Nanjing is a port city on the Yangtze River and hence lies in an area outside of the birthplace of Chinese civilization on the plains of Northern China. Because of this it has no reliable history prior to the Han dynasty, the first to rule an area roughly equivalent to modern China. The first bits of clear evidence concerning the site appear during the Spring and Autumn Period. The town was an important site for the forging of swords by the kingdom ... (more)