ABSTRACT
In the fourth century b.c., at the time of King Wei of the state of Chu, the capital Jinling was placed where Nanjing now stands. It was probably then a small walled city. Geomantic observations of the local topography revealed that the area had a royal spirit. Shihuangdi, first emperor of the Qin dynasty, who brought all of China under unified control, despised any terrain that possessed such a royal spirit about it, and feared that there might be some small efficacy to the burying of gold. He thus ordered his men to cut a pathway straight through the hill known as Jinling and to have a waterway inserted in this ravine. In creating this artificial mountain stream, he severed the mountain in two. In addition to the official name of Jiangning, this place was known popularly as Nanjing, and the ancient toponym Jinling was also used as a poetic or elegant name.
