Nanjing or “Ning” in abbreviation, the capital of Jiangsu Province, is a city with a history of 2,500 year, tracing back to the Warring States Period in the Chinese history.
The name of Nanjing in Chinese language refers to "Southern Capital", in comparison with "Northern Capital" of Beijing, China's current national capital. The city has served as the capital of China for ten Chinese dynasties and the Republic of China, and is listed as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals amid Chinese cities. The ten dynasties includes: Wu Kingdom, Song, Qi, Liang, Cheng, Southern Tang, Ming, Taiping Kingdom and Republic of China.
In 1937, the darkest history of Nanjing, the Japanese army invaded and occupied Nanjing and carried out the systematic and brutal Nanking Massacre. The total death toll could not be confirmed, since no official records were kept, but most estimates put the number of dead between 200,000 and 300,000. Today, the history still haunts the Sino-Japanese relation.
Situated in the downstream of Yangtze River Drainage Basin and Yangtze River Delta economic zone, Nanjing has always been a national center of commerce, education, research, transportation and tourist in the East China region, preceded only by Shanghai.
The flower emblematic of the city is Asian plum or "mei hua" and the city tree is deodar cedar. More >>
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