Nanjing City Facts and District Guides

Nanajing is the capital of China's Jiangsu Province and a city with a prominent place in Chinese history and culture. Nanjing has served as the capital of China during several historical periods, and is listed as one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals of China. Nanjing is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in China's administrative structure, enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province.

Located in the downstream Yangtze River drainage basin and Yangtze River Delta economic zone, Nanjing has always been one of China's most important cities. Apart from having been the capital of China for six dynasties and of the Republic of China, Nanjing has also served as a national hub of education, research, transportation and tourism throughout history. With an urban population of over five million, it is also the second largest commercial center in the East China region, behind only Shanghai.

Inside the city of Nanjing, there are 230 kilometers (143 miles) of highway, with a highway coverage density of 3.38 kilometers per hundred square kilometers (2.10 miles / 38.6 square miles); the total road coverage density of the city is 112.56 kilometers per hundred square kilometers (69.94 miles / 38.6 square miles).

As in most of eastern China the ethnic makeup of Nanjing is predominantly Han nationality (98.56%), with 50 other minority nationalities. In 1999, 77,394 residents belonged to minority nationalities, among which the vast majority are Hui nationalities (64,832), contributing 83.76% to the minority population. The second and third largest minority groups are Manchu (2311) and Zhuang (533) nationalities. Most of the minority nationalities reside in Jianye District, comprising 9.13% of the district's population.

Nanjing is currently consisted of 13 county-level divisions, of which 11 are districts and 2 are counties. The districts are the urban area of Nanjing while the counties are the rural area governed by the city.

Nanjing Districts and Counties:

The current partition of districts of Nanjing might be changing in the future. There was hearsay that Lishui County will be designated as a new urbanal district in the recent future.