Nanjing is one of the four ancient capitals in my country. It is located on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and assumes the important role of the cultural and political center of the region. During the Soochow period, Sun Quan, the emperor of Wu, made it his capital, starting the history of building this ancient capital. Since then, the five regimes of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties, including Song, Qi, Liang and Chen, have used it as their capital. Therefore, it is also known as the "ancient capital of the Six Dynasties".
Photographed by the author at Nanjing Museum
In history, Nanjing has many ancient names, such as: Jinling, Moling, Jianye, Jianye, Jiankang, Jiangning, Yingtian, etc. Behind every name there is a historical story about Nanjing. Among them, the three special names of Jianye, Jianye and Jiankang are the focus of this article. Through these three names, we can explore the history of Nanjing in the past hundred years. Rise and fall and prosperity over time.
In 211 AD (the 16th year of Jian'an in the Eastern Han Dynasty), Sun Quan moved the political center of Jiangdong from Jingkou to Moling. In the second year, Moling was renamed "Jianye", which means that the great cause of the emperor will be built here. In 229 AD, Sun Quan proclaimed himself emperor and established the capital. This is also the first time in history that Nanjing has been designated as the capital.
But before that, Nanjing suffered a highly destructive "mountain-cutting" operation.
The author took the photo on the Qinhuai River
In 211 BC (the thirty-sixth year of the First Emperor), Qin Shihuang returned from a tour to the north. When passing by Jinling, a promising sorcerer told Qin Shihuang that Jinling was There is a "king spirit".
After Qin Shihuang heard this, he ordered people to dig mountains to make the Qinhuai River flow through Jinling; he also changed Jinling to Moling to destroy the "kingly spirit" of Jinling.
Thirteen years after the death of Chu, in the thirty-sixth year of the First Emperor's reign, the First Emperor made an eastward tour and took a ferry across the Yangtze River. The observers said: "Five hundred years later, Jinling will have the spirit of the Son of Heaven." Because of the chiseling of Zhongfu and the cutting off of Jinling's Changlong to allow for the flow of water, it is still called Qinhuai. ("Jiankang Records·Volume 1·Wu Shang")
Qin Shihuang thought that by destroying the Jinling King's spirit, he could enjoy the world for eternity, but he did not expect that the Qin Dynasty would perish in his second generation. What is even more surprising is that in less than five hundred years, Nanjing had an emperor, and it lasted for hundreds of years for six consecutive dynasties.
The author took the photo in Confucius Temple
The prosperity of Wudu Jianye
Starting from Sun Quan, Soochow also went through three dynasties: the Young Emperor, the Jing Emperor and the Last Emperor.** *Total 52 years. Except for the short-lived move of the capital to Wuchang during the reign of Emperor Wu, Jianye was the capital of Soochow during the rest of the period.
Under the governance of the four Soochow emperors, Nanjing developed from a vast and sparsely populated area into a prosperous place with dense population, handicraft industry and commerce.
Sima Qian once described the southern region in "Historical Records": The land of Chu and Yue is vast and sparsely populated...or it is cultivated with fire and watered with water...so south of the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers, there is no cold or hunger. People like this don’t have a rich family. ”
It can be seen that Nanjing and even the Jiangnan area during this period were still in a primitive state with vast land, sparsely populated areas and underdevelopment.
Since Sun Quan succeeded to the throne, on the one hand, he has used the construction of Use the favorable terrain around the industry for military defense to resist Cao Wei's invasion; on the other hand, vigorously develop the domestic economy, especially Jianye, and continuously improve personnel, economy, and culture.
For personnel. Supplement: Sun Quan adopted a combination of hard and soft methods: 1. Recruiting talents and absorbing people who moved south from the Central Plains; 2. Driving people from Shanyue down the mountains; 3. Capturing thousands of residents from Yizhou and other places to supplement.
In terms of economic development, Sun Quan adapted measures to local conditions, using the original rivers in Jianye City to transform them; and then relying on the advantages of the Yangtze River and Qinhuai River to dig artificial rivers to form an interconnected water transportation network.
The waterways in the Soochow area extend in all directions, especially the establishment of a water transportation network centered on Jianye at that time, which greatly promoted the development of Jianye and Jiangdong areas.
In addition, Soochow's developed shipbuilding industry and navigation technology also enabled a large number of important materials in Jiangdong, such as grain, salt, iron and resources obtained from overseas trade, to be transported conveniently and quickly to Jiangdong. Industry. This has also become the reason why Jianye business is so prosperous.
It can be said that after Sun Quan established the capital, Jianye had a significant and far-reaching impact on the political, economic, and cultural development of the south. At the same time, Jianye also became a veritable commercial city during the Three Kingdoms period.
Photographed by the author at Nanjing Museum
The decline of Jianye during the Western Jin Dynasty
During the Western Jin Dynasty, Nanjing was in a state of decline and was no longer the prosperous commercial capital it once was.
In 265 AD, Sima Yan proclaimed himself emperor and founded the country, and was known as Emperor Wu of Jin in history. He still made Yecheng of Wei State the capital; in 280 AD, the Jin army came to the city, and Sun Hao, the last emperor of Wu, had no power to fight back. , led hundreds of officials out of the city to surrender, and Soochow was destroyed.
After Wu Ping, Sima Yan hated Jianye's feng shui and prosperity, so he took some coercive measures to deal with it:
1. Change "Jianye" to "Jianye", intending to use The word "Ye" in the capital of the Jin Dynasty was used to suppress the "ye" in the capital of Dongwu, thereby breaking the feng shui of Jianye;
2. Lowering the status of Jianye, the Jin Dynasty established "state-prefecture-county" "In the three-level administrative system, Jianye is under the jurisdiction of Danyang County, which is one of the eighteen counties in Yangzhou.
Yangzhou has one hundred and seventy-three counties, and Jianye belongs to one of them. This status is simply from "heaven" to "hell". The once prosperous capital city has now become a mere small county, which is really in decline.
Photographed by the author in Nanjing Museum
Jiankang in the Southern Dynasties ushered in glory again
Nanjing finally ushered in the dawn after a short period of 37 years of decline. It became the capital of the country again and became famous again.
In 317 AD, Sima Rui became king. In the same year, he established an ancestral temple in Jiankang (after Jin Min Emperor Sima Ye ascended the throne, to avoid taboos, Ye was renamed Jiankang). In 318 AD, Sima Rui officially proclaimed himself emperor. The country's name was still Jin, and it was known as "Eastern Jin" in history. Jiankang became the capital again.
Starting from the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Song, Qi, Liang, and Chen Dynasties of the Southern Dynasties successively established their capitals here, and the construction and development of Nanjing, the capital, also began.
Photographed by the author at Nanjing Museum
1. The development of Buddhism. In the Southern Dynasties, Buddhism reached its peak, especially during the period of Emperor Wu of Liang in the Southern Dynasties. There were more than 100,000 monks and nuns alone, which shows that Buddhism in Jiankang was so prosperous at that time. In "Southern History·Xunli Biography·Guo Zushen", there is such a data:
There are more than 500 Buddhist temples in the capital, which are extremely magnificent. There are more than 100,000 monks and nuns with abundant assets. The county where it is located is indescribable.
The capital city of Jiankang is under the capital. There are more than 500 magnificent Buddhist temples and more than 100,000 monks and nuns in Jiankang. Not to mention other counties and counties, there are countless. It is said that in the land of China at the same time, Jiankang's Buddhist culture was well deserved to be the first.
2. A gathering place for celebrities. The famous mathematician and astronomer Zu Chongzhi, the calligrapher Wang Xizhi, the painter Gu Kaizhi, the medical scientist Ge Hong and other historical celebrities have all shone here.
3. The commercial economy is developed. Yangzhou has always been the most developed area in the Southern Dynasties, and Jiankang belongs to the core area of ??Yangzhou and is the economic center of the Sanwu region. In particular, businesses based on handicrafts were very prosperous.
Danyang (referring to Jiankang) is where the old capital is. The people are prosperous, the villains lead many merchants, the gentlemen are rich in officials and salaries, and the market is divided into businesses. It is located in the second capital, and people from all over the world are mixed. This is the old custom. Quite similar. (From "Sui Shu·Geography")
In just over a hundred years, Nanjing's status has continued to change, from the capital to the county to the capital. The ups and downs during this period were all caused by Nanjing's "feng shui". After the death of Chen in the Southern Dynasty, Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty Yang Jian ordered the entire Jiankang City to be razed for this reason.
In the history of Nanjing, there have been prosperity and decline. The names of the three cities Jianye-Jianye-Jiankang have witnessed this process, so they are not only the names of a city, but also the name of a city. It is a proud history of urban development.