Why is Nanjing called Jinling?

Because Jinling is the most elegant and oldest official name in Nanjing, it has been used ever since.

Brief introduction of Jinling's name:

Its origin is generally considered to be named after Zhongshan in Nanjing, and it was called Jinling Mountain in the Spring and Autumn Period. In 333 BC, Chu Weiwang defeated the State of Yue, killed the King of Yue without borders, seized the territory of Wu captured by the State of Yue, and built a city on Stone Mountain (now Liang Qingshan), which was called Jinling City. At that time, Zhongshan was called Jinling Mountain, and the rest of the hills didn't even have their own names. Stone Mountain was a part of Jinling Mountain at that time, so the city built on it was named "Jinling City".

There is a clear record in Jiankangzhi in the Tang Dynasty: "Jinling City stands on the mountain". As a noun, "Ling" generally has two meanings. One is the "great wealth" mentioned in Shuo Wen Jie Zi, which is a higher mountain. The second is to borrow it as the emperor's mausoleum. The ancients compared the mountain ridge to the supreme ruler, and the death of the emperor was called "the collapse of the mountain ridge". The emperor's tomb rises like a mountain, and it is often built when the emperor is alive. In order to avoid bad luck, it is called a mausoleum or a mountain mausoleum.

"Jinling" was originally the name of a mountain, and "Mausoleum" was interpreted as "Mountain Mausoleum". Jinling is now Zhongshan, also known as Shan Jiang and Purple Mountain. "Historical Records" said: "Jiangshan was called Jinling Mountain in ancient times, so the county name was established." At that time, many places used the name of the mountain as a place name. Ling is a mountain and Jinling is a golden mountain. Adding the word "mountain" after "Jinling" became a later habit, which should be called Jinling in ancient times. The rocks at the top of Zhongshan Mountain are purple and red, so they are called Jinling. Its name comes from the color of rocks, but there are no gold mines on the mountain. The word "gold" in "Jinling" refers to the color of copper, not gold. Copper is also called red gold. Now we call pure copper red copper. This is the same as what people later called Purple Mountain. Of course, according to the current understanding, it should be a "copper mountain".

Zhongshan was called "Jinling" in ancient times, which is sacred in this area. Chu place names often use "Ling", which is the inevitable result of worshipping mountains. Chu Weiwang chose Zushan as the name of the city, which is in line with the ancient habit of naming cities. Because the Yangtze River is still downstream at the west foot of Liang Qingshan, and Jinling City controls the Huaihe River, the situation is very dangerous, so Chu Weiwang chose Jinling City here, hoping to plot the world with the natural barrier of the Yangtze River.

Jinlingyi is the second ancient city in Nanjing history after Yuecheng. At that time, "Jinling City" was just a small castle with military significance, and the city was not large. Structurally, it looks like a small castle; But in nature, it is very different from Yuecheng. It is an ancient city with the nature of administrative divisions, marking the beginning of the establishment of administrative divisions in Nanjing, and Nanjing began to be called Jinling. Due to the dangerous geographical location of "Jinling City", with the growing influence here, the name "Jinling" is getting louder and louder.

Old name introduction:

Former names: Yecheng, Yuecheng, Shicheng, Baixia, Jiangning, Danyang, Jinling, Moling, Jianye, Yangzhou, Jianye, Jiankang, Qinhuai, Shengzhou, Jiangzhou, Shangyuan, Qing Ji, Yingtian, Shi Jing, Nanjing, Du Nan, Tianjin and the capital.

Extended data

Nanjing, referred to as "Ning", was called Jinling and Jiankang in ancient times. It is the capital of Jiangsu, a sub-provincial city and the core city of Nanjing metropolitan area. Is an important central city in eastern China approved by the State Council, an important scientific research and education base and comprehensive transportation hub in China? . There are 1 1 districts in the city, with a total area of 6587km? The built-up area of 20 17 is 1398.69km? With an urbanization rate of 82.3%, it is the only mega-city in the Yangtze River Delta and East China.

Nanjing is one of the four ancient capitals in China, one of the first national historical and cultural cities and an important birthplace of Chinese civilization. Blessing China several times in history. It is the only one of the four ancient capitals that has never been the capital of an alien regime, and has long been the political, economic and cultural center of southern China. There were ancient human activities in Nanjing as early as100-1.20 thousand years ago, and there was Nanjing ape-man life in Tangshan 350 thousand-600 thousand years ago. With a history of more than 7,000 years of civilization, nearly 2,600 years of city construction and nearly 500 years of capital construction, it is known as "the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties" and "the metropolis of the Ten Dynasties".

Reference: the origin of the name "Jinling" in Nanjing-China Social Science Network? Nanjing-Baidu Encyclopedia