Editing Jiankang

{{Short description|Former capital city to several dynasties, now within Nanjing, China}}
{{other uses}}
{{More citations needed|date=May 2014}}
[[File:The Southern Dynasties map of Nanjing.jpg|thumb|300px|Map of Jiankang as the capital of the Southern Dynasties. Drawing by Chen Yi of the Ming dynasty]]
'''Jiankang''' ({{zh|c=建康|p=Jiànkāng}}), or '''Jianye''' ({{zh|t=建業|p=Jiànyè|labels=no}}), as it was originally called, was the capital city of the [[Eastern Wu]] (229–265 and 266–280 CE), the [[Jin dynasty (265–420)|Eastern Jin dynasty]] (317–420 CE) and the [[Southern Dynasties]] (420–552), including the [[Chen dynasty]] (557–589 CE). Its walls are extant as ruins in the modern [[prefecture-level city|municipal region]] of [[Nanjing]]. Jiankang was an important city of the [[Song dynasty]]. Its name was changed to Nanjing during the [[Ming dynasty]].  

==History==
[[File:Tomb Yongning of the Ts'en Dynasty.JPG|thumb|A ''[[pixiu]]'' from the Yongning Tomb of [[Emperor Wen of Chen]] ({{circa|566}}). [[Qixia District]]]]
Before the Eastern Jin the city was known as Jianye, and it was the capital of the kingdom of [[Eastern Wu|Wu]] during the [[Three Kingdoms]] period. It was renamed Jiankang during the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Jin dynasty]], in order to observe the [[naming taboo]] for [[Emperor 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 to [[Xiongnu]] raids.<ref name=Rene>{{Cite book |last=Grousset |first=Rene |title=The Empire of the Steppes |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=1970 |isbn=0-8135-1304-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/56 56–57] |url=https://archive.org/details/empireofsteppesh00prof/page/56 }}</ref> It rivaled [[Luoyang]] in population and commercial activity, and at its height, in the sixth century, it was home to around one million people.<ref name="liu"/> In 549 CE, during the rebellion of [[Hou 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 the [[Sui dynasty]] it was almost completely destroyed, and was renamed Jiangzhou ({{lang|zh|蔣州}}) and then Danyang Commandery ({{lang|zh|丹陽郡}}). Under the [[Tang dynasty]], the city regained its prosperity and the name became Jinling ({{lang|zh|金陵}}). By the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]] it was called Jiangning ({{lang|zh|江寧}}); in the Southern [[Song dynasty]] the name of Jiankang was revived.

When Zhu Yuanzhang, the [[Hongwu Emperor]], founded the [[Ming dynasty]] in 1368, he made Jiankang the capital of China, renaming it [[Nanjing]], "Southern Capital".

===Six Dynasties===
The Tang historian [[Xu Song (historian)|Xu Song]] (許嵩, Xǔ Sōng), in his work ''Jiankang Shilu'' (建康實錄, Jiànkāng Shílù), coined the term "[[Six Dynasties]]" for the various regimes that had centred their power on the site:
* [[Eastern Wu]] (222–280 CE)
* [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Eastern Jin]] (317–420 CE)
* [[Liu Song dynasty]] (420–479 CE)
* [[Southern Qi]] (479–502 CE)
* [[Liang dynasty|Liang]] (502–557 CE)
* [[Chen dynasty|Chen]] (557–589 CE)

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, and [[Luoyang]] had more than 500,000.<ref name="liu">Shufen Liu, "Jiankang and the Commercial Empire of the Southern Dynasties", in Pearce, Spiro, Ebrey eds. ''Culture and Power'', 2001:35.</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Coord|32.05837|118.79647|display=title}}

{{Jin dynasty (265–420) topics}}

[[Category:Jin dynasty (266–420)]]
[[Category:Northern and Southern dynasties]]
[[Category:History of Nanjing]]
[[Category:Ancient Chinese capitals]]

{{China-hist-stub}}