In the process of cultural inheritance, place names, as an important cultural carrier, are relatively stable and often undergo substantial changes, while cultural information reflecting history remains in place names. Most of the place names in Nanjing are inherited from ancient appellations, overlooking the place names in Nanjing. Toponymic layers and cognate toponymic groups formed in different periods are alternately stacked, showing a long historical scroll and colorful cultural landscape with nine cultural characteristics:
One of the characteristics: the organic unity of nature and humanity: Nanjing's natural place names have distinct humanistic colors. The victory of mountains and rivers and the hegemony of emperors mutually confirm that Nanjing has the reputation of "Zhong Ling Yu Xiu" and "the home of emperors".
Nanjing occupies a special geographical position in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Surrounded by mountains on three sides and separated by water, the geographical environment is undoubtedly the best choice for ancient kings to build cities. The mountains in Nanjing rise from the banks of the Yangtze River and meander around the ancient capital, so they are known as "the tiger sits on the dragon's flat". The mountains in Nanjing are three branches of Ningzhen Mountain wedged into the capital. Its northern branch, from Qixia Mountain, Wulong Mountain Scenic Resort, Shogun Mountain and Lion Mountain, enters the city along the ancient Yangtze River, which is called "Shi Hu"; The middle branch, which enters the city from Baohuashan, Zhongshan, Fuguishan, Jiuhuashan, Gulou Gang and Liang Qing, joins the north branch and is called "Zhongshan Longpan"; The south branch, from Zhongshan to Qinglong Mountain, Huanglong Mountain, Zutang Mountain, Niushou Mountain to Sanshanji, looks like a natural screen. In addition, the landscape of Nanjing was called "natural barrier" in ancient times. The northwest of Nanjing is close to the vast Yangtze River, with a vast surface and fast flowing water, which is naturally an insurmountable barrier in the era of cold weapons.
The special geographical location has attracted countless people to compete for the hegemony here. It is also the capital that endows Nanjing's natural environment with the humanistic color of "the breath of the king". Literati also use the traditional geomantic culture of China to prove it, such as the "Four Elephants" of Qinglong, Baihu, Suzaku and Xuanwu.
At the same time, Nanjing's natural landforms are both masculine and feminine. The integration of natural landscape and human landscape has made countless poets eulogize it. For example, Longpan in Zhongshan (Purple Mountain), Jiuhua strives for victory (Little Jiuhua Mountain), Dark Fragrance in Meiling (Meihua Mountain), Ling Bo in Shiyan (Yanziji) and Wanyuan Style (Qinhuai River) poetize place names, which is a beautiful expression of people's love for nature.
The second feature: dignified sense of historical vicissitudes: Nanjing has had dozens of names. Jinling, Moling, Jianye, Jianye, Jiankang, Danyang, Osmanthus fragrans, Baixia, Shangyuan, Jiangning, Qing Ji, Nanjing and Tianjin are extremely rare cultural phenomena in Chinese and foreign history.
The frequent change of Nanjing place names is by no means a simple change of appellation. It reflects the vicissitudes of history, leaving a chronicle full of honor and disgrace, a weather-beaten picture scroll, and a heroic song of joys and sorrows.
Since 229 AD, Soochow, Eastern Jin Dynasty, Southern Song Dynasty, Qi Dynasty, Liang Dynasty and Chen Dynasty have successively established their capitals in Nanjing, which is known as "the luxury of the Six Dynasties". In the great struggle of China people against feudalism and aggression, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom established its capital here, and Sun Yat-sen became the interim president of the Republic of China here. By 1949, Nanjing was liberated and the "Jiang Dynasty" fell here. Place names have witnessed the historical evolution and social changes of Nanjing. It is no exaggeration for scholars to say that the place names of Nanjing are a chronicle.
The third feature: the faintly visible capital imprint: many ancient capital imprints are preserved in Nanjing place names. As a city, the oldest place name in Nanjing is Yuecheng. In 472 BC, one year after the death of Wu, the State of Yue led troops to build a city in the highland on the west side of Yuhua Road outside Zhonghua Gate in Nanjing. Since then, the names of Yuecheng and Yuetai have been circulated for thousands of years. The first official name of Nanjing is Jinling. In 333 BC, Chu destroyed Yue and established Jinling City in the area. Since then, the name of Jinling has changed from dynasty to dynasty and remains unchanged.
Nanjing's "city" is a concentrated expression of Nanjing's history and humanities, and its unique form and scale are second to none at home and abroad. For example, the stone city built by Sun Quan stands by the river; Jinling City built in Southern Tang Dynasty is "twenty-two miles and forty-four steps". Where there is a city, there is a door. When Nanjing was the capital of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang adopted the policy of "building walls high" and built unparalleled cities and outer cities, with 3 inner cities/kloc-0 and 8 outer cities/kloc-0. The inner city gates still in use today include Taiping Gate and Jinchuan Gate. There are Kirin, Crane, Guanyin, Funing and other gates outside the city gate. Although some cities and gates have been abandoned in the past 600 years, the name of the gate has always been used as a local place name.
The fourth feature: Longfeng culture: Longfeng culture has many meanings. During the development of feudal society in China, the dragon and phoenix became the symbol of imperial power. As an ancient capital, the place names of Nanjing are deeply influenced by imperial power culture. By combing the place names of Nanjing, we can find many place names related to dragons and phoenixes. Although this cultural phenomenon in place names has some remnants of imperial power consciousness, it now expresses people's hope and yearning for Nanjing's prosperity, peace, reunion, happiness and happy life. For example, Longpanli, Longpanlu, Feng Dan Street, Fenghuang Street, Huilong Street, Phoenix Terrace, Fengyou Temple, Laifeng Street and so on. Although most of these place names originated from myths and legends, and the origin of many place names is difficult to do literature research now, from their cultural connotations, these place names all bear the birthmark left by Chinese dragon and phoenix culture.
The fifth feature: strong religious and cultural color: the formation of ancient place names in Nanjing is deeply influenced by religious and cultural trends of thought, or in other words, many place names refer to or originate from places of religious activities.
Historically, the religions in Nanjing are Buddhism, Taoism, Islam and Christianity. Buddhism was introduced into China in the Han Dynasty. Taoism rose in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. During the Six Dynasties, Buddhism prevailed in Nanjing (called Jianye and Jiankang) and reached its peak in the Liang Dynasty. Both local Taoism and foreign Buddhism played an important role in political life and cultural thought at that time.
Nanjing has temple names throughout the ages. In addition to the place names of qixia temple in the Southern Dynasties, Zutangshan, the ancestor of Nanzong in the Tang Dynasty, the chanting building of Li Yu, the queen of the Southern Tang Dynasty, Liang Qing (named after Liang Qing Temple) and Jiming Temple in the Ming Dynasty (formerly known as Tongtai Temple, a monk in Liang Wudi) are well-known religious names. Buddhist names include Guanyin Pavilion, Cheng 'en Temple and Wutai Mountain. Originated from Taoism, there are Sanmao Palace, Wang Jiang Temple, Arctic Pavilion, Cave View and so on. Islamic place names include worship temples and alleys; From Christianity, there are Paradise Street and so on. Some place names have survived and evolved into proper names of some districts, towns, gates and roads today, such as Jinghai Temple and Tianfei Palace.
China people's religious life is diverse, and they generally have no preference for different religions. As long as it is beneficial to life, people's attitude towards these religions will be quite tolerant and calm. There are many temples, temples, temples and temples in the history of Nanjing, which represent different religious cultures, but they can gather in one place and lead each other, which shows the diversity and inclusiveness of Nanjing capital culture.
The sixth feature: the imperial examination culture of "meritocracy": Nanjing place names are deeply influenced by the imperial examination culture. The imperial examination system began in the Sui Dynasty, and it was an organizational system for the feudal dynasty to select officials by setting examinations. Because this system embodies the principles of "fair competition" and "meritocracy" to a certain extent, it is reasonable and fair, and has been implemented in China for more than 300 years.
"Jiangnan talents come forth in large numbers." As the capital of Nanjing, Nanjing is the gathering place of talents and the center of imperial examination, and the influence of imperial examination system culture is extremely extensive and far-reaching. This influence is still clearly visible in many place names in Nanjing today. Chengxian Street, Confucius Temple, Gong Yuan, Sipailou, Sanpailou, Shenjuren Lane, Zhuzhuangyuan Lane, Qinzhuangyuan Lane, Shangjiang Kaobang, Xiajiang Kaobang, Zhuangyuanjing, Sanyuan Lane, Wendeqiao, etc. Place names, like living fossils, remember the history and characteristics of Nanjing imperial examination culture.
The seventh feature: the gentry culture of Zhumenfu: the feudal princes in Kyoto gathered and distributed in the valley. Many of the existing place names in Nanjing are the names of official residences in past dynasties, or names derived from these residences. Such as Zhouchu Street, Xiegongmiao Lane, Wang Fu Lane (Huangfu Lane), Hanfu Street, Changfu Street, Ge Cheng Old Street, Sanyuan Lane and so on. Similarly, the location of the official residence is often reflected in the place names, such as Xiangfuying, Hubu Street, Duwei Camp, Shuizuo Camp and Chengzuo Camp in Ming Dynasty. In addition, the Ming Dynasty also left some names of health centers reflecting the military organizational system, warehouses reflecting the military collection, and names left by military organizations, such as Xiaoying and Ma Biao.
Feature 8: Rich flavor of ancient commercial culture: Many existing place names in Nanjing retain information about the economic development of the ancient city and the social life of citizens. Among these place names, the combination of "city", "square" and "corridor" is particularly representative. "City" refers to trading places, "Square" refers to workshops, and "Gallery" refers to ancient "commercial streets".
For example, there are pigment workshops, safflower fields, and cloth treading workshops. Clothing corridors, shamao hutongs and clogs hutongs in silk weaving and dyeing industry. Oil sugar and liquor industry, including oil mill lane, sugar factory bridge, sugar factory corridor and so on. Rouge Lane, Boudoir Camp, Heichai Lane, etc. Used for women's products, as well as alleys for slaughtering pigs and alleys for cattle. Used for livestock and poultry.
With the prosperity of urban economy, a large number of rural surplus labor force has been transferred to urban industry and commerce. After the capital was established in Ming Dynasty, Nanjing's urban economy developed rapidly. This is a multi-level compound group, including city businessmen, farmers, scholars, bureaucrats, artists and mobile vendors. The formation of citizen community makes urban social life more complicated and cultural life more diversified. The traditional feudal culture with scholar-officials as the core can no longer meet their cultural needs, so market culture came into being. The so-called "Shili Qinhuai" is the concentrated representative of this culture.
Feature 9: Colorful civilian culture: There are many stories in Beijing. Many place names in Nanjing come from folklore, which have a strong civilian cultural color and reflect the living conditions and cultural mentality of Nanjing people in the past. Every "old place name" may be accompanied by an ancient and moving story, such as Taoyedu, Mochou Lake and Screw Bridge. Perhaps engraved with extraordinary history, such as Xiejiadian, Dashengguan and Rouge Well; Perhaps it is an outstanding figure, such as Dazhong Bridge, Menghuo Mansion and Dianjiangtai. Perhaps it contains some meaning, such as Fanren River and Three Steps and Two Bridges; Or show some folk historical facts, such as cockfighting gate, insect street, old pavilion, folding willow pavilion and so on. A few place names condensed the social life and culture of that year.