The city now known as Nanjing (Southern Capital) started as a port on the Changjiang (Yangtze River) during the Spring and Autumn period in Chinese History, roughly about 800 BCE. It is about 250 miles up the river from the ocean. This was probably a more strategic location at the time than Shanghai which is about thirty miles from the ocean because at that time trade by ocean travel was not feasible but river trade was. Nanjing had a wider area over which it collected the marketable produce and supplied crafted goods than Shanghai.

The Site

Nanjing is on the southern side of the Changjiang. This probably was a defensive choice in that the barbarian invasions came from the north. There is a smaller city called Pu-kou which developed across the river from Nanjing.

A smaller river, the Qinhuaihe, enters the Changjiang just west of the site of Nanjing. On the east are the Tzu-jinshan (Purple-Gold Mountains).

The Early Economic Base of Nanjing

From the early days Nanjing produced silk cloth and tea. Later it became famous for its satins and brocades in textiles. It also produced and exported porcelainware (china) paper and ink-sticks for Chinese brush writing.

Nanjing had and continued to have up to recent times agriculture in its immediate vicinity. Among the grains, Nanjing produced rice, wheat and, in modern times, corn. Among the fruits it produced cherries, apples and watermelon. It produced vegetables, particularly beans. As mentioned before it produced tea. Chicken, ducks and their eggs are local products. Nanjing has farms for producing water chestnuts and lotus roots for Chinese cooking. Additionally it produces lily bulbs, pine nuts, peanuts and cotton. There are two major lakes in the Nanjing area as well as access to the Changjiang (Yangtze River).

The Names of Nanjing

Nanjing was not always called Nanjing (Southern Capital). The Ming Empire arose near what is now Nanjing. The First Ming Emperor, Hongwu, gave it the name Ying-t'ien-fu (Responding to Heaven). Before the first Ming emperor died he gave designated one of his grandsons to be his heir. However, a son of Hongwu and the uncle of that grandson refused to accept that succession. That son, who had been the imperial governor of the province including Beijing for two decades, took control of the empire. He ruled from what is now Nanjing for only a short time before deciding he wanted to rule from Beijing (Northern Capital). In 1421 CE he moved the capital to Beijing and, perhaps to placate the aspirations of the elite, designated the old capital as Nanjing, the Southern Capital.

The table below gives the history of the names for Nanjing.

(To be continued.)