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Jiankang (Chinese:建康;pinyin:Jiànkāng), orJianye (建業;Jiànyè), as it was originally called, was the capital city of theEastern Wu (229–265 and 266–280 CE), theEastern Jin dynasty (317–420 CE) and theSouthern Dynasties (420–552), including theChen dynasty (557–589 CE). Its walls are extant as ruins in the modernmunicipal region ofNanjing. Jiankang was an important city of theSong dynasty. Its name was changed to Nanjing during theMing dynasty.
Before the Eastern Jin the city was known as Jianye, and it was the capital of the kingdom ofWu during theThree Kingdoms period. It was renamed Jiankang during theJin dynasty, in order to observe thenaming taboo forEmperor Min of Jin.
Renamed Jiankang in 313 CE, it served as the capital of the Eastern Jin and Southern Dynasties, following the retreat from the north due toXiongnu raids.[1] It rivaledLuoyang in population and commercial activity, and at its height, in the sixth century, it was home to around one million people.[2] In 549 CE, during the rebellion ofHou Jing, Jiankang was captured after a year-long siege that devastated the city: most of the population were killed or starved to death. During the national reunification under theSui dynasty it was almost completely destroyed, and was renamed Jiangzhou (蔣州) and then Danyang Commandery (丹陽郡). Under theTang dynasty, the city regained its prosperity and the name became Jinling (金陵). By theFive Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period it was called Jiangning (江寧); in the SouthernSong dynasty the name of Jiankang was revived.
When Zhu Yuanzhang, theHongwu Emperor, founded theMing dynasty in 1368, he made Jiankang the capital of China, renaming itNanjing, "Southern Capital".
The Tang historianXu Song (許嵩, Xǔ Sōng), in his workJiankang Shilu (建康實錄, Jiànkāng Shílù), coined the term "Six Dynasties" for the various regimes that had centred their power on the site:
In the 6th century, Jiankang may well have been the largest city in the world, with a population of probably more than one million people. At that time, Rome had a population of less than 100,000,Constantinople had about 500,000, andLuoyang had more than 500,000.[2]
32°03′30″N118°47′47″E / 32.05837°N 118.79647°E /32.05837; 118.79647
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