Why is Nanjing called Jinling? What are the historical allusions?

First, the theory of "standing on the mountain"

According to this view, "Jinling" was originally the earliest name of Zhongshan, and later became the place name of Nanjing.

As a noun, "Ling" pointed out by Liu has two meanings. One is the "big mound" 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.

He introduced that in the theory of "standing on the mountain", "Jinling" was originally the name of the mountain, and "Ling" was interpreted as "Mountain Ling". 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".

The word "Jinling" was first used as a city name in the Warring States Period. According to the records of ancient local chronicles, in 333 BC, Chu Weiwang defeated the State of Yue, killed the King of Yue without borders, seized all the territory of Wu captured by the State of Yue, and built a city in Shishi Mountain (now Liang Qingshan), which was called Jinling City or Shishou City in history. 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".

The mountains in Nanjing belong to the hills of Ningzhen. The mountains in this area are not high, even less than 400 meters above sea level. Zhongshan ranks first at an altitude of 448 meters, which is relatively high. Mountains have a great influence on human life. An important form of primitive worship is mountain worship. Primitive people believed that the mountain was the residence of the gods and the way for human beings to communicate with the gods. They are mysterious and effective.

Therefore, human beings have always been in awe of mountains. Residents in various regions choose a high mountain as the object of worship in their living areas to satisfy their spiritual sustenance. The ancients called the top of a mountain connected in an area "Zushan". As a symbol of the region, Zhongshan has such a position. It is a sacred mountain in the eyes of Nanjing residents. Zhongshan was called "Jinling" in ancient times, which is sacred in this area. The place name of Chu is often called "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.

At that time, "Jinling City" was just a small castle with military significance. Although the scale of the city is small, it is the beginning of the establishment of administrative divisions in Nanjing and the beginning of Nanjing being called "Jinling". Due to the dangerous geographical location of "Jinling City", with the growing influence of this place, the name "Jinling" is getting louder and louder.

Second, the theory of "Jintan got its name"

There is another saying about the source of Jinling: The Records of Tang Jiankang says: "The Jinling of Chu is also a stone city today, or it is connected with the tomb of Huayang Jintan, so it is called Jinling." However, according to Liu, the author of this book, Waai, has still not figured out which mountain Jinling refers to, and may have regarded it as the old name of Shishan (today's mountain), so he doubts whether the theory of "standing on the mountain because of it" can be fully established. He also felt that the rocky mountain was not enough to enjoy the reputation of "Jinling", so he recorded the speculation that "Jintan got its name" to show his doubts. This can be seen from the rigorous academic attitude of the ancients.

Third, the emperor's theory of "burying gold"

There is another saying about the origin of the name "Jinling", that is, the theory of "burying gold". In this statement, "Ling" is interpreted as a grave. According to legend, the name of Jinling was obtained because Qin Shihuang helped the king to bury gold in Jinling, that is, the "tomb of buried gold", hence the name Jinling. Jinling gang is said to be in Shanxi, which is now the shogunate. "Ding Jing Jiankangzhi" records: "Father said that Qin (the first emperor) hated the southeast king, and the gold-casting people were buried here." He also said that a monument had been erected in Jinling Hill where Qin Shihuang buried gold, which read: "Not in front of the mountain, not behind the mountain, not in the south of the mountain, not in the north of the mountain, someone has it, and the country is rich and strong."