Nanjing

Nanjing ( listen; Chinese: 南京, "Southern Capital") is the city situated in the heartland of drainage area of lower reaches of Yangtze River in China, which has long been a major centre of culture, education, research, politics, economy, transport networks and tourism. It is the capital city of Jiangsu province and the second largest city in East China, with a total population of 8,216,100 and legally the capital of Republic of China which lost the mainland during the civil war. The city whose name means "Southern Capital" has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having served as the capitals of various Chinese dynasties, kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century CE to 1949. Prior to the advent of pinyin romanization, Nanjing's city name was spelled as Nanking or Nankin. Nanjing has a number of other names, and some historical names are now used as names of districts of the city, and among them there is the name Jiangning (江寧), whose former character Jiang (江, River) is the former part of the name Jiangsu and latter character Ning (寧, simplified form 宁, Peace) is the short name of Nanjing. When being the capital of a state, for instance, ROC, Jing (京) is adopted as the abbreviation of Nanjing. Although as a city located in southern part of China becoming Chinese national capital as early as in Jin dynasty, the name Nanjing was designated to the city in Ming dynasty, about a thousand years later. Nanjing is particularly known as Jinling (金陵, literally meaning Gold Mountain) and the old name has been used since the Warring States Period in Zhou Dynasty.

Nanjing (Liao dynasty)

Nanjing was the name for Beijing during the Liao dynasty, when Khitan rulers made the city the southern capital. To distinguish Nanjing, which literally means "South Capital" in Chinese, from modern Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, Chinese historians sometimes refer to Beijing during the Liao dynasty as Liao Nanjing (simplified Chinese: 辽南京; traditional Chinese: 遼南京; pinyin: Liáo Nánjīng). The Khitan rulers of the Liao acquired the city, then known as Youzhou, in the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures in 938 from the Later Jin, and the city was officially renamed Nanjing, Youdu Fu (南京幽都府). In 1012, the city was renamed Nanjing, Xijin Fu (南京析津府). The city was also colloquially referred to at the time as Yanjing. In 1122, the city was captured by the Jurchen Jin dynasty and was officially renamed Yanjing, ending the use of Nanjing for what is today modern Beijing.

Location and orientation

Liao Nanjing is located in the southwestern portion of modern Beijing, in the southern half of Xicheng District (formerly Xuanwu District).

Nan Jing (Chinese medicine)

The Huangdi Bashiyi Nanjing (黃帝八十一難經 English: "The Huang Emperor's Canon of Eighty-One Difficult Issues"), often referred to simply as the Nan Jing, is one of the classics of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Written in the late Han dynasty, the Nan Jing is so named because its 81 chapters seek to clarify enigmatic statements made in the Huangdi Neijing.

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