Ever heard that Nanjing is commonly known as one of the “three furnaces” of China?

Ever heard others say, “No, China has five furnaces; not just Nanjing, Wuhan and Chongqing, but also Xi’an and Changsha”. Still there are others who claim Nanjing is but one of seven furnaces.

It’s a bit like that with dynasties. Most will remember not long after arriving in Nanjing being told our city has been capital of 10 dynasties.

Or is it six? Seems no one can make up their mind. Even China Daily is confused, saying that Nanjing is, “Known as the Capital City of Six or Ten Dynasties in China’s history”.

Some go looking for answers in Nanjing’s “Six Dynasties Museum”. Wait a minute, that’s what the sign says outside in Chinese. Its English accompaniment, however, is “The Oriental Metropolitan Museum; The 3rd-6th Century”. Go figure.

Rather than dwell on this dilema, The Nanjinger instead wonders which of these many dynasties would be the greatest of them all? For that answer, we need look up north, to the present-day capital of Beijing.

There of course, we find the marvellous and world-famous Forbidden City. Yet, what not many people outside of Nanjing know, is that the Imperial Palace version 1.0 was actually built right here in Nanjing with Zhongshan Dong Lu running through its centre. The old Ming Palace of Nanjing was the blueprint for the later construction of the emperor’s splendid home in the Northern Capital. That, obviously, should be our focus.

The Ming Palace was constructed in the 14th century but sadly did not survive numerous clashes with history, falling victim to destruction and gradual dismantling.

In 1367 CE, the future founder and first emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, initiated the construction of the magnificent palace to coincide with his appointment of Nanjing as the capital of Ming China. In 1368, only a year later, construction was completed, and Zhu became the self-proclaimed ruler of the Ming kingdom, to be known as Emperor Hongwu.

In 1373 and 1392, Hongwu commissioned extensive refurbishment and expansion of the palace in order to preserve its imperial splendor. However, the steady decline of the palace began after the death of the Hongwu emperor. His grandson ascended the throne but immediately fell victim to the machinations of his uncle, Zhu Di, who felt he was the rightful heir to the throne. Upon his entering Nanjing, the imperial palace was torched, and the charred body of what was presumed the Emperor was recovered.

After Zhu’s seizing of the throne as the Emperor Yongle, he decided to move the capital to Beijing in 1421, for strategic purposes relating to the threat of a Mongolian invasion. While Nanjing still remained the reserve capital of the country, its loss of status resulted in neglect of the city and its architecture.

A series of fires destroyed parts of the palace during the 15th century, such as in 1449, when the three main halls of the Outer Court (the ceremonial seat of government) burned down. Due to disinterest in the former Imperial Palace, the parts of the palace that had been consumed by the fire were never rebuilt.

For a very brief moment from 1644 to 1645, the Imperial Palace once again became the home of an Emperor, the Emperor Hongguang, who proclaimed the Southern Ming Dynasty in a futile attempt to resist the rise of the Qing Dynasty.

While Hongguang spent some of the little time he had as a ruler on rebuilding the already decrepid palace, his attempts were in vain as the Qing army reached the interim capital in 1645, bringing with them the Manchu army of the “Eight Banners”.

In the following years, the palace was gradually demolished by the Manchu, with any material that could be transported being removed to be used in the construction and decoration of other buildings. During the second half of the 17th century the former grand palace, which had housed a number of regents, became uninhabitable; its mere ruins remaining.

Those parts of the palace not stripped bare under the Manchus later fell victim to the Taiping Rebels, who used every stick and stone they could find in the ruins for the construction of their headquarters; the Presidential Palace. Ironically, the Ming Palace layout model can today be viewed in the very same building that caused the final demise of one of Nanjing’s and China’s historically most important buildings.

The Nanjinger therefore proclaims the Ming Dynasty to be tops among the six or 10. Not only did it provide the blueprint for the Forbidden City, it also saw the construction of our rather splendid Nanjing City Wall, the longest in the world. And that’s a pretty big piece of proof.

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The Nanjinger is the English media of record for the city of Nanjing in Jiangsu province, China. This website is part of The Nanjinger brand, 100 percent owned and operated by SinoConnexion Ltd., a UK media company registered in 2009, and its subsidiary in China; Nanjing Hefu Cultural Media Co. Ltd. (南京贺福文化传媒有限公司).