Retracing Nanjing in the Tang dynasty through A GIS-based study of toponyms in contemporary poems

Abstract

Previous scholars, drawing mainly on official historical sources, have argued that Nanjing (formerly Jiankang, the capital of the Six Dynasties) was completely destroyed with the defeat of the Chen Dynasty by the Sui Dynasty in 589 and remained desolate throughout the succeeding Tang Dynasty. This study constructs a dataset of Nanjing toponyms in the Tang poems, and conducts a GIS-based spatial analysis of these toponymic data. By systematically processing and mapping the evidence, this research reassesses the urban history of Nanjing during the Sui-Tang period and argues that the extent and severity of wartime and postwar destruction have been overstated. The persistence of residential areas south of the city, particularly along the Qinhuai River, indicates that the Tang-era urban layout evolved from the Six Dynasties foundation rather than emerging from a complete rupture.