Nanking

[ nan-king; Chinese nahn-king ]

/ ˈnænˈkɪŋ; Chinese ˈnɑnˈkɪŋ /

noun Older Spelling.

Nanjing.

Nanjing

or Nan·ching, Nan·king

[ nahn-jing ]

/ ˈnɑnˈdʒɪŋ /

noun Pinyin.

a port in and the capital of Jiangsu province, in E China, on the Chang Jiang: a former capital of China.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for nanking

The Rape of Nanking alone had seen three hundred thousand casualties.
How to Hide a Famine with Ping-Pong|Nicholas Griffin|January 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Often called “the rape of Nanking,” this traumatic wartime incident evokes visceral nationalist sentiments among many Chinese.
Christian Bale Filmed Being Attacked by Chinese Guards|Melinda Liu|December 16, 2011|DAILY BEAST
"I never heard of Santa Claus stopping so long at one humble house," thought Nanking.
Tales of the Chesapeake|George Alfred Townsend
The sailor, as he seemed to be, looked at Nanking without fear.
Tales of the Chesapeake|George Alfred Townsend

A Chinese prince of the house of the Chin was ruling there, in the present Nanking.
A history of China., [3d ed. rev. and enl.]|Wolfram Eberhard
The Japanese blue is exquisite, certainly, but it lacks the deep vivid brilliancy of the Nanking.
Pottery and Porcelain, from early times down to the Philadelphia exhibition of 1876|Charles Wyllys Elliott
For the rest of that afternoon Nanking carried Elsje's beautiful doll, and his feelings were very much comforted.
Tales of the Chesapeake|George Alfred Townsend

British Dictionary definitions for nanking

Nanjing

Nanking (ˈnænˈkɪŋ) or Nan-ching

/ (ˈnænˈdʒɪŋ) (ˈnænˈtʃɪŋ) /

noun

a port in E central China, capital of Jiangsu province, on the Yangtze River: capital of the Chinese empire and a literary centre from the 14th to 17th centuries; capital of Nationalist China (1928–37); site of a massacre of about 300 000 civilians by the invading Japanese army in 1937; university (1928). Pop: 2 806 000 (2005 est)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for nanking

Nanking

city in China, literally "southern capital," from nan "south" + jing "capital."

Culture definitions for nanking

Nanking

[ (nan-king, nahn-jing) ]

See Nanjing.

Nanjing

City in eastern China on the Yangtze River, northeast of Shanghai; an industrial and transportation center.

Note

China's imperial capital on several occasions, it was made capital of the Republic of China by Sun Yat-sen in 1912 after the Chinese Revolution, by Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek from 1928 to 1937, and again from 1946 to 1949.

Note

During the Second Sino-Japanese War in the 1930s, Nanjing was the scene of a Japanese massacre (the Rape of Nanking) and became the seat of a puppet regime established by the Japanese.