Nanjing南京

Nanjing's urban history runs past 2,500 years. The Eastern Wu, Eastern Jin, the Southern Song/Qi/Liang/Chen (together called the "Six Dynasties"), the Southern Tang, the early Ming, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Republic of China all made their capital here at different points — hence the popular nicknames "Six-Dynasty Capital" and "City of Ten Dynasties." In 1368, Zhu Yuanzhang founded the Ming dynasty here and had the Ming city wall built — still one of the largest and best-preserved ancient city walls standing today. On the southern slopes of Purple Mountain, the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum bear witness to two very different chapters: the founding of the Ming dynasty and the birth of modern China. In 2019, UNESCO named Nanjing a "City of Literature" — the first mainland Chinese city to receive the honor. Today it's the capital of Jiangsu Province and a sub-provincial city, with a resident population of 9.64 million and a GDP of ¥1.94 trillion at the end of 2025, ranking second only to Shanghai in East China as a hub for universities and research. Most visitors treat it as a one-stop on the high-speed line to Shanghai or Suzhou-Hangzhou, but the Ming wall, the Qinhuai River and Purple Mountain alone are enough to fill two to four days.

Culture

City of ten dynasties, cradle of Six-Dynasty elegance

• From the Eastern Wu to the Republic of China, ten dynasties or regimes made their capital here — the source of the nicknames "Six-Dynasty Capital" and "City of Ten Dynasties"
• About 25km of the Ming city wall survives today, among the largest ancient city walls still standing anywhere
• The Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum on Purple Mountain's southern slope holds the tomb of Ming founder Zhu Yuanzhang, part of the UNESCO-listed "Imperial Tombs of the Ming and Qing Dynasties"
• In 2019 UNESCO named Nanjing a "City of Literature" — the first city in mainland China to receive the title

Food & Flavor

A city built on duck, cooked a hundred ways

• Salted duck: Nanjing's signature dish, nicknamed "osmanthus duck" when made in the fragrant osmanthus-blossom season
• Duck blood vermicelli soup: a broth of simmered duck bones topped with duck blood, liver and intestine over glass noodles — sold on nearly every corner
• Pidu noodles: deep-fried pork skin rehydrated in broth, with toppings you pick yourself — an everyday bowl for locals
• A local saying goes "Nanjing's duck dishes are unmatched under heaven" — duck is practically shorthand for the city's food culture

Everyday Life

A university town where the ancient capital and the new city keep to their own districts

• Nanjing University, Southeast University and other institutions cluster here, making it East China's second-biggest hub for higher education and research after Shanghai
• The old town (around Xinjiekou and the Confucius Temple) is dense with historic lanes, while Hexi New Town runs as a modern CBD — the two halves of the city feel quite different
• The metro reaches most sights and the new districts, making commutes easy, but coworking spaces and a nomad community are still early-stage
• South of the Huai River line, homes have no central heating in winter — indoors can feel colder than the temperature outside suggests