highways, with a highway coverage density of 3.38 kilometers per hundred square kilometers (2.10 mi/38.6 sq mi). The total road coverage density of the city is 112.56 kilometers per hundred square kilometers (69.94 mi/38.6 sq mi).
Nanjing Sample Technology Company Limited is a major provider of Intelligent traffic systems.
National Highway:
The city also boasts an efficient network of public transportation, which mainly consists of bus, taxi and metro systems. The bus network, which is currently run by five companies (Nanjing Gongjiao, Zhongbei, Argos, Xincheng and Xinningpu), provides more than 370 routes covering all parts of the city and suburban areas. Nanjing Metro Line 1, started service on May 15, 2005, and Line 2 began construction in November 2005. The city is planning to complete a 655-kilometer (409 mi)-long Metro and light-rail system by 2050.[citation needed] The expansion of the Metro network will greatly facilitate the intracity transportation and reduce the currently heavy traffic congestion.
Nanjing's airport, Lukou International Airport, serves both national and international flights. In 2008, the airport handled 8.8813 million passengers. It was ranked 13th among 126 civil airports in China in terms of yearly passenger transport, and 10th for yearly cargo transport. The airport currently has 85 routes to national and international destinations, which include Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Germany. The airport is connected by a 29-kilometer (18 mi) highway directly to the city center, and is also linked to various intercity highways, making it accessible to the passengers from the surrounding cities.
Port of Nanjing is the largest inland port in China, yearly throughput reaching 108.59 million tons in 2007. The port area is 98 kilometers (61 mi) in length and has 64 berths including 16 berths for ships with a tonnage of more than 10,000. Nanjing is also the biggest container port along the Yangtze River; in March 2004, the one million container-capacity base, Longtan Containers Port Area opened, further consolidating Nanjing as the leading port in the region. In the 1960s the first Yangtze river bridge was completed, becoming almost the only solid connection between North and South in eastern China at that time. The bridge became a source of pride and an important symbol of modern China, having been built and designed by the Chinese themselves following failed surveys by other nations and the reliance on and then rejection of Soviet expertise. Begun in 1960 and opened to traffic in 1968, the bridge is a two-tiered road and rail design spanning 4,600 metres on the upper deck, with approximately 1,580 metres spanning the river itself.
Being one of the four ancient capitals of China, Nanjing has always been a cultural center attracting intellectuals from all over the country. In the Tang and Song dynasties, Nanjing was a place where poets gathered and composed poems reminiscent of its luxurious past; during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the city was the official imperial examination center for the Jiangnan region, again acting as a hub where different thoughts and opinions converged and thrived.
Today, with a long cultural tradition and strong support from local educational institutions, Nanjing is commonly viewed as a “city of culture” and one of the more pleasant cities to live in China.
Some of the leading art groups of China are based in Nanjing; they include: Qianxian Dance Company, Nanjing Dance Company, Jiangsu Peking Opera Institute, Nanjing Xiaohonghua Art Company are just a few to list.
Jiangsu Province Kun Opera is one of the best theatres for Kunqu, China's oldest stage art. It is considered a conservative and traditional troupe. Nanjing also has professional opera troupes for the Yang, Yue (shaoxing), Xi and Jing (Chinese opera varieties) as well as Suzhou pingtan, spoken theatre, and puppet theatre.
Jiangsu Art Gallery is the largest gallery in Jiangsu Province, presenting some of the best traditional and contemporary art pieces of China; many other smaller-scale galleries, such as Red Chamber Art Garden and Jinling Stone Gallery, also have their own special exhibitions.
Many traditional festivals and customs were observed in the old times, which included climbing the City Wall on January 16, bathing in Qing Xi on March 3, hill hiking on September 9 and others (the dates are in Chinese lunar calendar). Almost none of them, however, are still celebrated by modern Nanjingese.
Instead, Nanjing, as a popular tourist destination, hosts a series of government-organised events throughout the year. The annual International Plum Blossom Festival held in Plum Hill, the largest plum collection in China, attracts thousands of tourists both domestically and internationally. Other events include Nanjing Baima Peach Blossom and Kite Festival, Jiangxin Zhou Fruit Festival and Linggu Temple Sweet Osmanthus Festival.
Nanjing Library, founded in 1907, houses more than 7 million volumes of printed materials and is the third largest library in China, after the National Library in Beijing and Shanghai Library. Other libraries, such as city-owned Jinling Library and various district libraries, also provide considerable amount of information to citizens. Nanjing University Library, owned by Nanjing University, with a collection of 4.2 million volumes, is also one of the leading university libraries . More than 100 multimedia networked-computers are available to readers.
Nanjing has some of the oldest and finest museums in China. Nanjing Museum, formerly known as National Central Museum under KMT rule, is the first modern museum and remains as one of the leading museums in China. Other museums include the China Modern History Museum in the Presidential Palace, the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall, the City Museum of Nanjing, the Taiping Kingdom History Museum, the Nanjing Customs Museum, the Nanjing City Wall Cultural Museum, and a small museum and tomb honoring the 15th century seafaring admiral Zheng He.
Most of Nanjing's major theatres are multi-purpose, used as convention halls, cinemas, musical halls and theatres on different occasions. The major theatres include the People's Convention Hall and the Nanjing Arts and Culture Center.
A new cinema, Nanjing Shangying-Warner Cinema Complex, was opened in 2004, as the first modern cinema complex in Nanjing. It has become a must-visit for movie enthusiasts. After that, Nanjing had more modern cinemas in both Xinjiekou and the Confucius Temple, such as the Xinjiekou International Cinema Complex located on the seventh floor of Deji Plaza and Hengdian International Cinema in Aqua City on Jiankang Road.
There are two major sports centers in Nanjing, Wutaishan Sports Center and Nanjing Olympic Sports Center. Both of these two are comprehensive sports centers, including stadium, gymnasium, natatorium, tennis court, etc.. Wutaishan Sports Center was established in 1952 and it was one of the oldest and most advanced stadiums in early time of People's Republic of China. Nanjing was hosted the 10th National Games of P.R.C., in 2005 and would bid the 2nd summer Young Olympic Games, in 2014.
Traditionally Nanjing's nightlife was mostly centered around Confucius Temple area along the Qinhuai River, where night markets, restaurants and pubs thrived. Boating at night in the river was a main attraction of the city. The area was also famous for the concentration of upper-class prostitutes, many of them patronized by high-ranking government officials and wealthy businessmen. Prostitution was banned after the CCP took over Nanjing.
In recent years, several commercial streets have been developed, hence the nightlife has become more diverse: there are shopping malls opening late in the Xinjiekou CBD and Hunan Road. The well-established "Nanjing 1912" district hosts a wide variety of pastime facilities ranging from traditional restaurants and western pubs to dance clubs.
In 2005, in order to host The 10th National Game of People's Republic of China, there was a new stadium, Nanjing Olympic Sports Center, constructed in Nanjing. Compared to Wutaishan Sports Center, whose major stadium's capacity is 18,600, the stadium in Nanjing Olympic Sports Center is more advanced and has a bigger capacity. Nanjing Olympic Sports Center has a stadium of capacity 60,000. Its gymnasium has capacity of 13,000, and natatorium of capacity 3,000.
Because it was designated as the national capital, many structures were built around that time. Even today, some of them still remain which are open to tourists.
Nanjing has been the educational center in southern China for more than 1700 years. Currently, it boasts of some of the most prominent educational institutions in the region, which are listed as follows:
Nanjing currently has 18 sister cities (areas):
Alsace, France
Barranquilla, Colombia
Bloemfontein, South Africa
Eindhoven, Netherlands
Florence, Italy Hauts-de-Seine, France
Houston, Texas, United States
Leipzig, Germany
Limassol, Cyprus
London, Ontario, Canada
Malacca Town, Malaysia (2001)
Mexicali, Mexico
Nagoya, Japan
Perth, Australia St. Louis, Missouri, United States (Nov 02, 1978, The 1st pair of Twin Cities between United States and People's Republic of China)
Daejeon, South Korea
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Belo Horizonte, Brazil |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nanjing |
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Look up nanjing in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
| Preceded by Beijing |
Capital of China 1368-1420 |
Succeeded by Beijing |
| Preceded by Beijing |
Capital of China 1928-1937 |
Succeeded by Wuhan (wartime) |
| Preceded by Chongqing |
Capital of China 1945-1949 |
Succeeded by Guangzhou for the Republic of China |
| Succeeded by Beijing for the People's Republic of China |
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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Nanking |
 | Nanking (Geography) |
| Chuzhou |
| Wuhu (city of east-central China on the Chang Jiang) |
 | What was treaty of nanjing? |
| What led to the rape of nanjing in 1937? |
| Why was the rape of nanjing significant? |
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 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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